CyclingTouring.org Articles, Reviews, Advice, Tours and More...

Hello and welcome to a guest blog post.  This post has come from Paul Franklin who got in touch to share his inspirational story of battling through health challenges to live his dreams of bicycle touring.  Lets get started...   “Its just a constant battle; me against my body; my passions and my dreams and what I want to do with my life, against what I’m physically able to do”. Austin Carlile.     My name is Paul Franklin, and close to forty six years ago, I fractured my neck at C3.  It was November 30th 1971 and I had just turned a teenager with so much ahead of me.  I then endured close to two years of wearing a collar, physiotherapy throughout my school years, and little did I know there was so much more to come.  Fast forward to 2000, I was having severe nerve pains and numbness in...

  I would like to introduce you all to Andrew P. Sykes.  Andrew is writer, teacher, speaker and long distance cyclist with three fantastic travelogue books about his cycling adventures under his belt.  His engaging, informative and humorous style of writing will have you hooked and back onto Amazon (or other equally good book retailers!) to swiftly order Andrew's other books.  And you may find yourself with a serious case of wanderlust too! I had the pleasure of hearing Andrew give a cracking talk at the recent Cycle Touring Festival in Clitheroe , and he has kindly agreed to answer questions about his latest book, Spain to Norway on a Bike called Reggie (Summersdale, 2017) and maybe a few others thrown in for good measure too! Lets get started!     Where did the idea for the Spain to Norway cycling adventure come from? Having already cycled across the continent twice,...

Hello and welcome to a Guest Post from Botond Bócsi from Transylvania, Romania.  Botond has recently setup a new site to help with planning bicycle routes for cycling.  https://bikeroll.net My name is Botond Bócsi from Transylvania, Romania. I like to spend my free time in nature hiking, rock climbing, or biking. Transylvania is the perfect place for my mountain bike with a lot of hills and mountains. Many desolate roads go though small villages where you can rarely encounter any tourists, thus, you can enjoy the local culture and nature.      After biking a few thousands of miles (that is not that much at all if you think about it) I realized that the planning of a bicycle route is more important than one would imagine. Of course with good attitude any bike track can be enjoyed. But as people get older, with more and more miles in their legs, they...

On the late May bank holiday for the past three years, a group of around 200 to 300 people get together to talk about bicycles, listen to engaging stories of amazing cycle touring journeys, learn, eat, sleep, drink a few beers, go cycling and have a bloody good time in the company of like minded people.  It is called the Cycle Touring Festival and I had the pleasure of going this year.  This is what I found.     It was the day before the festival and time had been moving way too fast and I was faced with getting my bicycle and kit ready whilst trying to work from home! I had told myself there would be plenty of time, but as ever that was wishful thinking as I frantically packed my car.  I was leaving later that evening and was picking up another attendee on route, who had put...

Hello and welcome to a guest blog post from Stephanie Lindqvist. Stephanie went on an awesome bike tour to USA & Canada, and has started to write a blog all about it. This post is all about getting out there and exploring the World by bicycle!     ”You did WHAT?” Yes, most members of the bike touring family will get this phrase thrown at us at least 100 times in a lifetime, it’s a fact. What we do - ride our two-wheeled besties across landscapes, countries and continents - is obviously not the first thing normal people would associate with the term ’holiday’. Adding up the number of times I’ve been asked to explain the phenomenon of bike touring, it would have been more efficient to record myself repeatedly saying ”it’s not that far” or ”no you don’t need to be in great shape, I barely moved my butt of...

  I think of myself as rather fortunate to live in the South West of England. Perfect for cycle touring with being nicely placed in between two awesome National Parks; Dartmoor and Exmoor. With the bits in between filled with endless country roads and superb views from all directions. I have the luxury of heading in any direction for a cracking local ride, and if I want to go further, I hop on the train. And on this occasion, my target was Dartmoor for a couple of days chilled out riding.     Hopping out of bed early, I had that feeling of not being entirely prepared for this trip, which is completely out of character for me. After a busy week at work, I needed to get away for a couple of days, and instead of preparing the night before I did my best to finish my work to clear...

Welcome to another Guest Cycle Touring Blog Post. I would like to introduce you to Nathalia & Vincent. A couple from Switzerland who embarked on an wonderful cycling adventure across Columbia in 2016. This brief guest blog post is to show you all the great video they made of their awesome tour. Hope you enjoy and are inspired to make a similar trip!         Discover Colombia on a Tandem bike | La Bicicleta Doble ft Carlos Vives & Shakira     Our names are Nathalia & Vincent, we are 29 years old and come from Geneva, Switzerland. Nathalia is half Swiss, half Colombian and we have been together for more than 14 years. In August 2016 we cycled around Colombia with our best friends and spent three amazing months in this marvelous country. The hippest song at the moment was the great song “La Bicicleta” from Carlos Vives...

