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During this difficult time in the world, we are continuing our efforts to make it a better place for all by reducing our carbon footprint one step at a time. Our goal is to become an environmentally friendly company and influence others to join us in protecting our beautiful destinations around the world.

We believe it is our responsibility to protect and preserve the beautiful planet that we love to share with our guests. Learn more about some of the green initiatives we have in place and a few new ones we are laying the groundwork for, too! This is just the start for Trek Travel, and we look forward to continuing to expand our sustainability efforts.

Going green at the office:

• • Green Miles: Our office staff is encouraged to commute to work by bike in order to reduce the amount of emissions we put into the atmosphere. Every team member who participates logs their daily mileage and earns a reward based on how many miles they commuted by bike in a year. In 2019, our team completed over 1,500 green miles!
    — Does your company have a similar program you could participate in? If not, could you start one? Think about the impact you and your coworkers could have if you each swapped even one weekly commute to your bike!
  • Volunteer Time Off: Our employees are encouraged to support the local community through volunteering. Each employee receives paid time off to complete volunteer activities like park cleanups.
  • Wind power: In order to reduce our carbon footprint, our office purchases wind power for our electricity as part of Madison Gas and Electric’s Green Power Tomorrow program.
  • Eco-friendly kitchen updates: In order to reduce plastic waste in the office, we stocked our office kitchen will reusable utensils, plates, and cups instead of single-use options. We also replaced our water cooler with an sink filter system. We already have recycling in place but plan to implement a composting station in the near future as well to help put food waste to better use.
  • Guide Clothing: During past Guide Training events, we held guide clothing swaps, where guides upcycle gently-used cycling clothing by gifting it to newer guides who want additional gear. Starting in 2021, we ordered guide clothing from more sustainable brands and the 2021 guide hat is even made from recycled materials. When it comes to supplying guide clothing, we set up an internal ordering system so guides can request only what they need instead of getting a pre-made pack with items they may not want. As much as possible, we send guide clothing out with our vans as they depart from our warehouses to reduce shipping and our carbon footprint.
  • Catalogs: We print our catalogs on recycled paper to help minimize environmental impact, and in 2021, we took our catalog digital to save thousands of sheets of paper.
  • Measuring our carbon footprint: We will be working with an outside organization in the coming months to officially measure our carbon footprint and determine the areas where we can reduce our impact.

Going green on our trips:

• Reduce Plastic Waste: We have banned single-use plastic water bottles and utensils on our trips and provide every guest reusable water bottles to use during and after our trips. We are in the midst of modifying our standard from two water bottles per guest to one and encouraging guests to bring their own bottles for us to fill. This could save up to 750 pounds of plastic annually.
• Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle We have started bike tube upcycling by finding local artisans that take used bike tires and tubes to create cool new products to sell.
• RWGPS To reduce the number of printed materials that we produce for every on of our trips, we have shifted to using Ride with GPS (RWGPS) to offer a simplified digital version of necessary trip information.
• Shopping Local As much as possible, our guides try to shop locally for supplies, food, and other items that are used on trips. This not only helps to support to local economies where we travel, but also provides a more authentic experience for our guests, who get to try regional food and more.
• Best of all… biking! One of the sustainable practices most near and dear to our hearts is at the core of business: biking. Discovering destinations by bike is a fantastic way to reduce the impact you have on the local environment.

Working with Green Partners:

For many years, we have been supporting People For Bikes, an organization dedicated to making biking more accessible to all. We believe that commuting by bike should be a safe, enjoyable option for more people and have been proud of the work done by People for Bikes in making this a reality.

Show your Support

More recently, our trip design team and sustainability team developed and sent out a 16-question sustainability survey to all of our hotels, collecting information about the sustainability practices they have in place. This survey will help us determine if current and future partners are taking action to be good stewards to guests and the planet.
Get to know a couple of our hotels that are finding ways to make a positive impact for the planet:

We’re celebrating more than just Santa this year with our 12 Days of Christmas. From trip WOWs that really hit the mark, to the things we loved most in 2018. We even threw in a few gift ideas for good measure (you know, for those last minute shoppers).

 

Your guides are passionate about cycling and about showing you their favorite corners of the word by bicycle. They’re trained to make your trip an experience of a lifetime and WOW you every step of the way. Here’s our top three reasons why they’ll really knock your socks off.

 

What makes a trip with Trek Travel a “cycling vacation of a lifetime”? Is it the best bikes? The best gear? The best guides? The ability to make each day your own? Well, it’s all the above, and then some.

 
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Friend of Trek Travel and sommelier extraordinaire, James Juedes, guides us through the tradition and history of the famous wine regions of central Italy from Le Marche to Umbria and Tuscany.

