While it’s an incredible experience to take a Backroads bike tour, it may be an even more incredible experience to work for Backroads! Every year, the lucky team at Backroads – Trip Leaders and staff – get to journey together on one of our bike tours for the annual Staff Ride.

Sure, it’s an amazing perk of working for a great company, but it’s also a way to give everyone at Backroads firsthand experience on our many different walking tours and biking tours around the world, which helps us help you better decide what trip to take and answer any questions you may have.

This year, our staff headed to Crete in Greece to participate in our Greece Biking Tour, which goes all along the coast of the beautiful island of Crete, offering some jaw-dropping views. More than 150 employees from all around the globe joined in on this magnificent ride.

We started our Greece bike tour in the seaside town of Rethymno followed by a relaxing ride to the Aegean Sea. On day 2, we did a coast to coast ride between the two mountain ranges on the island, going past spring-fed waterfalls and the ancient ruins of Argiroupolis. After an 18-kilometer hike down the Samaria gorge, the longest gorge in Europe, we arrived in the village of Loutro in south Crete. During the trip, we also enjoyed amazing views of the Venetian port in Chania and sampled olive oil at a family owned farm.

On the last full day of the Staff Ride, 150 of us hiked from the sleepy Greek village of Loutro, accessible only by boat, to Hora Sfakion for a final ride!

Sound like a fun time? It was! While you can’t experience it with 150 others (unless you come to work for Backroads, of course J), you can experience the same Greece bike tour on your own. Call our Trip Consultants at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific for more details or to get it on your calendar today! The Crete bike tour starts back up in March. Stay tuned to find out where we’ll be going on our Staff Ride for 2013!