Unleash Your Adventurous Spirit with Bicycle Touring

Exploring new horizons and pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone is at the heart of every traveler’s journey. If you’re looking for an exhilarating way to embark on an adventure that immerses you in nature while providing the freedom to set your own pace, bicycle touring might just be the perfect fit for you.

Embrace the Road Less Traveled

Bicycle touring offers a unique opportunity to veer off the beaten path and explore destinations that may be inaccessible by car or too distant to cover on foot alone. Whether you’re navigating through rugged mountain trails, meandering along picturesque countryside roads, or cruising along coastal paths, every twist and turn reveals new wonders waiting to be discovered.

Up at 5.30am I took the train from Peckham Rye over to Victoria. I took the bus from Victoria (booked in advance £6.50 a single). I felt self-conscious with my rucksack wondering if people thought I was a tramp, although I am kind of a nomad so it’s not really a strange feeling as I watched all the commuters on the morning train. I met a friend from my course, Esta who is studying environmental design and creating a ’living sustainably’ kit as part of her work, and also a big fan of hiking, and we got on the bus at Victoria coach station.

I spent a fantastic weekend in Switzerland near to the city of Bern. Through a mutual friend, I visited an engineer at Scott bikes who has just recently finished work on the new Scott Genius LT full suspension bike.

I was able to go for couple of great morning rides with Joe and got to ride last year’s Genius frame which was a carbon, full suspension beauty.

We set off early on the Saturday morning pedalling out of the picturesque town of Fribourg, nestled in a deep in a river valley. The morning mist rose from the river’s surface.

A cold dark beach somewhere on Black Sea coastline of Turkey.

There was small driftwood everywhere in one area, a guy fiddling with netting. It was flipping cold i remember that much.

1. Find one very rusty barrel and punch holes in it with a stick. 2. Collect kindling and driftwood from the beach and add to the barrel. 3. Attempt to light the kindling whilst shading from the wind. 4. Build up the fire into a blazing inferno. 5. Sit beside it and profit from the warmth whilst cooking dumplings on the top in a saucepan.

When I was staying in Georgia running mountain bike tours in 2015, in between work, a French friend, Vincent, who makes alcohol invited me to collect the plant that is used to make absinthe. We drove out onto the plains of Georgia to pick “Artemisia absinthium”, commonly known as Wormwood.

Wormwood herb contains bitter substances and a volatile compound called thujone. In popular culture the spirit, Absinthe, made using the plant (and other ingredients - anise and fennel) has some notoriety for making drinkers hallucinate however, a couple of source say this is not likely and more down to alcohol abuse.

Singapore is among the safest and best places to call home on earth, thanks to the low crime rate. The city-state is inhabited by various nationals who coexist peacefully with the locals, setting a very good example for non-Singaporeans.

Many expatriates have found a second home in the island state and go about their work and life with very little worry, if any, since theft and crime incidents are almost unheard of.

A couple of weeks ago I came across an article on bikepacking.com for a route round the Gower peninsula in Wales. I had been looking for a trip to do whilst I have some time off in between jobs. A friend had talked about doing Ultramarathons at the Gower and I used to go there on holiday when I was a kid. From the photos that accompanied the route on the website, it looked beautiful and varied with a bit of challenge in there although pretty doable. It would be a first outing for recently acquired bikepacking gear.

I went to a talk at the British Georgian Society in London about the architectural heritage of Tbilisi. Ecommos Georgia organisation is a French restoration NGO working for architectural preservation and is lobbying against the loss of the architecture heritage and town plan. They argue it is destroying the spatial coherence of city.

Many different architectural examples were spoken of in the talk. Islamic aspects, Neoclassical baroque aspects, Art nouveau aspects in some areas. The city’s orientation looking to east and to west, the medieval old city where from every point it used to be possible to see the church on the mountain.

Some of these bike vids are getting absolutely insane.

In 2005, for 6 months I worked as a mountain bike guide.

Each day I would make the following speech to guests:

Welcome, I’m Andy. I am the mountain bike guide here. I will be doing a harder ride in the morning at 7.30 am and an easy ride in the afternoon at 5pm. I will also take a guided ride at 2.30 pm if needed.

Please sign up for the rides by putting your name on the boards. You can go freeriding any time taking out the bikes and exploring, we provide all the kit- helmets, gloves, water bottle and a freeride pack with spares and tools. You must be in at least a group of two and back by 5pm. You must wear trainers whilst riding.