It is time for the next instalment from our guest blogger, Alexandre Rotenberg. Alexandre is based in Italy and is a photographer and cycle touring enthusiast. He enjoys exploring the beautiful areas of Italy by bicycle and contacted me about sharing his writing and photography work with the Cycling Touring Community. This is the final post of four from Alexandre. They have all been  enjoyable to read and with all the fantastic photos, you will want to go grab your bicycle straight away and discover these great places Alex has explored! If you would like to see Alexandre's other posts on Cycling Touring Community, check them out. https://www.cyclingtouring.org/blog/entry/cycle-tourism-along-milan-s-canal-navigli-network https://www.cyclingtouring.org/blog/entry/the-journey-is-more-important-than-the-destination https://www.cyclingtouring.org/blog/entry/piedmont-gastronomy-history-and-beautiful-landscapes   Pavia to Mantova by bike via the River Po   Following on from my recent trip to Piedmont, the next route took me eastwards from Pavia to Mantua (170km) along the mainly-asphalted ciclovia del po, which hugs Italy’s longest river,...

  Hello and welcome to another guest blog post. This time out author is Kent MacWilliam. I have been in contact with Kent after he sent me an email about his handlebar tape product, Fatwrap Handlebar Tape .  Kent wanted to share his great article about the types of handlebars you can use for bicycle touring. So lets get started. Hope you enjoy!   Grip, release, shuffle, grip, release, drop.... Bike touring can be an endurance test as much as an adventure. Our butts, knees and hands support us as we focus on the glorious scenery.  For comfort, we dial in our clipped pedals, set the seat post height and upgrade our saddle. But what about our hands? So many riders commit to a handlebar set-ups without knowing all the options, and many more never look at the alternatives. This article looks at common and sometimes underused handlebar options, and explains how to...

It is time for the next guest blog from Alexandre Rotenberg. Alexandre is based in Italy and is a photographer and cycle touring enthusiast. He enjoys exploring the beautiful areas of Italy by bicycle and contacted me about sharing his writing and photography work with the Cycling Touring Community. This is the second of four great posts from Alexandre. There are some fantastic photos from Alexandre's bicycle touring journeys. Hope you enjoy! If you would like to see Alexandre's first post, check it out here. https://www.cyclingtouring.org/blog/entry/cycle-tourism-along-milan-s-canal-navigli-network   The Journey is More Important Than the Destination One of my hobbies is to cycle long distances across the countryside of Northern Italy.  Prior to cycling long distances, I like to have a general plan of where I’ll be going and when I should reach my “destination”. My rational side proceeds to painstakingly research and draw a proposed safe route on a map, taking...

I would like to welcome a guest blog post from Alexandre Rotenberg. Alexandre is based in Italy and is a photographer and cycle touring enthusiast. He enjoys exploring the beautiful areas of Italy by bicycle and contacted me about sharing his writing and photography work with the Cycling Touring Community. This is the first of four great posts from Alexandre.  Hope you enjoy!   Cycle Tourism along Milan’s Canal (Navigli) Network Despite Milan being strategically located at the gateway to the Italian peninsula, the city does not have a direct river or sea connection, which was traditionally seen as fundamental for commerce. To mitigate this problem, rulers of Milan from the early Middle Ages created a series of canals fed by the rivers Lambro, Adda and Ticino, the latter which flows to the mighty Po and eastwards to the Adriatic Sea.  These waterways have since been closely connected to the city’s...

  It has been far too long since my last post. Holidays, the day job and moving home have all eaten away at my time of late. But now that life is starting to ease up a little, I can find my cycling legs again. After what seems an eternity of only keeping the miles ticking over to and from work and some weekend warrior rides, I needed to get back out there. The cycling voice in my head had been telling me to get out and explore. Every cyclist knows the cycling bug never leaves us - it always wins and I'm happy to give in!        I got back on the cycle touring saddle in my usual fashion. A good old paper map. Having re-located into a new area in the summer, one of the first things I did was purchase an array of Ordnance Survey maps...

If you read my past cycling blog posts, you will know that I'm currently based on the beautiful island of Jersey, Channel Islands. For those of you who don't know, Jersey is a very small island off the coast of France, and is part of the British Isles. A stunning island that has been an awesome place live for the past 5 years. That said, cycling on an island 9 by 5 miles in size has brought some challenges with trying to keep cycling interesting. Same roads, views etc. To help overcome this, I re-invented my cycling by starting cycle touring in nearby France to break the boredom. That was five years ago and I'm so glad I got out there and tried something new. It brought this website and a host of great adventures. Life can bring big changes. We all get them from time to time. Some good. Some...

