If you’ve ever thought about going bike touring, you’ve probably had a lot of questions.
Can anyone really go bike touring? What kind of bike do you need? How much does it cost? Do you need to be fit? Where do you sleep? What about dogs? Is it dangerous? And, perhaps most importantly, is bike touring actually enjoyable, or is it just a really uncomfortable way to travel?
I did my first 6,500-kilometre bike tour in 2011 on a whim, which inspired a 26,000-kilometre trip across Canada through the United States and Mexico to Belize over a two-year period. I’ve camped in places I probably shouldn’t have, ridden through extreme heat and winter weather, dealt with mechanical problems, gone weeks without a shower, and met some incredible people along the way.
I’m certainly not an elite cyclist. I’m probably one of the slowest cyclists I know. But I’ve learned a lot about travelling by bicycle.
So, if you’re thinking about taking your first bike tour, here are my answers to some of the questions people commonly ask.
Can Anyone Go on a Bike Tour?
For most people, yes. Bike touring is much more accessible than many people think.
You don’t need to be an elite cyclist or an athlete to go bike touring. I sure as heck am not.
On my way through northern Ontario, I met a 17-year-old who had just bought the same bike as me and was preparing to cycle across Canada that summer. I’ve also seen plenty of people in their 60s sharing their own bike-touring adventures. Age is far less important than determination.
And bike touring is a completely different experience from simply going road cycling. I don’t even particularly enjoy road cycling. My idea of fun on a bicycle is full-suspension single-track trails through the woods. Bike touring is about much more than pedalling. It’s about adventure, camping, exploring new places, meeting people, solving problems and challenging yourself both physically and mentally.
You also don’t have to cross a continent or commit years of your life to the experience. Your first bike tour could be a weekend close to home. It could be a week exploring a nearby region. It could be a month travelling through another country. Every bike tour is an adventure, regardless of the distance.
Every bike tourist starts with that first ride.
My first bike tour found me as far north as Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories
What Advice Would You Give Someone Planning Their First Bike Tour?
Start small. Get your feet wet, so to speak. You’re going to make mistakes. Lots of them. That’s part of the learning process.
A weekend or multi-week tour won’t teach you everything, but it will give you a crash course in bike touring. You’ll quickly discover what works for you, what doesn’t, what you actually need, and what you thought you needed but never used.
Interestingly, my first bike tour wasn’t small at all. It was 14 weeks long. I walked into a bike shop the day before I left and completely winged it with a salesperson who had no bike-touring experience. Somehow, I survived.
Probably the most important advice I can give anyone considering a bike tour is this: Ride your own ride.
Ask questions. Join bike-touring groups. Read blogs. Watch videos. Learn from people who have done it before. But don’t let other people’s opinions limit your dreams. Everyone has an opinion about what you should do.
If I had listened to all the people who told me why my plans wouldn’t work, I never would have ridden through a Canadian winter. That turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of my journey.
Expect bike touring to be difficult. There will be days when you’re exhausted, frustrated, soaked by rain, battling a relentless headwind, or wondering why you ever thought this was a good idea.
But there is also a certain magic to bike touring that is difficult to explain. You may not become addicted to it. There are no guarantees. But a lot of people do.
Currently, I am living what I consider a pretty cool life in the jungles of Belize, but I daydream about bike touring.
To learn how I planned my last bike tour, you can check out: How to plan your bike tour route.
What Kind of Bike Do You Need for Bike Touring?
If the cost of purchasing a brand-new touring bicycle is what’s stopping you, don’t let it. You don’t need an expensive, high-end touring bike to start exploring by bicycle.
If you have an old bike sitting in your garage, take it to a reputable local bike shop. Explain to the mechanic that you’re planning a weekend or multi-week bike tour and ask whether your bicycle is suitable. A good mechanic can tell you what needs to be repaired, replaced, or upgraded before you leave.
At a minimum, you want a bicycle that:
- Fits you comfortably
- Is mechanically reliable
- Can handle the type of roads or trails you intend to ride
- Has a suitable way to carry your gear
- Can accommodate racks and panniers if you’re carrying traditional touring panniers
You may already have a perfectly usable touring bicycle sitting in your garage right now.
For my first bike tour, I purchased a new bicycle because I was transitioning from hitchhiking to bike touring. I bought the wrong style of bike. Why? Because it was black, and I thought it looked cool. It wasn’t exactly a sophisticated approach to choosing a touring bicycle.
