Stories from the Road

Goodbye, Old Friend

Warmshowers Foundation

Contributor: Phil Blumenkrantz I’m suffering separation anxiety – not from a girlfriend or job or my recently-deceased cat. From my Panasonic PT-3500. It’s been six months since I parted ways with the touring bike I’d ridden almost exclusively since the mid-80s. My sense of loss hasn’t softened. Each time I would complete a trip, I

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Bike Touring Information

Things to Consider When Buying a New Touring Bike

Warmshowers Foundation

Adventure seekers have traveled the world on pretty much anything with wheels – from unicycles to penny farthings. And while it is true that you can go on bike tours on nearly any working bike, it is also true that carefully selecting the right bike and gear can make your journey a lot more pleasurable.

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Host's Corner

A Warmshowers Guest to the Rescue

Warmshowers Foundation

Contributor: Penny Schwyn As always, we get excited when it works out to host a cyclist. We had no inkling that our Warmshowers guest would be party to a life-changing event at our home. It turns out Seth LOVES gravel. When he found out we were going on a community fun ride, The Gravel Flamdangle,

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Stories from the Road

Ready to Go!

Warmshowers Foundation

Contributor: Susan Fox This year, after 10 years of discussion and 5 years of planning, my best friend and I set out on our first cross-country tour. We had been inspired by a roadside gentleman who invited us to share his fire during our first tour in Eastern Oregon…in the rain. His story about his

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Warmshowers Foundation

Meeting Cyclists Where They Are: Your Home

Warmshowers Foundation

As hosts, it is our job to bridge the gap between our own expectations of hosting and where our visiting cyclists are coming from. A cyclist just setting out on tour is in a different mindset than someone a week away from finishing. Maybe your visitor is carrying too much weight and hoping to ditch

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Warmshowers.org Partners

An Unexpected Covid Silver Lining: Connecting the Global Bike Community

Warmshowers Foundation

Contributor: Ayleen Crotty, Filmed by Bike How the Filmed by Bike film festival persevered during this challenging time. In the early months of 2020, people around the world stayed indoors, unsure of what activities were safe during the increasingly confusing and scary global COVID-19 pandemic. For a while, there wasn’t yet any information on whether

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Stories from the Road

Why Host? Why Be a Guest?

Warmshowers Foundation

Contributor: Lance Chilton Sure, being a guest while bike-touring saves money. Sure, being a host makes us feel we’re paying back the Warmshowers community. But it’s more than that. Although I could probably afford to stay in four-star hotels, Warmshowers gives me a much closer opportunity to meet and learn from bicyclists in all the

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Warmshowers Foundation

Cycle Touring Books

Warmshowers Foundation

Great reads authored by the Warmshowers Community!   From the bank to the saddle (Von der Bank auf den Sattel) 10 countries. 100 days. 10,000 km. After 20 years, Bernd quits his job at a bank and sets off on a bicycle ride with his son Tristan to circumnavigate the Baltic Sea to the North

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Warmshowers Foundation

Route Planning: How to Choose a Route That’s Best for You

Warmshowers Foundation

So you’re going on a bike tour! Whether you’re setting out on a 1-2 night bike overnight or planning a months-long epic tour, the first step is to figure out your route. Here are a few considerations to help you out.    Budget/Time constraints  Depending on where you are starting your ride and how much

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Stories from the Road

A New Life – Touring the World Tandem

Warmshowers Foundation

Contributor: Cycling A Dream, Sylvie & Nicolas On May 9th, 2022, we left for what we would like to become our World Tour on our tandem bike. But we started planning for it many years ago. In fact, the serious planning process started in January 2018 after an extremely cold Holiday Season spent in Quebec,

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