2025 Bike Tours: A Preview

718 Outdoors has been leading bike tours since 2014. Our 2025 slate of trips has many of our classic offerings, as well as some exciting new adventures. With registration currently open, now is the time to head over to out Tours and Micro-Tour page to have a look.

At 718, we basically have 2 kinds of bike tours; Tours and Micro-Tours. Our Tours generally are between 6 and 8 days of riding, and have a remote start point. These are self-supported excursions...however, "Self-Supported" doesn't mean you'll be on your own.

We provide a community and a structure that makes sure every trip is safe and organized. From the trip's WhatsApp group, Zoom safety and orientation meeting and a host of pre-trip resources (packing list, nutrition guide), 718 when it comes to bike tours.

Our bike tours are beginner friendly and inclusive. These are "no-drop" rides, and no one is left behind.

For 2025, we have added 3 new bike tours to our current roster of 5.

New Bike Tours

• Vermont: A loop of northern Vermont, leaving from Burlington and heading on a great counter-clockwise loop.
• Canada (Left): Montreal/Mont. Laurent/Ottawa
• Canada (Right): Montreal/Quebec City/Sherbrooke

Classic Bike Tours

• Erie Canal: Buffalo to Albany tracing the patch of the historic Eric Canal.  The trip passes through Rochester, Syracuse, Rome, Utica and Schenectady on our way to the conclusion at Albany.
• Great Allegheny Passage / C&O: Pittsburgh to Washington DC. This trip is a mix of history and natural beauty as we wind our way through southwester Pennsylvania and then Maryland along the Potomac River
• Catskills: Leaving from Poughkeepsie, this trip circumnavigates the entire Catskill Park, going through Phoenicia, Margaritaville, Andes, Downsville, East Branch, Roscoe, Livingston Manor and the Sundown Wilderness Area,
• Adirondacks: This trip starts and ends in Schenectady, NY, with a great counter-clockwise loop of the Adirondacks that reaches as far north as lake Placid.
• Finger Lakes: Syracuse to Rochester, seeing all 11 Finger Lakes

Our Micro-Tours consist of 2,3 and (new for 2025) 4 days of riding. These are also self-supported trips. Think of these are "mini bike tours".

New Micro-Tours

• Swimming Hole: This is a 4 day, 3 night, 3 State (NY, CT, MA) trip leaving from New Haven, CT and ending in Poughkeepsie. Each campsite will have a lake to swim in, and we will be stopping along the way at additional swimming opportunities.
• Pine Barrens: Our Pine Barrens, NJ trip in June will be a unique one as its basically a Micro-Tour without any fee or a waiver.  We are doing this in the spirit of adventure and exploitation...and because its a ride we haven't done before
• Cat Rescue: For this trip, we will be donating 50% of the registration fee as well as rider pledges, to Little Wanderers NYC. This is a new direction in terms of the bike tours we lead, as we are looking to provide attention and funding to issues that are important to us.

Classic Micro-Tours

• Croton: Croton represents a great beginner trip, in that its of a shorter distance and has many campsite amenities.
• Ward Pound Ridge: 58 miles north of New York City near Katonah, New York, Ward Pound Ridge is an excellent spot to forget about the city for awhile.
• Mountain Lakes: Also at 58 miles, Mountain Lakes in North Salem, New York

** Joe’s trips are meticulously planned with safety in mind and are always a good time. They are perfect for both first time riders looking to tour in a group as well as more experienced riders. (CH)

718 Outdoors (formally 718 Cyclery) was launched in 2008 as a bike shop that built bikes collaboratively with our customers, as well as providing a place for the New York City Cycling community to grow.

One of the best parts about our early growth was that we had attracted some great bike mechanics who also had a lot of bike touring experience. 

They would go on bike tours with each other during their off days...soon, they were dragging me along. Not soon after that, customers were asking to come along. This was the time before bike tours got very trendy in the bike industry (last say 2017/18). Our first trip as a crew was to Vermont on 2014 (Image Gallery)

As the years passed, bike tours became a bigger and bigger part of what we did (and enjoyed) at 718.  We split the trips into Bike Tour and Micro-Tours in order to give our customers some options.

Fast forward to today, and 718 has basically ditched bike repairs and now even the whole bike industry to pursue this idea of sharing experiences with our community.

Hope to see you out there on the trail!

This is a collection of gear that I wouldn't be caught without on any of our Bike Tours. I have led over 125 group Bike Tours, and have developed an affinity for things that just work.

The list may grow or shrink, but will always contain items that have been tested on many, many bike tours with me. Every one of these items is packed in my bags on every trip I go on.