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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Day 19: People Power
There’s little that can bring a bigger smile to a bicycle-traveller’s face than a spontaneous act of kindness from a stranger. Incidentally, I have come to really dislike the word ‘stranger’. It implies something which I don’t believe to be true; that anyone with whom we aren’t familiar shouldn’t be trusted. Because they’re ‘strange’. Continue reading →
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Day 18: They Can’t See The Forest
It’s warm today. I can tell because it takes ages for my ice-beard to crispen up. At ‑20°C and below, my facial hair is as stiff as a board within a couple of minutes. But today I have few problems with nasal outpourings. The sun is shining, a few morning clouds receding, and it’s looking Continue reading →
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Day 17: Standard Operating Procedures
By now I’ve settled into certain ways of doing things when I’m out on the road in this climate. These are things I’ve learnt through trial and cold, miserable error. Just little things, but it’s interesting to look at them a little more closely. Continue reading →
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Day 15: The Last Homely House
I get up at 7:30. This is nuts, I tell myself. Eight hours ago I was still riding. And here I am again, pedalling hard first thing in the morning, waiting for the first wave of prickly heat to hit my torso. When that comes, I slow down considerably and continue at a far more Continue reading →
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Day 14: Forests & Podcasts
The daily blog is usually left until all other chores have been accomplished. By this point I rarely have any energy remaining and when I write it is usually an assembly of phrases I’ve constructed during the day’s ride, put together late at night on bleary-eyed autopilot. 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.