It was all planned out. As much as it needed to be anyway. I was riding from St Malo to Le Mans and my cycling friend I was meeting with, was riding from Caen to Le Mans. You guessed it. Le Mans was the meeting point. Did we make it and meet up? Nope! This is what happened. If you read my post a couple of weeks ago, you would know that I have been planning to meet up with another Cycling Touring Community member. Simon was cycling from London to the Sahara. All the way through France and Spain, before heading to the Sahara (if time allowed anyway). It was to be a challenge ride for him, with long days in the saddle planned. Living very close to France, I thought it would be great to meet up and ride along with him for a few days before heading home....

I'm writing this post whilst looking out to beautiful spring sunshine and glorious blue skies. For me the weather plays such an important part in life, especially when bicycle touring. Not that I always let the weather control my cycling, but who doesn't prefer cycling in the sunshine as opposed to driving rain and gales?! Today I have dreaming of chilled out cycling along sleepy roads, eating great food and taking in the world at a slower pace. Escaping the everyday pressures of life for a little while. I think it is so important to find time to just chill, do something different and recharge. Bicycle touring really helps me with this. That back to basics way of life is a real pleasure. How about you - can you relate to this? All this spring sunshine happiness leads perfectly to my first bicycle tour of 2016. If this weather continues, it looks like my...

So, you have possibly made the best decision of your life. You have decided to go on a bicycle tour! But what next? You have a destination in mind. Maybe have some ideas of what to do along the way and thoughts about where you can sleep. The start date is approaching and your brain starts to take over with all these questions. Do I need special gear? Do I need a dedicated touring bicycle? Do I need to spend lots of money? Start by chilling out! The simple answer to these questions is no. Of course you need a few basic items to get started; bicycle being the most obvious starting point. But aside from a bicycle, I bet many of the items you need or think you need, you already own. If not, I also bet many of your friends & family could help you out. Check out a blog post I wrote...

It is fair to say that in terms of cycling, 2016 has been a bit of a struggle so far for me! The most amount of miles I have got on the bike has been my 15 mile daily commute to work, and the occasional Saturday or Sunday quick (1 hour) morning ride. Maybe the effects of the Christmas holidays are lingering. Whatever the reason, it is time for change. So, today I kick started my cycling for 2016 back into life. It may have been blowing a gale, driving rain and generally unpleasant when I woke up, but after a hearty breakfast, I got dressed in my cycling gear and braved the elements! And I'm so glad I did. I survived and came away with a renewed energy and focus. My body is back to life after a month of chilling out a little too much! The ride today took...

I'm very excited! I have ordered my ticket to the Cycle Touring Festival . After missing out last year through my own forgetfulness, this year I was prepared. I signed up to the newsletter and as soon as the tickets went on sale, I got one :-) For those of you who don't know, the Cycle Touring Festival is held in Clitheroe, Lancashire (UK). And this year it runs between Friday 27th - Sunday 30th May 2016, with an option to stay another night for a few extra pounds. As you can guess by the name, the festival is aimed at anyone interested in cycle touring. Doesn't matter if you are experienced, novice or just interested in having a weekend away, there will be something for everyone. The 2016 lineup is yet to be 100% confirmed, although the organisers have told me to expect Tom Allen  and Neil & Harriet Pike...

Welcome back to Part 2 of this post about my take on eating and cooking whilst on a bicycle tour. In Part One  I talked about how I cook, where I eat and what works for me. In this part I'll run through a few of the things I like eat and how I cook them. Lets get started There is no better place to start than my favorite meal of the day. A great breakfast will get in you the mood for crunching away the miles, hour after hour. It kicks starts your body and is the foundation for feeling happy all day. As I touched on in Part One , try not to skip breakfast or eat something that isn't matching the energy needed for you day of cycling. You are on a cycle tour, not a dieting boot camp! Getting this wrong could mess up your day and leave you feeling...

In my list of things I love in this world, both cycling and food are high up there. Obsession is probably a better way to describe my commitment level for both :-) My poor suffering family, friends and work colleagues generally have to listen to me talking obsessively about one of them constantly. And more often than not, I'm dreaming of my next meal shortly after finishing the last! I have always eaten well to feed my cycling over the years, but nothing prepared me for the hunger I would feel after progressing into the world of cycle touring! With many long days in the saddle and having all my kit on the back of the bicycle, three meals a day soon turns into many more! This makes bicycle touring and food a perfect match me :-) I have read many posts from people asking what, when and how to eat on...