Providing Lasting Memories Since 1969
What to Expect
Parents expect—and our trips provide—a summer experience for teens that goes beyond simple fun and entertainment. While our trips offer an enjoyable and memorable summer, they also give participants meaningful opportunities for personal growth, independence, and maturity in a safe and responsible environment appropriate to their age and abilities. Few experiences are as well suited to fostering confidence, independence, and personal development in teens as this one: a bicycle-based travel and camping experience shared with a group of peers.
Traveling by Bike
A bicycle trip is an ideal way to become fully immersed in one’s surroundings. This form of travel is environmentally friendly and allows for meaningful exploration across a diverse range of settings, including towns, villages, countryside, and wilderness areas.
Travel Independence
Travel offers the opportunity to experience different cultures, lifestyles, and perspectives, as well as exposure to a wide range of terrain, climates, and natural environments. In addition, travel places teens in a variety of real-world situations that encourage problem-solving, adaptability, and critical thinking.
Outdoor Living
All of our trips include camping because it promotes a stronger sense of group cohesion and a deeper appreciation for the natural environment. While separate tents are required for females and males, camping allows participants and leaders to remain together as a unified group, rather than being dispersed across separate hotel rooms.
Budgeting
For many participants, this is the first experience managing their own spending money and budgeting responsibly over an extended period of time. This process provides a valuable learning opportunity, particularly for those who encounter challenges and experience the consequences of budgeting missteps. Because basic needs are still covered by funds carried by the trip leaders, this learning takes place in a safe and supportive environment. In addition, participants take turns serving on the cooking committee and are responsible for purchasing group meals while adhering to a set daily budget.
Daily Structure
Each group is provided with a clear framework for its journey, including a defined itinerary, reserved overnight locations, designated roads that may or may not be used, and key sights or activities to be completed. Group leaders take into account the ages and abilities of participants when guiding group decisions throughout the trip. In addition, groups share responsibility for planning, purchasing, and preparing their meals within a daily budget and established guidelines for reasonably healthy food choices.
Sense of Accomplishment
As more than twelve thousand former participants and their parents can attest, the sense of accomplishment gained from completing a bicycle journey of hundreds or even thousands of miles is truly unparalleled. By carrying their own gear, preparing their own meals, and managing daily living needs on the road, participants often finish the summer with a significantly heightened sense of self-sufficiency. Accomplishing these challenges alongside peers they may not have known previously also fosters a deeper appreciation for teamwork, cooperation, and shared responsibility.