How To Stay Safe & Secure On A Cycle Tour Of Any Length

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Safety and security is a big concern for inexperienced newcomers to cycle touring – particularly if you’re planning a long trip through ‘scary’ (or at least scary-sounding) places.

It’s usually an even bigger concern for your friends and family.

So it’s helpful to try and understand the on-the-ground realities of safety and security as they relate to bike touring and bikepacking before you hit the road. 

Everyone wants to put their mum’s mind at rest, right?

Safety 101: Instinct Is Your Friend

Before we get into the details and subtopics of cycle touring safety, know that – in general – instinct will play a major role in keeping yourself and your belongings safe and secure.

We’ve evolved to survive (that’s why you’re still here), and sometimes the subconscious, rather than the rational mind, is the best judge of a situation.

Sometimes, as you travel, you’ll get a strange feeling that something isn’t quite right. At other times, you’ll be compelled to respond in a certain way without quite knowing why. 

Listen to these feelings and follow them. With time and experience, you’ll learn that your instinct and intuition is usually right.

Modern society imposes structures on our experience of life, and these structures don’t often help us cultivate an awareness of the survival instincts we’re born with. 

As you gain experience of a more free-form and unpredictable existence on the road, you’ll get to know your intuition a lot better. Confidence in your ability to deal with situations can even prevent them from escalating; appear vulnerable and you’re more likely to be treated as such.

Local interest in my bike

Common sense is the other half of the picture when keeping yourself and your belongings safe on tour.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the joys of bicycle travel, but you should dedicate a small portion of your mind to reminding yourself not to put your valuables at risk unnecessarily. Establishing a routine for different scenarios can help ensure that this doesn’t happen. This might be as simple as checking that

  • your valuables are in a removable bar-bag and that it never leaves your sight under any circumstances,
  • you never leave your bike unattended in public without first establishing responsibility, be that a riding partner, a cafe owner, or a newly-made group of friends, and
  • you have copies of your most important documents in two physical locations, as well as digital backups.

Now we’ve covered some basic aspects of safety while cycle touring or bikepacking, let’s have a look at some specific types of scenario you might encounter in which more detailed questions of safety and security raise their heads.

Staying Safe With People When Cycle Touring & Bikepacking

In cycling across more than 50 countries over the last 16 years I have never once encountered hostile aggression from another human being.

Roadside mechanics

Does this mean I’ve got lucky? Well, I have met many other cycle travellers far more experienced than I am, and the story is always the same. You will hear of almost nothing but friendliness and welcome in the tales of two wheeled travellers. Sure, there’s the occasional minor disagreement. But that’s also true if you stay at home, especially if you live in a big city.

The picture of the foreigner as a target is a biased one, largely painted by mainstream news and social media.

If you are travelling to sensitive regions with a political agenda and an entourage of SUVs and bodyguards, then you will be well aware of the risks involved in your journey.

But this does not describe any cycle tourist I have ever met. You have no political agenda. You aren’t surrounded by broad-shouldered men with Ray-Bans and earpieces and sidearms. You don’t have an itinerary of sensitive locations, and you probably don’t hang out at 5‑star international business hotels. You won’t even be allowed past checkpoints into sensitive regions. And so you are highly unlikely to ever make the headlines. (For any reason.)

Instead, you will be spending the majority of your time riding through endless quiet countryside where nothing ever happens. When you do show up around people, it’ll often be in small communities, and you will attract attention and curiosity.

If you come from a socially reserved culture with a strong sense of personal boundaries, it can – at first – be challenging to travel in places where the opposite is the norm. You could try to deflect what might feel like an intrusive level of attention, but it would be much better, surely, to have local people on your side. Wouldn’t a small army of new friends be the best security possible? Wouldn’t the locals prefer this too, rather than have a cold, hostile stranger in their midst?

Cultivate a habit of making friends, without reservation or hesitation, and the world will only conspire to help you.

