In the early 1990′s, there weren’t nearly as many available touring bike models as there are today. It was during this time that mountain bikes were becoming mainstream and the image of the rough and tough off-road rider was attracting first-time cyclists to the sport/activity in a way that had never occurred before.

At the time, the touring bicycle was at the opposite end of the cycling spectrum and hidden in the shadow of the mountain bike. The touring bike, therefore, was a minority purchase.

For British cyclists in the 1990′s, there were two main touring bikes to choose from:  The Raleigh Randonneur and the Dawes Galaxy. Both were iconic touring bicycles with steel frames and forks, Brooks leather saddles, Continental tires, and paint jobs that would never go out of fashion. But here we are in the 21^st century: The Raleigh Randonneur is no longer and Dawes now sells three different models of the Galaxy touring bike.

The question is… What makes the Dawes Galaxy such a popular seller? How does its design compliment the long-distance cyclist? Does the Galaxy truly live up to its reputation? And most importantly, should you purchase one for yourself?

What Makes The Dawes Galaxy Ideal For Bicycle Touring?

The Dawes Galaxy family, which today includes the Galaxy, Super Galaxy, and Ultra Galaxy, is a range of off-the-peg touring bikes that are ready to use straight off the showroom floor. Manufactured in the far east, but sold mainly in the UK, they come equipped with rear carriers (also known as “racks”), mudguards (“fenders”), bottle cages and are fitted with a group set that, even at the lowest price point, is capable of handling any terrain. After purchasing a Galaxy for yourself, just add a set of panniers and you’re ready to hit the road!

Similar to most touring bike models, Dawes uses steel framesets (frames) on their bicycles; Reynolds 631 butted tubing on the Galaxy and Super Galaxy, and Reynolds 853 butted tubing on the Ultra Galaxy. Steel is a good choice for touring bike models because it gives riders a comfortable yet responsive ride with the bonus that running repairs are a possibility if the worst were to happen and your frame were to crack or break. ‘Butted’ simply means that the frame tubes are thicker at the ends where they are welded together (which makes the weld stronger) and thinner in the middle (which saves weight). If you tap a butted tube with your finger, for example, the sound changes as you move from thick to thin tubing.

Every frameset in the Galaxy range has braze-on mountings for front and rear carriers, mudguards and water bottle cages. These ready-made fixing points offer a secure home for heavily laden carriers and almost anything else you might like to bolt on. All models have two bottle cage fittings, with an option for another below the down tube – a handy place to put the fuel for your cooking stove.

A Tubus carrier is fitted on the rear of each bicycle. These are super high-quality racks normally only seen as an aftermarket purchase, but come included with each Galaxy model.

The Galaxy’s chromoly front fork is ready to accept a front carrier if necessary (but a front rack is not included with each bike). That said, anyone contemplating a self-supported tour would be wise to consider fitting front carriers as they not only they let you carry more gear, but they make the bike more stable, and therefore easier to ride.

Finally, a pair of SKS full-length mudguards help to keep you and the bicycle clean.

The wheels, brakes and drive train on the Dawes Galaxy are also designed with the long haul in mind. After a good quality frame, all bikes benefit from a good pair of wheels. With touring bikes, reliability is the overall aim of the wheel builder as the fatigue that heavy loads and rough roads bring to these components is the touring cyclist’s greatest problem. Even the basic Galaxy has Shimano hubs, stainless steel spokes and double wall alloy rims. In an effort to make the ride more comfortable, and to offer a little insurance to the wheels, the bicycle’s tires are wider than what you find on a traditional road bike, which helps the bike to carry your extra weight and absorb bumps in the road. Finally, all three Galaxy models are equipped with 700×32 Schwalbe Marathon tires. The Schwalbe Marathon is a popular choice among long-distance riders because of their reliability and low wear rate.

The basic Galaxy has a Deore rear derailleur married to a pair of Dura Ace bar end shifters, whilst both the Super Galaxy and the Ultra Galaxy have Tiagra STI gear levers and upgraded front and rear derailleurs. The gear shifters mounted on the bars are great for first time cyclo-tourists because you can still control the bike while changing gear. One of the first surprises that newcomers get is how unwieldy a fully laden bike feels; leaving go of the handlebars is initially a very daunting maneuver.

