The Best Cycling Touring Books to Inspire Your Next Adventure

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The Best Cycling Touring Books to Inspire Your Next Adventure We Love Cycling

Cyclists are, by nature, among the world’s greatest adventurers. Luckily for us, many of these brave and pioneering souls have opted to document their journeys—sharing advice and strategies for bike touring, in addition to thrilling tales of life on the road. Here we have assembled a few of our favorite books to help you plan your next great adventure and push you to explore this fascinating world we call home.

Some titles contain a detailed account of an epic cycling undertaking in a foreign land, while others reflect on the value of discovering one’s native country on two wheels. They will all make you proud to be a cyclist, though, and are perfect for enjoying in a shady spot while you plan your fall cycling adventure or just get pumped up for another day in the saddle.

A Bike Ride: 12,000 Miles Around the World, by Anne Mustoe
For lovers of history and believers that it is never too late to get started
“I was not athletic. I was not young. I had never been a keen cyclist. I had no idea how to mend a puncture. I hated camping, picnics and discomfort. In fact, my qualifications for an arduous cycle ride were minimal….”

On the verge of retirement, Anne Mustoe decided to leave her job as a headmistress to ride a bike around the world by herself. As a passionate historian, she organised her trip to experience some incredible sights first-hand. Over 12,000 miles and 15 months, she followed ancient Roman roads, routes taken by Alexander the Great from Greece to India, and the migration path of settlers across the United States. Her epic solo journey will leave you feeling inspired by the remarkable women and will likely give you some ideas of historically significant sites to explore on your next trip.

Off The Rails, by Tim Cope, Chris Hatherly
For those looking to travel with an open heart and mind
This is the story of two twenty-year-old Australians who travelled on recumbent bicycles from Russia, across Siberia and Mongolia, to Beijing. In addition to capturing the passion and perseverance needed for such an undertaking, their account shows how powerful travelling through foreign lands can be when you open your mind. Tim and Chris clearly respect the people they encounter along their journey, and their approach to the locals will have you thinking differently about engaging people in the places you visit.

Following the Sun, by John Hanson Mitchell
For those who appreciate the finer things in life
In this delightful bicycle journey memoir, John Hanson Mitchell tells of his fifteen-hundred-mile ride on an old Peugeot bicycle from the port of Cadiz to just below the Arctic Circle. From a steamy spring in Spain and the wine-soaked magic of Bordeaux to Wordsworth’s Lake District and Midsummer celebration at a Druid temple on the island of Lewis in the Hebrides—this book is wanderlust at its finest. If you’d love to explore dunes, castles, terraced vineyards, and Moorish outposts by bike, this is one for you.

Changing Gears, by Nancy Sathre-Vogel ...

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