The back story of how I picked my last bike touring bike can be found in a post I wrote called: How did you pick your bike?
Finishing my first 6,500 km bike tour with the wrong style bike for touring
What Gear Do You Need for Bike Touring?
I’ve actually done this for tens of thousands of kilometres. Here’s what you really need to know.
Bike touring is, in many ways, another form of camping. Think about what you’d bring if you were heading into the outdoors for days or weeks at a time. Then remember one important difference: Everything you’re bringing has to be carried on your bicycle.
You don’t necessarily need the most expensive equipment available. You can absolutely start bike touring with affordable gear. However, with camping equipment, you often get what you pay for. Generally speaking, more expensive camping gear tends to be lighter, stronger, and more compact. Those characteristics become much more important when you’re carrying everything on two wheels.
One of the biggest mistakes first-time bike tourists make is bringing too much stuff. Some cyclists go ultra-light. Some bring a guitar. This is another situation where my advice to ride your own ride applies.
Almost everyone was critical of how much equipment I carried on my bike. The funny thing was that I used almost everything I brought. The only thing I didn’t use was my water filter.
The perfect bike-touring gear setup isn’t necessarily the lightest one. The perfect setup is the one that allows you to enjoy the journey.
A shorter bike tour is a great way to figure this out. After a weekend or week on the road, you’ll know which items you use constantly and which ones have spent the entire trip taking up space.
On a longer tour, you can always dispose of, give away, or ship home equipment you discover you don’t need.
I further my position on ride your own ride in my What to pack on your first bike tour blog post.
Showing how much gear I pedalled 26,000 km across Canada to Belize
Is Bike Touring Expensive?
It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. The cost of bike touring depends enormously on how you choose to travel. A new bicycle and all the equipment needed to start touring can become expensive quickly. But one of the great things about bicycle travel is the enormous range of options available.
Where you sleep makes a huge difference. So does what you eat. So does how far you’re travelling to your starting point. Are you staying in hotels, campgrounds or hostels, or are you stealth camping? Are you eating in restaurants or cooking your own meals? Are you touring close to home or flying to another country? All of these decisions can dramatically change the cost of a bike tour.
I consider myself a fairly budget-conscious bike tourist. My bicycle and equipment were mid-range – not the cheapest, but certainly not high-end.
While travelling through Canada and the United States, I cooked almost all of my own meals, except during the winter months when I used restaurants. I found cooking in the winter frustrating between frozen fingertips and trying to wash dishes.
For accommodation, I often chose stealth camping. Stealth camping simply means finding a safe, discreet place to spend the night rather than staying in a formal campground.
In Canada, campground fees can be surprisingly expensive. When I was in larger cities and didn’t have a host, I used hostels.
There is another expense that’s easy to overlook:
Bicycle maintenance.
If you’re riding thousands of kilometres, parts wear out. Tires, chains, brake pads, cables and other components eventually need replacing, and longer tours can involve several repairs or tune-ups.
The good news is that bike touring can fit almost any budget.
The most important investment isn’t always money. It’s your willingness to adapt, solve problems, and make the journey work with what you have.
Ways that I saved money for my bike tour can be found here: 21 Crazy and Not So Crazy Ways I Saved Money For My Bike Tour
Do You Need to Train to Go Bike Touring?
No – but some preparation will make your tour much more enjoyable. You don’t need to be in peak physical condition before your first bike tour. Your fitness will improve remarkably once you’re riding regularly, especially if you’re riding every day.
Before leaving, the goal is simply to become comfortable spending time on your bicycle and gradually increase the distance you’re riding. Your body will continue adapting throughout the journey.
For my first bike tour, it had been years since I’d last ridden a bicycle. I still remember being unbelievably sore after my first day, when I completed 65 kilometres. But every day after that, things got easier.
For my second bike tour, it had been months since I’d ridden. I wasn’t particularly worried about getting back into shape because I knew something from experience:
Every day on the road makes you a little stronger. You don’t need to become incredibly fit before you start. You need to start.
Camping in the desert on bike tour
How Far Should You Ride Each Day?
There is no correct distance. Some bike tourists are happy riding 40 to 60 kilometres a day. Others regularly cover more than 150 kilometres.
