Bike Touring News

Empowering The Bicycle Traveler

In March of 2011 I rode across East Texas and Louisiana. I wanted to ride through south Louisiana into New Orleans but it was difficult to find information about cycling routes and the possibilities of getting stuck and lost in the swamps was a little too daunting and so I stuck with the Adventure Cycling Read More

I've talked about my preference for down tube shifters, now I thought I would give equal time to probably the most popular method of shifting gears on a modern touring bike. That would be bar end shifters. Being inserted into the ends of the handlebars and held secure by means of an expanding wedge these Read More

St. Francisville Ferry

Since this blog is ostensibly about bike touring news, here is a newsy sort of a post. May 5, 2011 Due to the rising Mississippi River causing the closure of the New Roads/St. Francisville ferry, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) has opened the John James Audubon Bridge. This emergency opening will accommodate Read More

Downtube shifters are shift levers mounted on the downtube of the bicycle.  Not everybody will feel comfortable taking their hand completely off the handlebar in order to shift but for those of us who don't mind doing so, downtube shifters offer the most minimalistic of gear shifting solutions. These Shimano shifters have an "index" option Read More

Small Bike Tour

Chris Johnson already coined the word "micro-tour".  "Small tour" might describe our Saturday ride. Eleven miles to a little restaurant in a neighboring town, a cup of coffee, some fish tacos and some time to sit in the sun and read. Doesn't even really qualify as "cycling". It's just something we did and we happened Read More