“Cycling really is the best way to see the world, you’re going slow enough to enjoy all the beauty, you have the wind in your hair, fresh air to breathe, ahh, life is good!”

I finally get to say these words on a Travel Channel show and I couldn’t be more excited to bring the joys of cycle touring to a large audience. Before today, my bike touring videos were only seen by a relatively small audience on my YouTube Channel.

After years of pitching bicycle touring shows to the big networks, Travel Channel finally gave me the green light and Cali’s Wine Country by Bike series is now live on TravelChannel.com. Prior to this, I always got the same depressing message, bike touring is too niche and wouldn’t appeal to a broad audience.

I, however, know from personal experience that bicycle touring is a very exciting way to see the world, even if you’re only moving at about 15mph. I felt that this unique and green form of travel needed to be seen by the masses and I didn’t let the constant rejections from networks stop me. I came up with a way to make the journey not focus only on bikes and I mixed in something everyone loves, wine! I proposed an exciting itinerary through Sonoma and Napa, highlighting all the ma and pa wineries and before I knew it, I was pedaling through Northern California working on my dream project.

The five part web series highlights the natural beauty of the area including a quick jaunt through the giant Redwoods, a spin up Highway One on the Pacific Ocean and endless views of fairytale vineyards. I was lucky enough to hire my good friend and amazing videographer Skip Armstrong and together we rode about 40 miles a day to different destinations. We hauled all our own gear (cameras, tripods, computers) and a few bottles of wine.

In each episode we show off the incredible scenery, visit a vineyard or two, and talk about the organic and sustainable initiatives of each winery.

It’s the first bicycle touring travel show produced by a major network and I’m proud of Travel Channel for taking a chance on something that’s not babes on a beach or a bald dude chowing scorpions on the streets of China. The show is genuine, fun loving, visually stunning and most importantly, it shows off a side of wine country that can’t be seen in a car.

My main goal is for viewers to be inspired by this series and hopefully bust that bicycle out of the garage and go for a spin.

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Ed: Sara Crolick/Bryonie Wise