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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‘Janapar’ is now available in paperback and eBook editions
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/58449502[/vimeo] On the 17th of June 2007 I cycled away from my parents’ front door on a mission to cycle the world. I’d called my project ‘Ride Earth’. I was a cocky 23-year-old and I thought I knew it all. I could not have been more wrong. Continue reading →
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Farsi Friday Week 3: Free language resources that work, and the theory of learning
I know, I know, it’s a Sunday. On Friday I was at the London Bike Show, where I did my first ever public talk about my travels (a first tiny step towards curing my phobia of public speaking). And because the UK’s train drivers treat a flurry of snow as a reason to stay in bed for the day, the nice four-hour train journey home — on which I’d planned to write the update — did not happen. Enough with the excuses. Onto the week’s developments… Continue reading →
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A different kind of tour — of Taiwan’s bicycle industry
I’ve started to receive a steady stream of PR emails thanks to my blog’s more-or-less decent visitor numbers over the years. These emails usually go straight to the spam folder (sorry PRs!), but a recent one caught my eye: “As part of your ongoing and deliberate transition to celebrity bike tourist,” it asked (not at all ironically), “would you be interested in participating in a tour of the Taiwanese bicycle industry?” Hold on — an invitation to the centre of the bicycle-making universe? Hell yeah… Continue reading →
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Book Launch: Saturday 26th, central London. All welcome
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tom Allen (@tom_r_allen) Just a quick note to let you know that there’s a free meetup happening in central London a week on Saturday. Officially it’s the book’s ‘launch party’ (because every book needs one) — the date after which the paperback will be on general release. But it’s also a good excuse for a get-together in a cracking central London venue. Entry for this evening event is free, as is the first drink for everyone who comes along. The programme of events is to show the film first, followed by… Continue reading →
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Farsi Friday Week 2: Some Language Learning Techniques They Don’t Teach At School
Since last week I’ve been having a daily dialogue session with Tenny, and at the same time figuring out a learning system to suit me. I know from previous attempts to learn languages that my biggest stumbling block when I arrive in Iran will be vocabulary, so I’ve decided to make that the focus of the next few weeks. Delving into the world of self-taught language learning has been fascinating because it departs from my school-based learning on so many levels. The biggest difference, of course, is that I actually give a toss. (I haven’t plucked Persian out of thin air.… 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.