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'Bicycle touring' is a leisure travel activity which involves touring, exploring or sightseeing by bicycle. Although the Tour de France and other competitive sporting events are sometimes called "tours", this article is about non-competitive touring undertaken for enjoyment and travel. Bicycle tourism can be likened to backpacking on a bicycle.
Distances vary considerably. Depending on fitness, speed, and the number of stops, the rider usually covers between 50 and 100 miles a day. A short tour over a few days may cover as little as 150 miles, and a long tour taking months or years may exceed 10,000 miles.

Contents

Types of bike touring

The touring bike

Travelogues

Bike touring associations

History

See also

External links

References

Types of bike touring

There are many different types of bicycle touring:

★ In 'credit-card touring', the cyclist carries a minimum of equipment and a lot of money. Overnight accommodation is in youth hostels, hotels, ''pensions'' or B&Bs. Food is bought at cafes, restaurants or markets. This type of bicycle touring is common in Europe.

★ In 'fully loaded touring' (also known as 'self-supported touring') cyclists carry everything they need, including food, cooking equipment, and a tent for camping. Some travelers go "ultralight" with basic supplies, food, and a bivy.

★ 'Expedition touring' means traveling extensively, often through developing nations or remote areas. The bicycle is loaded with food, spares, tools, and camping equipment so that the traveler is largely self-supporting.

★ In 'supported touring' a vehicle such as a van carries most of the rider's equipment. This can be organized by private groups of cyclists or more often by commercial holiday companies. These companies sell places on guided bicycle tours, including pre-booked and pre-paid lodging, luggage transfers, route planning and often some meals and rental bikes.

The touring bike

Main articles: Touring bicycle

Cycle touring beyond the range of a simple day trip may need a bike capable of carrying heavy loads. Although many different bicycle types can be used, most cycle tourists prefer a touring bike built to carry heavy loads and which can be ridden more comfortably over long distances. Typical characteristics are a longer wheelbase for stability and heel clearance, frame fittings for front and rear pannier racks, additional water bottle mounts, frame fittings for front and rear mudguards/fenders, a broader range of gearing to cope with the increased weight, and touring tires which are wider and more puncture-resistant.
"Ultralight tourers" choose traditional road bicycles or "audax bicycles" for speed and simplicity. However, these bikes must be kept on roads, and often riders must take busy highways, especially through mountainous areas.
For some, the advantages of a recumbent bicycle are particularly relevant to touring. Other tourists find more comfort riding in the upright position.
Another option is to pull a bicycle trailer. This removes the requirement for a touring bike and provides the option to easily leave gear behind for side trips.
Finally, one can be fully supported and carry no gear at all. For this, almost any type of bicycle may be suitable.

Travelogues

Many cycle tourists have published travelogues of their tours (either traditionally in books or magazines or on the Web) that are both entertaining and informative. Some notable examples are Thomas Stevens, Ken Kifer, Dervla Murphy, Josie Dew, Heinz Stücke, Alastair Humphreys and Janne Corax.

Bike touring associations

Many associations for cyclists, such as the Cyclists' Touring Club in the UK and Adventure Cycling Association in the US, began as small touring clubs, organizing tours and accommodation. The Adventure Cycling Association (then called Bikecentennial) organised a mass ride in 1976 from one side of the USA to the other to mark the nation's 200th anniversary. In France, long-distance cyclists belong to the Fédération Française de Cyclo-Tourisme and to the smaller Cyclo-Camping International, which pools members' experiences and holds an annual conference in Paris.
On the internet, the largest collection of touring cyclists' stories is at www.crazyguyonabike.com

History

From the invention of the bicycle, it has always been a challenge to see how far it could be ridden. When the limits of a day's ride were reached, cyclists began carrying luggage for an overnight stop, thus creating bicycle touring. Since this was impromptu progression, accelerated when the equally-sized wheels of the safety bicycle made it simpler to carry bags, it is impossible to say when it started. By 1878, however, recreational cycling was well enough established in Britain to lead to the formation of the Bicycle Touring Club, later renamed Cyclists' Touring Club. It is the oldest national tourism organisation in the world. Membership of the CTC inspired the Frenchman Paul de Vivie (b. April 29, 1853) to found what became the Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme, the world's largest cycling association, and to coin the French word "cyclo-tourisme".

See also

★ Adventure Cycling

★ Audax (cycling)

★ Bicycle safety

★ Bicycle tours

★ Cycleway

★ Cyclists' Touring Club

★ League of American Bicyclists

★ Recreational cycling

★ Utility cycling

External links

★ BicycleTraveler - Huge Resource of Personal Travelogues

★ CrazyGuyOnABike - Over 1000 Journals and Articles by bicycle tourists

★ TierraWiki: Community project to share outdoor routes, including bike touring.

★ WheretoCycle.com A place to share bicycle touring information about locations around the world

★ MapItPronto Map out or view other's bike routes

★ Veloroutes.org Create, share and find cycling maps

★ Cycle Touring Handbook - An extensive resource detailing long-distance cycling

★ Bicycle Touring 101 - Informative resource for anyone thinking about starting bicycle touring

★ Rolling Across Europa - A documented trans-Europe journey with tips and observations

★ Bicycle adventures - Adventure cycling from Europe to Asia

★ GPS Cycling Tours - A blog presenting GPS track data (like dynamic Trackmaps and altitude profiles), plus geo-referenced photographs and travel reports, of several cycling tours made to different archaeological sites in Mexico.

References