For Cyclists The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Is A World-Class Bike Trip

I went to Kentucky for the bourbon, however got here again awed by the biking. I imply blown away.

I’ve accomplished biking journeys as holidays world wide, from classics akin to Tuscany and Burgundy to hotspots like Mallorca to much less visited locations akin to Japan, however a number of issues about driving in Kentucky stood out above each different place I’ve been.

Upon arrival, one in all tour guides with lively journey specialist Backroads instructed me that regardless that he had led journeys for the corporate throughout Europe and the American West, and ridden on his personal in Asia and South America and just about all over the place else, he had by no means seen drivers as courteous as in Kentucky. That made no sense to me, so after all, I figured it was advertising hype and didn’t imagine him.

I used to be incorrect. The place I dwell in Vermont, drivers are sometimes superb about interacting with cyclists, and in Spain and Italy, the place biking is a nationwide sport, drivers are even higher, very used to cyclists and affected person in terms of passing and such. However Kentucky is subsequent degree when it comes to politeness, and on a windy nation highway you would possibly look again to to see three or 4 automobiles stacked up and plodding alongside, ready till there’s a protracted straightaway after which passing with tons of room. Everybody waves you thru intersections and yields politely to allow you to in when turning, and in 5 days and over 200 miles, I didn’t expertise a single impolite driver, remark, or gesture and even as soon as have a automobile come what I contemplate too shut. In case you trip a motorbike, you’ll know that’s merely exceptional. I can say with conviction that the drivers in Kentucky bourbon nation are the politest I’ve seen on the earth.

However that’s simply the tip of the good biking iceberg. Whereas motorists are well mannered, they’re additionally uncommon – the primary day I rode 21 miles earlier than I noticed the second automobile on my route. Bourbon nation is rural, and it is usually horse nation, the guts of American thoroughbred racing and breeding. The views are consistently mesmerizing, previous thoroughbred farms on tree-lined empty roads with good fences and bluegrass, infinite drop-dead views, all with nearly no visitors. The roads are nicely maintained, and there’s a lot of rolling elevation change so that you get the exercise of gaining vital elevation every day, plus the fun of downhill rushes, however all with none of the extended grinding climbs you discover just about all over the place else that’s not flat. Briefly, the driving is stellar, and it will be nice even with out bourbon. However there may be additionally bourbon.

With the only real exception of Scotland, there may be most likely no place on earth extra synonymous with whiskey than Kentucky. Bourbon can legally be produced wherever in the US, however 95% of the world’s provide is made proper right here within the Bluegrass State, together with much more Kentucky whiskies that aren’t bourbon. There are extra barrels of bourbon ageing within the state than there are residents, and lots of of them are at welcoming distilleries with nice excursions and wonderful guests’ amenities.

To make the journey much more consumer pleasant, in 1999 the Kentucky Distillers’ Affiliation teamed up with a few of the most well-known names within the distilling enterprise – assume Maker’s Mark, Evan Williams, Jim Beam, and Wild Turkey, amongst many others – to create the Kentucky Bourbon Path. Most vacationers discover the path by automobile, however because it opened and has develop into more and more standard, extra distilleries and extra route choices have been added to the Path, and the Kentucky Distillers’ Affiliation mapped and printed instructions for 3 official “self-supported” bike excursions of the Bourbon Path, from 1-3 days, totaling 55-188 miles and visiting 3-10 distilleries. The Kentucky Bourbon Path web site has teamed up with lively mapping specialist RideWithGPS to supply each printable maps and cue sheets in addition to turn-by-turn GPS instructions utilizing the app in your smartphone. The entire distilleries listed alongside the best way have public excursions and tastings.

Nevertheless, this isn’t a visit I might personally advocate doing self-supported, except the only day trip – however that’s not lengthy sufficient to expertise the fascinating area. When you go in a single day, you must carry numerous gear, which makes it way more cumbersome. There’s little or no in the best way of motorbike leases out there within the area, and in case you discover one, it received’t have racks or panniers you’d need, which implies you mainly need to drive right here and produce your bike. Even in case you do, you continue to need to lug numerous weight and might by no means make certain if you arrive at a distillery whether or not a tour might be out there, as they’re very talked-about and promote out, or the following one won’t be for hours. If a thunderstorm or different dangerous climate breaks out, you’re on the highway by yourself and out of luck, and normally, you must do every little thing your self and depend on the identical publicly accessible tourism choices all of the drivers are searching for.

