Ciclismo Classico spins off into photo tours

Serrania del Hornocal in Jujuy. Photo by Ossian Lindholm

I had fun catching up with Lauren Hefferon, who I’ve known through the Boston cycling community and through travel writing for many years. The company she started 25 years ago, Ciclismo Classico, has become a leader in bike and adventure tours in Italy.

Before that, Lauren even wrote and illustrated a little cookbook for touring cyclists. Called “Cycle Food: A Guide to Satisfying Your Inner Tube,” you can still find it for purchase online. I’m holding on to my copy!

Cuesta del Obispo Pass. Photo by Ossian Lindholm

So when I learned that Lauren had discovered a passion for photography and was spinning that into photography tours, I wrote that up for the New York Times In Transit section. Initially, when it was posted online, it was the only In Transit without a photo! For a photo-tour story! I was happy that Lauren’s peeps pointed that out to me. Turned out it was just an oversight and a photo was added.

Here’s the text, along with images from the photographer leading the first tours with Lauren. Oh, another fun part — Lina and I had traveled the very roads they’re taking in northwest Argentina and blogged about it. Definitely photo worthy!!

Here’s the news:

El Carmen church in Angastaco, Calchaqui Valley. Photo by Ossian Lindholm

The 25-year-old bike touring company Ciclismo Classico has created a spin-off that focuses on seeing as much as doing. The charter destination for a series of photography tours — called TravelVision Journeys — is northwest Argentina. The four scheduled Vision & Vine treks will explore mountain landscape, indigenous communities and high-altitude vineyards. They were developed by Ciclismo founder and enthusiastic photographer Lauren Hefferon, who will co-lead the nine-day trips with Argentinian photographer and documentary filmmaker Ossian Lindholm. Destinations include the salt desert Las Salinas Grandes, the small cities of Humahuaca and Cachi, and Los Cardones National Park.

Valle Encantado National Park Los Cardones. Photo by Ossian Lindholm

“The trip will be physical, cultural and educational. The bicycle is a way to immerse yourself in a place and its culture, and so is the camera,” said Hefferon, who is personally planning, managing, and leading the tours. “It’s like another chapter opening up in my life, because so many of the elements are new to me.”

Each tour will include some kind of collaboration with the local community. Travelers in the first outing will work with a school group to create a photo book and hope to raise money for the school from book sales, Hefferon said.

Hefferon is developing future trips to Sardinia and the wetlands of Pantanal in Brazil and Ibera in Argentina.

Argentina Vision & Vine costs $5,200 per person and departs from Salta, Argentina.