Planning a Bicycle Tour: What You Need To Do 6 Months Before You Leave
It’s been over a year now since my last long distance bicycle tour and I’m getting a bit antsy. I just watched “A Map For Saturday” and now all I can think about is travel. The problem is I’m busy with work, I’ve got too many responsibilities, I don’t have much money, and the last thing I should be doing right now is going off on yet another bicycle adventure.
But when I think about it, maybe another bicycle trip is exactly what I need?
After my interview with world traveler and documentary filmmaker, Brook Silva-Braga, I knew I needed to get back out on my bike. My recent trip to Aruba was great, but it was way too short. I want to see the world, explore by bike, and have the time of my life. It just seems that if I stay here at home any longer I’ll be wasting my life away in front of the computer. I love where I live and my way of life is incredible, but I want to see the world!
If you are anything like me, you’ve probably felt the same way at one point or another yourself. You want to travel. You want to explore the world by bike. You want to meet new people and experience new things… but something is holding you back.
Over the years I’ve talked to hundreds of people on my travels that have said they would like to travel by bike and explore the world, but they just don’t think they can do it.
They think they have too many responsibilities. They think they are too old. Too young. Too rich. Too poor. Their job is too important. They can’t leave their family. They don’t think their parents would approve. They don’t want to leave their boyfriend or girlfriend. They are afraid to leave their doctor. They are afraid of what the neighbors will think. They don’t want to camp. They don’t want to sleep in hostels. They are afraid of other people. They are afraid of the wilderness. They are afraid of riding in traffic. They are simply afraid!
The list goes on and on. The excuses are endless. I’ve been hearing these excuses for years and I’m getting sick of it. I understand where people are coming from, but at the same time I just don’t understand why people are so stuck in their ways.
In an attempt to stop the excuses and help more people go for the things they want in life, I’ve prepared a 5-part series on how to plan a bicycle tour. This series will walk you step-by step through exactly what you need to do to plan, prepare for, and execute a journey by bike.
If you have been dreaming of taking off on a bicycle adventure, but have been holding back because of one excuse or another, please check back soon for the first of five installments in my series, “How To Plan A Bicycle Tour 6 Months In Advance.”
Bicycle touring is a fun, adventurous and life-altering sport. But before any of the good stuff can happen, you have to decide that you really do want to travel by bike. You have to make the commitment!
Almost every day I get an email from someone who has started to think about the possibilities of traveling by bike. But every time I get such an email, I think to myself, “I wonder how committed this person really is?”
In order for your bicycle adventure to be a true success, the first and most important step is making the decision that the tour is really going to happen.
Most people, when planning for an adventure like a bicycle tour, think in chronological order. They think they have to save up the money, plan out the route, get all the gear, find a riding partner, make arrangements with their work, tell their friends and family, and then… when all of that is sorted out… then they can finally commit to the idea of an adventure by bike.
But that’s not the way it works!
Instead, the first thing you need to do is make the decision that “Yes, I am going to go on a bicycle tour.” Once you’ve declared that your bicycle adventure is really going to happen, you need to give yourself a deadline.
For example, you might say, “Yes, I am going to go on a bicycle tour. I am going to leave the second week or January and I will return around the end of May.”
Once you’ve made that declaration to yourself, that’s all you need to kick-start your bicycle tour into reality.
Once you’ve made your declaration, you can then work backwards to fill in all the gaps.
Now that you know when you are leaving, you can start working on a timeline. You can make a list of everything that has to happen before you leave. You can work to get all the gear you will need. You now have time to arrange things with your work. You have time to tell your friends and family. You have time to find riding partner.
Now that you’ve declared that your bicycle tour is really going to happen, you now have a goal to shoot for. You have a deadline.
Take it from me: Incredible things happen when you push yourself to make them happen under seemingly impossible time restrictions. By giving yourself a deadline and a goal to work towards, you will make things happen 100 times faster than you would otherwise.
In the two months leading up to my tour of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic last year, I got more done in those two months than I had accomplished in the entire year before that. I was pushing myself to get things done because I had a goal I was working for and a deadline that had to be kept.
If you are thinking about making a bicycle tour at some point in the future, make the decision right now that your bicycle adventure really is going to take place.
Once you’ve decided that your bike trip is really going to happen, the next step is figuring out exactly what actions you need to take before you can start your big bicycle touring adventure.
Once you’ve set the date for the start of your tour, you can then begin working backwards by determining exactly what needs to happen before you leave home and head out on your bike.