All three Galaxy models have Shimano cantilever brakes and wide ratio chain sets. Cantilever brakes derived from mountain bikes are the ideal choice for a heavy bike, and naturally a wide range of gear ratios are welcome too. The Shimano chain sets used on the Galaxy and Super Galaxy have ratios of 48/36/26 and the nine speeds rear cog is 11-32, giving a low gear of 21.5”, which should get you up any gradient. The Ultra Galaxy has an upgraded Sugino chain set with slightly higher ratios.

Does The Galaxy Really Come Tour Ready?

While any bike can usually fulfill a number of roles, the Galaxy has the potential to take on most tasks. Okay, it isn’t brilliant as a mountain bike, but as a commuting bike it excels; comfortable, weatherproof, it can carry all your shopping or clothes or laptop, and its not that slow either.

The Galaxy touring bikes do come ready to ride. You won’t have to buy pedals, a rear rack, bottle cages or mudguards. But keep in mind that there are three different models in the range and that the higher up in the range you go, the better these extra add-ons become. The Ultra Galaxy, for example, has the highest quality frame and the best components/equipment.

In order for the Galaxy to truly be tour ready you will need to buy panniers and a handlebar bag or a trailer. A set of lights would be a smart addition as well.

How Can You Purchase A Dawes Galaxy?

Apart from the USA, where there is a brand of the same name, Dawes has distributors in most countries. If there isn’t one where you live, FreeFlow Bikes in Glasgow is the company’s main exporter.

Dawes also has a number of specialist touring bike dealers throughout Great Britain who are able to help you. There is nothing like actually sitting on the bike to see how it fits, but if you know what size bike you normally ride that will be a help. Most professional shops will ask a whole bunch of questions to ensure that you buy the right size bike if you can’t be there in person.

Do You Recommend The Dawes Galaxy?

Yes. The Dawes Galaxy, Super Galaxy and Ultra Galaxy are dependable bicycles that can be used for commuting, touring and more. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, I’d rate the Galaxy line a solid 8. I own two Galaxy bikes myself, my son has one, and I would buy another in the future if I had to.

Arthur Lamy is a tour guide in Jersey, in the British Channel Islands, who specializes in cycling and walking tours. Among the people he has shown around the cycle-friendly island is five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault. He also writes articles, books and cycling/walking guides, in addition to writing a cycling blog for the local newspaper. For 30 years he ran a well-known local bike store.

If you already own a bicycle (a road or mountain bicycle perhaps), but you are unsure as to whether or not that bicycle is capable of handling the demands of the specific type of bicycle touring you wish to conduct, please leave a comment below describing your situation.

In your comment, please tell me:

• What type of bicycle you currently have (Make, model, year and condition).
• What type of bicycle tour you are planning to conduct (There are 5 major types of bicycle tours. See this article for more information).
• Where in the world you are planning to go on your bicycle tour.
• How much gear you plan to carry on your travels.
• Whether or not you plan to camp or cook your own food while you are on tour.
• And what type of road conditions you will be covering on your bike tour (For example: paved roads, gravel fire roads, rocky single-track trails, etc.)

After leaving your comment below, I will reply at my earliest possible convenience with an opinion as to whether or not the bicycle you currently have can be used on your upcoming bicycle tour or whether you need to purchase a touring-specific bicycle that is better designed for the type of bicycle tour that you have in mind.

For additional assistance, please see: The Essential Guide To Touring Bicycles

In his first book, Moods Of Future Joys, Alastair Humphreys takes us on a fascinating and emotional journey across Europe and through the hot desert climates of Eastern Africa. Along the way, we discover that Alastair is not just a young man in search of adventure, but a humble explorer in love with both the open road and a young woman named Sarah, whom he left behind in his home country of England in order to participate in this epic cycling adventure.

When Alastair reaches the city of Cape Town, South Africa at the end of Moods Of Future Joys, you might be fooled into thinking that this is the end of the young man’s cycling expedition. But Moods Of Future Joys was really just the beginning and Thunder & Sunshine contains the true meat of Alastair’s story about his bike ride around the world.

