People often ask us what makes Flyingeese different. To be honest, though, we didn’t worry too much about what the competition were doing when we were setting up the operation: our goal was simply to create the cycling trip that we’d always wanted to go on ourselves, and take it from there.
First, the rides and routes have to be unforgettable, whatever your standard. From the coast to the mountains, the beautiful Algarve fits that bill in spades – but only if you know where to go. We researched thousands of miles of roads in the region, and have a uniquely detailed understanding of its countless possibilities.
That knowledge means we tailor every trip to suit every rider – and that’s one reason we never take more than eight people in a group. Peloton riding can be fun for a while, but it’s not our idea of a holiday. A small group means we can treat each rider as an individual, too, with personal nutrition programmes and so on (luckily, the local diet is naturally high in carbs and protein, so our meals can be large and delicious – and we’re not into bootcamps, either, so we make the most of the excellent Portuguese wine).
Also on our wish list would be a top of the range bike, support vehicles for every eventuality – and, while we’re at it, why not have group leaders who’ve competed at national level, too, to provide some personal coaching? If we can actually improve as well as enjoy ourselves, that’s a huge bonus.
It took a while, but we put it all in place, based down at the two luxury villas we own on the coast (that’s another thing, actually – we didn’t want to rely on third party accommodation that wasn’t quite how we needed it).
And then we looked at what we had, and we saw that it really was different – and most importantly, it really was the trip we always wanted to go on.