What size bicycle frame do you have?

Bike frames come in all sorts of different shapes, designs, and colors… but they also come in a number of different sizes.

My friend, Josh, for example (pictured above and on the cover of Bicycle Touring: The Movie) is nearly 6 feet 5 inches tall (or 1.95 meters) and because he is so tall, he requires a much larger bicycle frame than most other cyclists.

During your search for a touring bicycle… or a bicycle of any kind, you’re likely to discover that bicycle frames come in a number of different sizes… and depending on the company you purchase your bicycle through, you may see the size of your frame depicted in centimeters (such as 52, 54, or 56 cm) or in general sizes (such as Small, Medium and Large).

Just out of curiosity, what size bicycle frame do you have on your bike? Leave a comment below and let me know 1) how tall you are… and 2) what size bicycle frame do you have.

For example: I’m 6 foot 1 inch… and I ride a 56cm touring bike.

First-time bicycle tourists ask me for advice all the time… but now I want to hear what you have to say.

If you’ve ever been on a bicycle tour before, whether it be a short tour near your home or a long-distance bicycle touring adventure, what advice would you give to someone who was planning his or her first bike tour? What is the one piece of advice you feel is essential for the first-time bicycle traveler to know?

Leave a comment below and let me know what you have to say.

In an attempt to constantly improve the website here at BicycleTouringPro.com and ensure that I am giving you the information you want most, I’ve come up with the following survey, which contains questions having to do with your interest in “ultra-lite bicycle touring” and a number of similar subject matters. The results of this survey are for internal purposes only, but I will use the information you provide to make future changes to this website and create additional bicycle touring resources.

Your feedback here is greatly appreciated!

IMPORTANT: Click the gray “Submit My Answers!” button above.

Thanks so much for taking the survey! Now click here to get back to the homepage.

Thumbnail photo by Robby Mueller

Have you ever seen those energy gel packets at the supermarket or in your local bike shop?

I had seen them in the past, but I had never actually tried any of them for myself. That is, until I was recently sent a sampler packet for the entire line of GU energy products.

Inside the sampler pack were 2 GU Electrolyte Brews, 1 GU Recovery Brew, 2 GU Chomps, 9 different GU Energy Gels, and 3 Roctane Ultra Endurance Enery Gel packets.

The company sent this to me in hopes that I would write a review on my website and share my findings with you, but the truth is, I don’t really know how to review a product like this. I just don’t know that much about the products and I feel a little uncomfortable reviewing food products as a whole.

So, here’s the deal: I want to know what you think of these things.

• Have you ever used GU energy products for yourself?
• Do  you use them now? If so, what do you think?
• Have they given you more energy?
• Do you think they increase your athletic abilities?
• Do you like or dislike how they taste?
• Do you think they are healthy and safe?
• What do you think of the products overall?

I’ve tried a few of the products thus far and I’m not sure how I feel about them. I was raised with a doctor father who told me that I shouldn’t eat something unless I can recognize all the ingredients in it. And while that is getting harder and harder to do in today’s world of processed foods, there are a few ingredients in these GU products that I am certainly unfamiliar with.

The texture of the gels is another thing I feel a bit torn about. When I opened my first packet of GU Energy Gel, I expected it to have a texture very much like that of yogurt, but the gel was a whole lot thicker than that (more like glue)… and a whole lot sweeter. The gels I have tried thus far have all tasted pretty good (my favorite is the Strawberry Banana energy gel), but the texture is strange. It might just be one of those things that you have to get used to. I don’t know.

Anyway, since I don’t feel comfortable reviewing a product such as this, I’d like to hear what you think. Leave a comment below and let me know if you’ve used these products in the past, what you think of them, and tell me whether or not products such as these are something you would recommend for others. I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

The products featured in this article were sent to Bicycle Touring Pro at no expense for the purpose of this review.

I could really use your feedback.

You see, a little over a year ago I helped to launch a non-profit organization called “The Bicycle Travel Network” with my co-founders: Alastair Humphreys, Tom Kevill-Davies and Kate Harris. The main goal of the Bicycle Travel Network (or BTN as we like to call it) is to provide financial assistance to young, first-time bicycle travelers. Basically, we’re giving young people money to travel by bike, because each of us founding members has seen the benefits of world travel in our own lives. And because we all started bike touring at a very young age, we know how difficult it can be to find the funds to take a trip by bike… and we know that just a few dollars put in the right hands can go a real long ways.

That said, we want to raise some money to give away this coming spring in our second round of BTN travel scholarships, but we’re finding it difficult to raise the necessary funds. (Click here to see our scholarship recipients from 2010.)

We don’t want to be constantly asking you for donations, so we’ve been brainstorming some ways that we could 1) raise some money to give away this spring to first-time bike travelers and 2) also help everyone in the bicycle travel world.

That’s when I had the idea to create a cookbook of some kind for the bicycle touring community. Food and cooking on the road is a subject I get asked about repeatedly, and I know that there are people out there who need some real assistance when it comes to cooking on their travels (I’m one of them).

So, my thought was this: Myself, Alastair, Tom and Kate will create a “camping cookbook” filled with recipes, photos, and stories from the road… and we’ll compile all of this info into a book or ebook of some kind. These cookbooks will then be sold to you (our readers) and 100% of the money raised from the sale of the books will go toward the Bicycle Travel Network scholarships.

Basically, it’s a WIN – WIN – WIN situation.

Win #1 – We raise the necessary funds to give out some travel scholarships in 2011.

Win #2 – You get a cookbook filled with recipes you can use at home or on the road.

Win #3 – A handful of young people from around the world get the money they need to go off on their first bicycle touring adventure.

So, what do you think? Does it sound like a good idea? Would you purchase the cookbook if we produced it?

If you could, please leave a comment below and let me know:

1) Would you be interested in learning to make easy and delicious foods while on your travels? Would you like to see us a create a “camping cookbook” of some kind?

2) Would you purchase a book or ebook filled with camp-friendly recipes (especially if you knew 100% of the proceeds were going to be used to help young people go on their first bicycle trips)?

3) And if the book does sound like a good idea, what kind of recipes would you like to see in it? Would you be willing to contribute a recipe of your own perhaps?

Let me know! Any feedback, advice or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.

More information on the Bicycle Travel Network can be found at: www.bicycletravelnetwork.com

Photo by poolie