Category: Articles & Essays
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Introducing A New Range Of Limited-Edition ‘Janapar’ Merchandise
Today, I’d like to take a break from Iran and Patagonia to talk again about Janapar, my previous adventure film and book project, with which which some of you may be (for me) uncomfortably familiar. It’s been more than two years since James and I released the film to the world on DVD and as a download via iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere. This, unfortunately, is a long time in the film and book industry, and sales have been steadily declining since the release. Yet we still have not recouped our costs for the project, and our accountant is getting increasingly… Continue reading →
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Bikepacking Vs Backpacking: Is There A ‘Best’ Way To See The World?
This is a blog about bicycle travel. Given that, many of my readers may be wondering why I’m questioning whether pedal-powered transport is the best way to the world. Because we all know bikepacking (or bike touring) is best… right? I’m hardly qualified to convince anyone otherwise. Although I have also walked across nations, I still find a greater sense of contentment in pedalling through new landscapes than I do from almost anything else. (Fixing my bike is the only other thing that comes to mind!) But in 2014, after nine years of almost exclusively travelling the world by bike, I branched out.… Continue reading →
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What Name Would You Give A Heavy-Duty World Touring Bike?
After last week’s rather vocal debate on the ethics of commercialism in adventure, I figured it was time to get firmly back to what we all love: travelling the world on two wheels. (Less talk, more action, and all that.) Now, as long-term readers will know, I’ve never had any particular fascination with touring bikes themselves. Though I’ve written the odd blog post on the topic, this has mainly been in order to get people here via search engines so that I can talk to them about how getting on a bike and going somewhere is a far better use of their time than endlessly… Continue reading →
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280 Years, 196 Cyclists & 4,065,596 Kilometres — But What Does The Database Of Long-Distance Cycling Journeys Really Tell Us?
Tim & Laura’s quantitative study of the achievements of nearly two hundred long-distance touring cyclists makes for some fascinating browsing. Who’d have guessed, for example, that the highest average monthly distance (9,673km) would be 41 times greater than the slowest (234km)? Who’d have guessed that 38% of these cyclists would have chosen to use 700c road sized wheels on their bikes, compared with 62% using 26-inch mountain bike sized wheels? Who’d have guessed that exactly two thirds of those riders would have cycled solo, and for an average trip length of 28,482km? Who’d have guessed that it would be possible to get by on as… Continue reading →
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How To Budget & Save For A Cycle Tour: A Foolproof Financial Plan
This guest post has been put together by the very clever Ramona Marks, who is far more financially literate than I and thus far more qualified to write this, the ultimate guide to financial planning for big adventures. She’s living proof that it works, too. Take it away, Ramona… You want to go on a big adventure? Great! You’ve already done the hardest work. Making the decision to challenge yourself is a really big accomplishment, and you haven’t even gone out the door. My husband and I knew that we needed to get out of the city we were living in.… Continue reading →
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Why Casting Cycle Touring As ‘Sport’ Is Completely Missing The Point
Today’s guest post is from Victoria Cadman, who has completed several solo, long-distance bike journeys across Europe as part of an extremely ill-defined idea to explore the history of the continent. I asked her to write about the perception of cycling as a sporting endeavour, why transferring the goal-oriented mentality to travel is missing the point, and why cycle touring need have nothing to do with sport whatsoever. Take it away, Victoria… A couple of years ago, I was cycling across France, en route to Italy. I was about to begin a second long tour in Europe, but was not in particularly… Continue reading →
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15 Unorthodox Ways To Train For Cycle Touring & Bikepacking (Bicycle Optional)
So you’re dreaming of life on the open road on that epic long-distance cycle tour or bikepacking trip. Yet you’re doing nothing proactive about it, because (among other reasons) you think you’re not fit enough. The odd commute or day-ride isn’t enough; it’s waaaaay too big a leap from your current lifestyle to the kind of physical fitness required for that big bicycle-mounted adventure. Right? Well, no, actually. For most people in this scenario, the truth about training for long-distance cycle touring or bikepacking is actually this: Training yourself mentally will serve you far better than attempting to train yourself physically.… Continue reading →
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What Happens When A Non-Cyclist Spends 3½ Years Travelling The World By Bicycle
When I tell people I rode a bicycle 15,000-odd miles across Europe, Africa and the Middle East for fun, but that I’m not a cyclist, I get some funny looks. I try to explain that it wasn’t thunderous thigh-muscles I wanted but visceral life experience, fresh out of university with a head full of theories and not a job opportunity in sight. No commitments, no prospects, and no desire to grab a backpack and bus the planet’s roads: the combination of bike and tent would allow unmatched freedom, and screw the wild-camping laws while I still rode in countries that had… Continue reading →
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Save More Money & Have More Fun By WWOOFing Around The World By Bicycle
Today’s guest post is by 28-year-old Erwin Zantinga, a Dutch bicycle traveller who has spent the last six years Working Worldwide On Organic Farms (WWOOFing). Given its obvious relevance to the #freeLEJOG experiment, I asked him if he’d be interested in giving us an introduction to this now well-established world of casual outdoor work on the road. Take it away, Erwin… It was 2008 and I found myself almost crying because of her departure, a new friend I’d known for just two weeks. It’d been an intense fortnight of working, eating, talking, dancing and hanging out in lovely Sweden — Eekerö, to be precise — on a small piece of the… Continue reading →
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And the winner is…
Well! This competition has been something of a revelation. Mainly in terms of the sheer variety of trip ideas submitted. Who’d have thought that there were folk out there planning to tour the breweries of the world, explore countries while researching historical-mythological novels, use bike touring to find a new home, and string lectures along the route of pedal-powered journeys? There’s something really reassuring about all of this. There’s an abundance of imagination and passion out there. It’s inspirational to get an glimpse of it through this giveaway, this tiny cross-section of the adventurous journeys that are taking shape right now,… Continue reading →