How To Bicycle Tour? This Will Motivate You To Hit The Road!

Hello my friends, my name is Ryan Van Duzer and I'm guessing that you're watching this video, yeah you, you're watching this video because you're thinking about going on your very first bike tour. Or maybe you've already gone on a tour and you're just looking for some extra tips. Well guess what, you came to the right place. I have been traveling by bike for about 15 years now. My very first tour was back in 2005. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras and I decided that the best way to get home to Colorado would be to ride my bike. So I got on that bike and pedaled it about 4,000 miles all the way through Central America and Mexico and back home into Colorado and it was such an amazing experience. I had never felt so alive in my life. There we go, Colorado flag is flying baby. I love you Colorado! My job here is to be your cheerleader. I want you to go on a bike tour. I think it's a fantastic idea. I know firsthand the benefits of traveling by bike and it might sound a little bit weird but it's going to make you a better person. It's easy to get caught up in the western world about just accumulating things. The more money you have, the more things you can buy, the more happiness, right? And I'm not so sure that's true. I certainly have some things that bring me happiness like my bicycle. It brings me a lot of happiness. But these are my things right here. These mountains, these trips, this freedom, these trees. Riding a bike is my favorite way to enjoy Mother Nature, to overcome challenges, to heal. I mean we all travel for different reasons and when you're sitting on a bike for eight to ten hours a day, you have a lot of time to figure out life. It's kind of like rolling meditation and experiencing the world at 15 miles an hour or 12 miles an hour depending on how fast you pedal is really the perfect speed to soak it all in. Oh man, I'm a lucky boy. This is so awesome. Some of my best memories on planet earth have been while bike touring and I'm very grateful for all the experiences that I've had. I have made a career out of traveling the world and documenting my travels and sharing them on this YouTube channel and I love responding to all your comments and questions and getting you psyched for your next adventure. So if you could please consider joining my Patreon, that would really help out. This is how I keep my channel chugging along and I will put links down below to my Patreon plus a ton of links to different adventures I've had around the world. Now without further ado, let's get started. Actually wait a second. Before I really get started, I have something important to say. You don't need to be an elite athlete to do this. You don't have to be in tip-top physical condition. You don't need the best gear. You don't need a super expensive bike. What you do need is a good attitude. A good attitude will take you much further than any $10,000 carbon bike. Do you have this in carbon? Is that carbon? Is this the lightest bell you have? Is it cool to have all that expensive stuff? For sure, but you definitely don't need it. All right, now we can get started. Which bike should you bring? Do you already have a bike? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Well it kind of depends on the terrain you're going to be riding. If you're going bike packing, which is usually an off-road adventure, you're going to want more of a mountain bike setup. If you're going to stick to the roads and asphalt, you're going to want a lighter weight touring bike with slick tires. I once rode a three-speed cruiser bike all the way across the country, and it did just fine. And a matter of fact, the bike that I used for about 10 years of my bike touring adventures was a Trek 8000 mountain bike that I just put slick tires on. It's definitely not a touring bike. And what I tell people all the time is that fit is the most important thing. So try to go to your local bike shop and try out as many bikes as possible. You want to be comfortable on that thing. You're going to be sitting on that baby for a long time. And if the geometry's off, if you're bent over too much, or this way, or that way, you're not going to like it. So just try them out. And I've met people on the road when I've been touring who bought bikes off Craigslist, and they work just fine. Note down here at the bottom, extra light. Yeah, it is. It's the extra light model. In 1981. Now, I will say that probably the most important upgrade you can do to your bike, no matter how expensive it is, is to get puncture resistant tires and a nice seat. It's kind of a bummer to deal with getting flats all the time, so it's worth spending the extra money on a good quality pair of tires. And yeah, your butt's really going to be happy if you have a comfortable seat. Just a quick heads up, this is not a gear list video. If you're looking for something like that, I have made plenty of those, and I will link them down below. All right, let's get started with panniers versus trailers. I have traveled extensively with both. They both have their pluses and minuses. Nowadays, I just do panniers or bike packing bag