Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Cycle Touring For Beginners
    Cycle Touring For Beginners
    Cycle Touring For Beginners
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    Cycle Touring For Beginners

    By Marie Madigan

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Cycle Touring For Beginners is the ultimate guide for anyone looking to embark on their own cycling adventure. Whether you're a complete novice or have some experience with cycle touring, this comprehensive guide has everything you need to get started.

    Discover the joys of cycle touring, from short overnight trips in your own county to extended tours across other countries. Explore the world on your own terms, whether you prefer to stay in guest houses or camp under the stars. This guide covers all aspects of cycle touring, including:

    • Choosing the right bike for your journey
    • Preparing for your tour, including fitness and training tips (spoiler: you don't need to be super-fit)
    • Deciding what to bring along, from essential tools to little luxuries
    • Planning your route and finding the best places to stay
    • Eating well on the road to keep your energy levels up and stay healthy

    Cycle Touring For Beginners" is more than just a how-to guide; it's an invitation to explore the world in a new and exciting way. With expert advice, practical tips, and plenty of encouragement, this book will inspire you to saddle up and start your own bike touring adventure this weekend.

    Get ready to experience the thrill of the open road, the freedom of two wheels, and the unforgettable memories that come with every pedal stroke. Grab your copy of Cycle Touring For Beginners" today and start planning your next cycling adventure! Perfect for aspiring cycle tourists, travel enthusiasts, and anyone looking for a new way to explore the world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWood Sorrel Books
    Release dateDec 22, 2015
    ISBN9781519942227
    Cycle Touring For Beginners

    Read more from Marie Madigan

    Related to Cycle Touring For Beginners

    Related ebooks

    Outdoors For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Choose Your Own Adventure

      May 12, 2020

      Choose Your Own Adventure
      7 min read

    • Article

      What Goes Around

      May 17, 2023

      What Goes Around
      7 min read

    • Article

      Your Bikepacking Pocket Guide

      Jul 4, 2021

      Your Bikepacking Pocket Guide
      5 min read

    • Article

      No Bake Energy Bars

      May 8, 2023

      No Bake Energy Bars
      1 min read

    • Article

      Uphill Battle

      Nov 29, 2023

      Uphill Battle
      4 min read

    • Article

      Lessons From My Vanlife

      Aug 2, 2020

      Lessons From My Vanlife
      3 min read

    • Article

      Prodigal Stun!

      Feb 21, 2024

      Back in 2001 Yamaha were riding high on the success of their YZF-R range which included the now iconic R1 and R6, and were also following the trend of making naked versions of their sports machines. These were bikes with more practicality, less pose

      11 min read

    • Article

      Thank You, Mountain Biking

      Mar 30, 2022

      Thank You, Mountain Biking
      7 min read

    • Article

      Stepping It Up

      Mar 30, 2022

      Stepping It Up
      6 min read

    • Article

      Col du Glandon

      May 17, 2023

      Col du Glandon
      4 min read

    • Article

      Running: Friend Or Foe?

      Oct 4, 2023

      Running: Friend Or Foe?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Amazon Fire 7

      Sep 14, 2022

      Amazon Fire 7
      3 min read

    • Article

      Let The Weight Do The Work

      Mar 29, 2023

      Let The Weight Do The Work
      6 min read

    • Article

      Hot Stuff

      Mar 2, 2022

      Hot Stuff
      3 min read

    • Article

      Light Fantastic

      Dec 7, 2022

      Light Fantastic
      4 min read

    • Article

      Colnago C68 £12,449 | 7.3kg

      May 19, 2022

      Colnago C68 £12,449 | 7.3kg
      4 min read

    • Article

      Age Shall Not Weary Them!

      Apr 4, 2024

      Age Shall Not Weary Them!
      7 min read

    • Article

      Number Crunching

      Jan 25, 2023

      Number Crunching
      7 min read

    • Article

      Learn How To Stay Up On The Trails

      Feb 3, 2024

      It’s the weekend long run and you’re out cruising your favourite trails. Suddenly, the ground is hurtling towards you. Your arms are outstretched in a vain attempt to prevent damage. As trail runners, we all understand the risk of running trails and

      3 min read

    • Article

      The A To Z Of Cycling

      Aug 17, 2020

      The A To Z Of Cycling
      14 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Cycle Touring For Beginners

    4/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Cycle Touring For Beginners - Marie Madigan

      INTRODUCTION

      I passionately believe that adventures are under our noses, wherever we live. I equally passionately believe that riding a bike is one of the loveliest ways of getting around. My home is in Wales now and if I wanted I could ride for a lifetime just in Britain and Ireland and still find new places to explore. I can't believe my luck that I was born here, that I continue to live here, and that I have all this country under my nose.

      This applies wherever you live: fifteen miles down the road, if you go there by bicycle and stay overnight, will give a sense of newness and discovery. I think it's a great shame that someone might not try cycle touring because they think that:

      a. you can't do it unless you're really fit and have a year off, and

      b. you can't have an adventure just by going out of your front door and riding down the road to familiar places.

      I wrote this book because there are many fine books and websites on cycle touring out there. But most of them talk about ‘tour’ as in ‘expedition’. Across Europe. Trans-Saharan. Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

      My aim is to show you that cycle touring is a wonderful way to see the world, both nearby and faraway. To show you that you don't have to plan a monster tour to enjoy touring by bicycle. One night, one week, one month, one year: they are all cycle tours. The scale is up to you. I wrote this book to encourage you to try it for yourself as soon as possible, and to help you to avoid making some of the mistakes I've made.

