Cycle Touring for Beginners -Top 10 Tips

Thinking of trying cycle touring? Coming back to bike touring after a long break? These are our Top 10 Tips for the cycle touring newbie!
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
... We're making content all about bike touring & bikepacking to inspire more people (that's you!) to get out on their bicycles and see the world....

👋 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙉𝙀𝘾𝙏 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝙐𝙎

💥𝙎𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙎 𝙑𝙇𝙊𝙂

⛰️ 𝙎𝙐𝙋𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏 𝙐𝙎
⚡ Venmo Tips 👉 @Rad-Bike
Need to grab some gear? If you shop through our links that helps support us!
THANK YOU ALL for the support !
You freaking rock.

🎶 𝙈𝙐𝙎𝙄𝘾 F𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝙀𝙋𝙄𝘿𝙀𝙈𝙄𝘾 𝙎𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘿

🧡 Hi friends! This page contains affiliate links meaning if you shop through them we may earn a small amount of $ which helps support us. We only recommend gear we've used and know is worth the hype! We see that as a pretty sweet win win :D

ⒽⒶⓈⒽⓉⒶⒼⓈ
#firsttimebiketour #beginnerbiketouring #cycletouringtips

[CarriePadgett]

This video was so much better than all the rich dudes that talked obsessively about gear the whole time!!

[anthonywickham]

I`m 61 and doing my first tour this year at home in Ireland.Something new I`m looking forward to.Great vid.Thanks.

[georgemacheel]

I'm about to do my 5th tour and I can say that Ryan knows her stuff. Last fall I was on the Katy Trail in Missouri and met two families with children. They were riding the bikes they owned, but dad was pulling the camping gear in a bike trailer. For those of you who are backpackers, know that you have everything you need (except maybe a way to attach your stuff to your bike). Any day outside is better than a day inside.

[ghassedir]

I'm 53, and I had two total knee replacements in 2018. I hadn't biked in decades, and I had an extra barrier of fear built up from years of increasing pain and restricted motion. Anyway - during the Pandemic I returned to biking, and now I'm going on a 250 mile weekend trip to a local park in Illinois. It's a guided tour, with stops for discussion about the history and nature of the area, and I can hardly wait! I'm training over the summer, just getting in some miles and taking gradually longer rides. This is a great video, making me even more stoked!

[boardgamebike]

I just did my first ride today with panniers with weights in them and I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR HOW MUCH HARDER THAT WAS GOING TO BE!

Thanks for the video, great tips.

[justajake]

Thanks so much for all your videos! I had a dream when I was 16(turned 35 recently) to just get on a bike and go. Ended up not doing that and hitchhiking/road tripping/train hopping around the USA for years...but for whatever reason bicycling is calling my name recently. Really really appreciate your videos. Currently, I'm only doing 30-40km some days around town to get in shape.(been living in Vietnam for 4 years and now I think in km....the metric system makes so much sense!)

[garrygraham]

Great tips, we made the mistake on our first tour of setting our daily distances too far .We have since learned that getting from point A to point B each day is not the goal. Enjoying the ride is.

[JMS]

Prior to our first bike tour we thought there would be lots of tent romance to be had. We were sweaty, gross and asleep by 8:30 every night 🤣. Great video!!

[russswanson]

Really enjoyed rewatching this, Ryan. One piece of advice you gave applies to so much more than just touring: “Start slow and build up.” True for relationships, recovery, and (house) renovations. I’m sure there are more applications, but I’ll leave those to others to cite.
All the best to the Rad Bike team!

[shjensenmaildk]

The gearing needs to be lower than standard. Uphill, against the wind with a fully loaded bicycle you always need a lower gear, but you almost never needs a higher gear downhill. My best advice is: change to a lower set of gears if possible. Or let your bike machanics do it for you.

[davinacaine]

All great tips. My trip is in the planning now, only a week but lots of history, 10, 000 years. The King Alfred’s Way here in the UK, 250 miles mostly off road.

[erickozokas]

Great video. I’m 41 and doing my first bike packing trip this spring. I’ve convinced a few friends to try it as well. I love you attitude. Keep the videos coming.

[speedbird]

I recently went on my first tour. I went with a couple of friends who have been on many tours. If you know someone who has experience, I highly recommend this for a newbie.

[stasacab]

Technical is the main reason for all my bike tours, so gear has been the issue with me. I was also very overweight, but now I have lost considerably. I sent my doubters a post card from my destination. All my overnight tours have been in Finland.

[outtatrex]

Great tips..

I would like to add that a lot of people think you need to be in super physical
shape to go on a bike tour. My experience is that within a couple of days you build
up strength, and after 2 weeks you can handle any climb easily.

Also, a lot of beginners tend to worry about how many miles they should do every day.
If you do 20 miles in a day, no worry. It does not matter. After a couple of days of
touring you will see you can do more miles every day.

Your tip about doing an established route, that has maps and route points available, is very smart too.
Newbie cycle tourers tend to obsess about navigation and then spend way too much time
figuring out how to set this up on their phone.

Happy cycle touring everybody !

[mikekrasovec]

Great tips. I'll add that for a novice tourist having options to stop earlier than planned is a good idea. If you're intending on camping that you should try your gear out before you go - even if that means setting up your tent in your home/back yard/local park. If you're going to be cooking as well try cooking with your setup in your yard or a local park. Another tip is that it's not a bad idea for your first trip to eat at restaurants and stay in a hotel or hostel. Fewer new variables minimizes novice mistakes and worries.

[libertyprime]

Indiana to Washington state next year. Cross country sounds intimidating but I think I’m ready now, I’m broke, young, and motivated to see the world!

[davidrowe]

Some great tips. I'm a pretty experienced cyclist but have never done touring/bikepacking before. Especially with current uncertainties regarding travel, I decided to start by "credit card" touring. I'm doing two tours with a very professional outfit in the UK (Saddle Skedaddle), both will be coast to coast, but with accommodation and support arranged the whole way (bliss; a real bed every night!)

Besides my usual cycling (I just get out there and pootle regularly), I plan to prep by doing a couple of overnighters, using the local canals here in the Midlands and staying at a youth hostel (even though I'm 63!) before cycling back the next day.

[VivianInTheOC]

I really like (and appreciate) how you changed your location for each tip. So many talk-to-camera video are static. This was really... RAD!!!! Keep up the great work!!!! :)

[davidalderson]

Tip 8 bale out back up plan in Spain is to use the bus. You can easily book a space for your bike. Either online or at the depot. There are nearly 4 bike spaces assigned to most buses. So long as you buy some cling film to cover the bike so no filth gets inside the bus. (Which I didn’t know). In every single person I met was helpful, they were kind and they didn’t rip you off in a cafe if you didn’t understand how much you had to pay and just gave the person too much, they gave you back the right change. Great place to go cycling. Amazing car drives who give you tonnes of space on roads.