Looking for books on adventure-cycling

there is the adventure cycle touring handbook - but its not very good. contains basic advice on bikes and equipment and a few badly written travel journals. probably only worth a read if you can get hold of a cheap copy.

adventure cycle touring handbook

there are lots of books on cycle touring, but one of the best places to find information is on the internet. Google "cycling south america" and click on this link

The only other relevant book I can think of is Latin America by Bike by Walter Sienko, which was written in 1993 so is showing its age by now. I disagree with many of its scenery ratings, and I think he missed better alternative routes, but then he doesn't know that because he didn't take those alternative routes.

Sienko doesn't have much on equipment and planning, Hebairt's Adventure Cycle Touring Handbook is better for that. Of course we all disagree with what it says, but we don't agree with each other either. If you are inexperienced, then reading at least some opinions from the experienced will assist considerably, help you avoid the really bad mistakes. Once I would have been very grateful for that, and it would have made my own learning process a lot less painful.

Fwiw, you can read for free my (now a bit dated) advice on equipment for expedition cycling, and notes on cycling in parts of Latin America here - parts of this appear in a compressed form in Hebairt's book that #1 doesn't like.

I have just recently been back in Chile and Arg, though not on a bike. The extent of paved road in Chile continues to expand rapidly (and getting out of Santiago on a road that is not a motorway seems harder than ever). The amount of paved road in Argentina, at least in the Cuyo region, however seemed to be reducing - I travelled on several roads where the pavement had been abandoned. Municipal campsites didn't look like they had had any maintenance for a decade either. Accommodation in Chile has got quite a bit more pricey, whilst Arg is now mostly very cheap.

I know you asked for books but I thought I'd pass this linkon. A lot of South American journals.

I disagree with above comments on the Adventure Cycle Touring Handbook. It's a very useful primer for common worldwide routes and equipment/bike considerations. It doesn't go into much detail but it's a compact paperback covering a vast topic - what do you expect?

I'm going to rip out the equipment/journals sections of mine and keep the basic route/country info with me on my bike as a source of ideas if I need alternative routes or general ideas for where to head next...

I agree with hobo. I am planning a touring trip and had this sent to me here in the Philippines. Trailblazer usually makes great guidebooks so I thought this would be really good. I was disappointed when I went through it, I was expecting more maps, route timings/distances, etc. The travelogues were missing relevant information: season travelled, route description, etc. They were very, very generic. There was nothing in here I could not find on the internet. Not recommended.

--Jeremy

That Trailblazer book is probably meant as an introduction to cycle touring. I remember people discussing it last year. I thought it got a tick of approval from many of the regulars.

Crazyguyonabike.com is a site you should check out. On it there is one guy who has an amazing online book of the type you might be after. He discussed the trip over the KKH in pakistan and there was a lot on equipment which i thought interesting and potentially useful.

See if there isn't a cycle guide through SA by LP. They do one on Australia.
Its also useful to track down books that people have written about their own travels through a country. See if Anne Mustoe hasn't written one on SA as she has been there i think if not top to bottom. She did do a round the world bike trip book which i read recently and found useful and intersting even though it covered a lot of countries that i have no plans to go to just yet.

In the end though is quite possible that the backpackers LP will serve you as teh best available guide for SA and you just have to do all your bike research elsehwere - like here and other websites and aslo the SA branch if you are not there already.

I was at one of the chain bookstores last week, and after flipping through about 3 bike-touring books I bought the Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook. Having read most of it, I think it's an excellent book. Sure it left out info that I was hoping for (e.g., rating different routes through Turkey) but is this level of detail possible in a book with only 284 pages? (My background: I'm about to head out for my first ride in 12 years, and wanted a refresher.)

One other book that I've found useful is Miles From Nowhere, written in 1983, about a long ride a few years earlier. I mention this book not because it provides useful detail, but because it spells-out the misery that is a part of the bike-tour experience once you get out of the easy countries.

Yeah, I'm about to do it again, but perhaps there's a reason that I go riding only once a decade...

Bill
www.bicycle-touring.com
(about to try Istanbul-Cairo... and welcoming all advice!)

I though considering the scope of the Adventure Cycling Handbook, it was quite good. Its from a UK perspective so a lot of the bicycle choices are not available where I live. As a contributor to the Adventure Cycling Handbook, if you're interested in the full trip details of my travelogue 'The Road to Everest' you can read it here.
More blog stuff from Cycling the Carretera Austral can be found here