In this second book about his two-wheeled travels, Alastair begins by boarding a sail boat in Cape Town and spends the next several weeks slowly crossing the Atlantic Ocean with a crew of strangers. Upon arrival in South America, Alastair catches a bus to the southern-most city in the world (Ushuaia) and begins pedaling north.

Cycling through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Columbia, Alastair spends his nights in South America camped out under the stars; battles raging headwinds during the day; and is invited into the lives of countless individuals who want nothing more than to share their home with the young traveler and to help him in whatever way they can.

When Alastair makes it to Ecuador, he is forced to decide whether he wants to cycle through the reportedly dangerous Colombian nation or skip over the region entirely in order to play it safe. In the end, Alastair decides to give Columbia a try, and is so very pleased with himself after making this decision, as the country turns out to be one of his favorite places in all of South America.

After tackling this Southern-most continent, Alastair rides north through Central America and into the United States.

Apart from the novelty gawping value of being in the land of plenty, cycling through American towns and villages was actually quite boring. In most places in the world you can see people working outside, either in the fields or on the carcasses of old vehicles. People sit outside their homes to peel potatoes and watch the world. Families chat in the street. Roads are busy with farmers and their animals or children walking to school. Street vendors and windscreen-cleaning boys liven up the streets. There is always something to look at, always someone to greet, always children waving at you. But America was an insulated, insular, inside world. Nearly everybody was in a car, and those few not in cars avoided catching my eye in case I decided to blow them away with a big-ass gun. Everywhere was quiet, so finding my way through towns was difficult as there were few people to ask directions from. Drivers waiting at traffic lights were scared if I approached their vehicle to check my route. Some people refused to look at me, even when I asked a simple question like, “Is this the way to Amarillo?” Some quickly wound up their windows as I approached. One family car even gunned its engine and darted through a red light to get away from me. I sought out a mirror to check whether I had suddenly become more hideous than usual.

After cycling up the Pacific Coast of the United States, Alastair continues cycling through Canada with a friend from back home, stopping along the way to take part in a short canoeing adventure, before reaching the city of Anchorage, Alaska.

From here, Alastair crosses over the Pacific Ocean and lands in Magadan, Russia, a remote village on the eastern-most edge of the Asian continent.

In full winter apparel, Alastair and another friend from home then spend the next several weeks pedaling their heavily-loaded bicycles down the frozen “Road of Bones” in temperatures that ranged from -20 to -40 degrees Celsius.

When Alastair witnesses the death of a man inside a burning building, we begin to see the emotional toll the trip is taking on the young adventurer. Suddenly, the safety and comforts of home sound more appealing and questions begin to surface about the true purpose of riding a bicycle around the world.

I often wondered how long I should ride for. I could ride for ever and not see all that I wanted to see, but the law of diminishing returns suggested that every day on the road I learned less and experienced fewer new things than the day before. But when should I stop?

After surviving the brutally cold weather on the Road of Bones in eastern Russia, Alastair spends a good month or more cycling through Japan and then continues west across China towards his home in the United Kingdom.

By this time in Alastair’s story, the purpose of the bike ride seems to be less about discovering new things and seeing new sights, and more about appreciating the little things in life, contemplating the purpose of the trip overall (and life itself), and getting back home as quickly as possible. It was, however, the little things that Alastair experienced during this leg of the journey that fascinated me the most.

One day, I discovered that a mouse had built a nest in my pannier overnight. I felt sorry to move him and his house, but he had built his house on my house and I wasn’t planning on stopping. I carefully moved the intricate ball of woven grass over to a bush and left him in peace.

As Alastair points out, cycling around the world is both a blessing and a curse. While you have the time to sleep in late and the freedom to go wherever you so choose, these same things (which are so often desired in our busy modern lives) can become your worst enemy out on the road. Bicycle travel not only allows you to see people and places that you would likely never get to see or experience while sitting in the comfort of your own home, but the experiences you have while traveling through foreign lands often times challenge you to think differently about the way you go about yours days, the way you treat other people, and the way you interact with yourself.

