I wrote a book/website about bike touring

[mats.henricson]

Hi!

I just wanted to say I recently wrote a book on bike touring. More specifically lightweight touring, or as it is also known, Credit Card Bike Touring.

Instead of publishing it I decided to put it all on the net:

https://creditcardbiketouring.com

It contains a lot of tips and advice, including packing lists. I have also added a list of all trips I have done:

https://creditcardbiketouring.com/routes-i-have-ridden/

Feedback are most welcome, preferably by email to mats.henricson@gmail.com, but I will also try to hang out here a bit.

The site is completely free. No ads, no affiliate links, I don’t sell anything, and I try to avoid mentioning the names of any products. The whole website is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

Mats Henricson, Sweden

[j1of1]

Just looked at your website....The rides you have accomplished look amazing.  Well done!!

[HikeBikeCook]

Thank you Mats -

A wonderful job, thank you for all of your effort. It is great to get such good information and another point of view. I looked at your route maps and they are amazing. The multiple trips through major mountain ranges are quite impressive.

While reading your site a few things came to mind.

I work in cyber security and I would caution to make sure that the copy of passport or ID that you email to your web account are encrypted so you don't have your identity stolen by hackers while you are traveling aboard.

I would add to the list - inform you credit card company to expect charges from said destination and travel stops in between. We were in France on family vacation and I had forgot to tell the credit card companies that I would be traveling abroad. As a safety measure they immediately put a lock on my account when the saw the first foreign transaction. I did not know until trying to pay for dinner for 4, only to have the card declined. Luckily I had a backup as you suggested!

A good tip on insurance as well. I recently joined the US Medicare ranks and have been told that I am not covered outside the USA, even with my supplemental gap insurance. I need to buy a special policy to venture outside the US.

A note to men deciding to go from clean shaven to not shaving during a bike tour. I have worn a beard almost all of my adult life, sometimes full or just a goatee. New beards itch typically, but more annoying is that your helmet straps hook and pull on those new whiskers like velcro and can make for an uncomfortable few days or weeks. If you plan to go caveman you may want to grow it out before your ride.

[mats.henricson]

First, terribly sorry about late response.

You have an excellent point about sending copies of passports by email! I will tweak that section to take that into account.

Thanks for excellent advice about informing bank about CC charges in foreign countries! Will fix that too.

Also good advice about beards. I will look at that too.

So grateful for your thorough reading. Much much appreciated!

[misterflask]

I was glad for this- a credit card tour is on my to-do list.

I had always looked on CC touring as the easy way out, but now I realize that carrying everything you could possibly need for any circumstance is the real crutch.

Seems this would be tricky in a lot of the US, especially if you're skeptical of seedy hotels (on the upside you're not carrying enough stuff to worry about bedbugs).

Surely somebody here has a tale of an epic US Credit Card tour?  Cross-country even?

[mats.henricson]

Credit Card Touring is simpler, you don't need that much gear and preparation, at the expense of having to pay more for food and accommodation. Fits me perfect. :-)

Seedy hotels, yes, there are lots of them, but you only stay one night. And I often bring my bike to my room, so nothing can be stolen.