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I have cycle-toured in Australia, France, Yunnan (a lot), Laos, Romania, Taiwan, and Thailand on many bikes, but always on fat-tires with a steel frame, and per

I have cycle-toured in Australia, France, Yunnan (a lot), Laos, Romania, Taiwan, and Thailand on many bikes, but always on fat-tires with a steel frame, and personally most enjoy discovering new places, being away from people in nature, and conquering mountains. Nearly every day was fun but the history, scenery and food in Yunnan are amazing, and conquering Transfăgărășan[0] (Romania) from the north was memorable. You don't have to camp. I have only once cycle-camped for two nights in a remote region of Yunnan, usually I prefer to stay in small town hotels (save weight, less baggage). Key advice for new cycle-tourists: break your bike in first with local trips to ensure everything is hunky-dory mechanically, bring spare tubes (patching is too tedious unless you are going super far), minimizing bike weight is less important than having good gearing, buy quality bags (cheap ones will break and are not waterproof), and disc breaks are a must (V-brakes will wear in no time and provide insufficient stopping torque for heavily loaded bikes). Also, it's not a competition: you don't have to spend all day every day on the bike. I prefer to do 3-5 hours starting early in the morning, check in somewhere, wash cycle clothing, eat and explore an area. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transf%C4%83g%C4%83r%C4%83%C8%99an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transf%C4%83g%C4%83r%C4%83%C8%...

hoten 4y ago
How do you handle the short term planning for such trips? Are you calling and booking hotels ahead of time each day or do you just show up in a town at whatever time and figure it out last minute?
- contingencies 4y ago
  It depends. On or off the bike my philosophy for travel is generally to never pre-book anything unless flying internationally or going to some major city where walking around to find a hotel is too tedious/time consuming/expensive (on a "waste half a room-night" basis). This is less of a valid exception when cycle touring, since it is so easy to cover ground on a bike, but cycling around dense Asian cities is no fun like Europe. Usually, out of a city, it's always a combination of destination research and satellite view / Google Earth. I look for small roads, vague estimates of the topography, and major sites of interest en-route. Things frequently worth stopping for by bike that car people miss are numerous: bridges, views, caves, villages, botanic gardens, waterfalls, beaches, festivals, weddings, funerals, markets, landslides, bullfights, wild animals, botany, insects, roadside vendors, food, historic plaques, locals, kids, etc. To be really relaxed and up for anything you don't want to fix your timing, so forward planning is a no-no. Research is completed when you have a general idea of topography and a general idea of what to deviate, look or stop for en-route, and a couple of towns that might be viable for end-of-stage.

hoten 4y ago

How do you handle the short term planning for such trips? Are you calling and booking hotels ahead of time each day or do you just show up in a town at whatever time and figure it out last minute?

contingencies 4y ago
It depends. On or off the bike my philosophy for travel is generally to never pre-book anything unless flying internationally or going to some major city where walking around to find a hotel is too tedious/time consuming/expensive (on a "waste half a room-night" basis). This is less of a valid exception when cycle touring, since it is so easy to cover ground on a bike, but cycling around dense Asian cities is no fun like Europe. Usually, out of a city, it's always a combination of destination research and satellite view / Google Earth. I look for small roads, vague estimates of the topography, and major sites of interest en-route. Things frequently worth stopping for by bike that car people miss are numerous: bridges, views, caves, villages, botanic gardens, waterfalls, beaches, festivals, weddings, funerals, markets, landslides, bullfights, wild animals, botany, insects, roadside vendors, food, historic plaques, locals, kids, etc. To be really relaxed and up for anything you don't want to fix your timing, so forward planning is a no-no. Research is completed when you have a general idea of topography and a general idea of what to deviate, look or stop for en-route, and a couple of towns that might be viable for end-of-stage.