Bicycle Touring 101: An Interview with Mark Boyd

Mark Boyd is a member of the International Bicycle Touring Mailing List. He is very good at providing well-thought out answers based on his experiences gained from numerous tours across North America and Europe. Many cyclists hope to cross a continent once while Mark has already gone across many times!

A classic Austrian view during one of his tours.
Click to enlarge.

I don't remember. Even a few years after I started I couldn't put a finger on when or why I decided that touring might be fun.

What was your first bicycle touring experience like? Good/bad/where/duration etc?

I rode the Blueridge Parkway from Asheville north to its end, then rode on up the Shenandoah Valley to Front Royal and over to Arlington VA. The next week I rode back. using Skyline Drive to where it ends (and where the Parkway starts) and riding down the Shenandoah Valley to Bristol Tennessee. Then I rode back, through Johnson City to Asheville. Each leg was one week, and the experience was great.

When you look back over your past bicycle tours what were the most common equipment problems that you've experienced?

Very few problems. Early on, I broke spokes on most of my tours. More recently I have had to replace a tire on several tours.

With so many bicycle touring adventures behind you are there any "rules of thumb" that would likely be of benefit to most people who are getting involved in bicycle touring for the first time?

You've traveled all over the world with your bicycle and based on your pictures you've seen many places of breath taking beauty. Are there any particularly special places that you one day hope to visit again or that you would recommend that all bicycle tourists should see?

The Northern Oregon Coast.
Glacier National Park.
Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Blue Ridge Parkway.
Southern Utah and northern Arizona.
The Sierra's.
Central and eastern British Columbia, and western Alberta.
All of southern France.
The French Alps, the Austrian Alps, the Dolomites, and the Julian Alps in Slovenia.
River gorges in France.
River valleys in Germany and Austria.
Cordoba Spain.
Lisbon Portugal.
Florence Italy.
Hamburg Germany.
The High Tatras in Slovakia.
Most of Slovenia.

I could go on and on, and I'm sure I'll have some new places to add to the list after this summers tour!

This is a map route from one of Mark's Tours. As you can see he likes to cover a lot of distance while touring.
Click to enlarge.

Many cyclists fear having their knees go bad and needing to get a knee operation as a result. I recall that you experienced knee problems and actually had the surgery. Did the surgery work out for you and do you have any words of advice for other cyclists who may need the surgery too?

It wasn't fun, but the alternative was worse. My knee took almost a year to fully recover, but I was able to start a long, hilly, tour after about five months. My advice would be to take care of your knees. Don't use low cadences and don't abuse you knees by riding really hard before they are fully warmed up.

Traveling with your bike through airports is something that you have likely had a lot of experience doing. Have you found any particular steps to follow that seem to work out well? Have your bikes made it through safely?

No big deal. My bike is sturdy and it has survived some pretty bad airport abuse. I try not to fly through Heathrow airport, because that is where my bike has been most abused. I use Southwest Airlines if you can in the US because they have treated my bike very well. Make sure you have an airline supplied - Southwest doesn't supply them - box for your bike (!) and make sure you can take the pedals off <grin> when you need to pack it. I use a long stem, so I also have to take my handlebars off.

Crossing international borders always seems to cause a rise in blood pressure for many people and yet you have likely crossed many, many borders. Do you have any stories to tell as a result or hints for other people to help them reduce their anxiety?

Getting through airport security is a pain now, but I haven't had any border problems and I've crossed a lot of borders.

The first EU - non-EU border I crossed was from Germany into the Czech Republic. The guards made a joke - I think - about searching my panniers, but I just smiled and they waved me on through. Bicycles don't seem very threatening to border guards so it is easier to cross on a touring bike than in a car. Also, at those crossings where cars are searched - mainly in eastern Europe, I've always been able to ride around the long lines of waiting cars and get passed through quickly and easily.

You have an interesting touring method in that you carry camping gear like a fully loaded/self-contained tour but you tend to stay in motels etc rather then camp. What are the pros and cons of this technique for you?

The Soca river valley in Slovenia from near the top of Vrsic pass. It doesn't get any prettier than that!
Click to enlarge.

I carry camping gear as insurance. I don't carry cooking gear since I don't know how to cook <grin>! I do try to carry enough reserve food so that I could wild camp and not go hungry. I often don't know where I'll end up at the end of the day's ride, but, with camping gear, I know I'll have a place to sleep. I don't often have to use it, but it is worth carrying so I can focus on riding rather than worrying about finding a place to stay or about making a particular destination where I have a reservation.

The only con is weight: I've been carrying an extra ten pound of stuff and a pannier to carry it in. This year I've cut back on my camping gear by switching to a Tarp tent which is ultra-light and small enough so that I don't need a pannier for my camping equipment. The extra weight - tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad - is now down to about five pounds.

Despite having been on so many bicycle tours I imagine that you still have places that you would like to visit. Where are some of these places?

I'll be flying to Istanbul in less than three weeks. I ride from Turkey to Greece and then through the Balkans to the Baltic's this summer, visiting friends in Slovenia, Poland, and Germany. I'll be riding for about two months and 4000 miles.

This interview occurred just before Mark left on his current European tour. He is regularly posting his ride reports to the International Bicycle Touring Mailing List. I've been reading and enjoying them whenever he sends them to the list. I know that I am not the only one enjoying them!

An interview with Mark Boyd