While cycling across Uzbekistan in the final few chapters of the book, Alastair describes a crippled boy he saw walking down the street.

On the steepest part of the pass I overtook a crippled boy limping slowly up the hill. He was sobbing with frustrating, leaning on his stick and hoping that somebody would give him a lift towards wherever it was that he wanted to go. I wished him luck as I pedaled past with my limbs all functioning fine and enough cash in my pocket to buy myself a bus ticket if I wanted to. He smiled at my greeting and paused briefly to watch me riding up the hill away from him. Sometime later he found a lift. As the vehicle he was in drove past he gave me the thumbs-up sign through the back windscreen. I grinned and returned the gesture. Unfortunately the lift was only for a short distance, as about an hour later I overtook him again. He was limping bravely onwards and once again as I pedaled past, legs spinning easily. I wished him good luck again and he gave me an encouraged smile, but he still had a long walk ahead of him.

I thought for a long time afterward about why I had not given that boy the money to flag down a Tashkent-bound bus. Certainly if he had been a stranded Western backpacker I would not have thought twice about helping him. In fact I would actively have wanted to do so. But I had spent so much time in the last four years trying to persuade people that I was just an ordinary human being and not a millionaire redeemer miraculously arrived in their lives with cash to throw at all problems. I recoiled from the common preconception that all Westerners were rich and led effortless, hedonistic lives thanks to their nations’ thieving colonial eras and dastardly foreign policies. Instead I tended to swing too far the other way. I did not help people when I could so easily have made their day better by slipping them a banknote or two. At times it was hard to find the appropriate balance.

I experienced the unpleasantness of traveling in areas where well-meaning tourists before me had handed out pens and goodies to children or had paid too much for things thinking that they were doing a good thing. I witnessed the aggressive begging by people who saw demanding money from foreigners as an easier option than working. I wanted to interact as much as I could with all that I encountered, but I did not want to upset people’s stability for the sake of a short term fix. Instead I tried to be decent to people, to smile and to talk with people about the realities of our different lives. I wanted to be just another decent human rather than a Victorian squire doling out alms that would not really solve any problems. But as I pedaled away from the struggling crippled child who I had not helped, I wondered where I wanted to position myself on a scale that runs from interfering do-gooders determined to help the Borrioboola-Gha tribe whether or not they actually want helping along to the other extreme of a war photographer who can take a picture of a dying child, feel a thrill at snapping a prize-winning photograph, and walk away.

It is these sorts of challenges (and not just the challenges of physically mustering a loaded bicycle around the world) that Alastair continually encounters and must come to terms with as he cycles across the globe.

As Alastair quickly makes his way across Asia and through the Middle East while navigating through a complex maze of Visa applications and near criminally archaic bureaucracy, the author finally enters Europe and makes for the mad-dash home on his busted-up bicycle.

The world was getting hectic and rich and grumpy once again. I must be nearly home.

During this final leg of the trip, Alastair reflects on his journey. What exactly had he learned? What was the purpose of it all? Had he really changed as an individual? And what laid waiting for him in the future?

My biggest question, however, was not about the purpose of his journey or about what the young adventurer might have taken away from his experiences on the road. But instead, “What was to become of him and his girlfriend, Sarah, of whom he had left behind more than four years prior?”

While Sarah had been featured prominently in Alastair’s first book, Moods Of Future Joys, she played a much smaller role in Thunder & Sunshine. But was her absence from this second text due to the fact that the young author’s feelings for the girl had waned? Or was he simply holding back, his humility and desire for privacy dominating this aspect of the story that floated so obviously in the background of his mind (and my mind too – as a reader).

I’m not exactly sure what the answer is. I don’t know why Alastair failed to mention Sarah until page 94 of this second book or why he felt the need to leave so much of his story with her out of the two texts entirely.

While my questions about Sarah may forever go unanswered, I have a feeling the truth my lie in one of the lessons we learn from travel itself. For it so often seems that sometimes we need to cycle around the world into order to discover who we truly are and how we want to be, and other times a 46,000 mile journey on a two-wheeled bicycle does nothing but make us realize that the thing we want most in life was right there within our grasps from the very beginning.