The right distance depends on:
- Your fitness
- Terrain
- Weather
- Wind
- How much gear you’re carrying
- How often you stop
- How much sightseeing you want to do
- Whether you’re racing against a schedule
And remember:
Bike touring is not a race.
One of the biggest mistakes first-time bike tourists make is creating a schedule that leaves no room for adjustment. For example, planning to ride 125 kilometres every day on a one-week tour because you have a flight or ride home booked can quickly turn an enjoyable adventure into a stressful endurance challenge.
For myself, I was always happy with 75 kilometres in a day and ecstatic when I reached 100. My daily record on my first bike tour in 2011 was 115 kilometres. On my second tour, in 2021, I rode 142 kilometres in a single day through the Baja.
And, as I’ve already mentioned, I’m probably the slowest cyclist I know. That’s the beauty of bike touring. You don’t have to be fast. You don’t have to compete with anyone. The goal is simply to keep moving forward and enjoy the experience along the way.
Isn’t Bike Touring Miserable Sometimes?
Absolutely. And strangely enough, that’s part of what makes it so memorable. Bike touring has challenges. Weather, steep hills, headwinds, mechanical problems, navigation, and finding food or water can all test your patience. There will also be days when you’re tired, discouraged, or simply don’t feel like riding.
If you’re seriously considering bike touring, you may want to skip this section because it might scare you away. Here are some of the realities of life on a bicycle:
- Sweat-soaked clothes don’t dry overnight.
- Those same clothes are cold and sticky when you put them back on in the morning.
- Sweat-soaked clothes somehow get heavier every day.
- Eventually, you can smell your clothes from inside your tent.
- Running out of clean clothes becomes normal.
- Your hair, completely drenched in sweat when you crawl into your tent.
- Six or more days without a shower can become perfectly normal.
- Finding a safe place to camp, especially near a city, can become stressful as daylight disappears.
- When stealth camping worrying about whether you’ll need a bathroom first thing in the morning.
- Your battery packs start running low.
- You ride through pouring rain, set up your tent in the rain, cook in the rain, and then climb into a tent wearing soaking-wet clothes.
- All your bags and equipment get wet, and then you have to put them inside your dry tent.
- There is always one last hill between you and your destination.
- Eventually, you have to face and actually climb steep mountains.
- Setting up camp with 1,000 mosquitoes buzzing around your head.
- You lie in your tent listening to all the noises a forest makes and wondering, Was that a bear, or was that my imagination?
- You spend the entire night listening to highway traffic.
Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But here’s the strange thing about bike touring: Those are often the stories you remember most.
The miserable days, unexpected problems, and moments when you wondered what you were doing eventually become some of your favourite memories. The challenges don’t take away from the adventure. They are what make the adventure.
I expand a little bit on bike touring challenges in my Bike Touring Challenges post.
It’s hard to put into words when you can’t escape 46°C (115°F)
Where Do Bike Tourists Sleep?
Almost anywhere.
Bike tourists sleep in campgrounds, designated camping areas, hostels, guesthouses, hotels, Airbnbs and private homes. Some are invited into the homes of local families. Others meet people along the road who offer them a place to sleep.
Your accommodation often depends on your budget, the country you’re travelling through and the type of experience you’re looking for. For me, I always said yes to a hosting invitation.
Beyond that, unless I desperately needed a campground shower or laundry facilities, I usually chose to stealth camp. In Canada and the United States, I often stayed in hostels when travelling through larger cities.
In Mexico, my approach changed. Cities were often closer together, hotels were inexpensive, and stealth camping was frequently impractical. When hostels weren’t available, I often stayed in small local hotels.
Stealth camping in the United States can also be challenging in areas with a large homeless population. Not because of the homeless people themselves, but because if your tent is spotted, there’s a good chance someone will call the police.
The reality is that bike touring teaches you to be flexible. Some nights you sleep in a proper bed. Some nights you sleep in a tent. And occasionally you sleep somewhere you never expected.
The adventure isn’t just figuring out where you’re going. It’s figuring out where you’re going to sleep when you get there.
If you want to learn more about stealth camping, I wrote a more in-depth article: Stealth Camping on Bike Tour
One of my favorite stealth camping spots beside a river in Washington
What Are the Dangers of Bike Touring?
Traffic is generally your greatest danger. During my two-year journey from Canada to Belize, I probably had only three or four genuinely close calls with vehicles. It means that defensive riding, awareness, and good judgement can make a significant difference.
