Just released, 50 Ways to Cycle the World is a new book packed with bicycle travel narratives from all across the globe. The book features many familiar faces. Learn more here…

Cover photo by Thomas Schenker

50 Ways to Cycle the World was created by Belén Castelló and Tristan Bogaard to inspire travel by bike. The book features 50 unique projects by 75 cyclists from 23 nationalities, all sharing their riding story and answering questions about their different approaches. Many familiar storytellers and Bikepacking Journal contributors appear in the book, including Lael Wilcox, Ben Page, Franzi Wernsing, and Taneli Roininen. These stories are wrapped up in 336 pages and feature gorgeous photography from all across the cycling community. What’s more, the profits of the authors royalties will be donated to organizations such as Warmshowers, further benefitting the community. Read on for details by Belén and Tristan:

  • 50 Ways to Cycle the World Book
  • 50 Ways to Cycle the World Book

CREATION

In March 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit at large, every traveling cyclist around the world was swept off the road and forced to either pause their journey and stay somewhere for an unknown period of time, or pack up their bike and travel back home. That sounds almost out of a different reality right now, but it was exactly what made making 50 Ways to Cycle the World a possibility. We’d had the idea to make a book like this for a while, but never believed that tracking down this huge number of cyclists to gather their personal story and photographs would’ve been a possibility. Until that one day in March, when we realized it was going to be now or never. So we took the idea off the shelf, redefined our list of desired participants and started video-calling grounded adventure cyclists. For what must’ve been about five weeks, we heard a new life story almost every single day. There were solo women and men, families, friends, pet owners, riders who bikepushed, packed and toured their way around the world on fatbikes, recumbent tandems, folding bikes or self-made bamboo frames… not to mention the plentitude of amazing locations these cyclists had pedaled through. These calls really taught us that by bike, nothing is impossible.

50 Ways to Cycle the World Book
Photo by Andrew Hughes

EXECUTION

Thanks to the publishing of Bike Life, the book that covers our personal years out traveling by bike, we already had a publisher and were therefor confident that the concept of 50 Ways would be well liked by them. Creating a book with this many people involved was a fair challenge, but in the end it proved manageable. When all calls were done, a long record of emails followed for several months, until Belén sat down to design the entire book from scratch. For us it was very important that this book would not only catch the attention of seasoned cyclists open to trying a new way of traveling by bike, but also inspire someone who’s never even cycled. Lower the doorstep, as we say, by delivering visual proof to the reader that somewhere out there, alike themselves and in their kind of situation, pulled it off to travel by bike. ‘If this person was able to do it, why wouldn’t I?’

50 Ways to Cycle the World Book
  • 50 Ways to Cycle the World Book
  • 50 Ways to Cycle the World Book
Photos (clockwise) by Taneli Roininen, Steve Fassbinder, and Ryohei Oguchi

STORIES

Of course, this book would not have come to life if it wasn’t for the thrill-inducing stories shared by all the cyclists inside. Out of a long list we defined fifty projects and profiles as the most unique and often relatable subjects. To keep things organized, you’ll find four main chapters in 50 Ways: Companionship, Cycling Styles, Duration & Age, and Special Projects.

Each of these chapters has a set of subchapters and the numbers (the ‘ways’) labeled underneath to guide you through the many approaches. We love all of them equally, but a to name a few really exceptional ones off the top of our heads…

  • Cycling Solo: as a female, with @mairawa
  • Cycling with Kids: short adventures, with @wildkids_es
  • Cycling with Animals: a dog, with @bikecanine
  • Bicycle Touring: as a break from routine, with @pedalpaca
  • Bikepacking: hike-a-bike, with @talesontyres
  • Multifarious: self made bike, with @thomas_schenker_adventure
  • Multifarious: bikerafting, with @republicofdoom
  • Short Term: ultra endurance, with @laelwilcox
  • Around the World: tight budget, with @lajuana.bike
  • Age: just graduated, with @benpagefilms
  • Musical Instruments: busking, with @monkey_on_2wheels
  • Chronic Conditions: heart disease, with @gonebikefishing
  • A Bigger Purpose: minimum footprint, with @brais.palmas

Find a visual introduction to all of the stories over on Instagram @50waystocycletheworld. The book launched in the US as of June 25th, 2021 and is available at The Big A or as a signed copy (currently sold out) through tristanbogaard.com/shop.

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