Cycle Touring Blogs, Journals and Articles

It is time for the next installment 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 third of four great posts from Alexandre. Yet again, some some fantastic photos from Alexandre's bicycle touring journeys. Hope you enjoy! If you would like to see Alexandre's other posts, 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   I’ve always had a fascination with the north western Italian region of Piedmont, with its perfect combination of gastronomy, history and beautiful scenery. In fact, the name Piedmont is derived from Latin loosely translated to the foot of the mountains, as its bordered by the snow-covered Alps to the west towards France and to the north towards Switzerland.  During the late...

  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...

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,...

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...

  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...

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....

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...

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...

A few of my recent posts have been focused on the kind of food I like to eat whilst out on a bicycle tour. So now seems like the perfect time to write about the stove I use to cook it on. A Jetboil Zip. Before I get started, if you did miss the previous posts on food, then check them out now.   Cooking and Eating on a Bicycle Tour | Part 1 Cooking and Eating on a Bicycle Tour | Part 2     What is a Jetboil? Jetboil stoves are compact, lightweight and very portable. The whole concept is to pack down all the components into the main cup/vessel compartment, making it an all in one stove. The stand, gas canister, burner and pan stabiliser all sit perfectly inside. The whole unit then takes up little space in your pannier or ruck sack. Perfect for any adventurer! ...

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...