Bike Touring Tips! | Planning Your Daily Ride

Great video!!!! THANK YOU for the valuable info!

ok first love your shirt ! ;o) ok next all your advice are very acurate. On our 2 years bike tour we did an average 80km per day. One sugestion Ryan for your international followers think about giving info in kilometer... ;o)

Don't overdo it. Every 200 metres is a different experience, so there's no need to push it. I look back on my routes through Europe and figure that I've missed some great stuff, or took the wrong route. I do 15-30 km before breakfast, then have two big lunches. If you bike South, it's faster, because it's downhill. Heh.

Windy link? Several apps I've found. Not sure which one you were talking about.

Do you realise if you could ride a bike as fast as you talk, then you would be a world champion racer. What it is with people like you who have no idea how to talk on camera and just love the sound of your own voice. What could be a good video is ruined by your seriously annoying way of talking non stop without pausing for breath. Also try learn to make videos that are not stating the F*****g obvious.

I'm starting a Trans-America tour like next week and your videos have been super helpful. Thanks!

Enjoy your informative videos keep them coming. I do have an issue with how to keep my electronics charged on long tour. Did you use a solar panel or charge cells to keep things running?

Hey I am trying to go on a bike ride across the United States I've been trying to prepare and get ready for it and planning on going in about a month

Don't encourage people to ride anywhere right now.. Unsubscribed ✌

On my channel I do 50 - 105 miles a day; however lots of mountains here in Arizona so I uses a E-MTB. I'm about to start a 400 miles tour here on Monday.

3000 Ft. in 15 miles is what I have coming. Class one here I come.

I just found your videos. I have always wanted to try bike touring, especially on the California coast. The thing is I am 67 years old now so not sure how much I could do. Right now I just bike ride for exercise and I try to bike at least five times a week for about 3 or 4 miles. I would be happy to go just on a 20 mile trip. Look forward to watching more of your videos and try to figure out what kind of trip I should try.

Hallo from Austria. Thank you for all the info and inspiration. We're currently locked down here so my rides are all day rides. My biggest fear is that this lock down will last into the summer.

People keep saying Komoot is great, but I find myself consistently frustrated with it. I've been using a combination of that and google maps while cycling around RI for the last year, and Kamoot seems more likely to take me on busier / more dangerous roads.

I have it set for bike touring. Is there something I'm missing about this app?

Hi, can you tell me the difference between Komoot and ride with gps please, positives and negatives ??? Happy riding from Australia🚴🏻‍♀️

I don’t know how to plan. I k ow what I want to do. But don’t know how to plan it. Working on it.

Personally i always choose a route that's down hill both ways !! LOL

It's easy to overestimate one's average riding speed. People usually reason: "As I generally manage to sustain ca. 25km/h for 5-6 minutes, my average speed must be a tiny read below that".
Wrong. Your average speed may peak at a little under 25km/h for a few minutes, but slowing down, starting to accelerate, muscle and cardio fatigue, the environmental and road conditions, climbs (even a barely perceivable 0.5% slope), the traffic, road junction stops, both bike and rider aerodynamic drag, tyre rolling resistance, etc. all affect your average riding speed considerably. Most people struggle to sustain an average speed of over 15km/h over a half a day long ride.
My cycling speeds area usually ca. 25-30km/h on the flats (sometimes, especially if I exert more effort, more and sometimes less), but My average speed for distances over 5-10km is still only ca. 22km. After a while, say, 50km, fatigue kicks in, and, combined with all the other factors, slows the average riding speed to 20km an hour and lower, if I ride long enough. Very, very few people can sustain average riding speeds of over 20km an hour over an 8-10 hour ride. Most barely brush against 14-15km/h. And that's not counting pauses.

Average 10mph fully loaded is a good rough guide. And anything over 50 miles for a typical day.
And yeah, build it up over the first two/three days.

Light rain and cooler temperatures are actually better for riding long distances.

Just got back from my first week+ trip (8 days)
Train pretty frequently with a fully loaded bike, do weekend trips pretty often in the summer/fall. This was my experience.

Day 1 220km
Day 2 rest
Day 3 115km
Day 4 120km (half way point, heading home)
Day 5 95km
Day 6 194km
Day 7 food poisoning
Day 8 still sick, got picked up

The main things I learned were:
1. Hygiene - can’t stress this enough. Walking around in clothes that honk to the high heavens is very demoralizing. I only brought one street outfit, two bibs and three jerseys. Street clothes after day two were unbearable. Plus packing everything into one dry bag was a bad idea. Need to find a solution to have fresh, clean changes of clothes while still packing light. Also showering every single day. Sometimes it’s not available so you have to find a beach or anything you can to wash up.

2. Go with someone. Solo may be appealing for the personal freedom but it gets lonely after a few days/expensive. Also it is much safer.

3. Don’t overkill. I had a deadline to be home by and pushed myself too hard. By the end of day six I felt like death lol. Need to leave more rest days and shorter lengths. To many hours on the bike, not enough spent relaxing and enjoying new places. Should feel more like a holiday and less like work.

4. Don’t over pack. I brought seven days worth of food with me. Totally unnecessary and way too much weight. Takes experience I guess to learn what and what not to bring.

