If the hustle of modern life is stopping you from getting out there on your first bicycle adventure, try following these six simple steps:
- Find the next available holiday window in your calendar. You can do this right now. Multiply the number of full days it contains by 50 and write the answer down.
- Choose a nearby country or region – somewhere new you’d like to see – and book a plane/bus/train there. (If booking flights, check that your airline is bike-friendly.)
- Take your answer from question 1, find another city roughly that many kilometres away, and book a return plane/bus/train home. (Use a route planning app to estimate cycling distances.)
- Get a cardboard box from your nearest bike shop and pack your bike into it like this. Pack your panniers, tent and camping mat into one of these. Take your handlebar bag as a carry-on.
- Arrive and unpack your bike. Meander towards your destination using the route planning app from step 3. Eat when you’re hungry. Sleep when you’re tired. Do entirely as you feel.
- Repeat step 4, having successfully completed your first overseas cycle tour.
Come to think of it, I should probably get around to doing this myself.
Yes. I really should. I work too hard. I need a break – a break from writing all this stuff about adventure cycle touring.
Right.
That’s it.
I’m going to go and ride my bike.
I leave tomorrow.
Bye!
Think it’s more complicated than this? Click here and let me prove you wrong.
Something to add?