Category: Touring Advice
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Stop Bleeding Away Your Travel Money Via Overseas Card Transaction Fees (UK Only)
Fee-free UK current accounts for overseas spending are hard to come by. Enter Starling Bank, a mobile-only 'challenger' bank offering its customers zero-fee withdrawals and purchases in any currency anywhere in the world. Continue reading →
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Is Thailand Actually The Best Cycle Touring Destination In The World?
As I write, I’m just over a month into a wonderfully unstructured bike trip in ‘the land of a thousand smiles’, a country idolised by generations of travellers as a paradise on Earth; a destination to where 35 million people journeyed last year, a million from the UK alone. I’m talking, of course, about Thailand. And while many arrive in search of tropical beaches, golden temples and full-moon parties, I’ve been looking at a very different picture. For one does not generally check in at the airport for a beach holiday with a touring bike and panniers. No, I did not… Continue reading →
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Oxford Bike Works & Tom’s Expedition Bike: The Story So Far
Just before I flew out to Bangkok for my current trip, I paid a visit to Richard Delacour at Oxford Bike Works to collect Tenny’s newly upgraded tourer. Based on a vintage steel Trek frame, the lovingly recycled bike is a tidy piece of work, naturally — but it got me reflecting on the story of my acquaintance with Richard and his company; a tale of serendipity and good timing that still elicits a smile. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tom Allen (@tom_r_allen) I first met Richard in 2014 when he wrote to me asking if I’d… Continue reading →
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How Does Cycle Touring Actually Work?
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 →
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Where Is It Possible To Travel By Bicycle?
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 →
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When Can You Go Cycle Touring?
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 →
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Who Can Go On A Bicycle Tour? (Hint: Not Only Cyclists)
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 →
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What Is Cycle Touring (aka: Bikepacking)?
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 →
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What Does The Ideal Cycle Touring Clothing Collection Look Like?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel I’ve ever quite solved the cycle touring clothing quandry. Walk into a bike shop or outdoor store and it isn’t quite as simple as finding the ‘cycle touring’ department and taking your pick. I inevitably end up wearing garments – such as trekking trousers, merino or bamboo T‑shirts, hand-made linen slacks, tailored cotton shirts, etc – that were never designed for cycling at all. These are generally supplemented with only a few cycle-specific accessories such as padded shorts, riding mitts, Buffs, waterproofs, and perhaps socks and shoes. I get the impression that… Continue reading →
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How To Assemble A Fix-Anything Cycle Touring or Bikepacking Toolkit
What tools, spares and supplies would the perfect cycle touring or bikepacking toolkit contain? Is it even possible to curate such a kit? If it is, which products have earned the strongest reputation for reliability on worldwide bike trips? And finally – which of those items should make it into the portable toolkit you’ll be packing for your next bikepacking trip or cycle tour? These are the questions I want to explore in this detailed post on the subject of toolkit assembly for bike touring and bikepacking. Note that if you have a non-standard bicycle configuration, such as a Rohloff hub or Pinion gearbox, hydraulically-actuated… Continue reading →