Bicycling Magazine's Guide to Bike Touring: Everything You Need to Know to Travel Anywhere on a Bike [Paperback]

Doug Donaldson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2005

For adventure-loving cyclists as well as anyone who has ever daydreamed of pedaling the open road or trail . . .

Imagine a bike trip through California wine country, a nature tour of Vermont in autumn, mountain biking the north rim of the Grand Canyon, climbing Mont Ventoux during the Tour de France! There's nothing quite like the exhilaration of a bike tour vacation if it is done right-not to mention the fitness benefits it provides. Backed by nearly two decades of experience from the most authoritative magazine on cycling, this book shows the way. Written in a quick, easy-to-absorb style, it tells you:
o How to buy the right touring bike and gear
o How to find a good touring company
o How to plan your own tour
o Training programs for any length of tour
o What clothing to choose for specific weather conditions
o How much and what to eat and drink
o Cycling Dream Trips-the 10 places you have to ride

Complete with maintenance tips and 12 emergency repairs you should know how to do, advice on riding in bad weather and in heavy traffic, and the ultimate packing checklist of what you need to take no matter where (or how long) you go, this handy, helpful guide is designed to make your bike tour an invigorating, rewarding experience you will never forget.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

DOUG DONALDSON, a former Bicycling magazine travel, maintenance, and fitness editor, writes about travel and health for several national publications, including Men's Health and Better Homes & Gardens. He lives in eastern Pennsylvania but goes wherever his bike points him.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579548628
• ISBN-13: 978-1579548629
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars pretty weak, December 4, 2006

By 

David B. Masopust "reader" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bicycling Magazine's Guide to Bike Touring: Everything You Need to Know to Travel Anywhere on a Bike (Paperback)

This book comes up well short of containing, "Everything you need to know." It might be OK for someone new to biking in general. For instance, it reviews shifting, braking, and basic bike accessories, such as bike shorts and helmets. In fact, most of the book is a recycled hodge podge of general biking info padded with an unbelievable amount of filler. It contains inane questionaires and advice lists that are kind of amusing, but not really helpful. Is Easy Rider your favorite movie? Than they have the tour for you! Trying to hook up on a bike trip? Than don't ask, "Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" I kid you not. This book devotes several pages describing how to do a pushup, a pull-up, and a crunch. With all this fluff, there is very little room leftover for any touring specific information, and rarely gets beyond common sense advice (i.e., pack light). A whole chapter vaguely describes 10 dream bike trips (#10 being your own back yard). This chapter could have been so much better. In the end, it seems like very little effort was put into making this a quality book on bike touring. I was profoundly disappointed. Much better, in my opinion, is, "The Essential Touring Cyclist." If you are interested in self-supported touring, "Adventure Cycle-Touring," is probably the best I have seen, and covers camping, specific brands of touring bikes, etc., etc.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time or money on this one..., September 9, 2009

By 

Thomas E. Ezell "Tom Ezell" (Scott, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bicycling Magazine's Guide to Bike Touring: Everything You Need to Know to Travel Anywhere on a Bike (Paperback)

"BICYCLING's Guide to Bike Touring" is an okay book if all you are looking for is generic information on riding a bike, or training to ride a bike. If you are looking for useful details on bike touring, how to select, set up, and use touring gear such as panniers, cargo racks, or even simple hints on bike camping, route selection and planning, or simply being out on the road traveling by bike, it's not here. As the other reviewer has noted, 99% of this book is pure fluff, not specific to touring or camping, and you won't find the information you need to start enjoying this activity in this book. For example, only three paragraphs are devoted to the issue of cargo racks and panniers, and there is little useful info in those three paragraphs. You'll be much better served with "The Essential Touring Cyclist" or the Sierra Club "Bike Touring" guide.

I bought this one based on promise, but was sorely disappointed to find that it's only a general re-hash of general recreational cycling info. I awarded one star solely because Amazon didn't have a choice for zero stars.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Returned this book immediately, October 29, 2010

By 

B. Stewart - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bicycling Magazine's Guide to Bike Touring: Everything You Need to Know to Travel Anywhere on a Bike (Paperback)

If you are preparing for touring, you are surely familiar with the most elementary, basic elements of fitness and cycling that this book covers. The content is superficial at best and often appears hastily prepared. I bought this book in the morning at a local bookstore and returned it in the afternoon, it's simply that terrible.