Is this the best way to explore Croatia's glorious Dalmatian Coast?

It's a relaxed start to our eight-day cycling tour and I begin to think that perhaps my concerns about my lack of fitness were unwarranted. As the others are struggling into their padded cycling pants and Lycra shirts, I'm doing a 30-minute physiotherapy routine to warm up my injury-plagued hamstring.

I've been petrified for weeks that I won't make it. But as we pedal down cobblestone roads that snake along the coast, dinging bells to avoid pedestrians, the fear that I'm out of my depth dissolves. Until, that is, we cross to the main road, right into the middle of some of the busiest traffic we encounter on this trip from just west of Split, Croatia's second largest city, to World Heritage-listed Dubrovnik about 240 kilometres away.

As I race to sit in the middle of our single-file peloton, I'm alert, overcome now by a different type of fear. It feels like rush hour.

Surprisingly it doesn't take long for my fear of the traffic to dissolve, overtaken by the simple joy of the wind in my hair. As my confidence builds, so too does the exhilaration as I loosen my white-knuckle grip on the handlebars and start to take in the endless views.

Cycling the Dalmatian Coast is bucket-list stuff for anyone with an interest in two-wheeled travel. Croatia is widely recognised as the Jewel of the Adriatic Sea, and for good reason. Of its 1700 kilometres of coastline, the most famous stretch is the Dalmatian Coast in the south, which is dotted with ancient ports fringed by palms, limestone cliffs, olive plantations, Venetian stone architecture and hundreds of uninhabited craggy islands just offshore. The picturesque towns are set against the backdrop of the rugged Dinaric Alps which, combined with the azure-coloured water, regularly elevates the scenery north of expectations.

On this Explore Worldwide tour, we are guided by our clever and knowledgeable leader Nela; her cousin Zoran, a veteran cyclist with the legs to prove it, is our support van driver. Our group of 16 - primarily from Britain but also New Zealand, the US, Germany and just my husband and I from Australia - ranges in age from 30s to early 70s, with many in their 60s.

On the first morning at the seaside town of Kastel Kambelovac, 10 kilometres from Split, we pack our handlebar panniers with the essentials and hand the rest of our luggage over to Zoran, who will meet us when we stop.

While cycling tours were once considered for the hard core, more travellers are opting to use battery-powered e-bikes, including Helen and Grant, a New Zealand couple in our group. "We still want the fun, but my knees just wouldn't get me there anymore," Helen tells me as we pedal along together for a while. "I have always loved riding and this means we can still put down some serious Ks and do the things we want."

Surviving the traffic, we arrive in Split where we spend several hours with a guide wandering around third-century Roman emperor Diocletian's lavish ancient palace on the Bay of Aspalathos. More than 3000 people still live inside the palace, along the walled complex's pedestrian-only streets; the rest is a marbled-paved marketplace lined with souvenirs, jewellers, art galleries and cafes.

After lunch we board the vehicle ferry at Split Harbour for the island of Hvar, or Sun Island, one of the thousand-plus Dalmatian islands scattered off the coast. The island's mainly quiet roads and backstreets lend themselves perfectly to exploration by bike and we end the day with a late afternoon ride passing farms and weaving along a canal to the harbourside town of Jelsa.

Here we spend the next two nights at Hotel Fontana on a wooded hillside, overlooking the bay. It's late in the season and there are hardly any tourists, so we are upgraded to luxury suites, complete with balcony and spa bath.

The next morning, we spend an hour cycling through idyllic rural scenes. Now this is what we came for: long, winding roads, a warm breeze in our face and hardly a cloud or car in sight. We pull over on the roadside and load up with snacks as we approach the first climb to the top of the island.

"Once we hit the hill, we won't all stay together," Nela warns with a slight grin. "There's always the support van if anyone needs it."

Soon enough, we realise she wasn't exaggerating. As we round the bend - right about the time my mind turns to my dodgy hamstring - the road bucks upward, and tilts so steeply that the street signs proudly announce we've hit 10 per cent gradient. I shudder as one of our group remarks that the gradient on the Tour de France's legendary Alpe d'Huez is 13 per cent.