5. Things don’t go as planned. Lost my bike lock on day 3, which made going places limited to keeping bike in eyesight. Had a raccoon in the middle of the night at camp rip through my frame bag zippers and rummage through everything inside. Luckily I had no food stored in there, but bag was destroyed. Just prepare for it to all go to shit, which it literally did for me. I think I wore my body down too hard and ended up getting food poisoning along with a high fever, which left me with no choice but to cut my trip short. It sucks when your close to finishing but again, put safety first and don’t push too hard.

All and all a great learning experience, had lots of fun and finally got to try lots of great new gear that worked really well. Looking forward to the next journey.

I commute 35 miles a day to work so distance won't be an issue. Finding places to camp is my biggest worry. It's not like hiking where there are designated shelters well mapped out. I've tried practicing the skill of finding a stealth site locally and I find I run into homeless people a lot. Kind of sketchy.

Hey great channel...Quick question. Did your disk brakes ever get damaged from the flights?

This year I did three tours - 3, 4 and then 20 days. Got a fairly good feel for what worked (and didn’t). Currently planning a cross country trip. I have lodging figured out for each night and backups in between in case I fall short or want to go over. Mix of Warmshowers, then camping or motels/hostels if needed. Not excited about doing wild camping however. How far in advance should I firm up the lodging? A day or two? A week? A couple of places (hostels) I’ve spoken with have indicated as much as a month! I hate to get locked in because stuff happens. I’m documenting cancellation policies!

Perhaps a video on scheduling lodging would be very helpful. Questions like - when to confirm arrival dates. When to commit with reservations. Etc. Or perhaps I am overthinking this and should just go and let things sort themselves out?

TRAFFIC - a fear and an issue to plan for eg travelling times & places. When I start to cycle tour I will go through cities as early on Sunday mornings as possible as I fear for riding in heavy traffic.

Im afraid of getting hit by a car 😢

I just found you guys and I’m preparing for my first bike tour. I like the way y’all approach bike touring. I’m a flat pedal user too!

Finally! Someone who doesn't focus on how fast they can ride! I've ridden with so many people that completely focus on their Strava times and never see a frigging thing along the way. What a waste of a journey! I create a route on Ride With GPS and then import it into Epic Ride Weather, which has worked pretty good overall.

Non related topic, but that shirt looks crisp and you're really rocking it!

Re 10 to 12 mph: that's exactly my experience as well. It sounds like you folks have a similar touring style as I do. Not too agressive.

cooking, toilet, safety (both for riders and their belongings), drinkable water, safe place for sleeping, etc...

The fear of failure is the what is keeping me back. But in 2 days I am finally doing it. 360 km of fun😋

Very informative video! Thanks! What size tire do you normally tour on for hard pavement? DD

Great info, I like your presentation. It's Fun and entertaining. Keep up the great word.

"Let's Crank it!!"

Excellent video l, I did a 9,500 mile bicycle tour back in 2015. That took me 7 months and 6 days. It was a fantastic experience and I meet plenty of nice people along the way.

Great comment right at the end: Get out and ride, even if it is just a couple miles. It does indeed make the rest of the day better. ❤

i'm afraid of getting hit by a car or being preyed upon as a single woman alone. i've travelled my whole life as a single woman alone and felt fine, but something about being out on country roads and wild camping alone gives me pause.

Good sense - thanks

Great video, very helpful as all your vids are. Im a recreational cyclist and have completed a few centuries and can comfortably go out and ride 50+ miles (on a carbon road bike). Im building a touring bike up from a mid 90s hybrid bike. I'd say the one fear keeping me from extended touring is dealing w traffic on busy highways. So for now I have the larger rail trails planned like GAP/C &O, Katy, Ohio to Erie, etc. Ty Phillip

Thanks for recommending komoot feel like this is gonna be useful

Hey! Love your channel! Just taking up touring at 62..lol my question is how to adjust with a freind? Do you guys maintain your individual speeds or is one waiting while the other is struggling ?
I have a Freind that would like to come along but she says she's really slow...I mean I don't think 2 people have to be constantly together but if it's always the same speed difference wouldn't that just put extra stress on the whole trip dynamic?
I guess maybe set short term goals??? But even then, if I've had time to eat my lunch and am ready to leave when she arrives at the lunch place...that kind of wouldn't be cool...???😊

At 76, I have a challenge going very far or fast these days so I enjoy breaks and photographing the scenery. Going solo at my age is almost a necessity to go as I feel. So with that I do a lot less miles.

Thanks for all the useful information. Im a novice tour rider. I took it up after my husband died afrw days before ovid shut the country down. It was my way of coping. I am now going to ride the GAP & C&O as a solo. I know i will be tired and sore but the adventure will be a great memory. Thanks for all you wisdom and belief in people. For safety as a solo tourist unfortunately I will be i staying in lodgings. Happy travels!

Do you do any group tours? I'm also from socal?!

I love cycling touing

Thanks so much for sharing. I'm 63 and just getting started. I have been thinking about it but I didn't realize it was such a big thing. Fixing my flat tires today.

I can cycle as long I have water 🌊💦 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

Five weeks from Florida to Colorado 2023. Averaging 80 to 120 miles a day.

what about riding at night?

📌 😱 What’s your biggest fear related to bike touring??