setups. Trailers are great because you can hold a lot of weight in a trailer. They also are very low to the ground, and they track nicely behind your bike. Wind doesn't catch them as much as they do catch the panniers. So if you have some killer headwind, you know, the trailer is a little bit nicer in that regard. But because you can bring so much, you usually bring too much stuff. And I just have no need anymore for a trailer because I really pack pretty lightly. Also, when you have a trailer, you have to deal with a big trailer when you're traveling through airports and stuff. I do like panniers nowadays more than the trailer because they're just smaller. It's all on your bike. You can compartmentalize your different gear for different pouches, and you know exactly where everything is. And for me, it's just a simpler setup. How do you get your body ready for such a gargantuan voyage? I know it's overwhelming, but don't freak out. I always tell people that the first 7 to 10 days of your bike tour is going to train you. That is your boot camp. Your body's going to figure things out. And yeah, you're going to be sore, and it's going to be painful, but that's where your body's going to work everything out. And then after that point, it's pretty smooth sailing. What I always tell people is that before you go on your tour, the most important body part to train is your butt because you're going to be sitting on a tiny, tiny little bike seat for 8 to 10 hours a day. And your butt needs to build up some calluses and stuff like that. Get that seat molded to your booty, and you're going to be a lot happier when you actually hit the road on your adventure. Picking your route is one of the most fun parts of the process of bike touring. You can scour the internet at night on Google and just try to figure out exactly where you're going to go, which is a lot of fun. Or you can go to a site like Adventure Cycling or Bikepacking.com, and they have tons of pre-navigated routes that you can follow their turn-for-turn directions. I personally like to figure it out as I go. On a lot of my tours, I know that I'm going from point A to point B, but I don't know how I'm going to get there. And I get there using Google Maps sometimes. My new favorite app is called Komoot. It shows you the best off-road ways to get different places. And it's just a lot of fun to, you know, figure it all out. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure story. And another place I get a lot of my great information is locals. Talk to the locals about the best places to ride a bike. Oh, and I almost forgot. Rail trails. Try to search these out. It is totally worth it. There are old converted railroad lines that are now used for bikes and pedestrians. And there's a nationwide network all over the United States. You can go to the website rails2trails.org and see if there's going to be any near your route. I really recommend doing it because once you're on one of these, there's zero chance of being hit by a car. They're very safe, peaceful, and quiet. I always tell people that my least favorite part of bike touring, and there's only one and it's this, is packing up your bike and putting it into a box so that you can fly with it. It sucks. There's no other way to put it. But it's fairly easy. What you do is you can go to any bike shop and ask them for an old bike box. And then you bring it home and you turn your handlebars, you take off your pedals, you put your seat down. I'm sure there's videos on the internet about how exactly to do this. But you know, you pack it all up and you're going to want to like fit your clothes and stuff in there to keep it cushioned so it doesn't get wrecked while you're traveling. And then when you're on the other end of your tour, wherever you end up, you kind of do the same process. You go to a bike shop nearby, get a box, pack it all up, and you fly with it home. I get a lot of questions about pace and speed and how fast should I go. And my answer is it doesn't really matter. You're on a bike tour. You're supposed to be enjoying yourself. You're exploring the world and you want to be able to stop and check things out. And the last thing you want to do is be focused on the numbers on your bike computer. You know, some days are going to suck and be really hard as you're riding uphill into a headwind. And some days are going to be effortlessly easy when you have a tailwind and you're going downhill. And it's all part of the experience. Bike touring in general is a fairly cheap way to see the world. Now there might be some expensive upfront costs with your bike and your camping gear and the flights to wherever you're going. But after that, it can be pretty cheap. Now there are ways to keep the prices down. If you're camping every single night and you're shopping at grocery stores and making your own meals, it's really cheap. But if you stay in hotels every night and eat three meals a day at restaurants, your budget is going to skyrocket. Now, you want to balance all this out. You want to be comfortable. You don't want to just rough it for the point of like, I'm never staying in a hotel. I personally like staying in hotels about once a