This is just a rough map of the route we took from France to China. We started in Sty Foy (the French Alps) and cycled all the way to Urumqi, China. Google maps wouldn’t let me include a route in China, so the map only shows as far as Almaty, Kazakhstan. The total distance was 8,500km and took 8 months.
Canada Route
Time: June – October 2016
Distance: 7,000km
This is a map of the actual route we took across Canada. You can also check out our Canada trip notes for a more detail record of this section of our trip. We hadn’t originally planned on cycling the Maritimes in Canada, but we had a slight change in plan once we got to Ontario.
USA Route
Time: April/ May 2017
Distance: 2000km
From Halifax in Canada, we headed to the USA border and started cycling across the USA. We cycled 2000km to Buffalo, NY. Unfortunately, Kelly got bronchitis in NY and could no longer cycle, which put a bit of a dent in our plans.
Nicaragua Route
Time: May/ June 2017
Distance: 600km (mainly due to illness, and our constantly changing plans).
Originally we planned to cycle all the way to Argentina, but had a slight change in plan, and decided to end the cycle trip. You can read more about why in our article, Discovering you don’t want to be long term cycle touring.
How are we going to make money while cycle touring? The question I’ve been asking myself constantly in the lead up to our cycle tour. It’s also the question that friend’s and family have been asking me. We all know cycle touring is a cheap way of travelling, however it’s still not free, and to cycle tour long term, like we plan on doing, it’s important to have some income coming in, even if it’s only pocket money.
So, I’ve started putting together a list of possible ways to make money while cycle touring.
Freelance writing
I’ve had some success getting paid to write short city and country description or and other travel articles, and to be honest, I haven’t put much time and effort into it… yet! This is something I definitely hope to build on while cycling, though it seems the competition is quite fierce.
Update: I’ve recently had a lot of success freelance writing, my biggest concern is finding a good, regular net connection and also finding the time to write the articles.
This is something we definitely plan on doing. To be able to appreciate travel, it’s important to take a break once in a while. A new website I’ve just discovered is Search Jobs Abroad. They post all types of jobs around the world including short-term holiday work, volunteer positions, part-time and full-time jobs. Definitely worth checking out if you’re thinking of breaking up your cycle tour.
We’ve already decided that we will stop for 6+ months at a time during the cycle trip, to relax, fix any bicycle gear, fix ourselves up, and to work and live semi-normal lives for a bit. New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and Canada, are good places to work and save cash, especially if you’re able to get a work and holiday visa. Otherwise, TEFL teaching in Asia and South America could be a good options.
Online paid gigs
Such as Fiverr (I’ve actually make over $2000 USD in the past year on Fiverr). There are many alternatives, but I’ve only really used Fiverr, so far. Other alternatives include, gigbucks Freelancer, oDesk, Upwork, eLance, Guru, People Per Hour, 99 Designs, Design Crowd, Project 4 Hire. The pay isn’t great, but it is a start! I’ve also managed to secure some long term clients through Fiverr, and lead them away from the actual platforms, so to avoid paying the insanely high fee.
Stock photos
Not something I’ve really had much experience in. I recently discovered, stockimo, which is an iphone app that allows you to upload and sell iphone photos. Yes, you’ve read correctly, iphone photos. I’ve just signed up and uploaded a few photos, so we will see how it goes. Other sites, for DSLR and SLR photographers, include dreamtime, shuttlestock and istockphotos.
Hostel reviews
I’ve been writing paid hostel reviews for quite a few years now, and though it doesn’t usually cover the full cost of a nights sleep (unless you’re travelling in Central America or South East Asia), it still definitely helps. Hostel sites usually pay between $5 – $20 USD per 400 words review, with photos.
Loads of people do it, and seem to make some money off it. I haven’t quite mastered this skill yet, but there will be plenty of time to learn. Once set up, I think it would be a good way to make money while cycling touring, as well as being a good opportunity to learn about SEO and website management.
You can either create your blog on your own website, which means you’re able to add affiliate links and do pretty much whatever you like with your blog. Or, you can try a site like Niume. Niume is a blogging site that pays you per post view. Earn $1 by just signing up here.
Website
This needs to be broken down into sub-categories:
a) Adsense/ affiliate links: from what I’ve read, unless you have a huge and constant amount of traffic, then you’re unlikely going to make a lot (if any), money from ads and affiliate links on your website. Our affiliates include, Amazon, booking.com and World Nomads.
b) Ebook: writing and selling an Ebook. I’m experimenting with this at the moment: check out our ebooks!
c) Selling a course/ giving advice.
Teach English online
I have taught English as a second language for English First. Before English First, I taught for a Japanese English school, called Best Teacher. The pay isn’t fantastic, but if you’re travelling through Central America, or Asia, then you’ll definitely be able to save some money through teaching online. Maybe not a good option to make money while cycle touring, but perhaps a good way to make some money in between touring. I’ve just started teaching for a new school that is really flexible on how many hours you can teach, which is great for when you’re on the move. It’s called Cambly.
What do we need money for?
All we really will need is food and accommodation. There are a few good options for working in exchange for your food and board. I’ve had some great experiences on helpx, when I first moved to Canada and was looking for work. Some other alternatives include, wooffing and workaway. Hostel International also have an intern program, which works in the same way, and of course you could always contact places directly to find out whether they offer work exchange.
Sponsorship/ Grants
Pretty difficult and time consuming to get, but definitely worth a try. I’ve started to put together a list of grants and potential sponsors to contact, however I think perhaps, we will have more luck, once we have built up our followers. So far we have received free cycle gear to trial, but no financial sponsors.
