By Doug & Kathy Kirk
One of life’s great truisms rings especially true for bicycling. Life’s a journey, not a destination. But there’s a second truism that’s directly related to riding a bike. The best riding of all is pedaling through new places, where every road is new, every vista, farm and town is new, where all the people you meet are new, and the places you eat and sleep are new.
There’s an inherent thrill that accompanies the adventure of being on your own and fending for yourself, of figuring out how you’re going to get where you want to go, riding routes you discover to new and different places, and of having it all work out. You absolutely, positively do not get the same feeling riding the same roads you’re used to riding, riding routes that bring you back to where you started, or being part of a pack or peloton.
Bicycle touring is modern day exploring while riding your favorite form of transportation. It allows you to see the world at the perfect pace. And no other variety of riding allows the synergy of man and machine working together—and looking after one another—to develop so deeply. Truly, touring by bicycle is the finest way to “Ride to live; live to ride.”
But maybe you think bike tourists don’t look like they’re having all that much fun?
Their legs churn at 40 or 50 RPMs and there’s not a stitch of lycra in sight. Their tires are big, fat, and heavy. With bulging panniers front and rear and tent and sleeping bag piled atop a luggage rack, their bikes bring to mind modern day packhorses festooned with lights, flags and reflectors.
Add clothes, food, utensils, lights, fenders, rain gear, etc. and we’re talking about a lot of weight and a big reduction in the fun factor. Their loaded bikes weigh 80 or 100 pounds — five times what your racing bike weighs. Maybe bike touring is taking them for a ride instead of vice versa.
Bicycle touring, even touring on your own without support, doesn’t have to be like that! Touring by bicycle can be nearly as sublime as riding your lightweight race bike with nothing but water bottles and a seat pack. Because that’s the bike we propose you tour with.
Truism number three: The amount of fun you have riding your bike is inversely proportional to the amount of weight on your bike. Corollary: More weight equals less fun.
You can tour with no support on almost any good quality bike — even racing, cyclocross or triathlon bikes — and you can do it on skinny tires. We know because we’ve done it and so have our friends. Your gear can weigh less than your 16 pound race bike. A lot less. You can still go fast. Your bike will handle almost the same as ever. You don’t need a special (and heavy) bike, or hundreds of dollars of special gear. Likely as not, you don’t even need panniers.
If you like the idea of taking a bike trip, especially a trip riding your favorite lightweight velocipede, but for one reason or another haven’t quite figured out how to pull it off, you can! We’ve done it, and it’s a blast.
Want to rediscover what a great world and great country you live in? Want to restore your faith in the basic goodness of humanity and the good old U.S. of A.? Go ride your bike far and wide. Get away from your routine and use your bike to take an up close and personal look at the real world, which we’re here to tell you is not the house-full-of-horrors that television, newspapers and the internet sell you. Use your bike to immerse yourself in the people and countryside and communities that make up your country, and that make your country great.
People treat you differently when they see you’re traveling by bicycle. They find you more approachable, and you’ll find them more approachable too. Traveling by bicycle reveals the true essence of the country because you have to experience it — the terrain, the weather, the distance, all of it. You breathe the local air. You feel the wind the locals feel. You shiver in the cold, sweat in the heat, crank up the hills and revel in the descents. You purposely put yourself a little bit at risk, and people intuitively understand that.
Along the way, and often best of all, you talk to the people all sorts of people. You’ll discover they’re far more open and approachable when you’re on a bicycle, and that nearly all of them are nice folks and quite a few are wonderful human beings.
We’re convinced that even a three-day bike tour does more to refresh the head, body and soul than a weeklong ordinary vacation. Sound good to you?
Give it a go, and see if you don’t agree!
Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from Doug & Kathy Kirk’s new ebook, Touring by Race bike. This 47 page book teaches you a much simpler approach to bicycle touring that doesn’t require a dedicated touring bike and panniers and all the extra equipment that you might imagine is “necessary” to go on a multi day bicycle tour. It’s a truly a game changer to learn that you can approach touring in an entirely different way!
No doubt touring on a racing bike without loaded panniers or other bags is easier, but riding with them isn’t that hard. The main difference you feel is when mounting the bike, but once you are rolling, and you’ve gotten used the difference in how the bike handles, it soon becomes second nature. Climbing hills is more work, but again, not that difficult. And if your total bike and gear weighs 100 pounds, you’re carrying too much stuff.
I was expecting the “article” to discuss how to do this. Not be a multi-page advertisement. Bummer.
Agreed
I did a week long tour on my race bike several years ago. To this day it is still the best vacation I have ever been on. If your thinking about DO IT.
“you’re”
Did this type of ride a few years ago. We called it the “Tour de Plastic”. We all had frame bags that fit behind the head tube. Those bags carried out personal gear. We made a great loop ride, over the Sierras and back. Still one of our best rides. We even finished by coming home through Yosemite Valley.
Touring with panniers is extremely rewarding. The weight carried is not 80-100 pounds, rather 60-70 depending on the food needed for the following days camping with no use of credit cards is available. Have toured the Pacific coast and the northern tier (Adventure Cycling routes) try it you will agree!
60 -70 pounds is still much more weight than I’m happy with. I’ve toured both ways and for me, unloaded with a credit card is better by far!
Click Bait.