As you get used to this, you will find yourself doing it automatically. You’ll be disarming folk with smiles alone. You’ll be left wondering why other foreign travellers are so suspicious and offish. You’ll wonder why you’re still carrying around that heavy chain and padlock when you feel so much more comfortable leaving your worldly possessions with a bunch of tea-drinking pensioners you just met outside a cafe.

When it comes to people, it’s friendliness, not defensiveness, that’ll keep you safe on the road.

Combine that with listening to your instinct, and you’ll also know when something’s off and it’s time to pedal on.

Safety In Traffic

The most dangerous situations I’ve ever been in on a bike tour have involved massive trucks flying past inches from my face on highways with no hard shoulder.

This, again, is a sentiment you’ll hear repeated ad infinitum. Cycle touring is, in general, as safe as cycling on roads ever is, but motor traffic is by far the biggest threat to that safety.

Not a sign your mother wants to see

There are many ways to minimise the risk when traffic is around.

First is to make yourself conspicuous, remembering that the main threat is from traffic coming up behind you on the same side of the road.

You’ll stick out like a sore thumb anyway if you’re fully-loaded, but ensure also that you’re riding in a position where drivers can see you in good time – either that, or stick to the hard shoulder, well away from the main flow of traffic. Ride defensively on bends and narrow roads and in slow-moving traffic if necessary, just as you would at home.

At night, when overcast, when riding through tunnels, and whenever else visibility is poor, use a red rear blinker at the minimum, and ensure the reflective patches on your panniers, tyres and clothing are all visible. Consider a high-visibility jacket or safety vest. Use your ears; don’t wear headphones.

In terms of safety equipment, helmets are bulky and annoying but you may decide it’s worth bringing one for heavy traffic and high-speed descents.

Beehive maintenance

Just as useful as protective headwear, in this bicycle traveller’s opinion, is a rear-view mirror that’ll enable you to see what’s coming up behind you well in advance and without wobbling all over the road. Mirrors that attach to handlebars, to helmets and even to sunglasses are available. Make sure it can easily switch sides if you’re travelling through countries who drive on different sides of the road.

Safety In Cities

The game changes somewhat in big, anonymous cities.

You’re one of a crowd, less on an oddity, and those around you have too much going on to notice. You don’t have the luxury of instant friendships and reliably trustworthy strangers, so you’ll need to keep a closer eye on your belongings, particularly in tourist hotspots.

A good tip for cities is to find a cafe, buy a tea or coffee, make friends with the owner and leave your bike there while you run your errands. If in doubt, ask local police or security guards if there’s anywhere safe you can leave your bike temporarily.

View of Alcatraz

In general, cities are where you’ll need to be more guarded. Luckily, cycle touring generally only involves stopping in cities if you’re planning to stay overnight, in which case you should have a safe place to stow your gear by default.

Bike Security In Public Places

Most of us are used to locking up our bikes in public and leaving them there for hours or even overnight. The natural assumption follows that a bike lock is an essential feature of a touring cyclist’s kit list.

And it would be nice to think that the usual approach to bike security would work when you roll into a new town or city for the evening.

But there’s one obvious difference.

A touring bike usually has two or four panniers attached to it. And no bike lock is going to prevent them from being taken off or opened up and the contents removed.

So you’re always going to have to take your panniers off and find a safe place to keep them indoors overnight – in which case, the bike itself might as well come indoors as well, which makes a bike lock all but redundant.

(The majority of bike tourers will insist that the bike comes into a hotel room with them, or at least into the building or courtyard.)

A happy couple

A bicycle lock might come in useful if, for example, you decide to take your unloaded bike for a day-ride, or if you stay in accommodation where you’re unable to bring the bike into your room. But most tourers would still agree that a heavy Kryptonite shackle lock is overkill. You’re probably not cycle touring around central London or downtown New York, so a simple lightweight chain will suffice.