Here is a list of some of the things you might need to handle before you leave home:
· Tell your boss you’ll be leaving.
· Find a riding partner.
· Rent out your house/apartment.
· Come up with a budget for your tour.
· Buy a new bicycle.
· Get all the gear you will need for your tour (i.e. panniers, tent, sleeping bag, stove, etc.)
· Raise the necessary funds.
· Do your taxes.
· Get your passport.
· Plan out your route.
· Find airline tickets.
· Figure out where you are going to be sleeping every night.
· Send out press releases and inform the local media.
· Build a website about your tour.
· Inform your friends and family about your plans.
· Ask for donations.
· Get into shape.
· Improve your flexibility.
· Start eating better.
· Give your bicycle a tune up.
· Find out if your cell phone will work where you are going. If not, find a new phone provider or upgrade your service.
· Input important coordinates into your GPS device.
· Find someone to watch your house, feed your animals, and water your plants while you are away.
· Put your car and/or other belongings into storage.
· Pay your outstanding bills.
· Research the areas you’ll be traveling through.
· Learn the language(s) of the area(s) you’ll be visiting.
· Set up your online billing.
… and the list goes on! Only you will know exactly what needs to happen in order for your bike tour to become a reality. What’s most important is that you take the time to sit down and write out a list of exactly what needs to transpire in order for your bicycle tour to take place.
Start by writing down exactly what needs to happen. Then put that list in chronological order, starting with the tasks that need to happen right away and ending with the items that can wait until later.
Once you’ve got your list of tasks that need to be accomplished, put a deadline on each task and work hard to never miss a deadline. Having a deadline on each of these tasks will push you to accomplish these objectives in record time. Once you set those deadlines, you’ll be surprised at just how quickly you can make things happen.
Once you’ve got your deadlines in place, begin doing something on a daily basis to knock those tasks off your list. Some tasks will be small and may take only a few minutes. Other tasks will be large and may require a number of weeks to complete.
Make a list of everything that needs to happen before you leave home; put that list of tasks in chronological order; assign deadlines to each objective; and then start working to mark those tasks off your list.
After you’ve created a plan of action, the next step is to do some research.
At this point in the planning process, you may not have decided exactly where you are going to go. All you know at this point is that you are going to go somewhere… and you’ve made a list of the things you will need to accomplish if you are ever to leave home and head out on your big biking adventure.
Once you’ve completed these two tasks, it’s now time to begin doing some research. But by research I don’t mean planning your route. That will come later! Instead, I mean that you need to begin researching the places you are considering traveling to and then using that research to build to the “to-do” list you made in Step 2.
For example, let’s say that you’ve decided to go away this winter, but you aren’t yet 100% sure where you want to go. You are thinking about heading to Europe, but Central America sure would be nice as well.
Once you’ve got a couple places in mind, do some Internet research and find out:
· What languages do people speak in these areas?
· What are the road conditions like?
· Will I be able to eat the food?
· Will I have trouble accessing the Internet?
· Will I feel safe traveling there alone?
· Will I be able to find adequate places to stay each night?
· What is the weather going to be like?
· How will I get there and return home at the end of my trip?
· … and the list goes on.
This part of the planning process may take an hour or two… or it could take a couple days.
Once you’ve done this research, make a list of pros and cons for each place you are considering. Write down what would be good about traveling to Europe in the winter… and what would be bad about it. Then do he same for Central America. Based on your research, a clear winner should emerge.
At this stage in the planning process, you may need to go back to your list of actions that need to take place and add a few things. For example, if you decided on traveling to Europe in the winter, you may need to buy some warmer clothes. But if you decided on Central America, you may need to get a new mountain bike.
Once you’ve decided upon the destination for your bike tour, the next step is to create a budget. Unless you’ve got more than enough money to go around (I know I sure don’t), you’re going to want to know how much your bicycle adventure is going to cost.
If you are planning to take a guided bicycle tour where the cost of the tour includes food, guide fees, transportation, etc… the budget isn’t going to be hard to figure out. The price of the tour is how much the trip is going to cost. You might have to add transportation to and from the end points of the tour, but that should be relatively easy to figure out as well.
On the other hand, if you are planning a self-supported tour where you will be determining both your route and your budget along the way, coming up with a detailed list of probable expenses is a bit more difficult.
I’ve already shared in a previous article that when planning for my own bicycle adventures, I typically just look at home much money I’ve got to spend and then work backwards to determine that kind of luxuries I can afford once I hit the road. In this case here, I suggest you do the same.
