Bike shop for custom rides runs regular two-wheeled tours to Brandenburg and beyond. 13–15 kilometers per hour, it turns out, is the ideal cycling speed – at least it is if you still want to chat to your friends as you pedal. It’s what the folks at Tortuga Cycles & Café, the Pankow bike shop and two-wheeled tour organizer, call “slowcial”. Since 2023, the shop’s owners Andreas and Izabella have been offering regular social rides and overnight cycling trips that are as much about catching up as pressing on. The routes typically start in Berlin, before cruising along the flat, forgiving countryside of Brandenburg and winding up at a camping spot for the night or a train station for a chill trip home. This weekend the crew are heading west for some stargazing in Gülpe, Brandenburg, where minimal light pollution (and – fingers crossed – clear weather) will allow a glimpse of the Perseids meteor shower, which peaks every year in early August. The one-night trip covers 109 kilometers and is open to cyclists of all abilities, with the option to do the initial, faster section out of the city by train. Of course, to cover that distance you’ll need a capable bike, and this happens to be Tortuga’s core hustle: the shop specializes in custom-built bikes using frames from respected brands like Surly. You tell the team what you want – MTB, gravel, commuter, tourer or something in between – and they’ll build a set of wheels that ticks all the boxes. Bike nerdom included.
Text: Benji Haughton / Photos: Victor Galagos & Josh Hild
Tortuga Cycles & Café, Prenzlauer Promenade 180, 13189 Berlin–Pankow; map
You can sign up for the bike tours by DM or email.
@tortugacycles
