5 tips for your first bicycle tour.
My first (and perhaps my only) bicycle touring trip is behind me. Though I figured out that this way of travel is not for me, I want to highlight my 5 tips for your first long distance tour! Unfortunately, I had to learn a few of them the hard way.
1. Start from home.
It may not make your first trip sound impressive, but for your first journey, starting from home is the number one tip I would give anyone! The main reason being that you can never know for sure whether you will love traveling this way. My original plan for my cycling journey was to go to Scotland and tour the Scottish low- & highlands, I’m glad that ship sunk when it did! My reason for abandoning the Scotland plan was actually for an unforeseen circumstance, yet I am now glad that it happened. Starting from home (or close to) meant that I could still fall back on my family & community back home, and that the landscapes changed slowly from what I know that what I didn’t yet. When I knew it wasn’t for me and could not get back on that bike again I had the privilege to call my family and since I wasn’t that far away, they could pick me up by car. But even if you don’t have that privilege, when you start from home, you will be home faster when you decide that it’s not for you or if something happens.
2. Believe in yourself.
Mounting your bike that first time can be scary, even if you are beyond excited. It is important that you mount your bike with a positive attitude, not only that first time but every single day that you cycle, mount with a positive attitude. I had one day where I didn’t, my camera had started troubleshooting & I needed to cycle to the city to get it checked in a camera store. That morning I mounted my bike with an understandable negative attitude, and the entire day I had so much trouble. I compromised by taking a break every few kilometres, whereas the other days where I mounted my bike with a positive attitude, I had no trouble at all, only taking two to three breaks across the day. On the day in the first image I got on my bike with a positive attitude which remained even when I faced steep ascents and had to dismount my bike and walk. The other image was taken on a day that I mounted my bike with a negative attitude because my camera was broken and that attitude remained throughout the entire day. I did not enjoy cycling at all that day.
3. Route planning & navigation.
I used Komoot every day to plan my route and used it to navigate through-out the day. In this age we have the luxury of technology like this and my tip is to make good use of it. My parents decided their routes from paper maps, which are often not made for cyclists. By using Komoot I could plan my route by selecting highlights that other users had selected, filter on my sport & select my fitness level to calculate how many hours it would probably take me. Komoot also has a discover page where you can find and get inspired by tours users have done & uploaded. The sports you can choose from on the website/app are bike touring, (enduro) mountain biking, road cycling, gravel riding, as well as hiking & running. It can be used on the web or as app on Android & iOS. For the price of €29,99 you can purchase the world pack which allows you to download regions & planned tours for offline use.
4. Pack as light as possible.
Pack the necessities and the necessities only. Your necessities might be different from what mine were, but your necessities are really all you need. Unfortunately I learned this the hard way, even though I was convinced that I really didn’t take more than my necessities. Photography was an important part of my trip, which made my bicycle far from light weight. My camera gear alone contributed about 15kg to the weight of my bike and I believe that the entire thing might have weighed about 40 to 45kg. That is heavy, especially when going uphill with more than a 3% ascent. In hindsight I probably could have left a few off-bike clothes at home as well as the hammock (though I did use it as a pillow…) and perhaps some other items even if it made my bike just a kilogram or two lighter.
5. Take it slow.
To really get into it, there’s no need to start cycling a 100km or more, I cycled about 40-60km a day and 60km was definitely my daily limit. It is so much more important that you are enjoying the ride, taking enough breaks and living the experience. When you choose your bicycle as your means of transport for the trip, it is not just the way to get from point A to B, instead cycling is the journey that you are embarking on. Make sure to treasure it!