My Rating: 10 out of 10

Click here to purchase Alastair Humphreys’ Thunder & Sunshine.

Learn more about Alastair Humphreys by visiting his website at www.alastairhumphreys.com.

TryChips – a tasty dehydrated fruit snack created as a healthy alternative to the chemically produced energy bars and gels so common in the today’s athletic industry.

These beautiful and tasty little pieces of dried/dehydrated fruit are sold online via the website at www.trychips.com and come packaged in colorfully-decorated vacuum-sealed space bags. But don’t let the packing fool you. The food inside is wonderfully flavorful and certainly worth trying for yourself.

After being sent one of each of the three TryChip flavors (Aspire, Endeavor, & Venture), I sampled the dehydrated “chips” for myself and passed them around with a few of my closest friends. The response? A delightful “Wow!!!”

That wonderfully refreshing taste that so often today is artificially produced with the use of sugar, corn syrup, and chemical additives, is 100% lacking in the TryChip product line. Instead, the chips are flavored with nothing but the fruits’ natural sugars and a splash of additional natural ingredients.

All three TryChip flavors are an absolute delight:

• Aspire – which contains apple, apricot, pineapple, banana and pomegranate.
• Endeavor – which consists of apple, blueberry, mango and banana.
• Venture – which is made up of apple, strawberry, peach and banana.

TryChips really are a tasty little snack, a good alternative to those other chemically produced energy products, and something you should certainly try.

To learn more and/or order a package of TryChips for yourself, visit the official website at www.trychips.com

Disclaimer: This product was sent to Bicycle Touring Pro for free for the purpose of this review.

About The Book

In December of 2010, I (Darren Alff) traveled to Peru and spent the following five months exploring the cities, deserts, jungles and ancient sites of this friendly South American country.

With only a few words of Spanish in my vocabulary upon arrival in Peru, I managed to travel about the country, interact with the locals and capture (with my camera) a small speck of the beauty, color and culture that is so unique to the Peruvian nation.

Mystical Peru is a eBook containing a collection of my favorite photos from my travels in Peru. The images you will find in the book are of people, places, animals, food, vehicles and more! There is no story to the book – just photos! Page after page of photos from Peru.

What Areas Of Peru Are Featured In The Book?

Mystical Peru is a collection of photos from my travels in the Peruvian cities of Lima, Nazca, Arequipa, Puno, Cuzco, Puerto Maldonado, Ayacucho, Huancayo, Cerro de Pasco, Huaraz, Trujillo, Mancora, Chiclayo and places in between.

In the book you will see the mysterious Nazca Lines, the floating islands of Lake Titicaca and the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu. You will also get to see the terraced farms of Colca Canyon, the jungle animals of Puerto Maldonado and the glacial mountains outside the city of Huaraz.

Here are some sample photos from inside the book:

Why Is The Ebook Free?

When I returned home from my travels in Peru, I had a hard drive filled with photos and no one to share them with. Rather than posting them online in a gallery that may or may not be seen, I decided to edit the pictures and arrange them together by location in this free eBook.

In other words,  I put this book together in order to give:

• Armchair travelers a chance to explore Peru without actually traveling there themselves.

• Those considering a trip to Peru the ability to see which parts of the country might be of most interest to them.

• Individuals who have already been to Peru an opportunity to reflect upon their own adventures in this beautiful South American country.

To download your very own copy of Mystical Peru for the whopping price of zero dollars and zero cents (in other words… FREE!), just click the download button below.

Mystical Peru is delivered instantly as an Adobe PDF file, so as long as you can view PDF documents on your computer, smart phone or tablet device, you should be able to view this eBook without any problems. You can download Adobe Reader for free through this link.

Please bear in mind that Mystical Peru is 158 pages long and nearly 37MB in size. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, it may take a few minutes for the download to complete. Please be patient!

Tell Your Friends & Family About This Book

If you know of anyone (a friend, family member or co-worker) who might be interested in this free photo book from Peru, please direct them to this page or share this article on your favorite social media website!

Let Me Know What You Think!

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the book. Which is your favorite photo? Where in Peru do you want to travel to the most? Or leave a comment and tell me about your own adventures in Peru.