week. And I like it because I can wash my clothes in the sink. I can wash my body in the shower. I can charge all the batteries to my camera equipment. And it's just nice to sleep in a bed from time to time and recharge. Another way to keep prices down are to look up warm showers. This is a website that connects cycle tourists all over the world. And people open up their homes to you and it's free. If you're looking for the luxury experience, I will show you here how much it costs to ride across the country USA with Trek Travel. It's only $18,000. They take care of all your meals and hotels and food and all that stuff. I won't be doing that anytime soon. That's an insane number. I will tell you though that I spend probably anywhere from $30 to $50 a day, which is a really good deal for the experience of a lifetime. Food. Oh man, you're going to be so excited to eat when you're on a bike tour because you're going to be starving every day from all the calories that you are burning. So food is, you know, there's no right answer to this one. You can go to restaurants, you can go to gas stations, you can go to grocery stores, you can go to farmer's markets. I have found that the foods that are easiest to pack are tortillas and beans. If you watch my videos, you know that I love burritos. The best burrito in the world. I give you the sunset burrito. And peanut butter and energy bars and things that are easy to pack and don't get all smashed up in your bags. Grocery stores are going to be quite a bit cheaper than gas stations, but gas stations are going to be way more plentiful. They're everywhere. But the problem with gas stations, other than being a little expensive, is that you're going to be forced to eat junk food. There's not a whole lot of healthy food at gas stations. And when you roll up at a gas station late in the day and you're starving, it's really hard to avoid buying piles of junk food. So with food, you know, remember your body is your machine. Take good care of it. Feed it some good vegetables every now and then. Treat yourself to ice cream and those good things as well. And save money by going to grocery stores. Nothing like ice cream on a hot day. Water. Along with food, you have to stay hydrated or you are going to bonk. And that is no good. When I've done tours in the United States, I've almost never needed to filter water. But if you do, you can buy little handheld pumps and pump some water out of a stream. But you can get water at gas stations. You fill them up right next to all the soda machines. And the bonus about that is that it's nice cold water. You can fill up water at hoses behind churches or firehouses. Pretty much anywhere in the United States. And the water is good to drink. You don't need to filter water coming out of a hose. You know, I've also learned that I like having my water on my bike. So I have like four different water bottles. When I first started touring, I had camelbacks. And I thought this is cool. I can have a hundred ounces on my back and have access to water at any time. But the problem with the camelback is that they're heavy. And by the end of the day, you're just sore and it just pulls on your shoulders. So that's just one of my little tips there. It's really up to you. Sleeping under the stars is one of my favorite aspects of bike touring. And I feel like I sleep better when I'm out there. I definitely, I dream better. I don't know if better is the right word, but I have more vivid dreams. I have found that camping at legitimate camp spots, the ones that you pay for, are really nice because you have access to water and bathrooms. But the problem with those sites is that you're really close to other humans. And if you want to have a nice, you know, quiet, peaceful experience way out of the way, you're going to have to do some stealth camping. And I've done plenty of both. Stealth camping means you're trying to hide yourself and not get caught, essentially. And I have camped in city parks all over the country. And some city parks actually allow camping and some don't. So you're really going to want to talk to the locals again on this one. They know best. And a lot of times I've found when I talk to a local in a small town and ask them about camping, they say, Hey, you can just camp in my backyard. And then it just escalates. And then they start feeding you meals. And by the end of it, you're best friends. And so you thought it was a good idea to invite a random guy to your house. We did. And you're still random, but we still love you anyway. If you watch the news too much, you're going to start believing that the world is an incredibly dangerous place and somebody is just waiting to kidnap you. Well, guess what? Nobody wants to kidnap a stinky cyclist. I've been fortunate to have met some wonderful people all over the United States and Mexico and other countries around the world while on my bike tours. And it goes back again to talking to the locals, interacting with the people who know best. When you show up in a small town at the end of the day, and you're looking for a restaurant or a safe place to camp, they're going to look out for you. I've really found that small town