Why Should I Bicycle With Noo Funteers Adventure Vacation Tours?

Noo Funteers is owned and operated by vacation cyclists. Our vacations are adventure vacations. We have many years' experience in adventure travel. For years, we have traveled with various outfitters throughout the Western United States, Canada, and Alaska. Frequent comments by other customers, along with our own desires, prompted us to begin a different kind of adventure touring company. Noo Funteers endeavors to provide the most scenic and spectacular routes, coupled with the finest available meals and accommodations, while providing more challenging routes than other outfitters offer. On all of our trips we stay in lodges, motels and inns, as opposed to camping. The following 11 points illustrate why you should choose Noo Funteers for your next active vacation tour.   1. GREAT SCENERY   1. GREAT SCENERY   Foremost in our trip route selection is the magnificent scenery. Your scenery possibilities range from towering snow capped peaks to eerie desert rock formations. In addition, our remote routes offer the opportunity to see a wide variety of abundant wildlife on each trip.   2. MORE CHALLENGING TRIP ROUTES   2. MORE CHALLENGING TRIP ROUTES   In addition to beginner trips, we also have several trips that will challenge even the most experienced cyclist. The longest trip in terms of daily and overall mileage is the Grand Junction trip that averages 77 miles a day for a grand trip total of 844 miles. Elevation climbs per day range as high as 8,947 feet on our most difficult trip.   3. LOWER TRAFFIC VOLUMES   3. LOWER TRAFFIC VOLUME   Most of the western roads on which we bike have much lower traffic volumes than the roads in the eastern half of the United States. Most of our trips are scheduled before or after peak tourist season. Those scheduled during tourist season are on roads that are not as heavily traveled by tourists as the other roads in the vicinity.   4. WIDE SHOULDERS   4. WIDE SHOULDERS   Most of the selected roads in our routes have fairly clean, two to eight foot wide shoulders on which to bike.   5. LONGER GRADES   5. LONGER GRADES   On the more difficult trips for advanced cyclists, some days have long, more gradual grades, as opposed to the short steeper grades found in the East. This means some of our downhills may be 15 to 30 miles long. Some days may be fairly flat, however if there is a climb it is usually not as steep as the grades in the East.   6. BICYCLING AT YOUR OWN PACE   6. BICYCLING AT YOUR OWN PACE   None of our trips are races to see who finishes first. Our detailed, easily understood descriptions and directions will allow an individual to pedal at his own pace without the help of a guide. Indeed, if you ride too fast you may miss seeing some wildlife or scenery that others behind you are enjoying. If you so desire, you may take all day to complete each leg of your trip, stopping as often as you feel necessary to take pictures, watch wildlife, or to absorb the beauty of the moment. If you do not want to pedal the whole day, then just flag down the van and hitch a shuttle ride at any point.   7. EXCITING OPTIONS ON DAYS OFF   7. EXCITING OPTIONS ON DAYS OFF   Although the costs of optional activities are not included in the cost of the trip, some options are available at a group rate. Most of our option days allow for a wide variety of fun and exciting (or just restful) activity selections. Some of the many options from which you may choose on different trips range from hiking, mountain biking, shopping for trip momentos, horseback riding, boating or white water rafting. Hot mineral spas, train rides, balloon riding, and sightseeing at National Parks are available on certain trips. On many of our trips, we have off days scheduled in areas considered by many outdoor magazine polls as some of the best areas in which to hike in the Western Hemisphere. For the hiking enthusiast, we recommend the Bryce-Zion, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, or Big Bend trips.   8. BEST FOOD AND INNS AVAILABLE   8. BEST FOOD AND INNS AVAILABLE   We utilize the best restaurants and inns available. Our evening meals are not pre-selected. You may order any appetizer, salad, entre, and dessert offered on the menu. Alcoholic beverages are not included in the cost of the trip. We try to make our overnight accommodations the finest in the area. If there is a famous landmark inn or hotel in the area, we try to patronize that location.   9. SMALL GROUP SIZE   9. SMALL GROUP SIZE   We insist on maintaining small groups for our trips. Our maximum amount of participation is 31 guests plus two to four guides. Our normal group size is 15 to 22 people plus guides. The small size of our groups makes for much safer, less crowded road conditions. This also allows our guides to devote more time to each of our guests specific requests.   10. WELL SPACED REST STOPS FOR FOOD AND WATER   10. WELL SPACED REST STOPS FOR FOOD AND WATER   We have roadside rest stops at which we provide snacks and drinks, usually every 10 to 15 miles. Lunches are specially prepared and served at a scenic roadside stop, which is usually three to four hours into the ride each day.   11. PHYSICALLY ACTIVE VACATIONS   11. PHYSICALLY ACTIVE VACATIONS   We offer some of the most active and unusual vacations to be found anywhere in America. You may select from trips ranging in duration from four to 14 days. The mileage ranges from the highest of 844 total miles (77 miles a day average) to a low of 76 total miles (25 miles a day average). Elevation average climb is a high of 6,481 feet per day to a relatively flat 1,455 feet per day.

Noofunteers was established by Larry and Karen, a husband and wife team of action adventurers, who after Karen's accident, decided to look for something a little safer, although still challenging enough to suit their sense of adventure. They joined many bike tours over the years and listened to members of the tours while reserving their own judgment. There were suggestions, as well as groans, and the biggest groan was at the end of a hot and sticky day's ride, they had to set up camp for the night and help with group preparation of meals. Although cyclists could see the most amazing scenery and old, historical sites, like those of Telluride, Colorado on a bike tour, the drawbacks of the vacation became increasingly and glaringly obvious.

Larry and Karen put a great deal of thought and planning into how they could make it a better vacation for cyclists who were a mixed group of beginners and more experienced bikers and solutions were simple. All the bikers would appreciate a hot bath or shower at the end of a tiring day's ride, and they would most certainly enjoy being able to order from a menu that would better cater to their personal tastes, allergies, or diets. Noofunteers was born and the ideas discussed were put into practice. Now cyclists know that after touring through Telluride, Colorado on a bike tour with a Noofunteers outfit, they will be staying at the best resort or lodge available in the area and will be able to choose a dinner and a breakfast from the menu and get a great deal more enjoyment from their vacations.

Whether the bike tour is through Telluride, Colorado, or any other trip chosen for a vacation, cyclists know that they will be spending a comfortable night in lodges, bed and breakfasts, hot spring resorts, inns, or hotels a great many of which are featured in the National Historical Register. Noofunteers found that the western states provided safer and more scenic trips as the traffic was lighter and drivers seemed to be more sympathetic to cyclists' needs. The bike tours will go through the states of Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Arkansas, and Colorado. Tours composed of beginners will cover between five to thirty-five miles a day for about two to three hours, while the more experienced groups will cycle for between five and eight hours while covering sixty to eighty miles. A support van is always available, not only to transport biker's luggage to the next stop, but to also pick up any rider who is feeling strain or fatigue.

Noofunteers has included days off from riding for their bike tour vacationers and in Colorado they might enjoy exploring the old mountain town of Telluride. Skiing has revived old mountain towns like Telluride, Colorado, and bike tours through this area are taking full advantage of all the facilities available. A short cycling distance from Telluride is the old mining town of Ouray, settled in 1875, when silver was discovered nearby. Telluride, Colorado is a fine spot for bike tours for in any direction vacationers will find parks, springs, and the Rockies as a backdrop or the strange rock formations that have been sculpted by the weather over millions of years.