Bike Trips and FAQs

Biked 1900 miles through Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Biked 1500 miles through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri.

Biked 2100 miles through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri.

Biked 1000 miles through Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

FAQs

Trust me, you can. Here's the thing - it's not a race! When we did the EuroVelo 6, we came across people doing the exact same route we were every single day. And 80% of them were age 60+, retired, and just had time on their hands. And these people were not the pinnacles of fitness - no one here will be doing the Tour de France! If you know how to ride a bike, you're off to a good start! And the rest is up to you! Do you want to stay in hotels or camp? How many miles do you want to do a day? Every answer is the right one, it doesn't matter! Just go out and do it!

Little tougher for me to answer, haha. I do these with my dad, and since he's retired, he does all the planning. I'll tell you what I know though. He spends a lot of time looking at other bike blogs, YouTube videos, and other things like that of where we are going. The routes usually come from the Adventure Cycling website, which has a lot of popular routes all over the world. From there, we can edit and change things as we go.

Other than figuring out the route and where you're going, the amount you plan is up to you. We are BIG planners. Before we even leave, we have the entire route planned, including how far we are going each day, where we're spending each night, rest stops along the way for food/water/wifi, etc. We also met people that don't plan at all! We met one Israeli man in his 70's who said he stops when he feels like stopping, just depends on the day! You are more than welcome to do it this way, but at the minimum, I would at least know your route and identify places for water/food along the way.

First, do your research. Look up bike touring necessities and setups, see what other people have done. And make sure you're familiar with basic bike repair, like how to change a flat tire.

Second, just go out and try it! Plan a short, 3-7 day bike trip in your area. That way, if you get stuck, you can always call someone for help. But on the way, see what you're missing, see what you're not using and is just weighing you down. We met a lot of people on Bike Trip #3 who are doing their first bike trip on the Trans Am - a 4000+ mile route across the the US. An awesome feat, but something I would never do as my first attempt. Learn what you need and don't need first, then go out and do it!

Use WarmShowers and Couchsurfing as much as possible. These are amazing websites where people open up their homes FOR FREE. I was really skeptical of this the first time we did it. I mean, what kind of person lets a stranger into their home?! The answer is some of the most kind, generous, and caring people you'll ever meet. We only got the chance to do this during Bike Trip #1 (Bike Trips #2 and #3 were doing Covid). While anxious at first, this easily became my favorite part of the trip. Everyone who hosts you wants to talk to you, know you're story, where you're from, where you're going. They will most likely bend over backwards to make sure you have everything you need. Do it.

Have your route downloaded on Google Maps so you can use it offline. Depending on where you're going, you might not have data. So downloading your route ahead of time can come in handy.

This Guy's Going Places