If you’re paranoid, there are plenty of other tricks to detract potential thieves for a few minutes when, for example, dashing into a grocery to stock up on food:

  • Put your bike into top gear,
  • Slip the chain off the front chainring,
  • Use elastic bands or hair ties to engage the brake levers,
  • Fit a quick-release seatpost clamp and take the saddle with you,
  • Disconnect the brakes at the calipers. (Just remember to reconnect them before you ride off!)

Safety & Security While Wild Camping

Another frequently-asked question concerns safety while camping. Wild camping (a.k.a. stealth camping) is covered in another article, but the security of you and your belongings when sleeping outdoors is worth mentioning here too.

If you have chosen your site wisely and you are confident that you will not be found, the same applies to your bike and gear – if nobody would realistically find you, then nobody will find your stuff either.

Desert camping in Syria

Intuition comes into play again here: you may feel comfortable on one night to leave your loaded bike outside, unlocked, with just your valuable in your tent; but on another night, you might want to bring your panniers in with you too, and lock the bike to an inanimate object.

Experience helps too, and your natural disposition towards caution will likely affect things, but the fundamental factor over which you have control is your choice of campsite. If there are people around, and you’ve sneaked into a tight spot for a few hours’ kip, you might be more cautious than if you’ve camped in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

Campground lightshow

Your choice of tent gives you options, too. A bigger tent has more room for luggage. Some tourers go as far as bringing a tent with space for the bicycle itself in the awning, but there are other ways to secure your bike, or at least alert you to any security threat, whether that’s tying a bungee from your tent to the bike’s wheel, or balancing cooking pots on top of it to raise the alarm if moved. (This last trick once alerted me to a bear nosing around my camp.)

At the very least, approach the security of your valuables while camping in the same way you would during the day, by keeping them next to you at all times.

How To Keep Your Money Safe

You’ll sometimes hear stories of people packing a “mugger” wallet full of expired cards and random currency. It’s a bit like packing a bullet-proof vest in case of random gunfire. There are plenty of more sensible, practical ways to ensure the security of your finances on the road. Let’s look at some of them.

Decorations

Keep your cash and cards close. Some travellers use money belts; the bar-bag is usually a more appropriate place for a cycle tourist. Keep it with you at all times.

If you’re on a domestic tour, limit the amount of cash you’re carrying to a day or two, or consider credit card touring. Credit cards have better safeguards in place than debit cards in case of fraud or theft.

On an international tour, you’re more likely to want to carry more cash to avoid paying over the odds in foreign exchange fees.

In this case, it’s good practice to keep just a day or two’s funds in your wallet or bar-bag, stashing the remainder in the bottom of a pannier or somewhere else physically removed from your spending money. The more different places your cash is divided up between, the less at stake if one bag goes missing.

Long-term tourers often carry some ‘emergency’ cash, usually in US dollars, which remains the de facto global currency, and will hide it in all manner of inventive places, inside the seat tube being the most commonly-cited.

And all bicycle travellers, wherever and for however long they are travelling, can increase peace of mind by carrying an emergency credit card in defence of the unexpected. Keep a note of the international contact numbers for all of your card issuers, both on paper and in secure digital form.

What are your biggest safety and security concerns when touring? How do you deal with them?

Comments (skip to respond)

29 responses to “How To Stay Safe & Secure On A Cycle Tour Of Any Length”

  1. Pepper Lim avatar
    Pepper Lim

    Nice!

  2. Thank you so much Tom, your writing and website are just mint ? I’m now so encouraged and super SUPER excited about my trip next month after reading loads of your articles. It’s awesome that you do this. Internet high five ?? *couldn’t find a high five emoji, fist bump rocks it too

  3. Hi Tom,

    I’m looking to head out for my first stint of ‘bikepacking’ later this year (once I’ve recovered from a broken leg). Your blog has been an amazing help, but it’s been a burden giving me itchy feet, can’t wait to get on the road now!

    One tip I found online was to attach a pool noodle to the back of your bike. They’re colourful so help you to be seen and give you the metre or two buffer for cars. And if somebody doesn’t give you that space, they’re flexible so wont impact your cycling.

