Bicycle Touring Norway

Before visiting, I knew 5 things about Norway:The roads are really, really steep.Everything is crazy expensive.Vicious mosquitoes and midges attack any unprotected flesh.The weather is stormy and unsettled all year long.The wild camping is wonderful.

Road Connections

The best part of bicycle touring. The thrill of physical challenges and stunning landscapes are fleeting. It's the connections that matter most. That's the real reason we love bicycle touring so much. Connecting. Sometimes it's just an exchange of smiles

Female Cyclists Info

Discover women adventurers on epic round-the-world bicycle tours on the new Women Cycle the World website. More and more women are exploring the world by bicycle. They're riding up remote mountain passes, crossing continents on two wheels, and camping wild in the middle of

Cycling Myanmar

Approaching voices in the distance sent a shudder up my spine.  Eric and I fell into an immediate silence.  It was our first night in Myanmar.  We were wild camping. And suddenly we weren’t alone. Finding a suitable spot to

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

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

Frequently Asked Questions

 Common Questions about Bicycle Touring Around the World'When will you finish your round the world bicycle tour?Our aim is to cycle every country on the planet. So far, we have biked through 102 countries on all six permanently inhabited continents.

Back to Oz

“Please step aside.  We need more information about your visit.” The request was pleasant enough, but I was still worried.  Nobody likes to be stopped at immigration. “Have you been to Australia before?” “Yes, for three months back in 2012,”

Farewell New Zealand

“How far to the Summit?” “You’re almost there–it’s just on the other side of the tunnel—you’ll need a torch, it’s pretty dark inside.” I was relieved.  We’d just dragged our bikes through the washout at Siberia Gully.  I was hungry.

Into the Heartland

The Maori people paddled  their canoes to New Zealand’s shores some 700 years ago.   Descendants of these early settlers still populate the East Cape. The East Cape sometimes gets a bad rap.  Concerned New Zealanders from other parts of the

Taking to the Trails!

Mountain biking trails on a fully loaded bicycle?  Yes, it’s possible. I know.  From experience. No entirely positive experience.  But one I ultimately don’t regret. Now, I’d come to New Zealand expecting some fairly laidback cycling.  I got about 100

A Forgotten World

One reason bicycle touring is so beloved is that it drags us away from all the distractions of daily life. While out riding, we stop obsessing over Twitter followers, Facebook likes and the latest i-phone apps.   Being out on the

Looking Back on 2012

2012 has been a good year for us.  It is, quite possibly, the only year I haven’t seriously contemplated giving up this bicycle touring gig. The year began on the hazardous Chinese highways (with a missing passport no less!) and

Coffee and Craters

Visa extensions in hand, we slipped out of Surabaya.  Kalimantan–with its heat, humidity and hills– had left us exhausted. Downtime imposed by the dawdling  Indonesian immigration officials had done us good.  We’d satiated our appetite for internet and were eager to start cranking the pedals

Unchanged China

I had plenty of ideas about China before actually visiting. These days, it’s hard not to pick up a newspaper or tune into a podcast without being treated to some pundit’s views on China’s rising power, influence and prosperity. Like

Changing Continents

All my life I have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper – just running down the edges of different countries and continents, ‘looking for something’. Elizabeth Bishop 15 hours in a cramped Boeing 737 and we arrive bleary

Touring Talk: Biking Boomers

  Touring Talk episode 8: biking boomers by worldbiking   Name: Chris and Heather Hartridge Country: Canada Touring Experience: Long trips in Canada and the USA with plans for an extended multi-year tour in the future. Comfort touring or Camping?

When things go Wrong

If there’s one thing that’s a certainty about bicycle touring, it’s that Things Will Go Wrong! Equipment will fail, uncooperative weather will foil carefully laid plans, the cycling companion with whom you thought you’d be a perfect match will turn

Touring Talk: cycle touring on a shoestring budget

Touring Talk episode 5: shoestring cycle touring by worldbiking Names: Ben (20) and Leann (22) Home: Minnesota,USA Route: Minnesota to Alaska Pre-tour  gear investment: $400 all inclusive Longest period of time without showering: 14 days through northern British Columbia and

Touring Talk: Cycling the Americas with Tyson Schimschal

Touring Talk episode 4: Cycling the Americas with Tyson Schimschal by worldbiking   Name: Tyson Schimschal Country: Canadian, but currently living in Seattle Route: Ushuaia to Alaska beginning in December 2009, finishing in September 2011 Bike Touring  Philosophy: “If you’re

Touring Talk: Two on Tour since 2004

Robi and Moni, two bicycle crazy Swiss cyclists on the road since 2004. Touring Talk episode 3: The Velocos, on the road since 2004 by worldbiking Names: Monika Estermann and Robert Spengeler Country: Switzerland Age: Monica: 39 / Robi: 47

A Fresh Start

Finally we’d managed to stuff, squeeze and squash all our bulky, Alaska-proof, cold-weather gear into four panniers and a dry sack each.  Our bikes were heavier than ever.  40+ kilos of gear weighing down each bicycle, we reckoned. One last

Northward Bound: Ready, Set, Go!

Monday July 11th, 8AM from Missoula’s own Adventure Cycling, we set off for Alaska. Yippee! Since the big Bolivia theft, it’s been a long hard struggle to get back on the road. After taking the painful decision to leave South

7 Tips for a Successful Bicycle Tour

The idea of “succeeding” at bicycle touring probably sounds strange to you.  After all, a bicycle tour is supposed to be fun.  It’s not a job to be judged and evaluated. Let’s just say success is doing what you set

The serendipity of cycling

Wonderful things happen when we open ourselves up to serendipity and chance.  Embracing the out-of-the-ordinary often lands us is the most amazing of situations. And so it was last Friday evening on Argentina’s Ruta 3.  The windiest road on the

Pedaling to the end of the world

Patagonia at last!  Gone are the rolling hills and pine trees, the small towns with their delicious factura-filled bakeries and quiet parks.   Patagonia is a windswept land of wide-open spaces, hardy sheep and long, lonely roads.   The glaciers and lakes

Bicycle Touring by Numbers

Total Kilometers Cycled: 84,944 Current Location: Paysandu, Uruguay On the Road: 4 years, 4 months, 17 days A look back at what we’ve been up to since the last update way back in September. 4 Number of border crossings.  Paraguay