Bicycling Along The World's Most Exceptional Routes: Along the World's Most Exceptional Routes - Hardcover

Rob Penn spent his late twenties riding a bicycle around the world. Now, 25,000 miles later, he is a writer and photographer specializing in travel features for a number of leading publications including The Times, Condé Nast Traveller, Marie Claire, and Geographical. He lives in Wales with his partner and their three children.

Introduction

The bicycle is a transport of delight. Whether you are easing from restaurant to restaurant through a French valley or flying down jeep tracks in the Himalayas, there is no better way to travel. Offer me any form of transport – from a palanquin to a Lear jet – and I will (nearly) always opt for a two-wheeled steed. Travelling by bike is the best way to view a landscape, engage with a culture, acquire an appetite and feel a sense of achievement. In short, it is the best way to catch the music of the earth.

In the three years it took me to ride some 40,000 km (24,000 miles) around the world, I was frequently amazed at the level of trust placed in me by local people from the 31 countries I crossed, simply because I was riding a bicycle. Trust leads to hospitality, on a purely practical level, but it is also a key to kinship and understanding. And in modern times, when we can be at least cursorily familiar with so much of the planet from an armchair, this is one of the greatest goals of travel.

This book describes 25 rides from all corners of the planet, from New Zealand's South Island to the Canadian Rockies, from St Petersburg to Patagonia. There is something here for every level of experience. In order to give you an idea of the challenge each one represents, the rides have been categorized as easy, moderate or strenuous. These categories take into account the level of fitness and the biking skills required, as well as a host of other relevant factors from altitude to daily temperatures. The type of surface – from tarmac roads to single-track – and the daily distances will give you further insights into the level of difficulty of each ride. There are both guided and self-guided rides, and the contact details of the companies that organize them are given at the end of each chapter.

The daily schedules for each rides are merely a guide: all manner of things, in particular the weather, can affect these routes. Similarly, the distances and the cycling times (an estimate of the hours spent in the saddle, which does not include sightseeing, eating and so on) may vary.

No two rides in this book are remotely the same: one follows an ancient pilgrimage route across northern Spain, another crosses Zanskar and the highest motorable road pass on the planet, and yet another cruises through the Californian redwood forests. Some rides focus on the culture of a country, others on the food or the landscape, while some are simply about hammering downhill very, very fast. But they all share one thing: they are memorable. If you need any encouragement to get on your bike, you should find it here. Time is running out – go for a ride.