I'm soon ignoring the views I came for and focusing on the road ahead as I slog towards the top. Others, and not just the Kiwis on the e-bikes, seem to gather speed, powering up the grindingly long slope as though it doesn't exist. In the distance I see the support van on the side of the road. "What's that noise?" Zoran laughs at my heaving lungs as I puff and strain past him.

Whenever things start to feel grim, I soon realise the trick is to look up. Tiny wildflowers line the road and I glance right at the awe-inspiring view across the island. I refuse to give in and follow my pride, one rotation at a time, to the top, where Nela has told us a reward awaits. It's a restaurant, with an outdoor bar that has views across vineyards, orchards, countryside and vast blue sky. There I find the riders in front of me leaning back in their chairs, drinking in the surrounds and their beers.

Soon enough we start heading steeply downhill towards the harbourside town of Hvar, where we stop for a drink at a local bar and have plenty of time to explore. Overlooking the town is the impressive Spanjola Fortress, perched on top of a 100-metre-high hill, but my spent legs mean I skip the many stairs to reach it, instead opting for seared tuna steak in St Stephen's Square.

Declining a bus ride back to Jelsa, the group elects for more time in the saddle and we take on the climb back to the highest point of the island. Nela's daily GPS tracking update tells us we rode 62 kilometres, with an elevation of 1050 metres. Not a bad effort for day two and, giddy with endorphins, I drag my weary legs off for a soak in the spa bath before heading into Jelsa for dinner at Me & Mrs Jones, where I load up on delicious creamy pasta.

The next morning, we catch the ferry to the island of Korcula, a slice of sea-washed heaven that is the reputed birthplace, in 1254, of the legendary explorer Marco Polo. It also turns out to be my favourite destination: it feels like we are flying as we ride flat-out around virtually car-free roads, seagulls veering overhead.

Hotel Borik at Lumbarda, a small village on the eastern tip of the island, is our home for the next two nights. Facilities at the hotel are basic, but the view over the marina and Peljesac Peninsula is beyond impressive.

Another full day of cycling allows us to explore the island, including a climb of about 16 kilometres to the coastal village of Zavalatica for lunch and a swim. In the traditional fishing and farming village, we cycle along a hardly-there road through vineyards and past olive groves.

By the end of the ride we've travelled 60 kilometres and climbed 900 metres, the second hardest day of the trip, and back at Hotel Borik I celebrate with a bottle of local beer on the veranda overlooking the bay.

Next morning, we return to Orebic on the mainland where our last ride starts out on the busiest road we encounter, a thin stretch beset by barrelling trucks and buses that is white-knuckle stuff for everyone this time.

Soon, however, we turn onto a steep but peaceful coastal road. It proves a glorious swansong - the most scenic ride of the tour - as we make our way down the coast, passing vineyards of Plavac Mali gapes, a local specialty. The colours are so bright they make you blink: the lime-green vines against the twinkling blue Adriatic; in the distance a sprinkling of terracotta rooftops.

It's with a twinge of sadness that I hand the bike back to Zoran at the bay of Zuliana, and we make our way by bus to Dubrovnik where we spend the final two nights of the tour.

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I had set out from home fearing I might not enjoy the group travel experience, or that my dodgy hamstring would mean I'd end up in the bailout van for most of the trip. Instead, as I say goodbye to the group I'm hit with a wave of sadness. We had developed a sense of camaraderie that I never expected. On the harder days we cheered each other up the climbs and celebrated when we reached a rest point. Every morning someone volunteered to ride sweep behind the group to ensure no-one was left behind.

I want badly to fill the water bottles and climb back in the saddle with the gang, but my ride is finished. I spend much of the flight home researching my next cycling holiday destination.

Getting there: Emirates flies from Sydney and Melbourne to Split via Dubai and Zagreb.

Staying there: Explore Worldwide's Cycle the Dalmation Coast eight-day tour includes bike, support van, tour leader, accommodation and seven breakfasts starting at $2850. A selection of dates are available for e-bike use only.

Explore more: exploreworldwide.com.au

The writer travelled courtesy of Explore Worldwide.

Pictures: Donna Page; Shutterstock