A dumping ground for various bits and pieces I’ve used for planning. Should be useful for anyone else doing a similar trip.
There are two enormous WhatsApp groups for Pan-American riders, each with hundreds of members. If you want to swap notes with people who are currently riding the Americas, this is an absolute no-brainer. Drop me a message on my contact page for an invite.
Phone applications
- The free iOverlander app has been the single most useful navigational tool in places with no internet access. It comes pre-loaded with a comprehensive directory of locations that are useful for travellers, such as free WiFi hotspots, showers, laundry services or border crossings.
- Warmshowers.org – The legendary hosting website for cycle tourers. The mobile app is no longer supported, however the website works just fine. You need to make a small payment in order to activate your account.
- OsmAnd is great for free OS-style topographic maps, including trails, in regions where it might otherwise be difficult to get decent mapping. You can overlay a GPX track of your route, although you won’t receive navigational prompts.
- Ride with GPS has been recommended to me a great deal for all things bikepacking. It’s an excellent app to find, plan and record rides. Unfortunately I’ve found it to be too resource intensive for my cheap smartphone. The associated website, ridewithgps.com, is an outstanding free tool for planning routes and generating GPX tracks to load onto my Garmin.
Long distance touring guides
There are some excellent resources available for prospective bicycle-tourists, both in print and online. I found the material below to be invaluable in providing support and guidance while making such a big change to my lifestyle.
I would be cautious regarding technical recommendations contained in printed publications; some of these authors went around the world several years ago. Bike advice which has been considered solid in the past, such as sticking to 26 inch wheels, has now become somewhat outdated.
The vast majority of tourers that I’ve met on the Pan-American highway are now rolling with 700c wheels for road, or 29″ plus for off-road touring. Spare parts for both 700c and 29″ bikes are apparently widespread, and generally found to be of better quality than their 26″ counterparts.
26″ appears to very much remain the rule for the African continent.
- https://tomsbiketrip.com/ Tom Allen’s website is a really comprehensive source of information collected from lots of other long distance tourers and consolidated on one website.
- https://www.cyclingabout.com/ Alee Denham is another well-travelled cyclist, who has spent years compiling a great deal of valuable information on both his website and youtube channel.
- https://bicycletouringpro.com/ A good jumping off point for beginners as a lot of the basics are covered. The associated YouTube channel is also well worth a visit.
- The adventure cycle touring handbook is a comprehensive how-to guide on every aspect of planning and executing a long distance bicycle tour.
- How to hit the road – a beginners guide to bicycle touring and bikepacking by Tom Allen is frank and well-written guide on the practical and pyschological aspects of quitting your job and setting off on a long bike trip.
Other web resources
- https://bikepacking.com/ Is a great base for news, ride reports, finding organised bikepacking races and community uploaded routes from around the world.
- https://www.sheldonbrown.com/ An absolute lifesaver for finding solutions to mechanical problems with bikes.
- https://zenstoves.net/Fuels.htm A comprehensive guide for every conceivable type of camping fuel. Everything from seal blubber to hexamine. There is a useful table showing the energy density of different fuels in kcal per g.
Pan-American resources – North America
- Adventure Cycling Association A USA based organisation focused on promoting bicycle adventures. They have an interactive map of long distance routes. Similar to Sustrans in the UK.
- https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all#11 An A -Z list of items and their restrictions when flying in the USA. Helpful for planning what equipment can only be purchased upon arrival (e.g. bear spray, camping fuel and lithium power banks).