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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Self-Employment: A Life-Changing Tool for Freedom & Adventure?
I am not a rich man in the traditional sense. (Money…? What’s that?) But self-employment has given me enough of the modern world’s most scarce resource — time — to have spent my twenties on the kind of adventures that most cash-rich, time-poor nine-to-fivers can only dream about. I believe that embracing self-employment (not necessarily poverty, I might add) has the potential to unlock unlimited doors to adventure for a great many people. Continue reading →
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Into The Empty Quarter [Film Review]
Last week I was honoured to be present for the world premiere of Into The Empty Quarter at the Royal Geographical Society. Al Humphreys’ and Leon McCarron’s film about their unsupported trek across the Omani desert is one I approached with trepidation. Even though they were friends of mine, how interesting could it be to watch them dragging a cart across a desert for 52 minutes? Continue reading →
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Why Tents Suck, And Some Alternative Ways To Camp On A Cycle Tour
The tent is one of the mainstays of adventure bicycle travel. It was the revolutionary idea of taking my own accommodation with me that largely fuelled my decision to travel under my own steam on two wheels. A good tent will provide shelter in a broad variety of climates and weather conditions for many years. But it wasn’t long after I began my first journey that I realised something: I really disliked actually sleeping in a tent. To all in-tents (sorry) and purposes, sleeping in a tent is the same as sleeping indoors. It is a retreat from the natural world to… Continue reading →
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Some thoughts, as the Beer Can Stove video goes viral
At the time of writing, the video above has been played 1,311,131 times. Needless to say, when Armen and I popped out to buy a couple of cans of Kozel for this film, we were not expecting this to happen. It’s been fun to watch the statistics over the last few days. It’s also been interesting to ruminate on why content ‘goes viral’ — internet shorthand for a shedload of people seeing something online in a short space of time. What it boils down to, I think, is simple, resonant ideas put into easily shareable form, plus a dice-roll. The dice… Continue reading →
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A Rather Open Update-Rant on the Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Janapar
No, I’m not selling anything. I know almost everyone who reads this blog has seen Janapar now. I’d just like to share a selection of the more interesting, challenging and downright bizarre things that have happened since we released the film one year ago. The first thing that happened, at 9am on November 27th 2012, was that most of you bought Janapar and watched it. We received a lot of fantastic feedback and took a strong first step towards paying off the (considerable) costs of the film (no, we haven’t finished doing that yet). The second thing that happened, a few days… 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.