A note too all prospective riders: this will be a strenuous tour, and we want to make sure our riders are in excellent physical condition before arriving in country to cycle.

While being an experienced cyclist is not required to participate, a high level of fitness and some experience with cycling is expected of all participants. It is helpful to start training for this type of cycling months in advance. Speed is not the object; rather, your enjoyment of the trip! The better prepared and trained you are for 9 days of daily cycling, the more you will enjoy everything Macedonia has to offer you!

Here are a few minimum guidelines we expect all riders to follow:

• Be capable of 4-6 hours of constant cycling per day (with breaks, of course)
• Feel comfortable enough in the bike saddle to endure this kind of cycling on a daily basis (i.e. get those butts ready for saddle soreness!)
• Riders can, however opt out of riding at any time and take a ride with our support vehicle for a section of the route or until the final point of the scheduled route for the day.
• Basic knowledge of bicycle safety and road-sharing practices. A lot of the tour takes place on main roads, though we will utilize less-used-by-cars secondary roads as much as possible.
• Willingness to put up with some less-than-perfect road conditions (we'll be riding on bikes with thicker, mountain-style tires, rather than slicks, for better performance on all surfaces)
  

Long Rides

We recommend that if you are new to cycling, that you see about joining a local cycling club in your area in order to get a few long rides in before you fly out to Macedonia. The more long rides you do, the better prepared you'll be for the tour!

Hill Workouts

Also, get in some hill workouts - this region is mountainous and hilly. Be prepared for mixed terrain!