"Parents are giving their families trips instead of buying presents, " said Backroads' spokesman Holly Woolward.

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Backroads has more than 4, 000 bikes in its inventory and offers several routes for each day of the trip.

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Backroads is another very well-known and respected active travel company doing biking, hiking, walking and multi-sport trips around the globe.

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We aim it at the Joshua Tree's dirt and dust backroads and make enquiring noises in the direction of Wa-el and the Cowboy.

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The backroads of Cheshire are a bit different than the a frozen arctic plain, but their narrow mien and endless curves proved prime fodder for the new GTC.

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From blues joints and country kitchens to rowdy roadhouses and lakeside lodges, Anderson shares the recipes for the meals he's enjoyed in his travels on the backroads of America.

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Backroads, a California company that offers bike tours of China, Bali and northern Thailand, lets participants cycle at their own pace and take a break from biking with sidetrips like elephant trekking or whitewater rafting (Tel: 1-510-527-1555).

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Some hours north of where I am on a trip with BACKROADS, a travel company based in Berkeley, California, sits the vast and controversial Canadian tar sands containing vast amounts of oil and natural gas, which are some day going to be sent through an 1800 mile pipeline to the Louisiana Gulf Coast that the US State Department has just approved.

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