Category: Eat Sleep Cycle News

Over the coming years we plan to dedicate time, resources and money to supporting the charity in achieving its mission:

“Improve the quality of life of people living in less privileged situations by using bicycles as a tool for integration, equal opportunities and increased social mobility.”

Bicicletas Sin Fronteras was founded by passionate and energetic social entrepreneur Romà Boule from Girona. 

When speaking with Romà about his charity, this is what he said:

What makes the Bicicletas Sin Fronteras bike (Baob bike) different?

“Since our focus is on education of young people and not on the bike as a transport tool, the bike can be simpler, lighter and cost effective. We believe that education is the key to improving the wellbeing of young people in the places we work.”

Why are you focusing on Senegal currently?

“We have worked in other areas including India. When visiting Senegal we noticed that the schools were already built across the country but the children had no way of getting there. We saw an opportunity to fill that gap.”

What makes you get out of bed each day?

“As well as loving the creativity needed in what I do (I am at heart an entrepreneur), I feel like if I help people, I also will be looked after.”

Romà took our hearts and our heads with this project and above all with his openness to any kind of donation or support.

Here is how Eat Sleep Cycle will support the Bicicletas Sin Fronteras charity:

• Creation of a space in the Eat Sleep Cycle store to spread the Bicicletas Sin Fronteras project with actions like:
  • Display of the baobike in the store window.
  • A poster 
• Presentation at the Eat Sleep Cycle café on December 19, 2023 of Bicicletas sin Fronteras and the collaboration between both parties.
• Edition of an intimate dinner with 8-10 people plus influencers from Girona together with Bicicletas sin Fronteras.
• Creation of Bicicletas Sin Fronteras products with 100% of the profit going to Bicletas sin Fronteras.
• Edition of a tour for January / February to Senegal for Eat Sleep Cycle guests. 
• Disseminate the action of Bicicletas Sin Fronteras among its clients, staff and other interested people.

By joining the organization we’re committing to contribute to the sector in a meaningful way that protects the people, cultures and landscapes we ride through, and also create immersive cultural experiences for our guests.

The ATTA is an organization whose purpose is to nurture and professionalize the responsible and sustainable development of the adventure travel industry.

Like ATTA we believe that adventure tourism contains three main components for the traveler: 

1) physical activity, 

2) a connection to nature and the environment and 

3) an immersive cultural experience.

As tourism is one of the largest employers on the planet, it has a major impact on peoples’ economic well-being and the planet’s health. Furthermore, adventure tourism is inextricably dependant on human- and nature-capital; protection and promotion of these resources is key.

“The ATTA serves as a community that supports and engenders these efforts. While we believe that no organization is perfect in its actions regarding responsibility and sustainability, we affirm that it should be the intent of every organization to move towards such goals. Thus, the ATTA declares its affirmation and support of the following key issues:”

1. TOURISM ETHICS

The ATTA affirms and agrees with the UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism

2. PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

The ATTA believes in the protection of children from harmful effects of tourism and is a signatory of TheCode.org

3. RESPONSIBILITY

The ATTA believes in the universal standards put forth by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (Based on the UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism), and that tourism businesses and destinations should adopt the criteria specifically in these four areas:

• Demonstrating effective sustainable management
• Maximizing social and economic benefits to the local community and minimizing negative impacts
• Maximizing benefits to cultural heritage and minimizing negative impacts
• Maximizing benefits to the environment and minimizing negative impacts

4. COMMUNITY PRINCIPLES

ATTA Members — when working under the auspices as aforementioned — will treat each other and travelers with respect and professionalism and conduct business with safety, honesty and integrity. As a community, we will seek to improve our own organization’s compliance with the points noted above. As a community, we will, wherever possible, seek to assist other organizations and professionals within the association to achieve success, both in the pursuit of the values noted above and in business.

At Eat Sleep Cycle we look forward to connecting with fellow ATTA members and continuing to shape our cycling experiences alongside the ATTA community.

