Travel writing is tough to do well.  Good travel writing informs you about places you might want to go but more importantly it inspires you and makes look at travel differently and reminds you of the benefits of travel (other than making your friend jealous).  

Here’s a short list of my 8 favorite blogs as of late.  Some of them I’ve been reading for years, others are new additions.  I think you’ll find value in all of them if you check them out. 

Gadling.com (@gadling)

Rarely does a day go by that I don’t find 2 or 3 articles well worth reading and I’m in love with their photo of the day posts. They cover just about every travel topic you can think of and cover a lot of adventure travel.  

Favorite Post: They do a series of posts on the Mongol Rally that I dig. (I’m infatuated with that race)

Bikeradar.com (@bikeradar)

Not really a travel blog but their ‘how to’ posts on riding skills and bike maintenance are great. Their coverage bike, gear and racing makes feel like I know what’s going on in the industry without feeling like a total geek. 
 
Favorite Recent Posts: Their whole How to Series is just great.  This article on repurposing race numbers was pretty clever as well.
 
Positiveperformancecoaching.com (@rgrissom)

Ok this is one is kind of a cheat. Rob actually writes a series of blogs for us on how to train for one of our epic tours.  He also is co-producer of the Cycling 360 Podcast, available on itunes. If you’re a twitter fan check out #bikeschool at 9pm on thursdays for some lively bike themed discussions on twitter (twiscusssions?) by the cycling360 guys.  

Favorite Post:  I’m biased, but I really like the training series he’s writing for us. 
   
Matadornetwork.com(@matadornetwork)

A great collection of travel articles from a wide variety of writers.  Matador has something for everyone to be sure.
  
Favorite Post: How to Bucket Shower Like a Pro
 
Chasingtheunexpected.com(@angelacorrias)

Angela is an independent travel writer and writes about her own travels at her blog, chasigntheundexpected.com.  It’s not the prettiest blog in the world (sorry Angela) but her writing is fantastic.  She does her research and dives deep in the culture and history of the places she visits.
 
Favorite Posts: What first got me to start following Angela were her posts on China, their still my favorites.
    
Legalnomads.com (@legalnomads)

I haven’t come across a better blog about food and travel.     

Favorite post: Table Condiments From Around the World and Why they Matter  
  
Uncorneredmarket.com (@umarket)

If for nothing else follow this couples travel blog for the incredible panoramic photos they post.  

Favorite post: Panorama of the “Disco Ball Mosque” in Shiraz, Iran  

Blog of Impossible Things (@joelrunyon)

Joel made a list one day of things that seemed impossible to him at the time.  Then he started doing them.  You have to appreciate the message Joel is trying to get out there.  Plus if you’re making a list of impossible things, cycling across a continent certainly should be on it!  

Favorite Post: I like his post on Doing things that scare you. 
 
So There you go, 8 of my favorites. What your favorite travel related blogs?  Let us know in the comments.   

Paul McManus designs and guides bike tours for Tour d’Afrique Ltd.  Find out more about the Tour d’Afrique and their cross continental bike tour and races at www.tourdafrique.com

   

     

Few modes of transportation connect you with the intimacy of your surroundings with such efficiency as a bicycle. Anyone who has ridden any significant distance can attest to the freedom you feel on a bike.  Of course not all rides are created equal.  Sometimes the location and circumstance of a ride can really transport you to different place and time. As a tour guide for long distance bike tour company Tour d’Afrique I’ve had the good fortune to ride through some amazing places.   Here’s a list of some of my favorites.  



The Pyramids at Giza

Our Cairo to Cape Town Bike tour starts every year at dawn from shadow of the great pyramids.  There has been so much written about them I won’t go into detail here, sufficed to say they are pretty cool.  I’ve ridden up to see the pyramids and I’ve driven one of our support vehilces.  Riding is definitely better. 

The way the pyramids reveal themselves to you as you ride up to see them is unbeatable.  We rode to the pyramids from our hotel about 8 km away. We passed though the crowded and noisy streets of Giza and as we got closer to the pyramids we began to glimpse them through the spaces in between the buildings.  They look like they belong on another planet. 

