Sonder Bikes
Easter weekend riding on the Prima. First serious rides of spring, longer days, and a road race bike that earns every climb.
There's a particular quality to Easter weekend riding. The roads aren't busy yet. The light is long but still sharp. The legs are hungry after a winter of shorter efforts, and the hills have a way of reminding you exactly where you left things in November.
It's the first serious riding of the year. And there's no better time to remember what a fast bike feels like under you.
The bike that earns the climb
The Prima is a road race bike in the truest sense. On a climb, it rewards effort. Every pedal stroke translates, every decision about gear and cadence feels deliberate. Descents are fast and committed. Corners you might back off on a heavier bike become something to aim at.
A big part of that feel is in the wheels. Rotational weight is the most impactful place to save grams on a bike — and it's something you can feel from the first pedal stroke. Read why wheel upgrades matter more than almost anything else.
That precision matters most when the legs start to argue with you. On a bike that responds cleanly, you can ride on feel rather than fighting the machine. Easter miles tend to be longer than you planned. The Prima makes that a pleasure rather than a problem.
Easter rides have a particular narrative arc: an optimistic start, a long middle section where you earn the miles, and a return that feels like you've settled something with yourself. The Prima suits that arc.
What to carry
Before the first long ride of spring, check the bike over. Winter on a hung bike is harder on cables and tyres than you might expect. Our derailleur adjustment guide and trailside maintenance guide cover the basics worth checking before you head out. Start the season with confidence, not a surprise mechanical.
Spring weather means preparation, not hesitation. Easter rides can swing 10 degrees between the start and the summit, and back again on the descent.
A base layer under a light jersey handles the morning chill. A gilet packs small and earns its place the moment the wind picks up. A windproof in the back pocket costs nothing in weight and saves a descent from becoming a miserable one.
Food: more than you think you'll need. Easter rides have a way of adding 20 kilometres to themselves. Two bidons, something for the climbs, something substantial if you're planning a café stop.
Saddle bag basics: spare tube, tyre levers, multi-tool. Download your route before you leave. Rural lanes in April don't always have phone signal when you need it.
The best Easter rides are the ones where you say yes to the extra climb and make it home with something left.
Find your route
A good Easter route has shape to it. Front-load the climbing: do the hard work while the legs are fresh and the roads are quiet. Save the flatter, faster miles for the return.
Think about the light. Easter sun is still low. Shaded lanes hold moisture longer than you'd expect, and a corner that was dry on the way out can be damp on the way back. Give yourself margin until you know the road.
Plan a café stop if the route is long. An hour off the bike, something warm, a proper reset before the second half. Some of the best Easter conversations happen over a post-climb coffee with nowhere urgent to be.
If you want something more open, the coast changes the character of a ride entirely. Sea air, long views, roads that feel like they're actually going somewhere. A cliff-top road at Easter, when the light is still cold and the horizon is sharp, is one of the better places to be on a bike. The Yorkshire Coast route has a particular spring feel to it.
For the rides you've been planning since January: the European roads are waiting.
Mallorca is the classic starting point. Sa Calobra climbing through a mountain gorge before the coast appears at the bottom. Cap de Formentor running the peninsula out to open water. The island works well for road cyclists in spring: reliable weather around 18 to 20 degrees, consistently good tarmac, and towns like Pollença and Sóller that understand what a cyclist needs when they finally get off the bike.
The Algarve offers something quieter. Rolling inland roads above the coast, the Serra de Monchique for real climbing, and temperatures that often track warmer than you'd expect for early spring. Lagos and Tavira make good bases. The roads are less busy than summer, and the food is worth stopping for.
For guaranteed warmth and the kind of week where you just stack miles: the Canary Islands. Lanzarote has a strange, open quality to it, volcanic roads with long sight lines and steady gradients. Tenerife climbs from sea level up toward Teide and drops back down to the coast whichever way you choose. Gran Canaria mixes coastal loops with mountain roads that earn real elevation. All three run 20 to 25 degrees year-round with minimal rain.
Costa Blanca and the Alicante region are worth knowing about for quieter roads, rolling inland hills, and the ability to build long miles without traffic. Tuscany in April is harder to predict for weather, but when it works there are few better places to be on a bike: cypress-lined climbs, vineyard roads, and routes that call for a proper lunch stop somewhere in the middle.
Our European cycling guide covers these in more detail. There's more to say about the logistics of taking a bike abroad and we'll come back to that.
Then there's the after-work ride. The clocks change in March. By Easter there are real evening hours back in the day. Enough to leave work, change, and get out before dark. A 90-minute loop after dinner, legs earning something before the week ends, has its own particular quality. Read our guide to riding into the evening.
Not sure where to start closer to home? Our England cycling route guide has ideas for road rides that feel epic without requiring a flight.
Ride with others
Some of the best riding happens in company. A club run on Easter Sunday, a group setting off while most people are still at breakfast. The pace stays honest, the conversation picks up on the climbs, and there's usually someone who knows a café halfway round.
Club riding also changes your relationship with a route. Someone always knows this road. Has an opinion about that descent. Remembers when the surface was worse. Riding with people who care about the same roads you care about is its own kind of pleasure.
If you're not already in a club, Easter weekend is a reasonable time to try one. Most welcome newcomers without ceremony. We run regular Sonder group rides from our stores throughout the year — a good way to find your people.
Wherever you go this Easter, clip in, point at the horizon, and remember why you ride.