In 1996, I was eleven years old. I will never forget the classes' reaction to finding out our classmate, Jared, was born on February 29.

Sometimes I look back over my trip photos and wonder, "Did I take that?"

The above image fits in that category. It's India. It's in my trip folder. Then it dawns on me that even though I was on a solo trip, I didn't take the photo ... because I'm IN it.

The North American Black Historical Museum is located in Amherstburg, which was a primary entry point into Canada for those seeking freedom along the Underground Railroad. The museum’s chief exhibit leads visitors on a trek through time, from the days before the slave trade in Africa, to the harrowing oversea voyages that blacks captives endured en route to America, to the horrors of being enslaved in a strange land … to their escapes and dangerous journeys to Canada.

Don't put off that long-distance bike tour! You can do it! To get you started, Adventure Cycling teamed up with America ByCycle to produce this fun video on how to prepare for your long-distance cycling adventure. Strap on your helmet and get ready for the ride of a lifetime!

Ortlieb's far traveled classic model made of robust polyester fabric is designed for low riders in the front or for the rear rack. View our complete (and extensive) pannier collection at  Adventure Cycling's online store, Cyclosource.

For my last few tours, I have only used rear panniers and a handlebar bag for gear storage, so I've had light duty, or randonneur style bikes on the mind. Just a quick note, when I talk about light touring, or randonneur bikes, the characteristics I'm referring to place us somewhere between road bike geometry and pure touring bike geometry. They would have shorter chainstays than a touring bike, a tall headtube, wide tire clearance, and often only rear rack mounts. Here are a few of the bikes I have really been keying in on as of late.

There are certain places on this planet where I've cycled that will always have a soundtrack associated with them. Not the traditional soundtrack of a film, but the sounds directly associated with the location. 

Even before it was declared illegal in Canada in the late 1700s, the practice of slavery was minimal there, largely a result of the short growing season in much of the country. According to In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience (a project of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture), Canada first became a destination for freedom seekers after 1772, when England proclaimed that any runaway slave crossing the international border from the United States would automatically be free. 

"I’m probably not the only member who likes to skim through the Companions Wanted page in Adventure Cyclist magazine just for fun. There’s a people-watching sort of pleasure to reading over all the short, descriptive ads that members place for riding companions and thinking about who these people are, where they’re going, and what kind of companions they might attract."

If you don't have the time to spare for a extended bike trip, you can get loads of inspiration on Bike Overnights.org. But sometimes you can't even afford an overnight. That's the time to head out on a bike breakfast.

In 1913, an instructor at Ypsilanti's Michigan State Normal College (today’s Eastern Michigan University) by the name of Mary A. Goddard researched and wrote a paper on the Underground Railroad which at that time had been shut down for less than fifty years. According to writer James Mann, Goddard penned these words about the Railroad: “Even the children of the families of those connected with it knew little of what was actually going on about them. The success of the institution depended on secrecy.

Beginning around 2008, we started hearing rumblings that traffic was picking up and oil and gas development was on the rise negatively affecting our routes in North Dakota. In response we made a series of small and then large route changes for travel across the state instituting our first ever map replacement policy due to safety issues.

Winners of the 3rd Annual Bicycle Travel Photo Contest.

Bicycle touring and photography seem to go hand and hand, and it makes sense. You get to travel to incredible places at a relatively slow pace, there is plenty of time to kill, and after the tour is over you want to be able to share your experiences with others. Just thinking about our own staff here at Adventure Cycling, there have been some incredible photographers within our own walls over the years including Aaron Teasdale, Tom Robertson, John Sieber, and our co-founder, Greg Siple.

Do you know that gut-wrenching feeling when your bike has been stolen off the street? You left it there a few minutes ago and, coming back, it's gone, the lock clipped, your heart sinking fast? That's the way I felt yesterday when the transportation committee of the U.S. House of Representatives voted by just two votes to keep biking and walking programs out of the next long-term transportation bill.

Some travel memories are sharp and clear. They stick with you. Ten years later you can recall an event or place or personal exchange as if it happened yesterday.

Others blur and fade and mix with other memories of events, places, trips, and people encountered along the way.