It’s about a 2km ride from the entrance gate to the Pyramids themselves.  Feeling the cool morning air and squinting into the sun as it rose over the Pyramid of Cheops really gives you the feeling of discovery and wonder.   



The Small and Winding Roads and the Old Cites of Eastern Europe

There really is something special about old cities.  Cities that had to be constructed in a way that allowed them to be easily defended from attack and were built with hard labor and the skill of true craftsmen.  I love the feel of an old castle wall and riding through streets that were built before motorized traffic was even remotely possible. 

In 2010 I rode from St. Petersburg to Venice on our Amber Route Bike Tour.   The route is essentially a tour of old cities.  Tallin, Riga, Vilnius, Krakow, Bratislava, Ljubljana and of course Venice were some of the highlights.  Since the roads that pass though the old cities were not built for cars and truck the scale of them is just right for the bike.  The small streets feel intimate and have the right amount of exotic flavor. 


Everywhere you look is like a scene from a John Wayne Movie!

Monument Valley, Utah

I descended into Monument Valley with the wind at my back and AC/DC blaring in my headphones.  We started the day at the Anasazi cliff dwellings at the Navajo Monument near Shonto, AZ and after 30 km of climbing is was down hill for 50 km to our camp in the valley. 

A 50 km downhill ride with the wild west landscape spread out before you and the wind at your back, are you kidding me!  How could it get any better. 

One piece of advice I would give is make sure you’re riding in the right direction.  Our route took us from west to east which provided mostly tail winds.  The few riders I passed going in the opposite direction had a different opinion of the day then I did. 


Looking Down into the Valley

The Black Sea Mountains

I enjoy climbing when I’m on the bike.  I loved feeling of effort and the reward of reaching the top, not to mention the real pay off... the descent!  The mountains along the Black Sea in Turkey provide plenty of challenging climbs combined with spectacular views. 

The people of Turkey make the experience even more enjoyable – they are friendly and inviting through seemingly every village you cycle through.


Waiting to Cross into Azerbaijan, with a fat stack of freshly exchanged Azeri Manat

Anywhere with Friends

Sometimes even the most mundane of rides is can be amazing when combined with right company.  One of things I look forward to the most after returning from a trip is riding with my friends and catching up.  On a long bike tour you may start the tour with a group of strangers but after weeks and months of riding together great friendships evolve. 

I drove down to Friedrichschafen, Germany from Rotterdam to meet Henry and attend Eurobike last week.    Before I get into what Eurobike was like let me just tell you that driving in Germany was a pain.  I drove 1800 kms of German Hwy to get to Eurobike and back.  I ran into no less than 6 traffic jams that slowed traffic to 20 kms/hr for 30 minutes or more.  Sometimes highways just ended, blocked for construction and there were no clear indications of how to get around it.  I got lost. 

I was looking forward to driving in Germany because so many people have told me how great the autobahn is and how you can drive as fast as you want.  Well it turns out letting people drive as fast as they want has some problems.  It’s not accidents.  In fact I only saw one accident on the whole trip.  The biggest problem is this:  not everyone wants to go 180 kms/hr or has a vehicle that can go that fast.  I drove 120 when I could.  I would have felt safe driving faster but the little Ford car I rented sounded like it was going to explode if I pushed it past 120.   Most cars and trucks in the right hand lanes seemed to cruise along at 80 - 100 kms an hour.  Cars in the left lane went from 140 to 210 kms/hour.  So I’d cruise in the right hand lane until I came upon a slower vehicle and then try to pull into the left lane to pass.  But trying to pull into a lane with BMWs flying by at 200+ kph.  It ain’t fun. 

Anyway.  The drive wasn’t that pleasant but arriving in Friedrichschafen was nice.  It’s beautiful town located on the Bodensee - a big lake that also borders Switzerland and Austria.  An interesting piece of trivia:  The Zeppelin was invented in Friedrichshafen.  The entire time the bike show ran there was a giant Zeppelin taking off and landing from the back parking lot.  It’s quite impactful, seeing a Zeppelin take off.  They’re huge. 

