24 books that will make you quit your job, buy panniers, and start pedalling
Rest days are for reading. Whether you're dreaming of your first tour or planning a lap of the planet, these books deliver the inspiration and know-how to get you on the road. We split them into three sections: our own ebooks built from real miles on the bike, stories that light the fire, and guides that help you plan the route.
Our Ebooks — Written from the Saddle
Train, Pack & Ride — The Ultimate Bikepacking Guide
Everything we've learned from years on the road, packed into one guide. Training plans to get your legs ready, packing strategies that eliminate guesswork, and ride-day tactics for any terrain. Whether it's your first overnighter or a cross-country expedition — this is the playbook.
Get the Ebook →
First Aid for the Long Haul — The Bikepacker's Emergency Manual
When you're 50 km from the nearest town, you are the first responder. This manual covers the injuries and emergencies bikepackers actually face — road rash, heat exhaustion, snake bites, infected blisters, and more. Step-by-step protocols you can follow under pressure, plus a printable checklist for your first-aid kit.
Get the Ebook →Touring Memoirs & Adventure Stories
Lands of Lost Borders
A scientist trades the lab for the Silk Road by bicycle. Harris and her childhood friend ride from Turkey to Tajikistan — part adventure, part meditation on what it means to explore when the map is already full. Beautiful, brainy writing.
Moods of Future Joys
Two weeks into his round-the-world ride, 9/11 happens and the whole plan changes. Humphreys pedals through the Middle East and Africa on hoarded student loans. Raw, honest, and the book that launched a thousand bike tours.
Thunder and Sunshine
The second half of Humphreys' 46,000-mile lap — South America, North America, Siberian winter, and home. Salt flats, the Yukon, and a flimsiest-tent-imaginable situation in minus-thirty Russia.
A Bike Ride: 12,000 Miles Around the World
A retired headmistress who couldn't fix a puncture cycles solo through Europe, India, and the Far East. Proof that you don't need to be young, fit, or experienced — just stubborn enough to keep turning the pedals.
Lone Traveler
Mustoe follows historical routes — Roman roads to Lisbon, the Conquistadors across South America, Captain Cook's Pacific, and the Silk Road from Xi'an to Rome. History on two wheels.
Across African Sand
3,000 miles by bike across the Kalahari and Namibia deserts. Lions stalking at night, elephant charges, and — somehow — marrying a local witch-doctor's daughter along the way. You can't make this stuff up.
Every Inch of the Way
Front door to front door — across Europe, Asia, and the USA. Yurts with nomads, Georgian homemade wine, Tibetan stew, and alligator meat. A journey powered by the kindness of strangers and an appetite for everything.
Off the Rails
Two 20-year-old Australians ride recumbent bikes 10,000 km from Russia through Siberia and Mongolia to China. Fourteen months of steppe winds, Gobi desert, and Russian village hospitality. Philosophers on wheels.
Catfish and Mandala
A Vietnamese-American cycles the Pacific Rim back to Vietnam — part travel adventure, part search for identity. Lyrical writing that hits differently from most touring books. A quiet masterpiece.
Cycling Home from Siberia
A geography teacher quits, flies to Siberia, and spends three and a half years cycling 30,000 miles home to England via Papua New Guinea, an Australian cyclone, and Afghanistan. As gripping as it is insane.
Wheels of Adventure
20,000 miles through 17 countries — Pakistan's mountain passes, Indonesian volcanoes, Malaysian jungle, and Australian desert. Landslides, earthquakes, and close encounters with yaks. Non-stop action.
Life Is a Wheel
A New York Times obituary writer cycles across America at 57 and reflects on life, death, and everything in between. Going-to-the-Sun Road, the Mississippi headwaters, and the long roads that make you think.
Miles from Nowhere
The classic. Barbara and Larry Savage's two-year, 25-country ride is funny, warm, and heartbreaking — Barbara was killed in a cycling accident before the book was published. A joyful, vital story that reminds you why we ride.
North to South
A guy from London who was scared of fairground rides cycles from northern Alaska to the southern tip of South America. Armed with a bicycle, a toy bear, and optimism. If he can do it, so can you.
Old Man on a Bicycle
At retirement age, Petterson heads west across America — loaded bike over the Rockies, through Nevada's desert, and across the Sierra Nevada. Proof that the best time to start is whenever you decide to go.
The Man Who Cycled the World
Mark Beaumont smashes the round-the-world cycling record by 81 days — 18,000 miles in 194 days, solo, camping wild. The book behind the record that put endurance cycling on the map.
A Crossing: A Cyclist's Journey Home
A solo ride across America that's less about the miles and more about the inner journey. In the tradition of Blue Highways and On the Road — meditative, personal, and deeply human.
Planning Guides & Reference
Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook
The comprehensive manual for planning the Big Trip. Bike selection, component reviews, camping gear, health prep, visas, and detailed route outlines across every continent. If you only buy one planning guide, make it this one.
Epic Bike Rides of the World
200 of the world's best rides with stunning photography and practical toolkits. From Lake Constance to the Natchez Trace, Tasmania to Bhutan. The coffee-table book that quietly turns into a bucket list.
Bicycling the Pacific Coast
The bible for the Vancouver-to-Mexico Pacific Coast route. Detailed maps, campground info, road conditions, and pre-trip planning. Nearly 2,000 miles of the most iconic coastal cycling on Earth.
Grand Adventures
How to actually make the big trip happen — dealing with time, money, fear, and inertia. Packed with hard-won wisdom from people who went and came back. The book that gets you off the couch.
Microadventures
Not ready for the round-the-world trip? Start small. Sleep on a hilltop, go for a wild swim, cycle a local loop. Over 150 ideas to inject adventure into your everyday life — no flights required.
The Doorstep Mile
The hardest part of any journey is the first step out your front door. Humphreys breaks down the psychology of why we hesitate — and how to stop hesitating. Read this, then go.
The Cyclist's Bucket List
75 must-have cycling experiences — from Hawaii's Haleakala summit at 10,000 feet to a roadside picnic waiting for the Tour de France. The lifelong checklist for every cyclist, beautifully photographed.
Now Close the Book and Open the Road
No story — however good — replaces the feeling of loaded panniers, an open road, and nowhere to be. Gear up and go.
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