people have big hearts and they want to protect travelers that are coming through their area. As far as safety on the road while pedaling, I adhere to one strict rule and I never ride at nighttime. I like to be done with my travels for the day long before the sunset so I can set up camp and just enjoy a nice evening. If you're riding at night, you're asking for trouble. It's much harder for a car to see you. And nowadays, I actually have a little blinky red light that goes on the back of my bike even during the daytime. Anything you can do to make yourself more visible is going to be helpful toward the drivers. You're sharing the road and you never know if somebody behind you is not really paying attention or they're on their cell phone. Nowadays, distracted driving has become a big danger for cyclists. Here's kind of a crazy tip for the United States. You can actually ride on a lot of interstates, at least on the western half of the U.S. And interstates can be good because the shoulders are so wide you're really far away from the traffic. Now the problem with interstates is that they're really loud, there's tons of semis flying by. Like that one right there. And there's lots of times sharp debris in the shoulder. But interstates can be a good way to connect yourself if you're looking for a fast way to get through a certain area. I mentioned getting really stinky earlier and that can be a problem when you sweat all day long. That's what happens to the human body. But there is a good way to fix that. And that is camping near water. It's one of my favorite things to do is to jump in a body of water after a long hot day. It refreshes you, you feel so much better and you don't have to go to bed all sticky and stinky. Now what do you do about pooping? Oh god! Well you know gas stations are great. Grocery stores have public bathrooms. City parks have public bathrooms. And if you're in the absolute middle of nowhere hopefully you have some toilet paper and you kick a little hole and you do your thing. People ask me all the time if I get lonely day after day after day being out there on my own. And the answer is no. Never. Bike touring is a great time to really focus on the present moment. It's a beautiful exercise in getting back to the simple things in life. I get to float around in my own thoughts, breathe fresh air. I get to have the wind in my face and listen to the birds chirping overhead. See this bird behind me? It's been following me for like a mile just chirping. And I love waking up with the sun, sleeping under the stars. How often do we humans get to spend 24 hours a day all day every day outside? It's a gift and it's good for the soul on so many levels. There goes the last rays of the sun my friends. Okay that was a lot of information. Obviously I started this whole thing in the daylight and now it's getting dark. But if you're out there watching this and you're nervous or you're on the fence about going on a bike tour, I just have one word of advice. I guess there's no it's a few words of advice. Just do it. I know it's overwhelming and it can be scary planning this and wondering if your body can handle it. But I promise you it can. And if you don't want to start with something huge just do something small. Just ride to your buddy's house and camp in his backyard. Seriously once you're out there on the open road it all makes sense and it'll be more beautiful than you ever imagined. Even the hard parts. You're going to learn as you go. You're going to figure things out and it's going to be almost impossible to wipe the smile off your face. People are going to be like why is that person so happy? And the answer is that person, you, gets to ride your bike all day every day. That is a dream come true. It's a gift. It's amazing. It's magical. It's all of these wonderful adjectives. And I promise you you're going to have the time of your life. Good morning world! It's gonna be a good day. I'm gonna leave you with some super secret silly bonus tips here. Whenever you get the chance do a happy dance. For me I do it when I cross a state border. But you can do it whenever you want. Maybe when you get to the top of a mountain. And when going through a tunnel try to take advantage of that echo and sing the ole song. And when you're riding next to a train get that conductor to honk the horn. Come on buddy! Come on! Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you found it helpful and inspiring. And if you have more questions don't hesitate to write them down below in the comment section and I will try to get back to you ASAP. Remember at the beginning of this little video I said I really want you to go on that bike tour. And I mean it with all of my heart. I love spreading the gospel of go. The gospel of getting out there on your bike and seeing the world. I know firsthand how beautiful it is. And I think the world would be a better place if more of us rode our bicycles. Don't you agree? So please like and subscribe and share this video. And if you want some further inspiration I will also link below some adventures from all of my exploits around the world. Whew! That was a lot. Now I'm going to bed. The sun is down. Bye-bye!