  4. Awesome advice man, we’re planning our first bike tour next month and this is real handy!

  5. Thanks for info. I’m looking for a touring pannier set up that is secure enough to deter the opportunistic thief (i.e. when you nip into a shop for 5 mins). Obviously there is no guarantee of safety, and for longer periods the panniers will come off, but those short stops are always a little frantic with stress…I’m looking for larger sizes. Any recommendations?

    1. It’s more or less impossible in equipment terms, unfortunately. You could use a wire lock through the straps and the rack but that doesn’t stop someone slashing the fabric. Instead I think you have to develop a well-tuned instinct for where is and isn’t a good place to leave your bike. It comes with time and is always stressful to begin with.

    2. Jon Mathias avatar
      Jon Mathias

      I’ve got the Ortlieb wire system that will prevent an opportunistuc thief from simply lifting a pannier from a rack and legging it. Tom’s point about a thief still being able to open a pannier or slash it is less likely as that takes way more time and you need a pretty heavy duty knife to slash an Ortlieb pannier. It’s easy to get paranoid about security.

  6. I never imagined that you’re always going to have to take your panniers off and find a safe place to keep them indoors. My husband has been training for a cycle tour in Denver for 5 months now. He has been training every morning and every night. I would imagine these piece of information would be great for him to have in order to stay safe on the road!

  7. Tom,
    if you have to go to the long mixed trip bicycle + kayaking (aplacka), and you actually did it, which helmet will you take — cycling or kayaking? I never used the latter one, and can’t decide.

    1. I did exactly this in Iran last year. I used my kayaking helmet for the cycling as it offers more overall protection, especially at the back and sides of the head.

      Here we are, modelling said kayaking helmets:

      Inconspicuous

      1. So, I’ll go for kayaking one.
        Thank you!

  8. Steven Midgley avatar
    Steven Midgley

    Spot on Tom as usual, good article to quell fears and give cofidence. Having read your book it inspired me to get back on my bike, with a light bike packing set up to to ride a little jaunt from Budapest to Istanbul. I stealth camped most of the way, apart from when an English couple in Bulgaria gave up their guest room to me, whom they didn’t know from Adam. They even cooked a meal for me! It was from them I learned about the snakes and that the strange whining pack of dogs I’d heard the previous night were probably Jackals. I’d only prepared myself for the possibility of Bears in the Carpathians. Once I reached the outskirts of Istanbul I put my bike on a bus to ride the last 20 km into the centre. It seemed the obvious choice to make rather than battling for my life on a road we would class as a motorway. Once in the centre riding around Istanbul wasn’t a problem, you just need to keep your wit’s about you. Thanks Tom.

  9. I got stolen of 200 dollar and later my smart phone in Iran. The 200 by a fake police officer and the phone ‑a bit more tricky- by someone who made friends and after two hours of building trust asked for my phone to call someone and drove away. I just wanted to do something back for him. I decided from that time to not stop trusting people but to never hand over cash or valuable things to anyone anymore. I might by naive in the situations but when it happens it’s kinda difficult to get it. Anyway, thanks for the great post Tom!

    1. Sorry to hear that, Henk. Petty crime has indeed been on the rise in Iran due to the increasingly strained economic situation. Hopefully the lifting of sanctions will change that.

  10. My experience is limited to motorcycle touring and it is interesting how many things apply exactly to both.

    I plan to do a big bike trip “soon” and I would say that my biggest concern about being on a bicycle is having fewer options. When I’m riding through some shantytowns on the outskirts of some random African city, it is no big deal. A twist of the wrist will get me out of trouble and far away whenever such need arises. But on a bicycle… you have fewer options… On a motorcycle, I will often explore random African cities at night, no one can see me in my helmet and any criminal will just get a short glance at me. On a bicycle… it’s not the same… And of course, random criminals in many places simply don’t know how to ride a motorcycle. Even if they wanted to steal it, it would be hard… A bicycle? Anyone can ride a bicycle… 

    As for crime, I have been chased by knife wielding robbers in South America. The first thing they did was pat me down (looking for money belt?) And they did get my “fake wallet.” 🙂 But this was one accident in cumulative few years of travel and it was in a semi-touristy area, where, obviously, criminals that target foreigners tend to hang out. 

