The World is Your Oyster Volume 3: Andy Levine and Tom Coppock of DuVine Cycling
Our third episode of The World is Your Oyster brings us closer to home as we speak with Andy Levine and Tom Coppock of DuVine Cycling + Adventure Co. about their new trips in Hudson Valley, Shenandoah Valley, and New Mexico.
Andy Levine started his company decades ago creating bike trips in and around the vineyards of France. Since then, DuVine has offered small group trips (only up to 14 people per trip) with fantastic guides, farm-to-table experiences and carefully curated scenic rides designed to see the world slowly and intimately. Their motto is “Bike Eat Drink Sleep” and on their trips, you’ll do each of these in style!
We were lucky enough to pin Andy down long enough to find out what’s new this year. Tom Coppock, trip designer extraordinaire, joined us as well and tells us how he planned tours in the US with the same attention to detail as their trips in Tuscany and France. He discovered that you don’t need to look beyond our borders to find the distinct character, culture, and history of different regions of the US, not to mention, exquisite culinary experiences and magnificent scenery.
Thank you so much Andy and Tom for participating in this episode of The World is Your Oyster and for sharing your passion for what you do with our valued members. If anyone is interested in DuVine’s summer or fall trips, please let ActiveTravels know and we’ll check availability.
Today, we couldn’t pass up one of the rare opportunities to bike from one capital city to another, in this case Vienna to Bratislava. Actually, Lisa wouldn’t let me bow out of this ride early, because her mother was born in Vienna and her grandmother was born in Bratislava. So even though it was called the Iron Curtain Ride, we called it the Fried Roots Route for her mother’s family. Most of the riding was relatively level through bucolic countryside and forest, primarily on one of the EuroVelo trails that crisscross the continent for bikers. We stopped at a small snack bar for yes, our last radlers, and yummy cherry strudel, before continuing to our glamorous lunch spot, 
Then it was on to Slovakia, crossing a small bridge where a memorial was dedicated to the people who died trying to escape communist rule in hopes of finding freedom in Austria. We pedaled past old castle walls before hitting the city and snaking along the Danube to where our trusty home for the week, the 
At least one Sunday every summer, we park our car at the large parking lot near the Artesani Playground Wading Pool (1255 Soldiers Field Road, Brighton) and bike along the Charles River into Cambridge. Near Mount Auburn Hospital, Memorial Drive is closed to cars for a good mile or so on Sundays, before you hit the sidewalk and pedal along the water. The river is full of activity, with scullers and crew teams sharing the water with sailboats and motor boats making their way out to Boston Harbor. On the Cambridge side, we pass Harvard and MIT while peering across the Charles at the Prudential Center, Citgo sign, and the distinctive gold dome of the Old State House. At the Museum of Science, we head across the street to 
Since we celebrate the great Martin Luther King Jr. today, it’s a good time to dive into my top travel days of last year, which includes MLK’s hometown of Atlanta. We arrived in Atlanta for 3 nights after a weeklong trip along the South Carolina and Georgia coast in early November. Any one of those days could have made this list, especially strolling through the centuries-old live oaks at 
Sitting at the southernmost tip of South Africa, Capetown can certainly match Sydney and San Francisco as the most beautiful city in the world. Table Mountain, often draped in its tablecloth of clouds, forms a spectacular backdrop. A nice little warm up ride will bring you from the city to the exquisite beach of Camps Bay and the mountains rising behind Hout Bay. Serious bikers can then continue on to the Cape Peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. Just be on the lookout for baboons that often cross the road. Once you’ve properly explored Capetown, drive one hour to the west and start your tour of Stellenbosch and its award-winning wineries.