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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Meetups: Plan Your Journey, And A One-Off Opportunity
In the spirit of sharing knowledge and stories and meeting up with like-minded people, I’ll be taking part in plenty of events over the next few months (hence the new calendar you’ll see in the sidebar of the site). Here are details of two during September: Continue reading →
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The Moment I Actually Began To Enjoy Bicycle Touring
Earlier in 2012 I cycled from Vancouver to San Francisco with my brother Ben, who was a complete newcomer to life on the road. I asked him to share his experience of getting to grips with cycle-touring. Strangely enough, it was on a night of torrential rain in a northern Oregon forest that I actually started to enjoy travelling by bike. http://flickr.com/photos/ballenuk/7879203992/ Continue reading →
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Film Blog: Janapar Will Premiere At Raindance Film Festival
I hung up the phone, and a primal scream filled the empty house. The signal had been choppy, but I had made out one clear fact: Janapar had been selected for the 20th Raindance Film Festival! Continue reading →
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Writer’s Blog: If You Were A Fly On The Wall
If you were a fly on the wall, you’d be forgiven for thinking me insane. There are three empty bedrooms in the house, but every night I lay down to sleep in the back garden. There are two good showers here, too, but I hang a bag of water up outside and wash beneath it. I could prepare elaborate meals in the fully-featured kitchen, but instead I eat only bread and cheese, or what I can cook in one pot. And I could listen to any piece of music, from any genre, or any point in time, but I listen only… Continue reading →
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Schwalbe Marathon Supreme Touring Tyre Review
Full disclosure: Schwalbe gave me a pair of Marathon Supremes for my 2012 U.S. West Coast trip, asking for feedback and an honest write-up of the tyre in return. From the ashes of the much loved Schwalbe Marathon XR expedition tyre arose a phoenix. Or, more correctly, a number of phoenixes. Or perhaps phoeni. Anyway. The point is that Schwalbe now make no fewer than 10 varieties of touring tyre, instead of just two or three; each specialising in a particular kind of touring. 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.