    As you correctly mention, most people should think about road accidents instead of crime. I’ve certainly crashed my motorcycle several times and this is a much bigger danger than general crime. There are very few places in the world where criminals are on the look out for foreigners, and those areas are mostly urban areas that cyclists tend to stay away from.

    The biggest drawback to motorcycle and, presumably, bicycle travel is the paranoia that comes from leaving your bike. I’ve had plenty of occasions where I wanted to get off the bike to go down the beach to talk to X people or whatnot, but I didn’t want to leave my bike alone. 🙁 I think this is the biggest shortcoming of moto/cycle travel.

    1. Yes, leaving my bike alone has always been one of my biggest worries while touring. It helps if the bike isn’t worth anything 🙂

  11. Anything specifically about female safety? Obviously not something you have encountered personally, but maybe your wife or others you’ve spoken to have talked a bit about this?

    1. Here might be a good place to start for first hand experiences…

  12. Hi Tom,
    I’m 10 months in to an indefinate length trip. I also keep my most valuable items close to me when riding (ie moneybelt and handlebar bag). I sometimes wonder if this is the right course of action as robbers are most often in a hurry and handlebar bags are the quickest and most accessible to look through and moneybelts well known. Maybe having your passport and a card buried deep isn’t a bad option? Any thoughts from you or your readers? Great website by the way! Thanks, Steve

    1. I always keep a second card and a copy of my passport elsewhere, as well as scans of important documents in cloud storage.

  13. Here is another comprehensive topic about touring you thoroughly covered and exposed. A good and precious piece of information. Thanks!
    I can only agree that traffic is by far the most lethal threats of all when touring on a bike. Security should not be an option: yellow jacket, lights, reflective stuff, mirror, helmet… And also, I think fast national roads or likewise should be avoided as much as possible even when authorised to bicycles, which is often the case in Europe. Tons at high speed give you no chance to survive. The theoretical life expectancy of a pedestrian on a motorway is badly 15 minutes. So the one of a cyclist should be a bit longer but even though you go faster and have a better equipped bike, I don’t think you can extend indefinitely your probability of not being hit. This can also fit well with the “go where nobody goes” imperative.
    Besides, I tend to believe humans are paradoxically the biggest threat AND the biggest hope you can encounter while on travel and far from home. I don’t fear extensively coldness, thunderstorms, ugly beasts and other Mother Nature’s offspring but I DO fear humans. Anytime, not that much fortunately, I was seriously compromised — like being left in the middle of my trip with no money for somebody just stole it — there was another human I didn’t know who gave me a hand and put me back on the rails. For every human who sees you as a prey, a means or a way of getting benefits at your expense, you’ll find at least one whose only interest is making universal good.
    Yep, that is the strange condition we live in and better thought of by famous explorers who had already narrated this in the literature. For instance, I personally like Saint-Expuréry’s vision of humanity he developed after his crash: anonymous and saviour at the same time.
    I like to have these references when travelling…
    1/2KL

    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here – I couldn’t agree more.

  14. Great Post! Would be keen to hear your thoughts on dealing with stray/aggressive dogs you’ll inevitably come across too

  15. Been following this blog for a while and finally decided to take the plunge. Notice handed in and setting off for 12 months around the world soon. Thanks for all of the advice.

    1. Bloody well done! 😀

  16. Thanks Tom!
    Headed on my first international bike tour in a months time — this article is great.

    1. My pleasure – anything else you want to know on this topic?

      1. Thanks for the reply!

        I think I just need to get out and ride my bike. Only a month left of work and I can get going on something Ive been looking forward to and planning for years!

  17. Lots of good advice here. Very useful. Thanks.

Something to add?