 

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Summit Lake Vineyards and Winery is a much-loved stop on our California Wine Country tours. We caught up with Heather Griffin, daughter of the founders of Summit Lake, to learn a little more about the wines they produce high atop Howell Mountain.

What is key when considering where to start a winery?

One of the best jokes about what it takes….
“What is the best way to make a small fortune in the wine business? Start with a large one.”

Still holds true today.

I think the most important thing to look at is what you’re after for quality and how you expect to sell your wine when it’s done! My dad started on Howell Mountain because he couldn’t afford valley floor property in the early 70’s and our little piece pf property worked into his budget and timing. If you want to sell an outstanding product you have to grow grapes in a premium area and Howell Mountain and the Napa Valley have consistently shown to be an amazing place to grow grapes.

You recently went through harvest season, can you tell us a little about that process and what next steps are after harvest?

Harvest time is one of the best times of the year to visit. It’s like Christmas for grape growers and winemakers, the thing you wait all year for. It is the most work and the most fun. Since we grow all of our own fruit we work in the vineyards all year tending to the vines preparing for harvest. We start sampling the grapes a few weeks ahead of our projected harvest to check the sugar content and acid levels in the fruit. This allows us to have a good idea of when the quality of the fruit is best. We also wait and watch the dogs who start eating the grapes when they’re ready. Harvest is a busy time, and we have multiple days of picking over several weeks of time. We hand pick all of our fruit and can have multiple picks of the same varietal depending on the age of the vines and location on the property. We get all of our picking done while the fruit is cool in the mornings and then crush the fruit as soon as the picking is done that day.

It’s hard to describe everything that goes into making wine because everything you do to a grape affects the outcome of your finished product. We pick the fruit, de-stem the grapes (take them off the stems) and may or may not crush them, depending on the varietal and what we want from those particular grapes. They go into a fermentation tank and can spend days to weeks in the tank depending on the winemakers style. After the fermentation is complete we press the wine off of the skins and put the wine back into tanks to settle before transferring to barrels for the aging process.

Here at Summit Lake we just settled our last bit of wine down to barrels for the 2017 vintage!

What is a must-try, can’t miss wine at Summit Lake?
That’s like asking a parent which child is their favorite! Depends on the day, what you’re eating, and what you’re in the mood for. Zinfandel is what was planted on our property originally in the 1800’s by the Italians that were in the valley. It’s also the varietal my dad fell in love with and what got him into this crazy business. It grows beautifully on Howell Mountain and what we still focus on here at Summit Lake.

But we are also about family…all of the grand kids have wines named for them now. We grow Cabernet and Petite Sirah in addition to our Zinfandel, and they have all proven to do very well in the volcanic soil Howell Mountain is known for.

What pairings do you recommend?
Our wines are all made to be food friendly and to be shared. If you’re serving lamb I would go with our Zinfandel. Beef or game goes well with the any of the reds especially the Cabernet and Petite Sirah. And our Zinfandel Port is amazing with desserts or by itself after dinner. It easily pairs with cheese, fresh berries and cream, or of course chocolate.

What inspired your label design?
All of our wines outside of our Zinfandel are named for the grand kids in the family. They were all designed to reflect the kiddos and their personalities. They each have a long story behind them that takes at least a couple of glasses of wine to get through…full details available at Summit Lake visits!

What are Summit Lake’s goals for the future?
To keep making wine to share with family and friends!

 

WHY I RIDE: A series that gets to the heart of why we love what we do. This time Sarah tells us the story of how she fell in love with bikes.

I didn’t used to ride. It’s not normal where I’m from. I bought a bike just to get around—parking is too expensive, I thought. I didn’t know about what life could be like with a bicycle.

It started from a leap of faith and boredom. From energy to spare and nowhere to put it. A trip to the mountains was where it began. I rode over mountain passes. Through gaps and across bridges. I rode my first century. I cried tears of joy as I flew through the Smoky Mountains by the power of my own self.

My legs never hurt more. The pain was unbearable, but they said keep going, so I did. I didn’t realize your body could recover so quickly, and your pain would turn into strength. The miles passed, my body transformed, and when I returned I wasn’t my old self. I had discovered this layer of happiness underneath thick layers of boredom, confusion, hopelessness and sadness that had built up over my adolescence years.

Now I ride. I ride to feel alive. I ride because I can. I ride to run away from life for just a little while.
When I ride everything goes quiet in my mind. I focus on the road ahead. On the cars passing by. On my breath. On the smell of the air.

I say hello to the cows. I say hi to the chipmunks and squirrels and hope they pass my wheels safely. I say good morning to the rabbits.