Eat Sleep Cycle named as Europe’s Most Innovative Cycling Tour Providor by LUXlife magazine

The travel and tourism industry is one of the biggest in the world. It employs millions of individuals and generates trillions for the world’s economy. We all enjoy travel throughout our lives and, leaving no stone unturned, our winners create magical moments for us to enjoy either solo or with loved ones.

Recognising and Showcasing the best in Travel & Tourism

Now in its seventh year, the LUXlife Travel & Tourism Awards aim to recognise and showcase those within the industry that go above and beyond for their clients. The winners reflect the plethora of businesses providing excellence within the sector, from hotels and spas to tour operators and excursion managers, and many more.

Commenting on the winners of this year’s awards programme, Coordinator Jessie Wilson stated:

It is with pride that we present our winners within this year’s Travel & Tourism Awards. It’s great to see them flourishing in such a prevalent industry that helps us to create precious memories. I want to congratulate each and every one of them.

Jessie Wilson

Pause for Reflection and Celebration

The Eat Sleep Cycle team are equally proud to achieve recognition for their hard work in growing their cycling tour business since 2016. Read our ‘How a Cycling Business Can Adapt in the Face of a Crisis’ blog to hear the story how we adapted through Covid. We went on to expand and realise a long held dream of creating a true Cycling Hub.

Now we’re back to business as normal and it’s wonderful to see returning guests coming back to enjoy cycling trips with us again. Winning this award gives us space to step back and reflect on what we’ve achieved. A huge thank you goes to our amazing team and wonderful guests who’ve made this all possible.

Louise Laker, Eat Sleep Cycle Founder

Want to learn more about our cycling tours?

Browse our range of tours on our tour finder, check out what guests have to say about their expereinces and… get in touch! We love to hear from anyone out there thinking about their next cycling adventure.

We are so excited about this year’s bike rental fleet we can hardly write this post! We simply want to get out riding all the incredible new bikes.

In 2023 our entire bike rental fleet is brand new because our priority is that you have that “new bike” feeling when you rent with us.

We’ve introduced several new brand partners to give our guests more choice & to make sure everyone can enjoy the right bike for their cycling holiday.

We offer a dedicated bike hire center in Girona and also opened a second bike rental point in Málaga in South Spain – a great option for cycling trips in all of Andalucia.

We’ve tried our best to narrow the updates down to our top 4 highlights of this year’s rental bike fleet. What’s your favourite?

Get your high-end bike hit on your cycling holiday

When you rent a bike, why not try something special that you don’t ride at home? That’s what motivates us to find the latest top of the range bikes to make your cycling trip extra special.

If you want to ride an iconic Italian bike try the brand new 2023 Basso Diamante which has had 22 years of innovation over a 45 year proud Italian history. This year the bike is even lighter and the integrated cockpit has been improved even further. This bike is a head turner.

If you have a need for speed check out the Ridley Noah Fast, the bike that Cadel Evans wins sprint stages on. This bike just wants to go and will make you want to pedal hard!

Introducing Cannondale for the first time in the Eat Sleep Cycle rental fleet 

With a 34 tooth cassette and comfortable geometry, we believe the Synapse is one of the best Endurance bikes on the market. That would be enough in its own right, but adding the brand new Shimano 105 12 speed groupset makes this bike the perfect choice for tackling the hills surrounding the Eat Sleep Cycle cycling Hubs.

If you prefer a racier feel, try the Cannondale Supersix EVO. With looks to kill, this speedy bike will put a smile on your face no end.

All-Road bikes mean you can rent one bike for all your needs

The n+1 rule for the number of bikes you need to rent (own) is being blown out of the water by our innovative brand partners. If you didn’t know already, both road and gravel around the Eat Sleep Cycle Hubs is incredible and selecting an all-road bike is the perfect way to make the most of all the available scenery on your cycling holiday. 

The Ridley Grifn by Ridley is designed using Ridley’s decades of experience in cyclocross, gravel and high end road bikes. The Grifn combines the speed of a road bike with the comfort of a gravel bike. With tyre clearance 38 mm, this is a true “one bike for all” solution on your Eat Sleep Cycle trips. 

