Stephen Lord (1) (1959–)

Bicycle touring has several axes of classification: degree of support from guides or fellow tourists; budget and its implications in terms of support from the territory traversed; ruggedness and remoteness of that territory. Adventure touring pushes toward the solo, low budget, very remote ends of all these. Ah, and duration - here we are in the regime of weeks to months to years.

My sweetheart and I have a running joke about riding our bikes from Calais to Cathay. Turns out that it's something people do quite regularly. Not really a joke! Or Alaska to Argentina.... always skipping that no-man's land on the border between Panama and Colombia.

The real core of this book is pp. 95-232 which take you on a whirlwind trip to most of the countries of the world and the main routes you'll want to look at in traversing them singly or in chains. Each continent is covered by a different writer - by a cyclist who's been there and done that. On some of the routes described, I brought up Google Earth and could follow along, finding the passes and the remote lakes. Of course there is no way a book could be comprehensive. The USA is covered only by the Pacific Coast Highway and the Great Divide Mountain BIke Route. I live in the Northeast and my fantasies run around the Great Lakes or out toward Nova Scotia. Still, with all the information in this book, one at least becomes familiar with the basic framework, the key considerations in this kind of adventure.

The first part of the book covers equipment. It's similarly skechy - what else could it be, with the creative diversity of bike equipment today! But again, the outline is enough to give a person the key parameters to weigh. This book doesn't tell you the right way to do anything. It does a nice job of laying out a range of options.

The last part pp 233-291 is 10 different writers with short snippets of experiences over a day or over a few weeks. The writing is varied, the approach to touring is varied. It's great - it is very empowering. You can really invent your own adventure as you go!… (plus d'informations)

We find this book useful for providing inspiration when we feel like a bit of bushwalking around Sydney. Its value lies in the fact that it's more inclusive than some other works on the matter - not all of the walks are typical tourist walks, and many of them are not in national parks.

There are maps for each walk as well as written instructions. You really need to pay attention to both as the maps are a bit cryptic.

My biggest complaint about this book is the way it's organised. I find it a little difficult to find information in it quickly - perhaps because the contents are laid out on a map, and I find its maps a bit difficult.

It's a handy book to have if you live and walk in Sydney… (plus d'informations)