How to Ride Around the World (in 6 Years)
After six and a half years on two wheels, bikepacker Mike Boles is back home in Regina, Saskatchewan, trying to catch up with friends and family he hasn’t see since embarking on an adventure most wouldn’t dream of completing: a bike ride around the world.
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The idea was, as he described it, a “pie in the sky” notion, but after starting his ride from the northern territories in Canada, Boles quickly found that he didn’t want to stop. While Boles is home, pondering what next to do with his young life (he’s in his early 30s), he took time to let us in on his best tips for successful life on the road, and his hardest-learned lessons.
You Don’t Need To Be Pro to Go
“I bought a bike in 2008, went to Montana, toured for three weeks and thought it was amazing. I loved the way the world looked on a bike, and I just thought, let’s go for it,” Boles says. He’d ridden a bit as a kid, and was fairly athletic, but he says that he was more stubborn than fit, and that’s how he managed to get into touring shape along the way.
It’s a Learning Curve
Don’t expect to start your tour perfectly. Chamois will rub, saddle sores will develop, and the bike will feel heavy and terrible at times—but you’ll learn and tweak things as you go, and ultimately figure it out. “When I started, I thought I was going to die for the first two weeks, but I got used to it,” Boles says. But patience is a virtue: “Things go slower on the bike,” he says, and you need to learn to accept that.
It’s Not About the Bike
Boles did the entire ride on a Rocky Mountain Sherpa touring bike. He might have considered changing it up, “but it worked well enough” to support all his gear, including a tent and sleeping bag. He does recommend thinking about which gear ratio you’d prefer for touring (he wanted an easier granny gear for Italy), and looking for a bike that has mounts for fenders and panniers. He says he also would have swapped his handlebars: If you don’t normally use the drops, he suggests going for a more bullhorn style, or even adding aero bars so you have a way to change up your ride position during the course of the day, especially on longer days. But Boles’ is quick to say that his biggest tip is to focus on the riding rather than the gear.
But on the Other Hand...
He did have a few pieces of preferred gear, though none of it was irreplaceable, limited edition-type stuff. In some countries, he’d adopt a stealth riding style and skip the spandex if it made him stand out. “I got tired of people staring and pointing, so I wore street clothes to blend in sometimes,” he says. “The attention is nice at first, you feel like a rock star, but then you want to not be noticed after a while.” On his bike, he rocked waterproof panniers, and emphasizes the importance of the ‘waterproof’ aspect. “The water, food, and gear was maybe 45 pounds altogether,” he says. Boles went through four tents over the course of six years.
Have Your Visas Sorted (And Know the Rules)
Boles ended up having to race across a few countries thanks to having tourist- or transit-specific visas. “Sometimes, there’s a time limit,” he says. “When I crossed Turkmenistan, I only had a five-day travel visa, and it’s a properly big country, so I was biking 120 or more kilometers every day to make it to the border!” It’s much better when you have time to cruise and just wake up and decide whether you’ll ride 40 or 240 kilometers that day, he says, so knowing the rules and having the proper paperwork as you cross borders is hugely important. Improperly filed papers can leave you stranded for days while you sort things out.
Know Where You’re Riding
… Or at least, look at the elevation profiles before you make plans. “In Italy, it was nonstop rolling hills and crazy grades,” Boles says. “Sometimes, you’d just look at the sky and go, ‘What the hell am I doing with my life? This is really hard!’” So, while Italy may sound great in theory, if you’re not much of a hill climber, you may want to research flatter spots in a bucket-list country or take another route for your first tour. Or, amp up your hill training!
Survive Without Technology
You don’t need to leave your phone or Kindle behind, but use bike touring as a chance to avoid using them for a while. Boles didn’t bring either, and only occasionally would purchase a paperback for entertainment. For him, the trip was about self-exploration, which meant taking time to be alone with his thoughts. “The point of the trip was to get away and process. I just wanted time to think, and didn’t want to distract myself,” Boles says. “It sounds a bit lofty now, but when I left, I was 27! That said, now I really do like to sit around and think, which I think scares a lot of people—having that time."
Make Mistakes
“If someone tells you what to do, great, that’s what worked for them. But bike touring is so individual and so personal that you need to find what works for you,” Boles says. “Have problems, and you’ll have to learn to solve them. Get out there and muck it up a bit!"
Don’t Just Ride
Boles’ trip took over six years—not because he is a slow rider, but because he wasn’t in a rush. He’d often spend months in one spot, if he liked it, before moving on to his next riding challenge. In the truest sense, he was a cycling nomad who was willing to take the time to enjoy the trip. When you’ve chosen a goal like riding around the world, completion isn’t going to involve a race. You’ll likely only do it once, so make that time count: You wouldn’t want to finish the trip and realize that through all of your pedaling, you forgot to take in the scenery and culture.
His Best Advice?
“It’s not you versus nature, it’s you in nature.”
What’s up next for the world traveler? After a week home in Canada, he’s back on the road, this time heading to Switzerland to spend a few months with his girlfriend. "I met her in New Zealand,” he explains. "She was traveling, and I was doing a bit of work there. We met and it was wonderful! It’s a good way to ease back into a proper, real life."
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