The brand new 2023 Basso Astra, with 35 mm tyre clearance, is the perfect bike for riding fast on the road and also turning off the beaten track and taking in the views at any moment. Basso bikes are well known for their stable geometry, this will give you confidence on any surface condition.

Expanding our electric bike offering

In case you want a bit of support on the hills, we’ve got you covered!

The Giant Revolt E+ electric gravel bike boasts the all-new EnergyPak Smart Compact 500 battery which delivers long-distance pedaling support and is seamlessly integrated into the frame for a sleek overall profile.

When you need more juice and more fun the Cannondale Monterra Neo 3, a dual-suspension e-mountain bike built to crush boundaries. With its intuitive handling & the power and range of the Bosch 750Wh system, nothing is out of reach.

Sometimes you just want to pedal through the city and enjoy the sights, for that the Cannondale Adventure Neo 3.1 EQ is perfect. This bike is available at our new Cycling Hub in Málaga. 

Want to book a bike or find out more about our Bike Hire destinations?

For information about riding in Andalucia check out our blog about cycling in Málaga in the winter months & head over to our Málaga Bike Hire page to book your bike. For Girona read our Cyclist’s Guide & book a bike on our Girona Bike Hire page.

Big news from Eat Sleep Cycle! In the words of Co-Founder Lee:

After our successful crowdfunding campaign in the summer of 2021, when our community came together to raise over €30,000 to open the Eat Sleep Cycle Cafè, we are thrilled to announce that Eat Sleep Cycle SL has now secured capital investment.

We will use the funds primarily to grow our tours business, as we speak we are developing new cycling tours in new locations worldwide. We will also grow our tours team which is working from our new headquarters in Fornells de la Selva, just outside of Girona. We will continue to find the best local cycling guides and guarantee them work for years to come. Our focus is on a 5* repeatable cycling tour product for our guests.

Of course retail, which has grown exponentially over the last 3 years, will continue to be an important part of our business and we will focus more online. We have a unique business model which combines cycling experiences and retail.

Sustainability is core to everything we are doing and from installing solar panels to updating our vehicle fleet to electric, from stocking more sustainable cycling products to investigating zero footprint cycling tours, we will use the funding to become a more sustainable business.

Our investors whom we have known since 2018, come from Chicago. We have ridden across the Pyrenees, Dolomites and French Alps together. So they know us well and see the growth potential in our business. The wealth of experience, knowledge and contacts they bring us will be invaluable in the coming years. 

For Louise and I, this investment comes after 6 years of hard work, half of which has been through the pandemic involving travel bans. We have stuck to our core ethos of cycling as a way of life; for sport, for commuting to work, for mental health and lower environmental impact, for traveling and experiencing new cultures. We are super excited for a bright and prosperous future together with our staff team, customers & suppilers.

Want to find out more?

For more informaiton contact founder Louise at louise@eatsleepcycle.com

P.S. Enjoyed this blog? Why not sign up to receive notifications every time we post and get regular updates on our latest tours!

If we thought 2020 (which included the cancellation of international travel) was a big year for Eat Sleep Cycle (primarily a travel business back then), 2021 has made it look like a tiny little stepping stone on the way to great things.

This year has been incredibly challenging & extremely satisfying all at the same time. 

Thank you!

We would like to take the opportunity to look back at 2021 and thank all of our customers, our staff, our families, the local government and tourism bodies and anybody else who has supported Eat Sleep Cycle this year. It is impossible to mention you all but you know who you are. We owe you big time!

Recap of our plan

We approached 2021 as a year in which we could grow our retail business and enjoy the return of international travel. There was so much uncertainty around travel so we decided to focus on developing our retail business. That plan included bringing in new talent to our team and collaborating with new exciting brands. That was the plan anyway, so how did it work out?!

60% recovery of our tours business in Autumn

Of course nobody knew how COVID would continue to affect travel, even through the uncertainty we achieved a 60% recovery of our European tours over the Autumn period. We delivered tours in Girona, Mallorca, South Spain, the French Alps, Italian Dolomites & Morroco. Cycling experiences have continued to be the core of our business. We were so happy to welcome guests back that we had not seen for one or 2 years.

