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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About That Time I Went On Iranian TV
Those of you who’ve been reading this blog for a while will know that my mission for 2013 was to learn Farsi (Persian) in a year. This was put to the test on my recent journey to Iran, in which I spent six weeks attempting to follow the country’s longest river from source to sea. (Photo essays here.) It was also put to the test last week, when Tenny and I were interviewed about Janapar on the Iranian TV channel Manoto, broadcast from London and now one of the most watched channels in Iran. If you’re remotely interested in watching some of… Continue reading →
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Coolest adventure plan gets a free touring bike & gear. One week to enter!
Over the last few weeks I’ve been blogging about my biggest challenge yet. It has nothing to do with distance, speed, mileage, or any other kind of challenge we traditionally construct for ourselves. No; the challenge was to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats without any money whatsoever. What I hoped to achieve was an insight into the world of free travel. People have been wandering pennilessly for as long as journeys have existed, but nowadays the perceived barriers to travelling — or doing anything — if you don’t have much money are bigger than ever. I wanted to see if… Continue reading →
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#freeLEJOG: The Total Bill For A Bicycle Journey The Length Of England (Hint: It Was Less Than £1)
If you haven’t heard of #freeLEJOG, start catching up here. Otherwise, enjoy the final chapter! Good travelling is characterised by a great number of very painful goodbyes. It is a difficult thing to accept; that the better the time spent in the company of new friends, the more torturous will be the moment you venture forth once again in the knowledge that this episode of your life is over — done for, never to be returned to, incapable of being relived in any form but in some happy daydream — and that even your memory will one day let you… Continue reading →
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#freeLEJOG: How I Found A Secret Cave (With Free Beer), And Why I Can’t Tell You Where It Is
I hit an unexpected seam of gold in Cumbria. What started as a 24-hour detour turned into the most unpredictable adventure — four days during which I became part of the fabric of a stunning little side-valley in the heart of the English Lake District. I could easily have stayed all summer. Continue reading →
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FreeLEJOG: The Moment When, Aged 30, I Realised What Money Actually Was
Lancashire was where it all started coming together. I had been on the road for a fortnight, two thirds of the all-too-meagre time allowance I had in which to make this journey. It had been a fortnight since I’d last spent or handled money in any form, and the notion of carrying around bits of paper and metal and plastic to give to people in exchange for goods and services was a fast-dwindling memory. What the hell is money, anyway? I wondered as I rode through the tangle of canals and motorways and industrial estates that populate the corridor between Manchester and… 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.