Category: Articles & Essays

This post is part of a series of inspirational short essays exploring the who, what, when, where and how of cycle touring and bikepacking. Like all adventures, bicycle travel’s basic requirement is one of the modern world’s most scarce and valuable resources: time. Create time for a bicycle journey and you have already set the stage for a unique and unforgettable experience. And we all know what must happen for time to be created:  It must be reclaimed from other parts of our lives. Work is the biggest time-eater of all, of course. So some of us will use our… Continue reading →

This post is part of a series of inspirational short essays exploring the who, what, when, where and how of cycle touring and bikepacking. One of the most wonderful things about cycle touring and bikepacking is this:  You are no longer restricted to anyone else’s idea of a place worth going to.  In fact, you have an enviable degree of freedom from the usual structures of tourism. And you get to decide on your own focus for travel, rather than feigning interest in what guidebooks and travel blogs assume everyone must be interested in. Pedalling requires no services or facilities other than… Continue reading →

This post is part of a series of inspirational short essays exploring the who, what, when, where and how of cycle touring and bikepacking. The ‘when’ of setting off on a bike trip is an easy one: as soon as you would like. That might be next summer, when you’ve got the the equipment sorted, the route planned out, and the weather is optimal. It might be in a couple of years’ time, when you’ve saved a huge chunk of cash, quit your job, sold your house and are ready to begin your brand new life on the road. Or it… Continue reading →

This post is part of a series of inspirational short essays exploring the who, what, when, where and how of cycle touring and bikepacking. It is sometimes assumed that cycle touring is the exclusive domain of the lean and lycra-clad. Since when did a ‘normal’ person get on a bike and routinely crank out between fifty and a hundred miles a day without breaking a sweat? That requires fitness, and therefore training, and therefore a passion for sport and competition, and determination and pain. Which seemingly only describes a talented and slightly masochistic elite of cyclists. Except those baseline assumptions are false.… Continue reading →

This post is part of a series of inspirational short essays exploring the who, what, when, where and how of cycle touring and bikepacking. Getting on a bicycle and going somewhere new is one of the most accessible ways to have an adventure. It doesn’t need to involve quitting your job, spending years planning, or embarking upon an odyssey of self discovery. It doesn’t need to look heroic on social media. It doesn’t require “epic” days in the saddle, or energy gels, or a Strava subscription, or lycra. Nor does it have to involve physical hardship, highway traffic, vast mountain… Continue reading →