270% increase in our retail business

Of course we benefited somewhat from the COVID cycling boom, but also our focus on catering for our local market and global market simultaneously via our online shop really worked out.

We took on new brands, particularly growing our new bike stock, including Giant, De Rosa and Kona. We also started working with some beautiful boutique brands like Moots, No.22 & custom steel frame builder RS Cycles.

People are constantly suprised at how we managed to have a steady supply of bikes throughout the year – check them out here!

Becoming Girona’s No.1 Bike Hire Centre

With our shop at full capacity serving our local customers we knew we needed more space to continue offering high quality bike rental. Enter our Bike Rental Centre, located just next door to the shop. In Autumn we enjoyed our first bike rental season since the 2019 lockdowns, with customers testing our our Ridley Fenix SLiC’s, Basso Palta’s & extra special demo bikes too.

We’re in the middle of building a seriously nice fleet for 2022 – alongside our favourite Ridley’s & Basso’s we’re adding Colnago to our bike rental offer. Check out our 2022 bike hire fleet.

Putting the Eat into Eat Sleep Cycle

A huge project for us this year was to open our very own Cafè Restaurant. We signed the contract in March, started our crowdfunding campaign in April, started the construction project in May & opened on the 31st July for a whirlwind summer. 

The cafe restaurant and bike hire center really established Eat Sleep Cycle as the Girona cycling destination. If you haven’t seen the set-up yet you must visit our little cycling heaven corner of Girona in 2022!

Thank you to our awesome team!

We were grateful to grow our team once again in 2021. A big welcome to our new café team – Bram, Massimo, Ariadna, Ingrid, Alma & Ferran. Welcome to Raul, Manuel & Jose Luis to team Finance, Cristina to Tours & Oscar, Mike & Mateu to the shop. A huge welcome also to Maribel, our cleaner who does so much more! Here we all are having fun this December:

What’s Store for 2022?

2022 will see the return of our cycling tours business to almost 2019 levels and we will operate tours in all of our existing locations and roll out our first departures in Portugal & Slovenia.

Our cycling Hub in Girona will be thriving through the full season and our terrace will be full of happy cyclists. We will organise many more free social rides for local people and visiting cyclists alike.

We’re not planning big growth in retail, more stabilising and consolidating our offer & improving the quality of everything we do in this area. We will focus more on sustainability and developing the skills of every one of our team.

Of course we will all enjoy some incredible bike rides and we hope you do too!

Ride with Eat Sleep Cycle in 2022!

As soon as you’re ready to travel we would love to cycle with you! Give us a call now on +34 972 754 301 or contact us online for more info!

P.S. Enjoyed this blog? Why not sign up to receive notifications every time we post and get regular updates on our latest tours

 

Eat Sleep Cycle partner Lee Comerford tells us why you should consider running a crowdfunding campaign and provides some top tips for running your own. Don’t forget to check out the Eat Sleep Cycle Café crowdfunding campaign & get invovled in the project!

If you are a business owner, & especially if you have experienced hardship from the pandemic & want to kick start something & engage with your community, I advise you to seriously consider running a crowdfunding campaign. – Lee Comerford, Partner of Eat Sleep Cycle

What is a Crowdfunding Campaign?

A crowdfunding campaign is a way of raising money from your family, friends, supporters, customers and even ethusiastic strangers. There are various types of crowdfunding campaigns including rewards based, which I will discuss here.

Why should you consider a Crowdfunding Campaign?

Your friends and family, your customers, local and international, all want your business to succeed and how can they help you if you do not provide a structure for them to do so? If your business has been through hardship they will respect your efforts to turn things around. It is the perfect time to get people engaged in your project. As well as the monetary benefits, a crowdfunding campaign is an excellent way to market your business, especially if you are expanding, offering a new product/service or want to change your brand image in some way.

