The

Bike TouringSurvival Guide

Packed with practical advice and tips for life on the road, from over 50

experienced bike tourists.

Friedel & Andrew Grant

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We’re Friedel & Andrew - two Canadians who fell into bike touring while living in London. We were searching for an adventurous way to go around the world. That was in 2006. It was three years and 48,000km later when we returned home with a new passion for discovering the world on two wheels.

Our love of bicycles brought us to the Netherlands, where we live, work and write about bike touring. We still take off on our bikes for a few days or weeks at a time, and we’re planning more big adventures.

We welcome your bike touring tips for future editions of this book, and your ideas for changes or additions. Share your thoughts by emailing us@travellingtwo.com

A Note About Copyright

It’s taken over a year of hard work to produce this book. Selling it helps us to continue publishing free information on our website, and to pay for IT costs such as server maintenance.

Please don’t pass it around the internet, put it up on file-sharing sites or make copies in any form - print or electronic - to sell. In other words, this book is © 2011 Friedel & Andrew Grant.

If you’re writing a review of the book, feel free to quote brief passages and thanks for reviewing it! Creative Commons material can, of course, be reused according to the license for each object. Rights to photos from our contributors stay with the photographer.

About The Authors

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The

Bike TouringSurvival GuideBy Friedel & Andrew Grant

With Contributions, Editing and Inspiration By:

Aaldrik Mulder & Sonya Spry, Adam Thomas & Catherine Mojsiewicz, Aitor Zabala, Alastair Humphreys, Alicia Ackerman, Alvaro Neil the Biciclown, Amaya Williams & Eric Schambion, Ann Wilson, Anthony Atkielski, Chris Leakey & Liz Wilton, Chris Meyer, Chris Roach, David Piper, Doug Nienhuis, Emma Philpott & Justin Hewitt, Fearghal O’Nuallain & Simon Evans, Frederike Ramm & Guy Moodie, Gayle Dickson, Grace Johnson & Paul Jeurissen, Geoff Stanley, Heather Burge, Ian Hincks, Jim Langley, Jim Wood, Josie Dew, Keith Bassingthwaighte, Kent Peterson, Loretta Henderson, Marten Gerritsen, Matt Picio, McNett, Michael Meiser, Mike Boles, Mirjam Wouters, Oli Broom, Peter Gostelow, Peter Lypkie, Primus, Quantum Cycles, Ray Swartz, Rebecca Hogue & Scott Drennan, Richard Masoner, Rob Moir, Santos Bikes, Sarabeth Matilsky, Sarah Luttio, Scott Stoll, Shane Little, Simone & Trevor, Stephen Lord, Steve Fabes, Steve Langston, Stijn de Klerk, Steve Willey, Tara Alan & Tyler Kellen

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IntroductionYou Can Do It! 7Keep It Simple 9

Part 1: Life On The Road

Getting Ready For The Adventure

Is it safe and fun to bike tour, even on my own? 13Will this cost a lot? I’m not rich! 16How much do I need to plan? 19Mapping out a route? 23Bikes on planes, trains, buses or boats? 29What to pack? 37Getting sponsors or riding for charity? 41Advice for women planning to bike tour? 43

Daily LogisticsNavigating my daily route? 50What to eat? 56Where to sleep? 67Getting a shower? 77Doing laundry? 79Finding water? How much to carry? 82Help! Where’s the toilet? 86What if my day starts going wrong? 88

The People You MeetWhy do all these strangers want to meet me? 92Weird questions people will ask me? 96Should I accept offers of hospitality from strangers? 98

Staying ConnectedKeeping in touch with friends and family? 102Which gadgets and electronics to carry? 104Finding electricity to power these gizmos? 107Getting internet access? 110

Contents

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Challenges

Dealing with traffic? 113Will I be robbed or hassled? 116Making sure my bike isn’t stolen? 118If dogs chase me? 121Coping with bad weather? 123Staying healthy? 126Wanting to quit before my tour is over? 132

Far Away PlacesDo I need many vaccinations? 135Is it safe to go there? 137What about getting visas? 139Getting and exchanging money? 145Bribes, bargaining and beggars? 149Communicating without speaking the language? 151

Coming HomeI’m home. Now what? 154Will I ever get a job again? 156

Part 2: Bike & Camping Gear Maintenance

Repair Kits & General Bike CareWhat goes in my repair kit? 160Keeping my bike running smoothly? 167What’s that funny sound? 170What if my bike frame cracks? 172

Wheels, Rims & ChainsFixing a broken spoke? 175Truing a wobbly wheel? 179Straightening a severely bent wheel? 182Cracked rims? 184Chain problems? 187

Flat TiresUnusual causes of flat tires? 190Out of patches and tubes? 192

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Tents, Sleeping Bags & MatsPitching and packing my tent? 194Cleaning my tent? 197Holes and water leaks in my tent? 198Fixing broken tent poles? 200Caring for and cleaning my sleeping bag? 202Protecting my sleeping mat from dirt and failures? 205

StovesHow to keep my stove working well? 208Making my stove more efficient? 213Where can I find fuel? How much do I need? 216Making an emergency replacement stove? 219Flying with a stove? 221

Water FiltersDo I need a water filter or purifier? 222Caring for my water filter? 224

ClothingCaring for waterproof clothing? 225Keeping shoes from falling apart? 226Fixing failing zippers? 227

Closing Thoughts

Last But Not Least 229

AppendixPacking List 230Insurance 233Recommended Equipment 234Additional Reading 238Acknowledgements 239

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“ Since life is short and the world is wide, the sooner you start exploring it, the better.”

