Setting the pace for adventure tourism in Cambodia, Vicious Cycle and Grasshopper Adventures are running cycling tours with an intimate feel. Craig Gerard sits down with partner Adam Platt-Hepworth to get the scoop on the Penh’s only tour company/bike shop/café/laundromat.“You can’t beat the freedom of a bike,” explains Adam Platt-Hepworth, partner at Grasshopper Adventures. Founded in 2004, Grasshopper Adventures aims to take tour groups to out-of-the-way locations. According to Adam, on a bike trip you can go at your own pace, stop when you want, and go slow enough to enjoy the scenery while still covering fairly large distances.
Vicious Cycle, the Phnom Penh franchise of Grasshopper Adventure, opened a shop about four months ago, but have been running tours in Cambodia for the past few years. From their corner location at streets 130 & 5, they fix bikes, rent bikes, sell bikes, and most importantly, ride bikes.
Karma Cambodia is just one of eight tours that Grasshopper Adventures leads in Cambodia, ranging from a half day to 25 days. Each ride offers something different, from high adventure to photo tours. More rides in the works and each ride having different difficulty ratings means almost anyone in Cambodia who can balance on two wheels can find an appropriate adventure to fit their style. For an adventure further abroad, Grasshopper Adventures has nearly 50 tours in 17 countries around the world.
Yet, with all the products they offer, this company feels more like an intimate group of friends rather than a large churning tour operator. The rides can be fully supported with bike techs and sag wagons to add comfort. Each adventure is researched thoroughly by the guides that lead the tour. “Our guides spend a lot of time looking for dirt track roads without a lot of cars,” explains Adam. The guides also find the evening accommodations, learn about the villages they ride through and know the equipment they are using inside out. “It’s about love for the bike and love for getting on the bike,” says Adam. There are both Cambodian and expat guides, including Adam’s business partner Maria, from Stung Treng. Each tour guide will train for several months, participating in a given ride two or three times before being called in to lead a group. The end result is guides who can be trusted, who know the country, and who are always up for an adventure.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the two weeks to spare to cycle around Southeast Asia. Not to fret. Grasshopper Adventures runs numerous trips geared towards expats living in the Penh. One of the most popular is the half-day trip around the islands of the Mekong. They also have day trips up to Oudong and other surrounding areas. Grasshopper Adventures are organising monthly “Family Rides” – all fairly flat and short distances, utilising their children’s tandem attachments and children’s bikes. According to Adam, 80% of their business is coming from expats in Cambodia, who want to see their temporary home from a new perspective.
At the end of the day, the focus is on creating the best tours possible for exploring this part of the world. New off road tours are in the works in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri. The new “Wild Cambodia” tours will be available soon, and offer three to four day segments of mostly single-track mountain biking through less travelled areas of the country. Adam is still personally developing these tours, including a support elephant – instead of van – and working with local NGOs to make sure the areas have been swept for land mines. Vicious Cycle aims to show off the real Cambodia. For Adam, this means that tour participants interact with as many locals as possible. What makes him happy is to hear someone at the end of a tour say, “Yea, those temples in Siem Reap were okay, but the people in Cambodia were so amazingly nice!”
Of course, this is Cambodia, and no company is complete without their quirks. Vicious Cycle offers world-class biking adventures, but also tasty Cambodian and Western cuisine at their café. Stop by for a bike tune-up and enjoy a delicious Banana-Peanut-Butter milk shake while you wait. Or bring in your laundry and rent a bike for $8/day. “We loved this location,” Adam explains about the new property, “but we needed to do something profitable with the extra space because the rent is high.” He admits that while they have the touring part of the business down pat, the café has proven to be a steep learning curve. It does provide a nice area to meet while you wait for your tour group, and the half-day tour ends with lunch in the café, included in the US$29 price. There are a few reputable bike shops in town offering quality bike accessories, but only one that also offers Sangria with your new brake pads.