Keep in mind the more followers you have the more likely you are to receive sponsorship.
Crowdfunding
I haven’t looked to much into this, but I have noticed that trevolta is crowdfunding platform for travel related crowdfunding projects. This is a bit controversial, and probably not something we will pursue, unless we start cycling for a cause!
This is something else I’ve just started playing around with. Like the affiliate website links, I think you need a lot of traffic before you actually start making much money, but once established it could be a good way to make money while cycle touring. YouTube has also just changed their requirements, meaning you have to have at least 10,000 total views before you can earn anything. They have also decreased the amount you earn per view.
How do you make money while cycle touring or travelling? We’d love to hear your tips and tricks.
Training plan for a cycle trip is a pretty good idea… but we didn’t do it.
Our trip started from a small ski resort village called Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise, located in the French alps. It was winter time so obviously there was a fair amount of snow around, which made cycling slightly difficult! To embark on a cycle trip was not a part of our plan before coming to France to work a ski season. Several months lounging around in ski chalets, munching our weight in stinky cheese and guzzling litres of beer daily, and we were ready to go. We hadn’t bothered to create a training plan, and were not exactly in peak physical condition.
It was not physically possible for us to train on the bikes due to the snow. Kelly also had suffered a torn meniscus in her knee while skiing, which made it extra impossible.
We had only decided 6 weeks before our work contract ended that we were going to ride to China. So there was not a whole lot of time to plan and train for this silly adventure. I think we managed to borrow a car twice in the lead up to the trip. So on these rare occasions, we were able to drive to a lower altitude and ride for about 20km around a lake. That was our ‘training’. Pretty gruelling, huh?
In an ideal world it would have been nice to get in regular long rides, to get us physically and mentally prepared for the task we were about to undertake, but ultimately it did not matter that we couldn’t train, we had no training plan.
Col du Lautaret by bicycle
We had only purchased our bikes maybe 3 or 4 weeks before we set off. We only ridden them twice and had never ridden them fully or even partially loaded!
I will admit it was pretty terrifying rolling down the extremely steep and still slightly icy hill from the ski station on the first day of our trip with the panniers and backpacks fully loaded strapped to the bikes for the first time. Having never had weight on a bike while riding before it was quite a shock and probably a fairly dangerous introduction to cycle touring.
One piece of advice I would give is definitely do at least a few rides carrying weight just to get used to the way it changes the handling and responsiveness of the bike.
We had a really low budget. So, had opted for very cheap ($20) rear panniers off eBay and a 70 liter backpack on my rear rack, and a small daypack on Kelly’s bike, with homemade handlebar bags made from 6 pack coolers that I’d stitched buckles and straps to. So, we had a whole lot of junk in our trunk! Extremely heavy at the back and basically nothing up front. I would not recommend this set up. I definitely wouldn’t recommend not at least going for a few test runs with this set up… but we survived! Which only proves, it can be done!
In the end it would have been nice to have had more time to get in better shape. And, get used to riding the bikes (loaded or even unloaded), but ultimately it did not matter as we still managed to do what we set out to do, ride to China.
The first day we rode roughly 65 km and felt like we’d really achieved something great… this was by far the furthest either of us had ever ridden on a bike before. I remember laying in our tent on the side of the road that night feeling absolutely high and giddy. We can do this!
That first day was preparation for the second day, the second day was preparation for the third day and so it went on and on. An easy training plan to follow!
Everyday we felt slightly more comfortable and confident riding long distances ,and getting used to the bikes and the quirks of riding them when weighted down with stuff. The first few weeks were admittedly very tough physically due to our bodies just not being used to it, but like I said, everyday it got easier and gradually we were able to push on to greater distances.
I’m sure there is a wealth of information and tips out there for how to get in peak condition for a tour. If you have plenty of time up your sleeve to train, it would be a great idea to check them out and see if anything appeals to you. For me personally I found reading some of these blog posts and info about preparing for cycle touring, scared me and made me more nervous about the trip, as I knew that it was not possible for me to undertake any of these regimes. Sure we could have done training without actually being on a bike like body weight exercises and whatnot… but we just kind of never got around to it.
At the Chinese border!
So is it essential to train? Absolutely not! The point I want to get across in this section is that anyone can go cycle touring. It’s as easy as… well as easy as riding a bike!
Even if you are not the fittest person out there. You can still do it and eventually your fitness levels will get higher and higher and the cycling will get easier and easier!
If you do not have time/access to a bike pre-trip or whatever, don’t sweat it! It really is quite a simple task; hop on a bike and just ride! Don’t get discouraged by reading posts about how hard you need to train. Or worry about the fact that you don’t have a $4000 bike with all the latest gadgets and fanciest German made gear. Just hit the road and go! You will learn along the way. Get better at it everyday and come to realise somethings that you would have maybe done differently, but ultimately you will be able to do it!!
Believe in yourself and you can achieve anythi….no I’m not actually going to say that. Just get on that bike and go my friend! Fully trained with legs of steel? Years of riding experience? Or, a total novice with no clue what you’re doing and calves that look broomsticks? It doesn’t matter you can do it, and ride wherever you want in this world!
Good luck and safe cycle trails!!
Do you have any additional tips for the cycle tourists’ non training plan? Please add your tips below.
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off eBay and a 70 liter backpack on my rear rack, and a small daypack on Kelly’s bike, with homemade handlebar bags made from 6 pack coolers that I’d stitched buckles and straps to. So, we had a whole lot of junk in our trunk! Extremely heavy at the back and basically nothing up front. I would not recommend this set up. I definitely wouldn’t recommend not at least going for a few test runs with this set up… but we survived! Which only proves, it can be done!
