Monthly Archives: May 2012

How to Start an Urban Biking Lifestyle

Posted on by under Guest Posts, Guide Stories

As we near the end of National Bike Month, we hope everyone has gotten a chance to enjoy the joys of zipping through the city atop a two-wheeler. Biking is a wonderful way to get around town day-to-day, and Tim from Streets of San Francisco gives his tips on how to start out with biking! If you have more burning questions for him, you can meet him at our guide meetup next week!

by Tim McLaughlin

So, you want to ride a bike around your city, but you’re a bit apprehensive? Well fret no more, my friends, there’s a method to the madness. Urban cycling is easier—and safer—than it may at first appear. Here are a few tips to get you started on becoming the confident, joyous, and safe commuter you’ve always dreamed of.

Step 1: Realize there’s help and breathe a sigh of relief.

Your first step should be to research your local bike coalition. Most cities have them, and they typically offer courses (both in the classroom and on the street) on bike safety. These classes tend to be excellent and totally welcoming. So go ahead, ask that silly question you held back from your bike-y friends. It’s OK!*

Step 2: Practice!

You’ve learned some rules of the road, and now it’s time to put them into practice. If you’ve signed up for a bike safety course, you’re well on your way. But what if classes aren’t available to you? No problem. There are excellent practice areas somewhere in your city. For example, in San Francisco, these would include Golden Gate Park, along the Embarcadero (waterfront), or the quiet neighborhoods out by the beach. After you’ve gained a touch of experience, go on a guided bike tour of your city (if they exist). A guided tour allows you to learn the next level of safety while learning the best routes through your city. And you’ll learn some really cool stuff about your very own city (I guarantee!)**.

Step 3: Buy a bike

There is no magic formula to buying the perfect urban cruiser, so here are some folks to enlist in your search: (1) your bike-y friends, especially the ones that wear those goofy cycling caps and keep their pant legs rolled up at parties***. (2) Your friends who are also bicycle-curious. They’re doing their homework, too. Take advantage! (3) Your local bike shop. Find one that your friends trust and perform this simple test: Walk in and explain your situation. If the shop attendant gives you any attitude at all, turn around and leave. Find a shop where the folks are friendly, smile, and are totally non judgmental when they find you’re not all that into Italian-designed derailleurs from the early ‘70s.

New or used? If you want to actually adhere to your meager budget, a used bike is an excellent choice: it’s cheaper, less attractive to bike thieves, and probably has some rusty, scratchy character you can be proud of. Just make sure that your “new” used bike fits! If possible, bring a friend who understands bike sizing and can recognize a good value.

But wait, what kind of bike should you buy? For city riding, you want to keep an upright posture so it’s easier to see your surroundings. Hybrid bikes will certainly do the trick, but if you’d like a bit more style, look into the “European-style” city bikes that have have become so popular as of late (at least in the States, that is). Good city bike brands include Public, Linus, and Globe.

Step 4: Protect yourself

Folks, unless you are living in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or a quiet Japanese village, you will need to wear a helmet. I totally understand that helmets lead to helmet head. Lucky for you, with urban cycling so en vogue these days, helmet head is quite simply all the rage. You may want to even accentuate it before that important presentation. Seriously, wear a helmet. Get one with a pink stars or a skull n crossbones on it. Own it!

Step 5: Protect your bike

Unfortunately, in most cities, bike theft is rampant. To deter your new love (or its parts) from getting stolen, you need a beefy u-lock and cable. Your newly formed friends at your local bike shop can help you get set up with all of this. Just be prepared for the sticker shock.

So, there it is, folks. Five steps to becoming a happy urban cyclist. I’ll leave you with this: remember how fun it was to ride a bike around your neighborhood as a kid? Yep, it’s still that fun!

* And don’t forget to become a member of your local bike coalition : )

** I co-own a bike tour company and this might be a blatant industry plug. Yep, pretty sure it is.

*** I keep my pant legs rolled up at parties.

Celebrate National Bike Month with us!

Posted on by under Vayable Experiences

by Lauren Jow, Vayable Intern

This May, Vayable is honoring National Bike Month with some international bike love. Pedaling through a city is the perfect way to explore it, and your quads will thank you for it too (well, maybe not the next day). Cover more distance than you could on foot without missing out on the sights and smells that define the city you’re visiting.

Worldwide, there twice as many bicycles as cars in existence (one billion, if anyone’s counting). Many people rely on them as a primary mode of transportation, and others ride recreationally, for exercise, or in an effort to conserve the air. Motivations aside, biking has had an immeasurable impact on cultures around the world. Here are some of our favorite bike experiences (search “bike” on Vayable.com for more amazing options).


