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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Introducing Affordable Custom-Built Touring Bikes from Oxford Bike Works
Disclosure: This is a fully impartial review of Oxford Bike Works’ Model 2 touring bike, based on real-world testing of a demo bike on temporary loan from Oxford Bike Works at my request. I am not affilated with or sponsored by Oxford Bike Works in any way. As bike touring has grown in popularity, major bicycle manufacturers have made more and more capable, well-designed touring bikes available at affordable prices. I’ve reviewed a few in this popular article. However! When it comes to buying a new touring bike, big brands are not the only option. Tons of independent bicycle builders are… Continue reading →
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The Definitive Janapar FAQ
Over the last 18 months I’ve held Q&A sessions at something like 50 screenings of Janapar: Love on a Bike around the UK, as well as a handful abroad. With a lot more people coming to the story in recent weeks due to a global release on iTunes and Google Play Movies (as well as on Amazon Instant Video in the USA), I thought it’d be a good time to attempt to answer as many of the questions I’m asked most frequently about the film. (Warning: this Q&A will potentially contain spoilers. If you haven’t seen Janapar, this will all make… Continue reading →
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8 Simple Winter Camping Tricks To Stay Safe & Warm
It snowed/sleeted briefly yesterday morning, and that might well be the only snow we get this year; therefore I feel justified in publishing this post on techniques to stay warm when camping when it’s absolutely bloody freezing. Follow the tips below, and you too can expect to get at least two or three hours’ sleep per night on an ill-advised last-minute bicycle journey to the Arctic Circle in the middle of winter with totally inappropriate equipment… * * * 1. Know Your Gear (Or Take More Of It) If you’re trying to minimise your baggage for winter camping, the key is… Continue reading →
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Why There’s No Kit List On My Adventure Cycle Touring Blog
One of the features you’ll find on any self-respecting adventure cycle tourist’s blog is a ‘kit list’ page. Usually published in the name of providing useful information, and occasionally as bait for search engines and to earn money through affiliate links, this page is the place where the rider lists bicycle components and the contents of panniers in unfettered detail. (It’s usually to be found alongside a route map and tour budget breakdown.) Despite the amount of riding I’ve done, I’ve avoided published such a list for as long as possible. Here are a few of the many reasons why this is… Continue reading →
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Last Chance To Buy The Most Popular Cycle-Touring Tent On The Planet
A few weeks ago I conducted a survey of the most popular tent for cycle touring. I did this by sending out a ton of emails to people I knew had covered vast distances by bicycle, and seeing what they said. (Real-world experience wins over gear nerds on the internet, right?) The results — a few hundred of them within the space of a few days — were conclusive. Cutting directly to the chase, by far and away the overall most popular tent to take along on a bike trip was this one: 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.