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From Alsace to Burgundy, Provence to the Loire Valley, cycling tours travel all over France. These trips let you ride and see the sights while a tour company takes care of your luggage, meals and hotels. Cycling tours give you a close-up look at France as you feel the cobblestones on the streets of ancient villages, ride past grapevines and follow the footsteps of the world's greatest cycling stars.

Family Tours
Some cycling trips specialize in rides for families. DuVine Adventures provides a guided Loire Family Bike Tour, which caters to children with a gentle cycling pace. It includes kid-friendly activities such as a fencing lesson, a ropes course, an art class in a chateau and a visit to a 16th century farm complete with donkeys.

Cycling Plus Yoga
Another guided DuVine trip allows bicyclists to keep up their yoga practice and cycle through Provence. Each morning starts with yoga exercises to energize the mind and body, with stretches that help get riders in shape for cycling. The tour pedals through the Provencal countryside and visits vineyards. The day-end includes a gentle yoga session and meditation. The yoga classes are appropriate for all skill levels and include varied activities from flowing movement to breathing practice.
 

Yoga Bike Tour
Spend six days bicycling and practicing yoga in Provence on the Yoga Bike Tour available from DuVine Adventures. Begin each day with a yoga class before you ride through vineyards, orchards, medieval villages and ancient ruins in southeastern France. Shop in a Provencal market in the village of Saint Remy, which was the birthplace of Nostradamus. Stop in Menerbes to savor truffles and wine at the House of Truffles and Wine. Sleep in luxurious accommodations after ending each day of riding with a yoga class.

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just outside the city of Mendoza, Argentina. The purple-red malbec and torrontés grapevines glistened in the early afternoon sun. Inside, a waitress poured us chardonnay as bread sticks and an appetizer of ham ravioli arrived. She brought a different chardonnay for the cannelloni filled with sweetbread. Then a hearty malbec, Argentina’s signature wine, accompanied the main course of baby goat rolls filled with sun-dried tomatoes and aubergine. http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/travel/21Mendoza.html?ref=travel

Overview
The French have a name for their bike; they call it their "petite reine," or little queen. Travelers to France who wish to arrange a bike tour that is fit for themselves and their queen have many options. From the castles and gardens of the Loire Valley to the world's most famous vineyards in Bordeaux, there are enchanting sights and tastes for everyone on a bike tour of France

Time Frame
Prime biking regions Loire, Burgundy and Alsace in the north have a temperate climate, while the Bordeaux wine region in Aquitaine in the southwest, and Provence in the southeast, have more Mediterranean weather. This means the ideal bike tour in the north might take place sometime in the summer, while you may have more flexibility booking a bike tour in the south. Touring companies like DuVine Adventures prefer offering bike tours of France from late August to early October.

Rules of the Road
While biking in France carries all the risks it would in America, there are a few precautions unique to France. For one, France gives priority to vehicles approaching from the right, even from a seemingly minor road. However, it is always better to play safe and assume drivers approaching from the left on a major road are unlikely to give way. Some cities in France allow cyclists to bike against traffic on one-way roads, provided the bike lane is there and the mandatory signpost is present at the entrance to the street. Biking on sidewalks is almost always forbidden.

Loire Valley
The most famous part of the Loire Valley in northwestern France is the chateau region, once home to France's kings and queens and now an architectural treasure trove. There's Renaissance, classical and Romanesque architecture here, even the castle that inspired "Sleeping Beauty." Renting a bike is no problem, as most towns have bike rental agencies and it's easy to find trail maps for self-guided exploration. Local bike tour companies like Biking France and Loire Vélo Nature organize two- to six-day biking trips. Bonus: Flat geography makes exploring the region on two wheels a breeze.

Alsace Region
The Alsace region in far northeastern France contains ancient castles, historic vineyards and a treasure trove of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. No bike tour of the area would be complete without a tour of Strasbourg -- current home of the European Parliament. Located on the border between France and Germany, Strasbourg speaks a unique Germanic dialect. The city has barred most automobile traffic from its city center, making it especially bike friendly. For the physically fit, a bike tour of the Vosges mountains affords panoramic views of the entire region. If you'd like to leave the logistics of the trip to experts, both Discover France and DuVine Adventures arrange biking trips of the area, including lodging and restaurants.

