Bicycle touring

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Image:Bike refelector safety flash.JPG Bicycle touring is a recreational activity, which involves touring and exploration or sightseeing with the use of a bicycle. Although some sporting events like the Tour de France are called "tours," true bicycle touring is non-competitive, and done for leisure rather than sport. Bicycle touring is a little bit like backpacking with the use of a bicycle. Historically, bicycle touring offered one of the few low-cost means to explore a country. With the widespread availability of package tours this is no longer the case, but cycle tourists maintain (with some justification) that the combination of human-scale speeds and being in the open make cycle touring one of the best ways to immerse oneself in the culture of an area.

A bicycle tour can be anything from a day ride, to a ride which takes many days, weeks, months or years. Some people have ridden across continents, and some have ridden all throughout the world. An average person of reasonable fitness is able to comfortably ride (depending on terrain and weather) 30–80 miles (50–130 km) in a day.

There are many different types of bicycle touring. In loaded touring (also known as self-supported touring), bicycle travelers take all their needs with them which include food, cooking equipment, and a tent for camping during nights. Others, by credit card touring, prefer to take less equipment and stay in hotels, hostels or Bed & breakfast, and eat in restaurants. In supported touring a support vehicle is used to carry most of the rider's gear from one destination to the next. Many commercial companies also offer guided bicycle tours or "self-guided," which include pre-booked and pre-paid lodging, luggage transfers, route planning and often some meals and rental bikes. Expedition touring or fully loaded touring is traveling with the bicycle loaded extensively, with enough of the required equipement to get these self-supported tourers through remote areas.

To go cycle touring you'll need to have a bike that can carry some luggage. Although many different bicycle types can be used, most cycle tourists prefer a special touring bikes which is built to carry larger amounts of gear and water, and can be ridden more comfortably over long distances. Typical characteristic of a touring bicycle are: a longer wheelbase for additional stability and heel clearance, frame fittings for front as well as rear carrier racks, water bottle mounts for three bottles, frame fittings for front and rear mud guards/fenders, a broader range of gearing for the increased weight of equipment and touring specific tires which are wider and more resistant to flats.

Many cycle tourists have published (either formally or in magazines and on the web) accounts of their tours that are both entertaining and informative. Some notable examples are Thomas Stevens, Ken Kifer, Dervla Murphy, Josie Dew, Heinz Stücke, Alastair Humphreys, Janne Corax and Ian Hibell.

Many associations for cyclists, such as CTC in the UK and Adventure Cycling Association in the US, began as small touring clubs, organizing tours and accommodation. These clubs gradually evolved into advocacy bodies campaigning on behalf of cyclists.

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