Simon Raven

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“It is difficult to relate the profound pleasure of bicycle touring; it’s a pleasure that takes root deeply in the soul. To feel the land rising and falling under the power of your own legs, to take immense joy in every bit of food that you consume...” Ian Hincks and Geoff Stanley

Get on your bicycle and go explore the world. There are so many wonderful

adventures waiting for you on the road.

This book will help you live your dreams. Think of it as your personal cheerleader, here to guide you on your own bike touring adventure.

We wrote it because it’s exactly what we would have liked to read when we set out to pedal around the world. It’s a book full of tips and practical on-the-road advice, and a book that focuses on the emotional side of the journey, as well as the physical.

Everything on these pages has been learned from our own 55,000km of cycling (often after racking our brains for days to come up with a solution), or is wisdom generously shared by dozens of other adventurous bike tourists.

Does that mean you’ll agree with everything? Of course not. We offer ideas, suggestions and hints but you may well find a better way of doing things. If you do, share it so others can learn from your experience.

The book begins by tackling the concerns that so many people have in the planning stages of a tour. What should I pack? Will this cost a lot of money? Can I go alone?

Next comes life on the road and everything that a long bike tour entails. As you read, you’ll find out how to deal with challenges like a broken campstove, heavy traffic and bad weather.

You’ll learn to expect the unexpected, and you’ll become excited to discover new cultures, landscapes, foods and sensations.

Perhaps most importantly, you’ll learn how a bike tour can help you discover not only the world but also a bit about yourself.

We also touch on coming home after a bike tour. What’s it like to

You Can Do It!

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return after an extended period on the road? Can you find a job again? Will a bicycle tour change you? The answer to the last question is yes – in more ways than you ever imagined.

All of this is organised not by chapters but by groups of questions. They are the questions that we once asked ourselves, and that hundreds of other bike tourists have asked us over the years. Read the questions in order, or flip through the pages randomly.

No book can cover everything, of course, and what makes this book a little different from other “how-to” bike touring guides is that we don’t go into great detail about exactly which type of bike or equipment to buy.

That’s not to say that we’ve elimated discussions about gear entirely. Over a third of the book is devoted to maintaining and fixing things we all take on a bike tour - stoves, tents and, yes, your bicycle.

We’ve also included a chapter on what to pack and several equipment lists. If that’s not enough, throughout the book you’ll find tips that will help you choose between the many makes and models competing for space in your bike bags.

For specific equipment recommendations, such as brands of bicycles, sleeping mats and tents, check out our totally free Bike Touring Basics book (http://travellingtwo.com/biketouringbasics).

If we were to distill the message of this book into a single sentence it would be this: YOU CAN DO IT! Forget what others say and remember that you already have everything you need for a successful bike tour. You just don’t know it yet.

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As you research, plan and dream about your big bike tour, you’ll soon discover just how easy it is to get bogged down in the details. You can labour for weeks over which route to take, whether to

get the big tent or the small one, panniers or a trailer.Even with more than 1,100 days on

the road, we still debate these types of things. It is surely a human condition to always be curious about the other option.

There is one rule, however, that often helps us make a decision, no matter what the dilema: keep it simple.

Take equipment, for example. It’s nice to think that when things go wrong, you’ll always be within spitting distance of a bike shop or camping store.

Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law says you’re more likely to be in the middle of Outer Nowhereistan and the next town, bus stop or bike shop will be very far away.

When that happens, you want to be able to fix the problem on your own, or at least engineer a temporary patch job. You can vastly improve your chances by repeating ‘Keep It Simple’ to yourself when picking out equipment.

What does this mean? In a nutshell: if you don’t understand it and can’t repair it in the field, it’s probably best to look for a simpler option or leave it home.

Keeping It Simple doesn’t mean forgoing high-quality equipment. Many of the best expedition-quality products are also designed to be fixed in the field.

There’s a lot to be said for a good product that will pass the test of time and prevent you from dealing with breakdowns in the first place.

It also doesn’t mean that you shun every high-tech gadget you can’t fix yourself. Obviously, sending emails from a small netbook that fits neatly in your panniers is preferable to going back to the very simple (but now barely used) post restante, which was the main form of communication for travellers until the internet became popular. Even when picking out

Keep It Simple

Life shouldn’t be too complicated on a bike tour. Great pleasures are found in simple things and moments.

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the latest gizmos, however, keep simplicity in mind. Go for brands that are known to be reliable and have a good battery life. Try not to buy anything that ties you into expensive contracts or that is so pricey that you’ll be constantly worrying about it being stolen.

Go Multi-functionalKeeping It Simple also means buying

things with more than one function. A Swiss Army knife can replace several kitchen utensils. Trousers that zip-off and convert to shorts can be used in warm and cool climates, allowing you to carry one piece of clothing instead of two.

Stay Open To ChangeKeep It Simple is a state of mind as well.

Try not to complicate your life by obsessing about daily distances, setting deadlines or deciding to cycle every mile, no matter how difficult those miles turn out to be.

These self-imposed pressures are sometimes invigorating challenges but they also run the risk of being more stressful than fun.

It’s better to stay flexible and, when you feel like a change, look for ways to make life easier or more enjoyable. If you feel tired, take a shortcut, stop and read a book or treat yourself to a hotel and a really good night’s sleep. When you’d rather be somewhere else, don’t feel guilty about using public transport to jump ahead to the next region.

The bottom line is that it’s your tour – not anyone else’s. It’s certainly not a race or a quest to prove yourself to the world. Make sure you’re enjoying the ride. 

Questions to ask when buying gear:1. Is this product known to be reliable?2. Do I understand how it works?3. Can I fix it in the field?4. If I can’t fix it, how easy will it be to find someone who can? 5. Are the components commonly available?6. Are the related batteries or tools standard and easy to find?

One of the great joys of bike touring is stopping

wherever you like. Photo © Steve Willey.

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Getting Ready:packing, planning,

finding a route...