1983: Ralph breaks his 5000 km around-UK ride in Reddish, outside his uncle and aunt's house.
OUTBIKE HISTORY
With a background of around 20,000 km of cycle-touring ('bikepacking') in the 1980s and as a tour operator since 1990, Ralph launched Outbike in 2004 with the idea of supported rides in Australia's Outback.
The first events were 14 day 4wd-supported rides along remote Outback trails from Alice Springs to Coober Pedy via Santa Teresa Community, Simpson Desert, Old Andado, Mt.Dare, Dalhousie Springs, Oodnadatta and the Painted Desert.
Then, Outbike was connected to the popular tour company, Wayward Bus.
In 2005 Outbike added the epic trans-continental 'Bike 'n Wheels Expedition', taking 30 days to ride 2200km from Port Augusta to Karumba - and now more often known as the 'Gulf to Gulf' or G2G. In 2006 and 2007 these rides were repeated.
Outbike changed ownership in 2007 soon after the merger of Wayward Bus and Adventure Tours Australia. More rides ran in the following years but with further changes of ownership the Outbike brand fizzled out.
With the passage of time, the Outbike name became available again. In 2014 we rebooted Outbike to offer again the Gulf 2 Gulf and fresh ride ideas in Queensland, the Outback and Europe.
The Gulf-to-Gulf ran again in 2016, 2019, and a double set in 2022. Next rides are 2024 and 2025.
In 2016 and 2018 Outbike ran 23-day rides of the WW1 Western Front, across France from the North Sea to Switzerland, in collaboration with Flanders local Carl Ooghe, an ace battlefield cycling guide.
Since 2014, other rides have included Charters Towers to Charleville, loops and rail-trail routes in South East Queensland, combinations of Victoria’s Rail Trails and tracing SA’s Limestone Coast.
We're looking forward to bringing back our original ride in 2025, from Alice Springs to Coober Pedy in 14 days. For this we'll often use the acronym ASCP.
WE LOVE CYCLING!
Accumulating a few years in the saddle, mainly back in the 1980s, Ralph wheeled around Tasmania and much of Australia, also riding in New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Slovenia and Greece.
Olga is an accountant and enjoys riding on Noosa bike paths, rail trails and of course along the Mosel River!
But we didn't meet each other on bikes - we met at Adelaide's Chess Club (where the best moves I eventually ever made were not on the chessboard!).
MY EUROPE BASE
We offer a fresh way to experience Europe...
Since 2010 we have been offering our delightful and affordable holiday apartments in a central, scenic and cycle-friendly location, handy to bike trails, famous rivers, rail and Hahn Airport's low-cost flights hub. Guests staying a week or more are welcome to use our bikes.
EUROPE GROUPS
With our association with Belgium's bike-tour operator Carl Ooghe and our Zell-Mosel apartment house in the heart of Germany's Rhineland, we can discuss many ideas for group rides in Europe.
Or how about hiring a river cruiser for up to 10-12 persons to support a DIY ride through France? The cruiser is your accommodation, support-vessel and kitchen! This can be very economic - and just as attractive to non-riders!
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