Why I prefer “credit card” bike touring

I like “credit card” touring, or bike touring without camping as a simple and rewarding alternative to traditional bike touring for shorter trips. In this video I discuss the pros and cons of the different ways to travel by bike and some of why I often choose “credit card” touring when I travel.

0:00 Intro
0:54 Styles of bike travel
2:27 Pros and cons of each style
5:58 Why I prefer cc touring

Bike touring is the best way to travel you get to experience the places most people who drive or travel by bus or train don’t often see things like the quiet country roads woodsy gravel paths and rural village life you get the sense of accomplishment of having traveled hundreds of miles just

By pedaling your bike many people associate bike touring with quitting your job and traveling across the planet but not every trip needs to be this grandiose sometimes you just have a week or two and you want to explore a new place by bike this video is about why credit card

Touring or bike touring without camping is my preferred option for this type of trip i’ll talk about the different ways people travel by bike the pros and cons of each style and get into why i prefer credit card touring if you’ve never considered it hopefully this video will encourage you to try it

And the good news is if you have a bike you probably already have everything you need to start now when it comes to multi-day bike trips there are three main forms to consider as you’ll see they’re not mutually exclusive but more like an overview of the different ways you can do it the

First is traditional bike touring with paneers here’s an example of one of my bikes as you can see i packed most of everything onto the back but a lot of times people use front pane ears and maybe even a handlebar bag this style of touring requires you to carry a sleeping

System either a tent with a sleeping bag and sleeping pad or a hammock with a rain fly or maybe even a bivvy you’re also likely to be cooking most of your meals and carrying cookware and a substantial amount of groceries you’re entirely self-sufficient and this is a

Great way to travel when you’re going for longer trips the second style is what people refer to as bike packing bike packing differs from traditional bike touring mainly in the way that things are packed bike packers prefer unpaved roads and try to keep their gear higher and more

In line with the bike frame to avoid snagging on rocks and other trail features bike packing usually still involves camping and cooking but lighter and more streamlined gear is preferred due to the reliance on smaller bags credit card touring has less to do with how you pack and more with what you pack

And how you’ll be spending your nights in this style of touring you’ll be skipping the sleeping system and cooking gear in favor of buying food and lodging as you go when i use this method i’m usually carrying some clothes rain gear bike tools but the packing weight and

Volume tends to be tiny i usually plan my route around medium sized towns and have hotels and restaurants to stop at every night here’s my pack for my trip to albania you can see i’m still using paneers but i don’t have a sleeping system and my bags are generally a lot

More empty i’ve also used these bike packing type bags on a trip too let’s briefly talk about the pros and cons of each style so for traditional touring the first pro is you can carry anything if you love to carry a camp chair a tripod a bunch of bananas or maybe three

This is the way to go your bags have huge capacity and you can basically take a lot of the conveniences that you would otherwise need to leave behind second you’re self-sufficient as i mentioned before you can camp anywhere you can have a long day or a short day

Um it’s very versatile way to travel thirdly uh your weight is situated lower on your bike this helps with stability when you’re carrying a lot of weight and especially when you’re going downhill lastly your trips will cost a lot less once you have all your gear you don’t

Have to spend as much money on hotel stays and expensive meals on the flip side you will have a heavy decidedly non-aero bike this means you will be moving a little bit slower but also your bike will be really difficult to maneuver if you have to get on a train

Or a ferry or just lift it over something since you’ll mostly be camping you won’t have as much access to utilities it’ll be a little bit more complicated to charge your electronics and also you won’t have access to showers and things like that lastly it’s quite expensive to get started

Besides the cost of a sturdy bike you’ll need to buy your paneers your camping gear cooking gear and everything else that you’ll need for a trip like this on the bike packing side you’ll have a much lighter packing weight this is mostly because of necessity you

Can’t have super giant bags like you can with traditional touring you’ll also be more capable off-road you can ride gravel single track and not really worry about snagging on things you also won’t have to worry about rack bolts rattling loose as with traditional touring you will

Have lower cost trips once you get all your equipment set up one of the main trade-offs is you’ll have very hard to pack bags unlike paneers it’s a lot trickier to remove the bags off the bike they also have lower capacity and it’s difficult to fit certain items each of

My two rear printers fits about 20 liters most bike packing bags are less than 15. lastly it’s also expensive to get started because you’ll still need a lot of the camping gear cooking gear and a lot of the bags can be very expensive as well one of the pros of credit card touring

Is you can ride almost any bike you’ll have to decide if you’re going to be doing a lot of off-roading and shoes appropriately but you can ride almost anything you have credit card touring doesn’t require as much specialized gear you don’t need specific bags and you don’t need to carry cooking or camping

Gear with you either this is going to be the lightest setup of the three you’ll be moving a little bit faster but also if you needed to get on a taxi or a train or something it wouldn’t be super complicated credit card touring is super easy to get started

You don’t need to know anything about camp cooking or camping in general you don’t have to buy a whole bunch of gear and test it out you just need to be able to comfortably ride your bike for long distances and you can probably already do that also because you’re not camping you have

More time to sightsee you don’t have to set up your tent you don’t have to cook your meals once you arrive at your destination your day is basically done credit card touring does require a lot more planning you have to make sure wherever you end

Up has a place to stay and food and all the other things that you’ll need since you’re not self-sufficient at all it’s also a lot more expensive to travel since you’ll be paying for hotels or airbnbs and food everywhere you go so why do i prefer credit card touring

First and foremost i believe i get the full benefit of traveling by bike i spend most of my days outside getting exercise breathing fresh air and taking pictures i still have plenty of freedom over my route even though i need to make it into a town at the end of every ride

I’ve traveled through the czech republic albania and mexico among other places using this method and all the places i’ve been the longest distance to the next location with accommodations was 8 to 10 miles i can spend most of my day riding in remote and rural areas the same way someone doing traditional

Touring would without any real fear of having no place to stay i also enjoy spending my nights in towns and cities when i travel it gives me more opportunities to meet and chat with locals i get to sample more of the local cooking and enjoy some of the nightlife

I get a hot shower every night or at least a cold shower depending on the hotel and my electronics are charged every morning when i wake up there’s a lot more planning involved and i spend considerably more money but to me it’s worth it when i’m only going away for shorter trips

I would still recommend traditional touring or bike packing for trips to remote areas where you need to be more self-sufficient and also for longer trips where the cost of lodging would really add up but for me short trips to fairly developed areas are perfect for credit card tours

Let me know what you think in the comments and thanks for watching