Hi! I’m Tom, originally from England, but the island was too small.
For 20 years I’ve been exploring the world by bike at every chance I get.
Why? Simply put: because it’s the closest thing you’ll find to pure freedom!
Here at TomsBikeTrip.com I share hard-earned lessons about cycle touring and bikepacking, tell original stories, and road-test new ideas.
A love of adventure has powered my 100% AI-free blog since 2006, when I first decided to travel the world by bicycle and write about it.
Welcome!
The blog: over half a million words of hard-earned, hand-written cycle touring & bikepacking advice.
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Microadventure: Swim to an island. Sleep on it.
I’m on a train, speeding north from London for an event tonight in Kendal. It’s the fourth in a run of film screenings I’m doing over the next two weeks. I’m knackered. My body-clock is trashed. And I’m wearing the same clothes I was wearing in my sleeping bag last week on an island in the English Lakes that I swam to with two friends, Al and Ferg. It was a foolhardy plan, concocted by three blokes desperate to justify why they weren’t spending Valentine’s Eve with their other halves. At least the plan was a simple one: swim to… Continue reading →
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Touring the UK with Janapar: dates & cities
Life in the Lake District continues as usual: rainy, rural and stunning. But things are about to get rather busy as I hit the road with Janapar this month. Continue reading →
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Farsi Friday Week 6: Trashy TV Shows & Other Learning Aids
You might have noticed that Week 4 and 5 of my series on learning Persian did not appear. You might also have noticed that this corresponded with my first big book launch. Unsurprisingly, there is a connection here! Continue reading →
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MSR WhisperLite Universal Canister/Multi-Fuel Stove: Owner Review
Full disclosure: In 2012, Cascade Designs sent me a WhisperLite Universal for testing, review and feedback. As with all such arrangements, I reserve the right to write honestly. If a product is crap, I’ll tell you why. We are already spoilt for choice with camping stoves, but MSR have recently brought out a hybrid-fuel version of the classic Whisperlite, which burns propane-butane canister fuel as happily as the unleaded petrol/gasoline/benzine/diesel/kerosene/white gas we’ve come to rely on as cycle-tourists. This is interesting. Who is the MSR Whisperlite Universal for? Why would you want to burn canister fuel? It’s more expensive, the canisters… Continue reading →
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The World According To… Tom Allen (Wanderlust Interview)
I was recently given this list of questions to answer for Wanderlust magazine; a rare opportunity to bang on guiltlessly about my opinions and experiences. Mountain/desert/jungle/ocean — which are you? Some of my favourite experiences have been in the desert. Life has to slow down in the heat and dryness, and that sense of calm is a welcome opposite from the busy lives we lead at home. I love the mountains, too – they breed a unique kind of culture and help remind us of our insignificance. First travel experience? I took a year out after school and went to the… Continue reading →
Books, eBooks & Guides
I’ve written a range of guidebooks and travelogues to read at your leisure, whether you’re preparing for a bike trip, living life on the road, or home and dreaming of the next big ride.
How To Hit The Road: A Beginner’s Guide To Cycle Touring & Bikepacking
First published in 2017 and updated in 2021, this book is my comprehensive newcomers’ introduction to the art of the bicycle-mounted adventure.
Every aspect of a cycle tour or bikepacking trip is covered in 34 chapters, split over three parts: pre-trip planning, initial execution, and adapting to the long haul.
As well as broad, practical advice, I’ve woven inspiring and reassuring anecdotes throughout the book – because getting away from the starting line isn’t about knowing everything, but having the confidence to begin.
Drawing on my personal experience of almost two decades of adventure cycling, more than 50 veteran riders from diverse backgrounds have also contributed to this guide, making it one of the most well-rounded introductions you’ll find to this radically liberating form of independent travel.
Whatever you’re planning and wherever you’re going, if it involves a bicycle and the spirit of adventure, How To Hit The Road has got you covered.
Janapar: Love, on a Bike
My first travelogue, originally published in 2013 and the subject of a successful crowdfunding campaign, telling the true story of my first 3½ years on the road.
This was far from your typical long-distance bike tour, however. From the cover blurb:
When twenty-three-year-old Tom Allen and his friends set off from their English village to cycle around the world, they were expecting physical hardship, extreme conditions and a serious case of culture shock. But the hours spent poring over maps could never have prepared them for the experience of life on the road: the petty squabbles, the extreme hospitality, the unexpected joys and dangers.
And then Tom meets Tenny, a feisty Iranian-Armenian girl with dreams of her own, and hits a crossroad. Should he give up his grand plan for the girl he loves, or cycle off and risk missing out on the greatest adventure of them all?
Temporarily out of print (except in the USA), Janapar is still available as a Kindle ebook from all Amazon portals worldwide.