Each time I am going on a biking trip, I am going with a well-regarded tour operator that gives knowledgeable guides and van help in the course of the trip for mechanical or weather-related points (or in case you simply get drained). However additionally they have the accommodations pre-booked, eating reservations pre-booked, they transfer your baggage from lodge to lodge, and add VIP extras akin to personal excursions and experiences. earlier than you trip the primary mile what you will see for certain and all of the particular actions you’ll expertise, and don’t have to fret about lacking out on something.

There are a number of topnotch lively journey specialists operating organized bike excursions, particularly in iconic locations like Tuscany, and I’ve written about lots of them right here at Forbes. However there are only a few choices for the Kentucky Bourbon Path, and Backroads was the primary high tour operator to leap on this distinctive alternative and is by far probably the most skilled, after doing it for a number of years. Backroads can be the nation’s oldest and largest lively journey tour operators, and one of the crucial luxurious. They supply pre-loaded GPS bike computer systems with turn-by-turn instructions and have a fleet of custom-made European titanium bikes and {custom} e-bikes, with professional-level upgrades like Di2 electrical shifting on highway bikes. I had traveled with Backroads earlier than and knew the high-level of high quality to anticipate, and was not disillusioned.

The 5-day Kentucky Bourbon Path Biking journey begins in Louisville, which is a superb metropolis with a number of city distillery experiences and nice accommodations, in addition to the Louisville Slugger Museum, Muhammad Ali Heart and world-famous Churchill Downs racetrack, house of the Kentucky Derby. You possibly can come a day or two early and luxuriate in a few of these points of interest. I did simply that and stayed on the cool new Resort Distil, a member of Marriott’s Autograph Assortment, a model that teams unbiased boutique properties too distinctive to suit into extra cookie cutter labels like Westin or Sheraton. The Distil is in a historic constructing on Louisville’s Whiskey Row, the colourful coronary heart of Downtown, and sits simply steps from a number of high distilleries providing excursions, and has its personal exceptional eatery, Repeal Oak Fired Steakhouse. I’ve written extensively on high steakhouses world wide, however Repeal is the one one I’ve ever heard of that cooks over dwell hearth from burning whiskey barrel staves, and whereas it feels like a gimmick, the steaks have been scrumptious and uniquely crusted. I’d gladly eat there once more tomorrow.

The 5-day journey goes from Louisville to Lexington, the guts of each thoroughbred and whiskey tradition in Kentucky, and residential to the state’s different world-famous racetrack, Keeneland, host of the 2022 Breeders Cup. I’d by no means been and stayed an additional day to attend the races, and the observe is nice, among the finest and most traditional wherever, so between the 2 tracks and all of the horse associated stuff alongside the best way, you may take a look at this because the Kentucky Bourbon and Thoroughbred Path, a two-for-the-price-of-one cultural immersion.

The accommodations Backroads makes use of are exceptional, from the historic Shaker Village to offbeat however spectacular Kentucky Citadel, a Bluegrass nod to Versailles, whereas the spotlight is the final two nights at Louisville’s high luxurious property, the 21c Museum Resort. All breakfasts, lunches and dinners alongside the best way are included (which isn’t the norm on these sorts of journeys), as are a few personal distillery excursions, huge and small, a bourbon tasting and a number of other particular behind the scenes actions, together with an eye-opening personal tour of a high thoroughbred stud farm, a go to to the fascinating Kentucky Horse Park, house to the Worldwide Museum of the Horse, and even a non-public dwell bluegrass music efficiency. There’s the optionally available probability to mix and bottle your individual craft whiskey. The journey has been so standard in recent times that it has grown and grown, and subsequent yr there are 21 scheduled departures from April to October 2023. But regardless of its reputation, Backroads buyer opinions have by no means given it something however an ideal 5-Star ranking.

The biking within the space is simply unbelievable, it’s a magnet for whiskey fans, horse lovers and anybody excited by studying concerning the area’s tradition, and I can’t advocate it sufficient, whether or not you sort out it solo or go the cushier route with knowledgeable tour leaders, luxe lodging, personal excursions and all of the journey help you might ask for. It’s not probably the most well-known biking journey on the earth, but it surely’s one of the crucial enjoyable. To assist plan or prolong your journey earlier than or after, the journey websites of the State of Kentucky Tourism, Louisville Tourism and Lexington Tourism are all wonderful.