      With a bike, a few pieces of equipment and a spirit of curiosity, you can have an adventure riding from your place of work to your home. You can ride to a bed-and-breakfast or campsite in your local area, taking in that tea-shop that you've driven past for years. You can spend the night in a town or village you know only slightly, explore it, and ride home the next day by roads you'd normally never travel along in your car. You can discover what's under your nose, or what's on the other side of the country. If the inclination strikes you and you like starting big, of course you can start with a three-month ride around Europe, or across North America. Cycle touring is wonderful, the most magical way of seeing the world around you, and anyone can do it. It doesn't have to be a ten-week ride. That's just a ride. They're all just rides. You can start one.

      Looking down at your legs and then back at where you've just come from and thinking, ‘We did that. You and me, Legs,’ is one of the most ridiculously simple and satisfying things in life.

      Anyone can do it. Anyone.

      All you need is a bicycle.

      CHAPTER ONE

      Is This Book For You?

      This book is aimed mainly at people who may be thinking about cycle touring for the first time, but it will also be of use if you've already been on a few trips and are planning a more adventurous tour. It will focus on things to consider when planning a trip of any length, from the point of view of someone who's gradually learnt how not to make life harder for herself over seven years of touring.

      There are many companies now who will organise a cycle tour for you, from planning the route to carrying your luggage on for you at night. Some of them will set up food stations for you during the day, so you only need to carry a little food on the bike. These are particularly popular in the stunningly lovely Pyrenean and Alpine mountains that feature in the Tour de France every year. Often these companies describe themselves as cyclo-touring companies rather than cycle touring; that little e-to-o substitution makes it clear that it is the sporting aspect that is emphasised, rather than the touring aspect.

      In contrast to cyclo-tourers, cycle tourers are almost always independent, valuing the freedom to change their minds, to ride faster or slower as landscape or weather or mood dictates. They carry their own baggage, make up their own routes and sort out their own food.

      In case you are getting nervous, let me reassure you that you don't have to be on a shoe-string budget to enjoy an independent cycle tour. You can eat and stay in the best accommodation your chosen destination or route has to offer if that's what you fancy. Credit card or tiny tent – both are independent and highly rewarding. Cycle touring isn't about punishing yourself, it's about seeing the world, whether near or far, from the back of your bike. If the thought of doing without your luxuries is already putting you off, take them with you! I certainly don't do without mine. Book into those luxury hotels if you want to.

      Over the years I've met cycle tourers in many forms, all riding with their own quests, whether that's a weekend ride around the coast of an island or a multi-week trip. I've had my hastily formed pre-conceptions overturned by enormous plump men riding slowly but unstoppably up Pyrenean inclines; by slim and flinty-eyed lycra-clad young men who turned out to be unexpectedly rhapsodic about the beauties of the countryside; by relaxed-looking baggy-trousered sorts who've pinned me into a corner to recite their trip log-book at me. (‘Two hundred kilometres in two days – how many k's do you do in a day?‘)

      Couples from their twenties to their seventies. Families. Lone women linking the landmarks of Spain in a steady plod. Groups of friends following the route of the Tour de France.

      If they can do it, you can.

      If I can do it, you can.

      For seven years I've made all the mistakes – eaten the wrong food on the bike, or not enough, carried too much, carried too little – actually no, that's a lie, I've never carried too little. But I've forgotten to stretch, failed to prepare properly, neglected to bring gloves to Scottish islands, left maps at home, and I've survived. And in the process I've gradually learned how to make things a little easier for myself.

      An hour and a half into my first cycle tour I wobbled into a hedge half way up a hill and wondered what the hell I was doing. Four days later I'd crossed northern England from coast to coast, on a bike I now know was set up for someone half my height with thighs twice as long as mine. I hadn't been wearing padded shorts so I was, well, a bit sore. But I was ecstatic. I'd crossed the country, sea to sea, just me, my bike and my legs.

      Since then my partner Adi and I have ridden extensively in northern England, Scotland's highlands and islands, Wales, Ireland and France, with forays into Italy and Spain. We've ridden across Anglesey for a night on the west coast and ridden back the next day; we've twice cycled through France for two months. I can't imagine going on holiday without a bike now. I can scarcely imagine a holiday that isn't a cycle tour.

      I want to persuade you to try cycle touring, to experience that same thrill of discovering the world around you by bicycle that I've discovered over the last seven years, armed with advice to help you to avoid making the mistakes I've made.

      Green, active, as slow or as fast as you like, endowing independence and autonomy, the bicycle is one of the pinnacles of human achievement. Add panniers and it's a vehicle of exploration as well!

      Just in case you're still not convinced, here are some reasons to try cycle touring.

      1. You can lock your bike, hide it behind a hedge and take a break from it to go for a walk. When you're cycle touring, you can explore on foot as well. Two modes for the price of one.

      2. You can ride as quickly as you need to make that ferry/train/plane, to eat up miles if you're relishing the physicality, or choose to ride slowly enough to really take in your surroundings: lizards scuttling at the side of the road, interesting ruins in a field. You can feel the shape of the country changing underneath you.

      3. You'll get stronger as you do it, in spite of yourself. Unless you're dreadfully unlucky, it is impossible to end a cycle tour less fit than you were when you started.

      4. You can eat puddings with impunity. I am a huge fan of tea shops and cakes, but I like to earn those treats. Cycle touring is no-questions-asked credit in

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1