Bordeaux Region
According to Lonely Planet, the Bordeaux wine region produces around 700 million bottles of wine each year, "ranging from good quality French table wine to some of the most expensive fine wines in the world." Biking tours of the region cycle past ancient cottages, elegant steeples and groves of kiwi trees. For bike rentals, check out La Maison du Velo; for biking tours of the region, consider booking with Cycle Bordeaux.

A useful first stop for wine tourists is the Bordeaux Wine School in the center of town. The school trains professional sommeliers, but also has introductory classes for amateurs ranging from an afternoon to a full week. There is also a wine bar for tasting Bordeaux wines by the glass.

DuVine Adventures offers six day, five night guided cycling tours that are rated easy to slightly moderate in terms of physical activity required. There is van support to carry luggage and scoop up any straggling riders. You will cycle along the Dordogne River, starting in the town of Gensac visiting wineries, artisanal bakers and medieval ruins. The tour goes through the Entre-Deux-Mers region to the historic city of St. Emilion. Breakfast and dinners are included daily, with some picnic lunches as well. Accommodations are in chateaux dating from the 17th and 19th centuries and a Relais & Châteaux property built on 14th-century foundations. There is also spa time in the schedule to soothe aching muscles. DuVine Adventures 667 Somerville Ave. Somerville, MA 02143 888-396-5383 duvine.com

that combine outdoor adventure with delicious cuisine and world-class accommodations.

DuVine Adventures: These full-service tours through prime wine regions -- Burgundy, Bordeaux, Tuscany, and others -- exercise the mind, body, and senses. You'll bike about 30 miles a day, taste at small local wineries, dine at authentic regional restaurants, and rest your head in five-star inns and grand chateaux.

the couple learned that parts of the area are actually an extension of the Sonoran Desert and that it’s known as the Napa of the North.

“The Okanagan Valley left us surprised and thrilled,” says Beth, 48, recalling the hilly vineyards, and the ­surprising sights of desert and glacial lakes that she and her husband saw while biking up to 26 miles per day. “It was a close-to-home adventure in a region of Canada that we wanted to get to know.”

The trip also features boat and gondola rides, a stop at a cheese factory and visits to some of the tallest waterfalls in Switzerland. Meals and lodging each day are kid friendly, and the tour itinerary is flexible to accommodate various ages and skill levels. Another moderate DuVine trip, Vineyard to Alps, covers similar territory from Lausanne to Interlaken, but it includes more cycling, wine tasting and other activities more oriented to adults. The Swiss trips are six days long. DuVine Adventures 667 Somerville Ave. Somerville, MA 02143 888-396-5383 duvine.com

DuVine Adventures (duvine.com) puts together trips that imbue biking with the most alluring elements of traveling.One of the more challenging jaunts — and, therefore, an expedition that will be likeliest to improve your skills on two wheels — begins with a flight to Milan and centers around a bike tour of Italy’s wine-intensive Piedmont region. After being transported from the airport to the picturesque village of Aqui Terme (remember to check out the ancient thermal springs there), you are outfitted with a Wilier road bike — which has been cleaned, oiled, and loaded with snacks and water — and sent off to spend the first couple of days doing 13-mile loops around the town (longer rides are available for the heartier among us). Riders are followed by a chase van in case anyone needs a break, and trainers are on hand to help improve your cycling skills.

“Guests are told how to ride uphill more efficiently and when to switch gears for the best effect. We teach you about form, position, how to place your feet on the pedals correctly,” explains Andy Levine, president/founder of DuVine Adventures. “You also learn when and how to draft, which is incredibly important and a lot of fun. Drafting is something that pro cyclists do all the time; it involves getting behind another rider and using him to shield the wind or resistance. It can make or break your ride and keeps you from losing your energy.”
 

Andy Levine says that he created DuVine Adventures at his kitchen table with a website and a glass of wine in 1996. Fifteen years later, Levine has built the Boston-based DuVine into one of the leading biking companies in the US, offering wine-infused cycling trips to Italy and France, the Czech Republic and Argentina, not to mention Croatia, Utah and Napa/Sonoma. Levine is serious about the bikes he uses, about the wine his guests drink, and about the hotels where they sleep. He’s clearly doing something right. National Geographic Traveler singled out DuVine's Mendoza, Argentina trip as a Tours of a Lifetime in 2009 and National Geographic Adventure dubbed DuVine one of the Best Adventure Travel Outfitters for 2009. I recently had a chance to ask the perenially enthusiastic Levine about his company.

