Resources and websites

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 if your want an invite to these groups.

  • The free iOverlander2 app was the single most useful navigational tool in places like Alaska with no internet access. It comes pre-loaded with a comprehensive directory of locations that are useful for travellers, such as campsites, 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 app for free OS-style topographic maps, including trails, in regions where it might otherwise be difficult to get decent mapping. It works offline as long as you pre-download maps in advance. You can create and overlay a GPX track of your route. I also use this app to create GPX tracks for my Garmin .
  • Ride with GPS has been recommended to me a great deal for all things bikepacking. The associated website, ridewithgps.com, is an outstanding free tool for planning routes and generating GPX tracks, which I then load onto my Garmin. Unfortunately I’ve found the associated app to be too resource intensive to work well on my budget smartphone.
  • Polarsteps is a social media app which creates a daisychain of your posts upon the world map. Great for overlanders.
  • Reddit. Website or App. If you want to access a big chunk of the cycle touring community there a few useful groups such as r/bicycletouring, r/bikepacking and r/bicycletouringmeetup. Great for bouncing ideas around and finding riding buddies.
  • Trailforks. Mostly set up for mountain bikers, this app is really useful for discovering off-road trails, which are colour coded by difficulty level.
  • 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.
  • https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/ ‘A place for cycle tourists and their journals’ .Create a free account to publish your own ride reports online in a like-minded community. Ideal if you want a blog, but don’t want to pay for an internet domain like muggins here!
  • 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. I found this one to be really useful for the ‘head game’ of long distance touring.

I would be cautious regarding the bike recommendations contained in the last two printed publications; 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 are found in higher manufacturing quality than their 26″ counterparts.

Pan-American resources – USA