Bike touring can take on many forms, ranging from a credit card supported gastronomic exploration to more rugged bikepacking (a portmanteau of backpacking and biking) in remote regions of the world miles away from civilizations. There is no right or wrong way to bike tour; regardless of which type you prefer, bike touring boils down to getting on your bike and exploring the world around you. I spoke with two sophomores at Brown, Alejandro Ingkavet and Philip LaDuca, about their experiences strapping their belongings to their bicycles and riding across the countries of Portugal and the United States, respectively.

For many bike tourers, a bike equips its rider with the perfect combination of speed and agility. It allows one to connect with their environment in a way that isn’t possible in a car or plane, while being able to cover much more ground than by foot. Philip rode with his cousin from his hometown in Oregon to Brown University during his freshman year in 2020 and Alejandro rode his bicycle with two friends along the entire coastline of Portugal during the summer of this year. While bike tours often have defining moments of difficulties and challenges, Alejandro and Philip both agreed that bike tours are overwhelmingly positive experiences that offer a new way to explore and interact with the world.

Both Alejandro and Philip extolled the benefits of bike touring and insisted that touring does not take any superhuman athleticism. “You’re more ready than you think you are,” says Alejandro; “your muscles adapt.” Additionally, touring is as much a test of mental strength as it is of physical endurance. Bike tourers need grit, determination, and a bit of insanity. It’s clear that both Alejandro and Philip have all these characteristics. When Alejandro first started biking in junior year of high school, his first ride was an approximately 130 mile journey from his home in Brooklyn to the end of Long Island. It was only weeks before his cross-country tour that Philip did his first 100 mile ride. “It was absolutely killer,” he said, “even without packs.” Neither Alejandro nor Philip are going for speed, however. Both would agree that in bike touring, the adage “slow and steady wins the race” holds true.

To prepare for a long tour, it’s nearly impossible to accurately simulate the total mileage and intensity of the real thing. Philip figured that his longest day of riding on his actual tour would be about 100 miles long, so as long as he could ride 100 miles in one day, he’d be ready. So he built up mileage and endurance leading up to his big trip. Alejandro’s training entailed a smattering of overnight trips where he would bike out of his home in NYC to camp overnight with friends and bike back the next day. Even with this training, however, there is still a tremendous learning curve on a bike tour.

Despite numerous difficulties along their tours–for example, Alejandro’s friend’s water bladder leaked and damaged some of their equipment and Philip’s bike began hurting his knees and he ran into mechanical problems about halfway through–both expressed endless praise for bike touring.

Philip spent many of his nights camping outdoors under the stars and, one night, he was even guided by them. Biking into the wind is far more strenuous than biking with a tailwind, so in South Dakota, when he and his cousin realized that the persistent daytime headwind switched to a tailwind in the evening, they elected to ride under the stars starting at dusk. “We had a full view of the milky way–it was the most beautiful night sky I’d ever seen,” recalled Philip. “Without many cars on the road, we were able to let their eyes acclimate to the darkness so we could ride without lights.” Alejandro has similar memories. He says that being surrounded by nature gave him a “feeling of belonging to the world.” He continued: “There’s this feeling being among the trees and I can’t help but smile when I see something so incredible.” On a bike tour you notice things more. “I’m more conscious of the environment. When you’re driving fast in a car, you’re appreciating nature less,” says Alejandro. For Philip, bike touring offered him a newfound appreciation for the sheer distance between places and the vastness of our surroundings. To bike for two months across the US and then to fly back home to Oregon in just a few hours was a stark contrast.

Both Alejandro and Philip could not recommend bike touring enough, but they agreed that it has a fairly large barrier to entry in terms of required gear and equipment. But “money shouldn’t prevent people from bike touring,” Alejandro says; “you can get by on the cheap stuff and you’ll still have a great time.” Philip adds that “once you have the gear, it doesn’t go bad.” And once you get into bike touring, it’s hard not to get hooked. Both Alejandro and Philip expressed intense interest in going on more tours in the future; however, neither have solid plans yet. “The less planning the better,” Philip says, “you just gotta go for it.”