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 Alpine adventure

Experienced ski guide Grégory Grandet will take small groups to his secret spots in the Swiss, French and Italian Alps for some choice skiing and snowboarding on the freshest powder during DuVine's 2010 Ski Tour. Start in Switzerland, at Villars sur Ollon and les Diablerets, then head to Chamonix, France, then Italy's Valle d'Aosta, and end at Super St. Bernard, Switzerland, where the eponymous dogs hail from.

National Geographic Adventure: December 2009/January 2010 issue
The BIG Trip: Argentina
Argentina Uncorked by Claire Martin

Glaciers, big peaks, balmy days and vino. And right now, it's all on sale...

1. Wide-Open Wine Country

Argentine wine is older than Argentina itself—Spaniards brought the vines ashore in the 1550s. Opt for a two-wheeled tour of Mendoza, the country’s premier grape-growing region, with Duvine Adventures. The U.S.-based company is one of the only outfitters to lead cycling trips here, and its guides have a nose for the best reds. You’ll ride in the shadow of Aconcagua, sampling all the Malbec you can hold (without impeding your pedaling). Pit stops include private tastings at renowned wineries like Catena Zapata and Ruca Malen, meals at some of Argentina’s most innovative restaurants (Andeluna Cellars among them), and overnights in hotels like Posada Salentein, where two small country houses look out on vineyards of Merlot and Pinot Noir (six days, $4,495; duvine.com).

inStyle Magazine: November 2009 Gift Guide
Give an Experience: A DuVine Adventures bike tour in France or Italy...

Suzanne's Files: My Picks in Travel 2009
DuVine Adventures, Upscale Bicycle Wine Tours in France, Italy and more

Guided bike trips with wine tastings, gourmet food, inns & chateaux
I love delicious cuisine paired with a great wine, being outdoors in the countryside, and keeping fit, so I can't imagine a more enjoyable vacation combining all three elements than a full-service bicycle tour through vintage wine regions: Burgundy and Bordeaux in France, Tuscany and Piedmonte in Italy, Rioja in Spain, Lake Geneva in Switzerland, as well as new vineyards in the Czech Republic.

Andy Levine, who runs DuVine Adventures, turned his passion into a very successful business. After graduating from the University of Denver in 1992, he took off for a bike trip in France and decided that's what he wanted to do with his life—create bicycle tours that exercise the mind, body, emotions and senses ... with a little sweat, of course! Bike, drink, eat, sleep: all four elements play an equal role on a DuVine tour. You'll bike about 25 to 30 miles a day, stop at small local vineyards for wine tastings, dine at authentic regional restaurants, and rest your head in everything from cozy inns to grand chateaux.

All the tours are led by expert guides who share Andy's passion for delivering a "knock your socks off" experience. Each wine tour lasts 6 days (5 nights) starting on a Sunday. You'll see and smell the grapes and soil, watch wines being made, learn about classifications ... it's the full wine experience, but there's nothing snobbish about it, just loads of fun with like-minded fellow travelers who share a common passion. The tours are open to all ages and levels of fitness, with a full support system, so you don't need to be an accomplished rider or super fit to take part. There are 16 tours in 9 countries to choose from, including bicycle wine trips to Napa Valley and Argentina.
 

BoldFacers Profile on President/Founder Andy Levine: March 10, 2009

“I am not a fan of travel books that tell about a destinations or guide books,” says Andy Levine, president of Duvine Adventures, a high-end bike touring company. “I write my own travel books in my head and enjoy visiting a new place with an empty canvas and no on telling me about guidelines or rules.  I have never understood the rating system of hotels and wines.  You need to experience them on your own without any preexisting notions, then you can judge and simply see if it works for you.”

The Boston Globe: April 1, 2007
by Richard P. Carpenter, Globe Correspondent 

Strap up your helmet and slip on your knapsack, it's time to think about biking and hiking -- both wonderful ways to embrace a destination. Offerings like these take you close to places, are healthy exercise, and just plain fun. The wines of the Sonoma and Napa valleys await bikers on Somerville-based DuVine Adventures' California tour. The five-night trip, at $2,895, goes through wine valleys, redwood forests, and the famously rugged Pacific Coast, all within 90 minutes of San Francisco. Included in this moderate-level tour are accommodations, breakfasts plus two lunches and dinners, guide services, spa access at one inn, wine tastings, use of bikes, and baggage transport. Departure dates are May-October.