Sunshine. A few rays of warm sunshine, that’s all it took to transform our Hokkaido cycle tour from one of futile misery to fun. Our sincerest apologies, beautiful Hokkaido! Your reputation as a world class cycling destination is well deserved.
Hokkaido Hoax
I’d spun Hokkaido into some kind of cycling nirvana. A Shangri-La of sorts where a smooth ribbon of road cut through the countryside. A bike tourist’s Eden of tailwinds and temperate weather. A utopia of sane drivers, safe roads and
Riding the Spine
Japan is a surprisingly mountainous country. With all the major population centers shoved together along the coastal lowlands, the interior is blissfully empty. After all the hassles and headaches of navigating between Osaka and Tokyo (with a population of around
Mapless in Japan
A country covered in road signs you can’t read, inhabited by people speaking a language you don’t understand may not seem like the ideal spot to wing it on a bike tour. No, Japan is ordinarily a place cyclists travel
A Big Lap: Australia Ride Recap
Our lap around Australia officially came to a close when we rolled into Cairns yesterday afternoon. Friday morning we’ll zip to the airport and fly off to Japan for an adventure in the Land of the Rising Sun. Here’s how
Touring Talk: Solo Woman Cycling the World
Intrepid Canadian Loretta Henderson is cycling the world. SOLO. Since 2009, she’s pedaled through 30 countries on four continents. This is her story. Loretta’s highly entertaining and inspiring bike touring website is Skalatitude.com. Here you’ll find hilarious tales from her
The Big Blur
Guyra, Glen Innes, Deepwater, Glencoe, Sandy Flat, Boonah…names of small Australian towns we’d rolled through in the last week. I couldn’t conjure up an image of a single one. Just like a bedraggled package touriston 10 day/ 14 country European
Touring Talk: Leave without Pay
After working till mid-life in relatively stressful jobs (IT and law), Dave and Nancy decided it was time to live some of those dreams they kept talking about doing ‘someday’. They took a 20 month break from the rat race
Why 2013 is the Perfect Time to Go Bicycle Touring!
Lots of people me meet confess that they dream of dropping everything to cycle around the world. Some of them actually do it. Like Martin and Pierette, a couple we stayed with in the Yukon. Here’s why these two seemingly
A well-balanced bike tour: 6 ways to make cycling more fun and rewarding
If you’re holed up in an office somewhere crunching numbers, creating a PowerPoint presentation or answering emails, you might find it hard to believe that bike touring can be anything less than mind-blowing fun and adventure. Reality check. Cycle touring,