The Adventure Cycling blog covers bicycle-travel news, touring tips and gear, bicycle routes, organizational news, membership highlights, guided tours, and more. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for daily updates. Interested in becoming a guest blogger for Adventure Cycling? Share your story with us.
Photo by Colt Fetters
The Montana Bicycle Celebration in Missoula this summer will host Nicholas Carman and Lael Wilcox. They are one of the most interesting duos in bicycle travel. They live it, love it, and right now, they are building something really exciting.
When it comes to the pump in your flat tire kit, there's a huge difference between a quality pump, and a cheap pump.
Merry Christmas! The holidays are for family, food, and friends. If this also leads to time in the saddle for you, then count yourself among the lucky ones. For many others, this is a time where you really need to let go of your riding aspirations temporarily, and give into the season. If your bike is relegated to the garage this week, here are some ways you can cope:
College football bowl matchups? This year I'm picking winners based on how many Adventure Cycling members each team has within a 50-mile radius of their home stadium. Here's a look at how that all pans out:
Black Friday is upon us, and you're either spending your week sketching out your plan of attack for super savings, or spending your week telling everybody how you'll be avoiding the sale. No matter which camp you're posted up in, Adventure Cycling has a deal for you.
Bad luck lurks on Friday the 13th and with hours of darkness now outnumbering hours of daylight, you'll want to exercise caution when you're on the bike. Here's some gear that will help.
To cope with the first week of daylight saving time, Josh has been fixing up bikes, digging winter clothes and lights out of bins in his basement — and pondering his next bike acquisition ...
Josh Tack's Touring Gear and Tips features a new unit from Polar that integrates GPS, a cadence sensor, and heart rate.
Available for pre-order and shipping out this month, BikeTag takes ride tracking to the next level by adding a crash detection feature to the duty of saving your phone's batteries. Josh writes all about it...
It's been two months since I've reviewed the Scicon Aerocomfort 2.0 bike bag, and it remains my favorite system for packing a bike for airline travel. It's designed to provide a high level of protection, all while taking under fifteen minutes to pack a bike. Maybe the best feature of this bag is that it could be yours!!! Read more...
GoPro action cameras are becoming common place amongst cyclists. As they increase in popularity, it's not out of the question to see someone riding around with two, maybe three, affixed to their bike and person. If you've got a couple cameras, and are looking for a quick and easy solution to capturing multiple points of view, check out the MULE two camera GoPro mount.
When you're bicycle touring in July, pretty much everywhere, it's gonna be hot. How can you beat the heat this summer, and have a successful ride? By following some or all of these tips, that's how!
I've always disliked packing bikes for airline travel. It's a lot like combining Tetris with an egg drop. Everything needs to fit snugly in a finite space while making sure key pieces are padded well enough to withstand abuse. With that, here's a look at a bike bag from Scicon, the Aerocomfort 2.0.
The high elevation snowpack is thinning out, which means it won't be too long before some of the mountain passes along our Great Divide and Idaho Hot Springs mountain bike routes are ready for cyclists to start taking to the trail. If you're interested in taking a bikepacking approach to an off-road tour this year, you'll probably find yourself in the market for a frame bag...
If you're a cyclist who owns a smartphone, there's a decent chance you've used your phone to track some bike rides. Ride tracking with a phone makes a lot of sense. If you already have the phone, it's cheaper than buying a GPS unit or cyclocomputer and you can upload your ride information immediately after parking your bike without plugging anything into a computer.
The aisles of Sea Otter Classic were full of touring and adventure bikes as the industry grabs onto bike travel in a big way.
While I enjoy the peace and quiet that comes with cycling on the open road, I do like to have music along with me on bike tours. Here are a couple products we've had fly through the office that are great for tuning into your bicycle touring soundtrack.
Any time I'm planning out a trip, regardless of location or distance, the very first thing I do is break into an Excel spreadsheet. Keeping things organized in my head has never been one of my stronger suits, so I need to get it all down on a list before something else grabs my attention. Lists also give me a little more confidence going into a tour as reassurance that the things I've planned for have been taken care of.
While you may not acknowledge it, deep down you know it to be true. At some point it's going to rain on your bicycle tour. When it happens, the good news is that you have a choice on how you deal with it. Here are some options I've put into action when handling a rainy day.
Maybe you've already seen Clif Bar's new Organic Energy Foods sitting on the shelf of your local bike shop. With flavors such as banana beet ginger and pizza margherita, these seem more like baby food purees for adults. Looking at these off the bike, they don't appear to be super appetizing, and would be easy to pass up. Two or three hours into a ride, however, these have what your body craves.
Leaving a bike unattended outside freaks me out. Even if I'm just running into a gas station or coffee shop for a few minutes, I'll be parked as close as possible to the largest window I can find to keep an eye on my bike at all times. I don't really know why I'm so concerned about the safety of my bike. Unlike a small child, a bike can be replaced, and I have no qualms with leaving a small child to fend for themselves for a few moments. Clearly I'm not a parent.
Electric assist bikes, we seem to either love them or hate them. I'm not here to take sides on the matter or debate the ethics of e-bikes, so if the subject puts you in a dark place, I would like to escort you over to this corner of the internet where you can continue enjoying your day.
Someone once said to me that bicycle touring ain't easy. That's no joke, it's not easy. To help you better prepare for your next adventure, here are some of the challenges you can expect to face on the open road.
The Littleford Expedition custom touring bike was reviewed in the latest December/January issue of Adventure Cyclist magazine. This bike is a beauty, worthy of a few additional photos for you to check out.
Hi Visibility materials have made a big impression on the 2014 cycling season. Hi-visiblity materials should stand out against any background, which is great for cyclists trying to be noticed by traffic at any time of day. Here are some of my favorite hi-vis products so far.