At Eat Sleep Cycle we were faced with limited support from banks as we wanted to fund building a new cafe next door to our bike shop. Because the cafe was owned by a local Catalan business we also had a need to market to the local community to explain the project. We wanted to use the expansion as a repositioning of our brand, linking it even more so to our base Girona. We used the campaign to forge stronger collaborations with local suppliers who would be involved in the rewards. This has created a win-win situation and attracted local and foreign press, escalating the campaign and making it even more successful.

Top Tips for Making the most of your Crowdfunding Campaign

Seek expert help:

A number of crowdfunding campaigns fail because they do not meet their target. As well as wasting your time and money this will not be good marketing for your business. 

It is worth paying an expert to help you create your campaign and give you guidance throughout the campaign. Trust me, it will pay back. Our approach, the content we are creating, the platform we are using and our communications during the campaign have all been influenced by Valenti Acconcia. We absolutely could not have made it a success without his help.

You need a strong network to start with:

I would say that the only prerequisite to running a crowdfunding campaign is that you already have a strong network and access to them via channels such as email, instagram and LinkedIn. Of course there will be some surprise supporters and strangers who love what you are doing and get involved, but you will already know most of the contributors. The challenge is packaging the project, explaining it in the right way and maximising the contributions.

A pre-campaign is key

You will be keen to get going right away, especially if you need the money! More haste and less speed is the first rule. It is critical that once your campaign actually launches you hit the target in the first week. If you do not, it is very likely the campaign will not succeed. A pre-campaign is used to generate interest, collect emails of people who you are relatively sure will contribute and give you confidence to open the campaign proper. Everyone will be asking “where do I type my credit card details?” during this time which can be frustrating. Be patient, when the campaign opens they will contribute and you need hundreds more just like them.

Make an excellent Crowdfunding Campaign video:

Having checked out some other crowdfunding videos, there is a direct relation between the success of the campaign and the quality of the promotion video. It is absolutely worth paying a proper video maker to film and edit a quality video. This will involve a script, recruiting actors (use your own staff, customers and friends) and many hours of preparation. We made our Café Crowdfunding video special in this way:

• We told the truth about our situation and what happened to our business through the pandemic.
• We included as many of our existing and new staff as possible and of course it is our own customers who say why the project is special and others should get involved.
• We included some humor and tried to make the audience laugh. We do not take ourselves too seriously in the video. 
• We presented in 4 languages to show our international nature and always respected the local Catalan language, Spanish and English.

Rally Your Supporters – & Pick Up the Phone!

Of course it is impossible to personally email 12 thousand people so you will send out a newsletter. When you receive personal replies try to answer them yourself. I picked up the phone and called some of the most interested people to understand what they liked about the project. I learnt a lot about our supporters and what they want out of being involved. You will be surprised just how supportive people are!

Collaborate with other Local Businesses

Why be the only business that benefits from your campaign? If you can include other suppliers or businesses in the campaign they will help you share it and gain you access to new supporters. We offered a range of prizes including stays at local hotels and kit made by a local manufacturer. They appreciate the marketing and helped us in the build up to the campaign. Think about all the different angles you can benefit from the campaign.

Crowdfunding Benefits

Running a crowdfunding campaign takes a lot of effort and is not cheap. We had to make it our #1 marketing priority for several weeks. We justify this investment by not viewing the campaign on its own, but part of a journey to create an even more engaged customer base. We will be running more campaigns and hope to focus more on solving social and environmental challenges like getting more people cycling to work. There are massive intangible benefits to our brand image and local integration that are difficult to quantify but we hear it from the people we speak to everyday! To read more about how much this project is costing, see the previous Eat Sleep Cycle blog “Eat Sleep Cycle Café – How Much Is It Really Costing?”

Want to support our café crowdfunding campaign?

The campaign is now live! Our new sustainable cycling jersey, among other rewards, are now available to order for a limited time only via our café crowdfunding campaign.

Join The Team

You might have noticed – Eat Sleep Cycle is expanding and we’re looking for fellow cycling fanatics to join us as we enter our next phase as a cycling tour business, bike shop, bike rental centre and now, café! If you want to join us, then take a look at our available roles.

P.S. Enjoyed this blog? Why not sign up to receive notifications every time we post and get regular updates on our latest tours!