Eurobike is the largest bike industry tradeshow in the world.  1000 exhibitors.  Tens of thousands of bikes and who knows how many parts and accessories.  It’s overwhelming.  Outside there was a trials course, BMX track and bike jump area where kids from 12 to 20 showed off some pretty amazing skills.  A hip hop style fashion show ran twice a day.  Eddy Merckx was there, so was Tom Boonen and Ivan Basso and a personal hero of mine Hans ‘no way’ Rey. 

But over the hill and disgraced cycling celebrities aside there wasn’t too much new to see at Eurobike.  Carbon, carbon and more carbon.  Curvy, superlight, soulless carbon.  New Shimano groups, Campy, SRAM… blah blah bah.   A $13,000 e-bike (who is that for?) Hundred of singlespeeds and fixies in evey color imaginable.  New colors were the big thing.  For the last couple of years black and white has been the predominant color scheme.  Now the pendulum is swinging back and orange yellow and yes, (gasp) even purple anodizing is back. 
 
I was pleased to see Chris King there displaying his excellent hubs, headset and bottom brackets.  Chris has also dusted off an old frame design that he used to build in limited runs for US teams.  Called ‘Cielo” and built in Portland.  It was one of the only steel frames on display that didn’t come with a set of skinny jeans to ride in.  Great craftsmanship and nice details like stainless steel dropouts and bottom bracket shell.  I wanted one.  Coincidently I was wearing an old Chris King t-shirt, the same one that I have worn from Cairo to Cape Town twice now.  Jay Sycip, who build the frames for Chris, noticed me ogling the Cielo and commented on the shirt.  We chatted about our tours and I told him the unfortunate story of the demise of the Poprad.  He empathized and offered me a deal on a frame!  Sweet. 

We were there mostly to set up a booth on Saturday, the public day of the show.  And we wanted to check out all the new electric bikes.  Everyone is making an ebike these days.  Most of them have a long way to go.  Henry has this idea, and he’s slowly convincing me, that ebikes can make our tours accessible to a whole new group of clients.  On the Amber Route I spoke with several clients who really want to cycle Africa but are afraid the distance and difficulty of some of the days would be too much.  Enter the ebike.  With electric assist to help a rider get over the toughest hill and the harshest headwinds a long distance tour becomes more feasible.  But our requirements for an ebike are very specific.  It has to be simple, no fancy computer controls.  It has to be light.  It has to work with an existing bike.  And it has to have limited power.  We don’t want people cruising thru our tours on electric motorcycle.  We just want something that can give you a boost when you need it.  An extra 50 or 100 watts to get thru a 180 km day or over the steepest pitches of a 2000 meter climb.  There were a couple of promising designs.  Perhaps in the future we’ll see the first TdA ebike tour take form. 

Another reason we attended was for a series of forums on bike related travel the show was hosting.  A good chance to see what was new and what other people are doing the industry.  Unfortunately these forums were more painful than driving on the autobahn. The word useless comes to mind.  Simplistic, uninformative…. Boring.  Oh well. 

The Saturday show went well. We had a good number of visitors to the booth.  The booth itself looked great thanks to Theresa's efforts.  Daniel, a former client who lives in Swtizerland, drove over to the show and was a big help.  We ran into former clients and visited with companies that make some of the best products our clients use. 

Henry and I were there for the whole 4 days of the show.  We walked around and shook hands.  Tried to tell people about the TdA.  It’s hard to develop an ‘elevator pitch’ for what TdA does.  The company just doesn’t fit neatly into a box like that. 

Ultimately what we did was talk.  Sitting outside next to the bike jump sipping overpriced beer and chatting about the company.  What works, what doesn’t.  How to improve the dream tours concept (which I love).  How to better help our customers prepare for and enjoy the tours, how to reach a wider audience with our marketing efforts.  Two guys chatting about stuff they like, telling stories and debating the finer points of running a unique business.  Good times.