Bike the Heart of the City, San Francisco, CA, USA

San Francisco may seem daunting to the bike-curious and inexperienced visitor, but don’t be deterred. Dan and Tim will help you test out the wheels while avoiding the hills and traffic that make the city tricky to maneuver. Check out a few must-see areas, but truly make your time count by learning their secret spots and city trivia. Golden Gate Park, street art, historic architecture and good eats are all mapped out.


Ice Cream Tour of SF by Bike, San Francisco, CA, USA

The weather is warming up, making this the perfect time to cool off with an ice cream bike tour of San Francisco. While biking between three creameries, visit trendy and scenic neighborhoods, learn a little history, talk about the economic ups and downs of communities and independent businesses and break for some serious hipster-spotting and sun bathing. This may be the most quintessential afternoon you could have away from a beach.


Berlin Nightlife by Bike, Berlin, Germany

Ah, a city that celebrates cyclers day in and day out. Less than half the residents here own a car and motorized traffic yields to bikers (like a Portland, Oregon dream come true). Stay out of the red and you should be golden. If the daytime critical mass is too much to handle, give biking a shot in the dark. Pedaling through a historic city by the light of the moon and lampposts is as romantic as it sounds. Even better, your night’s mission is to check out amazing bars, clubs and cafés around town.


London on Two Wheels, London, England

The upside to all that rain is the expansive green space London offers. And what could be more quaint than a ride that winds through old English neighborhoods and lush parks? Throw in a charming journalist with a smart accent and you should be set. The city’s bike sharing system will seem like a breeze once you learn the ins and out of it.


Easy Bike and Photography Tour, Catania, Italy

The best things come with time and effort and this 8-day bike tour of Sicily will be a vacation to remember. It’s history, architecture, ocean, fresh food, wine and more. Imagine yourself biking through dramatic landscapes, visiting unforgettable places and sitting down to the best meal you ever had every night for a week. We’ve yet to hear of a more satisfying week in Italy.

Vayable provides a safe way to connect with local experts worldwide

Posted on by under Vayable Perspective

Here’s a guest post we wrote for DIWYY, a girl’s guide to travel.

In making the most out of our time abroad, it’s often important to reflect on the reasons why we travel. We travel to take in different cultures, to immerse ourselves in a world entirely foreign to us, and to reclaim that childhood wonder of discovering something we never knew existed. Sometimes the most transformative and memorable experiences come with a certain amount of risk - getting out of your comfort zone and taking a leap of faith in a person or place.

“When I was twenty years old, I went to Morocco. One afternoon I walked into a carpet shop with my bulky guidebook in tow, telling the shopkeeper that I wanted to visit the Sahara Desert but couldn’t afford to go. Before I’d finished my cup of mint tea, I was in the back seat of the shopkeeper’s Honda Accord, tearing through the windy roads of the Atlas mountains for fifteen hours until we reached the desert where his cousin, Ali, was the chief of a caravan tribe.

After five nights traveling on camel back, subsisting on bread our guide baked in the sand, and sleeping under the stars tucked in wool blankets, I returned to the caravan camp, just as the sun went down to mark the first night of Passover. Atop a sand dune, my new friends and I drew the Seder plate in the sand and together sang ‘Let my people go.’ Gazing up at the brilliant stars, Ali says to me, ‘The only real difference between us is that my tribe reads one more book than yours.’

The modest amount of money I spent had given Ali and his cousin enough to live on for a month. And my newly gained understanding of the world, and of myself, instigated a decade of exploration that has aimed to positively impact the world, not least of which, was founding Vayable.” - Jamie, founder and CEO of Vayable

It was purely serendipitous that Jamie met this shopkeeper who knew a caravan tribe leader, and it was fortunate that she was able to safely put her well-being in a stranger’s hands. We started Vayable to provide a safer way to take these leaps of faith. Vayable connects travelers with local experts around the world whom we have personally met and vetted.

When looking for things to do, off-the-beaten path experiences are often hard to find. Some of the most memorable and sought after experiences on Vayable take you to places you wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable going to by yourself. A favela in Rio de Janeiro, the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, Queens at midnight. Walking along the streets of San Francisco on the homeless tour with Milton, a homeless man himself, and listening to personal anecdotes about the neighborhood makes you gain a deeper understanding of issues both unique to San Francisco and prevalent amongst the rest of the world.

As travelers, we want to have access to amazing things while also preserving the integrity of local culture and staying safe. We want to get out of our day-to-day, respect the culture that exists, and experience it for ourselves. We live for those moments of connecting with someone from around the globe and stepping into their world. That is why we travel, and that is why Vayable exists.