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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Unconventional Sources Of Cheap Cycle Touring Equipment
Last year I sourced a touring bike, luggage, camping & cooking gear, spares, tools and clothes for £25.17 and then rode it the length of England on a budget of 25 pence. It was fantastic proof that money is no pre-requisite for adventure, and that you can get everything you need practically for free. However, finding the gear did require time, energy and luck in considerable amounts – not to mention the challenges of travelling without money (full story here). This article, therefore, is for those who do have a bit of cash to spend on getting up and running, but aren’t… Continue reading →
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What Exactly Does ‘Freedom’ Mean When Travelling?
Freedom – or the sense of it, at least – is the one thing that keeps bringing me back to cycle touring. I have all practicalities whittled down to a slender routine; there is nothing more to learn from the act itself of travelling by bicycle itself. Yet back to it I come, year after year, because of the sense of boundless liberation that comes from simply being on the road. At least, I thought it was freedom. Then someone pointed out that my adventures had all involved using money to get where I was going – just another tourist with… Continue reading →
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What & Where To Eat On A Cycle Tour – Options For Every Kind Of Budget
One of the great pleasures of cycle touring is that you may eat whatever and as much as you like. You’ll reimagine food as fuel, and the more in the tank, the further you’ll go. You may indeed gain weight, but only in your thigh muscles. Cake lovers rejoice! By the same token, the number one rule of feeding yourself on a bicycle adventure is to listen to your body. Your metabolism will adapt to become a highly-efficient furnace. Misjudge your intake and you will experience hunger like nothing on Earth, and finding the next bakery will be your sole reason for existence. Many… Continue reading →
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How To Stay Safe & Secure On A Cycle Tour Of Any Length
Safety and security is a big concern for inexperienced newcomers to cycle touring – particularly if you’re planning a long trip through ‘scary’ (or at least scary-sounding) places. It’s usually an even bigger concern for your friends and family. So it’s helpful to try and understand the on-the-ground realities of safety and security as they relate to bike touring and bikepacking before you hit the road. Everyone wants to put their mum’s mind at rest, right? Safety 101: Instinct Is Your Friend Before we get into the details and subtopics of cycle touring safety, know that – in general – instinct will play a major role… Continue reading →
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Just Released – A Brand New Edition Of The Best Adventure Cycle Tour Planning Guide On The Planet
The very first edition of Trailblazer’s Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook, compiled by veteran bicycle traveller Stephen Lord, didn’t just help me plan my first big journey; it actually inspired that ride’s very conception. I can barely believe that that guide has just seen the publication of its third edition. Have I really been doing this for that many years?! Now with Neil and Harriet Pike (of Pikes On Bikes fame) at the helm, the new edition has been totally revised and updated in light of the changing nature of what’s possible on a bicycle, given a map of the world and a limitless imagination. It’s still… 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.