You can always leave that heavy tent and sleeping bag at home on your next bicycle tour if you don't mind parting with some cash. Many bed and breakfast inns are promoting themselves to bicycle tourists as they offer secure bike storage, big breakfasts, laundry facilities and bike trail maps.
I had assumed that most innkeepers would get their knickers in a bunch if I dragged my bike onto the porch and marched into the lobby dripping with sweat, my clothes streaked with chain grease.
That apparently isn't the case for 101 inns of the 300-member California Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns. Those 101 offer amenities geared toward cyclists who want to travel from inn to inn or use the inn as a base for weekend bike rides.
Be prepared to pay for the luxury, however. Most inns charge from $95 to more than $250 a night.
A free tour guide is available at the CABBI website.
California isn't the only state with B&Bs catering to cyclists. For instance innkeepers in New York's Adirondacks region also give special service to cyclists, reports the Adirondack Sports and Fitness website:
Many bed and breakfasts in the Adirondacks now cater specifically to bicyclists and have earned a reputation for being bicycle-friendly, offering storage for bicycle equipment, and making special accommodations for bicycle tours. “They’ve taught me what’s important to them,” says Tom Haley of All Tucked Inn Adirondack Bed & Breakfast in Westport. “You have to be sensitive to their needs and wants.” Haley helps bicycle touring guests plan an itinerary that matches their desires and concerns, will prepare special carbo-load pasta dinners the night before a big ride, and offers room discounts to larger tour groups that book his entire bed and breakfast.
Another large region with B&B inns that cater to cyclists is the entire length of the 225-mile long Katy Trail in Missouri. There are 75 bed and breakfast inns situated within easy biking distance of the trail; some even meet cyclists at a trailhead to give them a lift.
There are 100s more scattered across the US. Just Google search “bed and breakfast” and bicycle; add a state or region for more specific information. For instance, the Norris House Inn of Leesburg, Virginia, is located two blocks from the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, and picks up cyclists riding the nearby C&O Canal.
Bed and breakfast and bicycles reported at: Cyclelicious, Blue Collar Mountain Biking, Cycling Dude.
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