I was hoping to get some insight on how to do this not to read an advertisement to buy some book.
Very disappointed in RBR , another reason not to purchase a subscription to RBR and BA premium member
I’m sorry to hear that a few of you feel that the article does not provide enough specific information.
I felt that it’s a pretty straightforward concept that you can tour with a regular road bike by dramatically reducing what you carry to the bare essentials and by using a credit card to stay at hotels and pay for incidentals.
There is no “secret” method to it.
The article was intended to be an introduction that convinced you why you might WANT to go on a super light tour like this as opposed to a traditional loaded touring bike.
I can see your points though, and perhaps we should have covered more of the specifics of the method rather than just introducing you to why you should consider trying it.
I have to agree with other comments here that the article comes across more as a “teaser”. Obviously the Kirks are keen to sell their ebook, but a bit more information about this style of travelling is needed to really establish interest and credibility. The article could be talking about fully supported commercial touring companies for all I can see, which would not be a revelation for most of us.
I also felt a little uncomfortable about the dissing of conventional cycle touring. I’m not currently a cycle tourer (although I’d love to be), but I’m sure many RBR subscribers are,
Give us something more of substance from your experience regarding clothing, accommodation, luggage transfers, etc. to whet the appetite!
If you are interested in a supported week long tour that provides an introduction to this type of touring I highly recommend RAINSTORM put on by TRIRI. This tour has been going on since 2008, and I’ve ridden it every year since. Best weeks vacation ever.
I kept waiting to read the secret to successful road bike touring. Instead I found an advertisement for an E-book. Disappointed in RoadBikeRider!
Curious about this concept. How do you carry clothes to change into at the end of the day, unless you’re hanging out a nudist colonies? Any cyclist with common sense knows that you need to get out of your bibs as soon as you can post-ride. Yes, you can wash your bibs in a hotel sink, but in certain parts of the country, they’ll not be dry in the morning. Do you walk around in your cleats in the evening?
I have some experience at this. My husband and I rode from northern Virginia to northern Florida with a credit card and a stack of Bikecentennial maps (this was back in the early 1990s). We carried panniers on our road bikes with the most essential items: footwear, shorts and tee shirts for the evening, and an extra kit so we could alternate.
One of our biggest problems was that the distance between towns with hotels was sometimes either 40 miles or 120. In the heat and humidity of August, 120 miles was not a fun day.
Of course, as they say, your mileage may vary.
I backpack for a week carrying about 35 pounds, including a couple of quarts of water and all of my food. Surely, you could tour by bike with less than that.
Very disappointing. I’m sure a lot of the regular readers are having second thoughts about the new Roadbikerider.
I will see if I can offer some basic advice because there’s not really much to “credit card” touring, The simplest way is to whittle your kit down to the bare essentials. Since the basis of the tour is the credit card, you stay in hotels or similar. So you have a way to shower and clean up after the day’s ride.
You need to carry a change of clothes, but you don’t need much at all. A pair of shorts, undies,T-shirt and flip flops will fit in a large seat bag. It’s a good idea to carry a cycling jacket in a jersey pocket in case it gets cool on the ride. It will also be what you wear if it’s cold when you’re at the hotel. You might prefer to carry pants with zip off legs if you think it’ll get cool at night, too. If you buy nylon clothing it will all roll up in a bundle that stuffs into a small bag. If you don’t want to carry flip flops, you can choose to wear recessed cleat cycling shoes that you can walk in and just wear those around.
You don’t need to carry much food because you’re going to eat in restaurants. So basically it’s just you, your bike, a slightly oversize bag beneath your seat and the open road. I would never carry a backpack. The load should always ride on the bike. You are not the mule, the bike is the mule 😉
If you’re concerned about riding in the same sweaty bike clothing every day, just wash it in the sink. The trick to getting it dry by morning is to wring it out really well. Then take it and lay it on a towel. Now roll up the towel with the clothes in it. Next you twist and wring the towel with your clothes inside it. Do this once or twice and the clothes will almost be dry when you take them out. To dry them completely hang them up and they will be clean and dry and ready to go in the morning. You can do the same thing if your street clothes get dirty.
That’s really all there is to it. Obviously you need to carry stuff to fix a flat and a cellphone is nice these days in case of emergency.
Okay, I hope these tips are helpful, Have fun!
Jim Langley
Exactly. I question why anyone needs a detailed article, much less a $15 e-book, to figure it out.
I’ve enjoyed many multi-day tours, just supported ones, as in the 4-7 day ones offered in many states. The question of the week didn’t specify Self-Supported.
I’ve been touring for over two decades, van supported, one saddle bag light touring and unsupported loaded touring. I do unsupported each year but I do the other versions too. The key is not to worry about it too much. Get on the bike and go. You’ll learn what YOU want to carry and what you don’t want to carry. French press for some is essential, for others unnecessary weight. Fortunately for me it is essential for one of my friends and he carries it.
By the way, my name is also Doug Kirk and my wife was also Kathy. I’m from Wisconsin and usually identify myself thusly in comments to distinguish from Michigan Doug Kirk.
You can promote credit card touring without badmouthing self-contained touring.
Your description of self-contained touring is peppered with negative falsehoods.
I’ve done it both ways, and I will continue to do it both ways.
I’ve slept in beautiful spots unavailable to the credit card crowd. In my four-pound tent.