I look up and smile as I watch the birds fly with me. Instead of seeing them in a blur, I get to see them as we fly the same speed. I have wings, too, I say.

I ride for the feeling of control. The feeling of strength, of power and choice. It’s my time to shine, and I can shine anyway I’d like. I can go fast, I can go slow, I can go faster, I can stop.

I stop. I hear nothing but the air. The birds. My breath. It’s a familiar scene, but every time it’s different. The light shining on the trees is different. Tonight’s sunset is spectacular. Being outside is liberating, and I get to spend all morning or afternoon or day or night out there, just riding my bike. I get the feeling I am part of something greater.

I ride to explore. I ride to get lost and to find something new. In the cities and countryside and in myself. This world is smaller than I thought, but bigger all at once. It’s closer to my reach, and more beautiful than I could ever imagine. I ride to ride it. To gain full access and to see what it has to offer.

I ride with others who ride. We ride together, enjoying this method of passing through the world by the power of our legs. We smile. We laugh. We sweat. We barely get a sentence in when we push ourselves faster. We both come from different lives, different reasons why we’re there out on the road together. But in that moment we share the simplicity of a bicycle ride that we both know goes well beyond pedaling.

I ride for my health and for my strength. For my memories and discoveries. For a purpose of life. For feeling free. For me.

This year, I’m headed to the Vuelta with Trek Travel. It’s more than a dream come true. It’s a life’s goal made real.

I’m no casual fan of bike racing. I’ve spent 20 years following every historic race on the pro calendar. Ask me to tell you about the closest Tour de France in history (it was eight seconds between Laurent Fignon and Greg Lemond in 1989). Ask me which stage Miguel Indurain won his fifth Tour de France in 1995 (time trial, stage 8). And ask me about the last Paris-Roubaix where it rained (2002 was a mud bath). But I’m going to let you in on a controversial secret that I’ve always held: The Vuelta a España, or Tour of Spain, is some of the best racing on the schedule. Don’t believe me? Consider the facts.

The “parcours” is par excellence. The “race parcours” is the route, and the Tour of Spain can’t be beat. The Spanish Pyrenees and Basque country are the climbing crown jewels of Europe. And when the rest of the world is drooling after the Alpe d’Huez, Galibier and climbs of the northern Alps, this region boasts of the steepest, intimate climbs in forested back-country. I remember when David Millar abandoned the Vuelta on the Angliru (featured this year as well), calling it “barbaric.” YOU’RE DARN RIGHT IT’S BARBARIC.

The crowds are awesome. The Spanish are nothing if they’re not insane sports fans, and cycling is no different. Have you ever seen Basques cheering at the Tour de France? They’re crazy. And the Vuelta is like 23 days of it. Please pass the sangria without spilling.

The pros go after it. The end of the Tour de France is famous for contract negotiations, where big deals are signed and allegiances are swapped. By the time we get to the Vuelta, the remaining unsigned pros are fighting for their careers, and therefore, they ride like their lives depend on it. That means more attacking, more risk-taking, more drama, and more quality racing. In fact, the Vuelta is where we discovered the careers of racers like Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Juan Jose Cobo, Tony Martin’s famous all-day breakaway, and Chris Horner’s age-defying Grand Tour win.

Ahhh, Spain. Sure, France is incredibly romantic. Italy is a food-lover’s paradise. But Spain seems to have a little of it all. There’s a special passion that’s typically Spanish. There’s incredible tapas, local wines and seafood. And this is the birthplace of Picasso, Dali, Cervantes and Lorca. There must be something in the water.

Don’t get me wrong: every pro bike race is a slice of history, and every event features an epic battle in its own right. But I do believe that the Vuelta is special, and it’s why I jumped at the chance to go this year. Trek Travel also offers a unique view on an already special race, with Trek-Segafredo access and some special rides with Chechu Rubiera, former member of the Discovery cycling team. Hopefully he won’t mind if I want to discuss stage 19 of the 1997 Giro d’Italia, his first win. Or his top tens at the Vuelta itself. Or his time on team RadioShack. Or Discovery. Or….well, let’s just say I’m excited. And I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Stay tuned for Jordan’s post-Vuelta report to read if the race was as good as he imagined it would be. We’re sure it will be. And more.

“Unique, dynamic, quirky, and fun, these are all qualities I seek in how I shoot. Over the past 11 years I have blended photography and guiding cycling tours around the world, helping me cultivate a commitment to stellar service. I believe a connection with my clients and subjects is at the apex of having a great experience, creating great images on location. It also makes my job one of the greatest in the world.”

Zack Jones is a guide, photographer, and creative spirit.