Stay alert. Ride defensively. Avoid distractions such as wearing earbuds while cycling.
Weather can also become dangerous, particularly in extreme conditions. Dehydration, heat exhaustion, illness, and leg cramps can quickly turn into serious problems if you’re unprepared. While riding through the American Southwest and Baja, daytime temperatures routinely reached 38 to 46°C (100 to 115°F). There were days when I genuinely wondered whether I was going to survive the day.
In some parts of the world, theft or robbery can also be a concern. However, in my experience, bike tourists are rarely targeted compared with traditional tourists. The greatest concern is often someone stealing an unattended bicycle rather than confronting you directly. And despite all the warnings I heard before travelling through Mexico, I never felt unsafe there.
Like most adventures, bike touring isn’t risk-free. But good judgement, common sense, preparation and a willingness to adapt go a long way towards keeping you safe.
Are Dogs a Problem When Bike Touring?
Sometimes. In rural areas and many parts of the world, loose dogs see a bicycle as something worth chasing. Most are simply protecting their territory rather than trying to attack you, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting when several dogs suddenly decide you’re the most interesting thing they’ve seen all day.
There are many different approaches to dealing with dogs. Some bike tourists carry a dog deterrent, whistle or other device. Others simply learn to stay calm, keep pedalling and avoid reacting in a way that encourages the chase. Experience is your best teacher.
For me, there was one major advantage to touring with a bicycle trailer. Dogs generally chase a cyclist at the heels. When I was pulling a trailer, they chased the back of my trailer instead. I’m not sure that was a scientifically proven dog-deterrent strategy. But it worked for me.
Biking through McMinnville, Oregon on my way to Belize
Does Bike Touring Get Lonely?
For a lot of people, probably. For me, no. If loneliness is something you’re concerned about, there are plenty of ways to avoid spending your entire tour alone. Many people tour with a partner. Depending on where you’re travelling, you’re also likely to meet other cyclists along the way. Some people end up riding together for a day, a week or even longer.
Because I don’t get lonely, it’s difficult for me to give advice about loneliness. One of the reasons I prefer riding alone is that I’m a slow cyclist. I like to ride my own ride. I also love photography and the freedom to stop whenever I want and for as long as I want.
When riding with other people, I found that we rarely stopped and there was a constant pressure to keep moving. For me, that became exhausting. That doesn’t mean I avoided people. Quite the opposite. I was always happy to stop and chat with cyclists I met along the way. If someone needed help, I’d stop. But when it came to actually riding together, I usually preferred to continue on my own.
One of the unexpected gifts of bike touring is spending time alone with your own thoughts. For me, that wasn’t loneliness. It was freedom.
I wrote a post specifically about bike touring solo or with a partner: Biking touring by yourself or with a partner.
How can you get lonely when an entire Mexican mountain bike club comes out to meet you?
What’s the Best Part of Bike Touring That People Don’t Expect?
How transformational the experience can be. It is amazing how many memories and experiences can be created in a relatively short period of time. Travelling by bicycle happens at what I consider to be the perfect speed. A car moves too quickly and insulates you from much of the world around you. Walking allows you to experience almost everything, but it makes covering long distances difficult. A bicycle sits somewhere perfectly in between.
You experience every hill, every change in temperature, every smell, every storm, every sunrise and every landscape as it unfolds around you. Then there are the people. It is incredible how many people you meet, especially when you’re travelling alone. A loaded touring bicycle is a natural conversation starter. People see your bicycle and all the gear attached to it. They recognize that you’ve travelled a long way under your own power. And almost immediately, you have something to talk about and are instantly respected.
I can’t overstate the number of stories and memories created by bike touring experiences. A post I wrote called Just the facts. What are the chances? describes a story that, in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have imagined.
I’ve also discovered that people are remarkably willing to help a cyclist who is obviously travelling a long distance. Breakdowns, mechanical problems, directions, accommodation and countless other problems that seem enormous when they first happen have a strange way of solving themselves when random strangers get involved.
I’ve had quite a few bicycle breakdowns. Virtually every one eventually became a great memory rather than a headache.
And that’s one of the things I love most about bike touring. You don’t simply travel from one place to another. You experience the journey at human speed. You meet people you never would have met. You solve problems you never expected to have. You discover that you’re capable of more than you thought.
And eventually, you realize something strange has happened. You’re already dreaming about the next bike tour. At least, that’s what happened to me.
