Ten Top Touring Tips
Less is still more
Split it in half
Burn more rubber
Run the widest, best-quality tyres you can when touring. You may average one kilometre per hour more with thinner tyres, but what you gain in speed you will most definitely lose in comfort. Also, part of the fun of touring is getting lost and taking whatever road google maps throws at you. As any of you with touring experience know, that can often be something that isn’t much of a road at all! Wider tyres also make riding gravel and forest roads much more pleasant.
You’re during a tour, not Le Tour: dress appropriately!
This may be controversial, but I recommend wearing the most utilitarian clothing you can when touring. Sure, there are people who tour in lycra, but consider if you’d be happy wearing lycra in the evenings, walking around town, off the bike. If not, that means you’ll need to bring even more clothing to wear when not cycling. Touring isn’t just doing big loops on the bike; you need be dressed right for doing things other than cycling.
Happy bum = happy cyclist
Cooking gear, but only if you really need it
You might think that bringing cooking equipment is the right thing to do, and for many tours, it is. However, if you’re not riding in a super remote place and are not on a super tight budget, maybe think about leaving the stove and pots at home. This way, you get to try more local food and save significant weight and space in your luggage. However, if you love cooking in the wilderness, ignore this and do whatever you like.
Know when to give it a rest
Bike touring isn’t a competition, so don’t feel under pressure to ride 100km every day for 4 weeks. Give yourself some time off the bike: go swimming, go hiking, explore the city and give your body some time to recuperate – touring can be really tiring, especially if it’s hilly or when the weather is warm.
A problem shared is a problem halved
Learn the lingo
A friend from university taught me a very valuable lesson on the first tour I did: always learn a few words of the local language when you’re on tour. Sure, if you’re border hopping every other day this can be challenging, but even if it’s hello, goodbye, please and thank you, it’ll go a long way to endearing you to the local people. You’ll likely spend a few days (or much longer) in each country – more than enough time to learn some basics. Besides, in some countries, using English will be of no help at all.
You need lights and a waterproof jacket
It’s rained heavily on at least one day of every tour I’ve ever done. Like a true rookie, on the first tour I had no rain jacket at all. On the second I brought the cheapest rain jacket I could find: as good as nothing at all. By the third I finally had something adequate and wasn’t shivering and miserable after each downpour. Having a good waterproof jacket is essential. Don’t think otherwise. The same applies to lights. You may only tour in the summer, believing that you can get away with not having lights, but you’re wrong. Tours rarely go totally to plan, and you’ll almost certainly have to ride in the dark – or at least dusk – at some point. Having dynamo lights on your bike is a fantastic facility, but having a detachable LED light can be great too – super handy for when setting up camp in the dark.