The Art of (Mis)Communication – Bicycle Times #39

                An excerpt from this issue’s Globetrotting column, The Art of (Mis)Communication: Several weeks back a group of middle school students asked me what it’s like to be in a country that doesn’t speak my language. It brought back memories of a talk I attended where the bike tourer …

Quiet & Chaos in Vietnam

In Kyrgyzstan, men wear an ak kalpak – a tall white felt hat with traditional embellishments. In Nepal, the colorful dhaka topi cap is worn to symbolize pride in Nepali identity. Within a few seconds of crossing the Vietnam border, someone pedaled up alongside us wearing a nón lá, perhaps the most recognizable item of traditional …

Thy Kingdom Come: Bikepacking Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia, as it’s officially known, welcomed us with wide smiles this past November. A great relief, because we were strongly mourning our time in Nepal, where apparently two months is not even close to enough time to drink in the Himalayas while drinking every cup of Masala tea offered to you. I …

Nepal, I Love You

Nepal has been the hardest goodbye. What a truly special part of the world that’s filled with people who have souls as beautiful as the Himalayas they call home. We spent two challenging months exploring by foot and bike, warmly welcomed by a kind and peaceful society whose daily struggles are unimaginable to most people …

Scenes From Switzerland

Because we’re working while exploring this great big world, we made our way via the friendly skies back to Europe for a trade show. Coming straight from the rugged and largely undeveloped areas of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, I can’t adequately describe the culture – and sticker – shock we experienced when we arrived. In the …

Basic Illustrated Bike Touring & Bikepacking

A collection of my photos appear in the recently released book, Bike Touring & Bikepacking, part of the Basic Illustrated series published by Falcon Guides. This reference book is the first published comprehensive guide to bike touring/bikepacking, and more than covers the basics – from buying a bike and choosing a water filtering system to route …

The Unexpected – Bicycle Times #36

                In this issue’s Globetrotting column, The Unexpected: You don’t need to be pedaling in a foreign country to run into road trouble. A couple years ago, and much closer to home, we took off on our bikes with a friend one autumn weekend to explore our New …