It is finished UNIBIKE 2017, the bicycle fair, we were there Pangea Routes y Traveling Slowly. In the coming weeks, the audience figures and comparisons on whether the fair has grown compared to previous years will come, here we tell you our feelings.

What was said at the fair was that some big brands were missing and it seemed that the aisles were wider, something that those of us who have been to many fairs quickly understand as meaning that fewer square meters of stands have been sold. This year the fair was half a day longer and the truth is that on the professional days, Thursday and Friday, attendance was modest, with Thursday morning being weak. But Saturday and Sunday were very lively mornings, with a large crowd, very varied, and many children enjoying the bikes.

Thank you to all the people who come to our bike trips or hiking routes and who stopped by our stand to say hello, this makes the task of an exhibitor more bearable.

Many new developments in the bicycle sector, brands presenting their new products and also some stands, which it is not clear what they were doing there, with no direct relationship with the sector.

Magazines like those of the group Motorpress y Elevation were present, too Cyclosphere and associations like CONBICI, IMBALANCE y Bicycles Without Borders.

We have to thank many people who have passed through the microphones of Darwinians Radio Bike and who stopped by to visit us at the stand: Laura Vergara from Wild Cranks with whom we spoke about her trip through Latin America and the Zaragoza Bike City, Pei de Turcleta who stopped by the stand and we also saw him testing bikes before starting his next trip. Laura from Pekebikers, with whom we have already agreed to a new interview since they have had many bike trips with children this summer. Victor Tarodo from IMBA and Iván Fernández, who told us on air about his participation in the 10.000 Soplao.

The Greenways also present: Anthony Camacho from the Greenway del Aceite (Olive Oil), Arantxa of the program Greenways of the Spanish Railways Foundation, Mercedes de la European Greenways Association, our friend Eli from the Sierra Greenway and Carmen Aycart of the Greenways of Andalusia, Fernando Alcaraz who told us about his trip along the Camino de Santiago and Luis Álvarez who told us about the Madrid City Council's electric bike mechanics courses. did not come Bart Bloom, but their parents, Hans and Isabel, did stop by our stand; thank you very much to all.

In addition, we have contacted many more people with whom we will soon share future programs. This year we shared a stand with Christian, the brand's representative in Spain. VSF Fahrradmanufaktur, undoubtedly one of the brands preferred by cycle travelers around the world. And one of them, Josetxo from a Bird without a nest, he told us that it is the one he wants to take for his next trip to Africa. We hope that before you leave you stop by to tell us how your last trip went, in which you traveled across the entire American continent, from Patagonia to Alaska. And speaking of travelers, of course, we must thank Javier Piris, who was working with us all the time that UNIBIKE lasted and was in charge of improving our map of alpine bike tours.

We were part of a meeting with several international operators, who participated in a FamTrip prior to the fair to learn about part of the bicycle tourism product of our country. We shared some time with the tourism officials from Extremadura, Madrid, Castilla León, Murcia, Catalonia, Andalusia and Galicia; Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands and the Basque Country were also present. In all territories, important efforts are being made to improve the conditions of bicycle tourism in our country. A special recognition to the presence of the stand of nature trails, a proposal from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment, which is developing large itineraries that allow us to travel thousands of kilometers by bike. Without forgetting José Conesa, ADESGAM, which already illustrated us here about the benefits of Sierra de Guadarrama for bike users and David Pajares, who did the same, highlighting the great possibilities of the Sierra Norte for mountain bike. Without a doubt, the cycle tourism area is probably the area that can grow the most in UNIBIKE.

Throughout the fair, many hotels and companies from different parts of Spain stopped by our stand to present their offers. However, much more needs to be done at the fair to achieve true internationalization in the cycle tourism part and to communicate more and better the presence of bicycle tourism at UNIBIKE. From here a simple recommendation that is easy to put into practice, the bicycle tourism forum can be a very effective tool to publicize bicycle tourism products, specialized companies and agencies, and the efforts of tourist destinations and administrations to promote local development associated with the consolidation of specialized tourism proposals, which contribute to deseasonalizing tourism and making tourism proposals available to tourists that stand out for their authenticity, sustainability and low environmental impact. Proposals for the future that are already a present and that can attract tourism to regions that today have difficulties finding viable economic development alternatives.

An event to present the project took place on Friday CYCLAMADRID, giving 50 companies in Madrid their diploma and the stickers that recognize them as companies adhering to the project, which, as we have already told you on other occasions, allows you to travel through the entire Community of Madrid, a large circular route of more than 400 kilometers and which has with several corridors that connect it with the city of Madrid.

And as Manu would tell us about bicycle, a lot of CYCLINGPAPER

We also saw Dani Cabezas colleague from Darwinians, who was at the fair with CICLOSFERA, a magazine that you all know and that we love, Javier Bañón from Bici Travel magazine, Eneko from Route Books who was also our neighbor at the stand (thanks for the gift Eneko), Bernard from BikeMap and Robin Editions. Of course, bicycle books were very present at UNIBIKE. She also stopped by to say hello. Xavier Corominas, bike traveler and author of the book Travel Quadern: from Catalonia to Japan by bicycle. And they were with us Jezebel Ramirez y Victor Gonzalez who have recommended so many books to us in our books and bike section and which we hope to continue counting on so that you never lack reading related to the bike.

We finished UNIBIKE, we started autumn and we want to continue traveling by bike.