To start, look at where you plan to go. Let’s say you are planning to go to Europe. You’ll first want to look at the cost of flights. That is going to be a major upfront expense. Then look at the cost of hotels, hostels, and campgrounds. Based on the money you have available for this trip, what kind of accommodations can you afford? Do the same for food, leisure activities, and anything else you think you might spend money on when traveling with your bike.
Most people when planning a “vacation” think that the trip itself is going to be more expensive than what it costs them to stay at home and live their normal life. But based on my experiences (and the experiences of many world travelers I know), traveling can actually save you money! But you’ve got to be smart!
There are ways to live far below your means when traveling by bike and I’ll share some of these techniques in a future article, but for now, just keep in mind that your bike trip does not have to be an overly expensive getaway. If you stick to a budget based on amounts of money you can actually afford to lose, you can have an incredible life-altering experience by bike and not have to spend an arm and a leg along the way.
If after determining the cost of your trip you realize that the cost of airline tickets, food, lodging, fun activities and more is going to be out of your price range, figure out a way to find the money to make the tour possible.
On most of my bicycle tours, it is the airplane tickets that set me back the most. If traveling to Europe, I might need an extra $500 – $1,400 dollars just to get there. If I don’t currently have this much money to spend, I create a plan to make that much money before I leave home. I might sell one of my bicycles, get rid of my car, work overtime at my job, take on a second job, or try and raise the money through some other means.
You should never let a couple hundred (or even a couple thousand dollars) hold you back from making your bicycle touring dreams a reality. It may seem like a lot of money right now, but once you get out on the road and realize that you are living the dream, you’ll be glad you worked hard and sacrificed that small amount of extra cash to make your dream come true.
Besides, the reason I have you planning this tour six months in advance is so you have the time to create a plan that will provide you with the means of making your bicycle tour actually happen. If you don’t have the funds right now, figure out a way to get the necessary money so you can live the life you want to live.
Remember: It’s only money! You can always make more money, but you can never get back the time you have right now.
Remember: People don’t regret the things they do. They only regret the things they don’t do!
To recap, once you decided where you are going to go on your big biking adventure, figure out how much money you currently have, how much money you think it will cost for the tour to actually happen, and then do whatever you can to make up the difference.
Once you actually sit down and write out your projected expenses, you’ll begin to realize that things are not nearly as expensive as you think.
We’ve been working backwards to plan your big bicycle touring adventure and we’re almost finished. The only thing left to do now is plan your route!
As I mentioned in my previous articles, most traveling cyclists begin planning their tour by starting with a route. They think that they can figure out which roads they will be traveling on and then figure out all the rest of the details for their tour. But as I’ve stated before, I suggest you work the other way around. First decide where you are going, what tasks need to be accomplished before you can leave home, draw up a budget, and then plan a route.
When planning your route of travel for your long distance bicycle tour, the best and easiest way to start is at the beginning. Figure out where your tour is going to start and then figure out how you are going to get both yourself and your bike to that location.
Are you going to fly there?
How much are airline tickets?
What is the airline’s policy in regards to flying with a bicycle?
Are you going to rent a bicycle once you arrive?
Are you going to be meeting anyone at your destination?
Where are you going to be staying your first night?
Day #1 is the most difficult day to plan. After that, the planning process typically moves much quicker.
Once you’ve established how you are going to get to the starting place of your tour and where you are going to stay that night, now you need to determine your route for the remainder of your ride.
Take it slow and plot your actions out on a map. Move a single day at a time. Figure out how far you are going to ride, where you are going to sleep, how much you think it will cost to travel that day, what you will do for entertainment along the way, and any other details that need to be worked out. Repeat these steps for the rest of your tour.
Just like every other step in the planning process, once you’ve planned out your route, you will need to go back and take a look at the things we’ve done in previous steps and adjust accordingly. You may need to make changes to the budget or you may need to add more items to your “to-do” list. Make the necessary changes and then start working towards accomplishing at least a single task on your “to-do” list on a daily basis.
The advantage of planning a bicycle tour six months in advance is that you have the time to get your life in order and make the necessary preparations. Because you have at least six months to put yout tour together, you don’t have to rush, but you shouldn’t be sloth-like either.
When planning a bicycle tour six months in advance:
1). Make the decision that the tour is actually going to happen.
2). Decide which steps need to take place in order for you to leave home.
3). Research your destination(s).
4). Create a budget.
5). And then map out your route.
Once you are all finished, go back and make any necessary adjustments.