Another special summer — cycling, meeting people and doing what we love.

Another summer has come to an end.

There were lots of tours, many kilometres on the bike, plenty of ups and downs, some hot days, a few (very few) scratches :), thousands and thousands of photos, many, many smiles and endless stories.

Lisbon, Sintra, Cascais, Arrábida… places we know very well and have ridden through hundreds of times.

But there is one thing that never repeats itself: the people who arrive every day to ride with us.

Well… perhaps “never” isn’t quite the right word.

Because this summer, once again, we had the enormous joy of seeing people we had ridden with in previous years who, when they returned to Portugal, made a point of coming back to see us.

And we also met many new faces who, as it turned out, hadn’t found us by chance. They came because someone who had already ridden with us had told them: “When you go to Lisbon, you have to do a tour with these guys.”

There are few recommendations that make us happier.

Because it means that, after the bikes have been put away and the holidays are over, something from that day stayed with them. A story, a memory, or simply a day special enough that, months or even years later, they remembered us when a friend said they were travelling to Lisbon.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why, after all these years, we still enjoy what we do so much.

After guiding people from all over the world for so long, we are still curious every time someone new walks through our door.

We start by asking where they come from, but the conversation quickly goes much further. Where they have been, how long they are staying in Portugal, where they are going next, what they have already done and what they enjoy.

And we tell our stories too.

Very often, we start by talking about bikes and Lisbon and end up talking about our travels, their travels, food, family or whatever else comes up along the way.

That is also how many of our recommendations begin.

A restaurant where we like to eat, a beach, a hike, a town or simply somewhere we think is worth discovering.

This summer, for example, we recommended the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail and a kayak trip to the Benagil caves to a couple who had ridden with us.

A few days later, a message arrived:

“Thanks for the suggestion of the 7 Hanging Valleys hike, and also the Kayak tour of Bengali cave. It was amazing. Picture follows.”

And the picture really did follow.

They are small things, but for us they are as much a part of the job as explaining Lisbon’s history or showing someone the safest line down a hill.

Because, for us, a bike tour has never been just about following a route.

There are tours when we are still talking long after the bikes have been put away. Others end around a table. Some guests come back the next day to ride with us again, while from others we hear again weeks, months or even years later.

It doesn’t always happen, of course.

But when it does, it is one of the best parts of this job.

Arrábida - This summer also brought new roads

We continued riding through Lisbon, Sintra and Cascais, places that are part of our story and that we know extremely well.

But this year we also started taking more people somewhere we had wanted to share for a long time: Arrábida.

We already knew the region well. We knew what was there. What we wanted to discover was how people visiting us — many of whom had never even heard of Arrábida — would react to it.

We didn’t have to wait long for the answer.

We took them along small country roads, through vineyards, small villages and mountains, all the way to the blue Atlantic.

We cycled through Arrábida Natural Park, stopped in places where we didn’t see another tourist, visited a few local wineries to taste the region’s wines and cheeses, and enjoyed fantastic lunches beside beautiful beaches, eating some of the best things the sea gives us: fresh fish and seafood.

And there was something we particularly enjoyed.

Some of the people we took to Arrábida hadn’t even planned to do that tour.

They had first ridden with us in Lisbon or from Sintra to Cascais and, after that first day, decided to use another precious day of their holiday to come riding with us again.

One couple met us on a bike tour in Lisbon. They enjoyed that first day so much that they decided to spend the last day of their trip with us.

We went to Palmela, cycled through Arrábida to the green waters of Galapos Beach, stopped at a winery and ended up having fresh fish for lunch by the sea.

Later, they wrote:

“Miguel made our last day one that we will never forget.”

Another couple first joined us for our Sintra–Cascais tour. They enjoyed it so much that they decided to spend another day with us, this time in Arrábida.

Afterwards, they wrote:

“It was the highlight of our trip to Lisbon, we absolutely loved it.”

For us, it was also confirmation that so close to Lisbon there are still many lesser-known places capable of completely surprising the people who visit us.

Places we know well, but that we love seeing again through the eyes of someone discovering them for the first time.

And Arrábida showed us that you don’t have to travel very far from Lisbon to start discovering a completely different Portugal.

In the end, it is always about the people

When we look back at this summer, of course we remember the places we visited and the many kilometres we rode.

But most of all, we remember the people.

The conversations along the way, the laughter, the lunches, the stories they told us and the stories we told them.

And then there are those messages that arrive after the holidays are over and everyone has gone back to their lives.

One of them said:

“I have done many bike Tours in many cities in both the US and Canada and Europe. And yours was the best beyond any. You are a beautiful person and we would definitely come back and ride again with you.”

Another, after a full day of cycling, eating, drinking and discovering places that are normally far from the usual tourist routes, ended like this:

“We feel you are a friend and we will be back to see you again and we will send all of our friends your way!”

After all these years and the thousands of people who have ridden with us, receiving a message like this still makes us happy.

And we hope it always will.

We may know every street, every climb, every viewpoint and every turn along our routes. We can buy better bikes, create new tours and discover new roads.

But there is one thing we never want to lose: the joy of welcoming people.

We know that some people finish a tour with us thinking mainly about the places they have seen.

And that is absolutely fine.

Often, that is exactly what they are looking for: making the most of the few hours they have, seeing Lisbon, reaching different places and understanding the city a little better.

Our tours are for that too.

But we like to try to leave them with something more.

We want to create memories. Memories of places, of course, but also of moments.

There have been tours when we stayed talking long after the bikes had been put away. Others ended around a table. We have recommended places for people to visit the following day and later received photographs from them when they got there.

Some people return years later. Others send their children, their friends or their colleagues to us.

And some simply disappear into the thousands of people who visit Lisbon every year.

That is all part of it.

When we travel ourselves, we like meeting the people who live in the places we visit. We like talking to them, understanding a little about how they live, where they eat, what they do and where they think we should go.

So we try to offer the same thing to the people who visit us.

When you ride with us, you are not simply spending a few hours with someone who knows the route or can tell you the history of the monuments.

You are spending a few hours with a local. With someone who lives here. With a Portuguese person.

You can ask us about Lisbon’s history, but you can also ask where we would go for dinner. You can ask about the monuments, but also what it costs to live here, what we do on our holidays, which beach we prefer or where we like travelling by bike.

And very often, we are the ones asking the questions.

Because we also want to get to know the people riding with us.

Not everyone is looking for that kind of connection in the same way, and that is absolutely fine.

But we always want it to be there.

Because if, along with the places they have seen, people take home the memory of a conversation, a story, a lunch, a laugh or simply the person they shared that day with, then we have achieved what we have been trying to do since we started this work.

The tour became more than just a bike ride.

It became part of their journey.

And when someone returns to Portugal and walks through our door again, when a new guest tells us they came because a friend told them they had to ride with us, or when we receive a message from someone thousands of kilometres away saying “we feel you are a friend”, we know that we are still following the path we chose many years ago.

Bikes take us to places.
People give meaning to the journey.

And all of us — Miguel, Silvie, Pedro, Hugo and Maria — are truly grateful to everyone who chose to spend a few hours, a day, or sometimes more than one day with us this summer.

To those who rode with us for the first time, to those who came back, and to those who found us because someone else told them about us: thank you.

We’re still here.

There are many kilometres still to ride, many places still to share and, fortunately, many people we haven’t met yet.

You may also like to read:

1 - Our Lisbon Bike Tours: What's The Difference?

2 - Is Lisbon Safe for Bike Tours?

3 - 5 Reasons to Choose a Guided Bike Tour with a Local in Lisbon