Bike Life

Do you believe your bike touring days will be over if you have kids? Meet Ed and Jocelyn and their two boys as they share their bike touring experiences as a family. This Canadian family joins the Bike Life Podcast from Europe, where they are on a six-month adventure taking them from Spain to Norway. In this episode, they share their current and past experiences of what it is like to do long-dista...

Do you want to get into cycling without breaking the bank? With over 30-years of experience, John Bolton knows a lot about cycling and the gear that goes with it! John runs a YouTube channel called Cycling on a Shoestring. He is an avid cyclist who gives honest, objective reviews, tips, and tricks in his videos. Whether it’s clothing, gear, bikes, routes, or components, John reviews it all. John i...

Meet Claude Marthaler – a self-described Cyclonaute. For Claude, traveling by bike is a way of life. He has spent the past 16 years biking around the world and has authored 11 books and bike travelogues. From 1994 to 2001, Claude spent an incredible seven years on a solo bike tour traveling through 60 countries and biking over 122,000 kms. He loves the mountains and hiking and has spent a lot of t...

Storytelling, adventure, love of cycling, human to human connection . . . that’s what bike touring is all about. And that’s precisely what you’ll see in the “world’s best bike movies” presented at the Filmed by Bike Annual Film Festival. Filmed by Bike is celebrating 20 incredible years of bringing bicycle stories from all over the world to the silver screen. Festival Creator and Director Ayleen C...

What do you do when you are a 71-year-old retired grandmother concerned about climate change, and you want to make a difference? You hop on your pink bike and ride 2500 km from your hometown to the COP26 Summit in Scotland! Meet Dorothee Hildebrandt. She is so passionate about stopping climate change that she spent six weeks cycling alone from her home in Katrineholm, Sweeden, to the COP26 Summit...

The story of Peter and Tracy Flucke is like a book with many chapters centered around bicycling, together and alone, for more than fifty years. Their first tour in 1991 was one for the books; a multi-day fundraiser ride with Peter pulling their 6-month-old daughter in a trailer with his road bike. Changing diapers along the side of the road, warming bottles in gas station microwaves, what an exper...

Ken isn’t one to slow down. When the pandemic hit, he knew he had to find a way to continue touring and hosting his beloved Warmshowers family. It was time to get creative. Ken Francis is a passionate and seasoned cyclist, a longtime Warmshowers user, host, volunteer, and former Board member. He began hosting cyclists through Warmshowers in 2013 and has welcomed more than 269 guests over the years...

Dave and Leo are not your typical Warmshowers hosts. In fact, there is nothing typical about this couple. They met on a scuba diving trip almost 26 years ago, and the rest, as they say, is history. They first heard about Warmshowers through a camping forum, and in their thirteen years of hosting, this 62 and 66 years young couple have welcomed hundreds of cyclists to their Florida home. Dave and L...

Adam Swanson has virtually grown up on a bike. He was just an infant when his family took a bike tour across Mexico, and now, at 18 years old, he is on his first solo worldwide tour. After graduating high school last year, he set off for a gap year traveling the world with the full support of his family who are longtime Warmshowers hosts. Adam believes that long-term travel at his age makes you a...

Bike touring helps us check in with ourselves and our needs. It teaches us how to nourish ourselves appropriately, how to trust the signals our bodies are giving us, how to understand and navigate our fears and anxieties. It helps us develop a deeper relationship with ourselves, our needs, and our capabilities that carry into all aspects of our lives. What started as a bit of a fantasy for Sheelag...

Nate was biking cross country on his first long-distance tour. Augusta (Gus) was on a 2 ½ month ride from Washington through Canada to Maine. Two people from different parts of the country on independent trips and different routes. How did they come together? They crossed paths on the same evening in Midland, MI, and became Matt and Kathy’s first-ever Warmshowers’ guests.  Nathan Babb, Gus Kl...

A night in a Texas jail . . . a stay with a Canadian Mountie and an opera singer . . . an unforgettable party with a local mayor in a tackle shop. What do these things have in common? They are just some of the incredible times that Chris and Ties experienced on their 14,000-mile bike tour across the US and Canada. Meet Chris Fieldsend, who, after careful planning, set off on a yearlong tour with h...

It started with a bike breakdown on a cycle tour through Namibia, Africa, in 2014. No problem for a seasoned cyclist like Ursula, but she was in a remote area with no access to bike shops or spare parts. Was her tour over? What happened next would forever change Ursula’s life and the lives of countless children. Today we welcome Ursula Koll, who has had many incredible experiences solo cycling thr...

Today's episode of Bike Life first aired in 2020 and quickly became one of our most popular shows. We are joined by passionate and seasoned cyclist Ken Francis, a longtime Warmshowers user, host, volunteer, and former Board member. By the mid-80s, Ken had already completed three cross-country tours of the United States, during which he relied on the hospitality of strangers. He began touring pre-t...

Today's guest is Pinar Pinzuti, the founder of Fancy Women Bike Ride; a woman-only bike event held in cities worldwide. Pinar's goal is to bring more diversity into the cycling world and empower more women to ride more often.  Pinar has been traveling by bicycle since 2006 and using Warmshowers hosts around the world. She has tried all forms of bike touring; long-distance Cycling in South Ame...

Today, we are joined by Susan Doram. Susan is a published writer, award-winning personal trainer, cycle coach, and worldwide solo cyclist. In 2017, Susan set off for a 2 ½ year solo cycling tour around the world. Her epic journey took her through 15 countries on four continents! It was a “slow cycle” tour, and she credits her bike for helping her meet the most interesting people, especially her Wa...

We are joined today by Ben Riopelle. Ben is a Vet Tech from Colorado who is combining his love for animals and conservation with a long dreamed about first-time bike tour. Since graduating college, Ben has worked both as a veterinary technician and a teacher. In 2019, while working as a vet tech at a low-cost, high-volume veterinary clinic in Colorado, he was offered a spot on a trip to Panama to...

We are joined today by Jerry Kopack. Jerry has bike toured through 17 countries and is a member of the Warmshowers Board of Directors. He is propelled by the curiosity of the “human experience” and lives by the mentality to always say yes.  Jerry had been following the “formula for success” he was taught in college and worked for ten years in corporate finance. In 2005, his mom called an...

We are joined today by Dan Beaumont. Dan is on an epic 4-month journey cycling 10,000km across Britain to raise funds for Mind Over Mountains. At the time of this recording, Dan was on day 90 and about 7000km into his journey heading down the west coast of Wales. He was resting in the beautiful yard of his Warmshowers hosts, Catherine and John, who are feeding him well! Dan has stayed with many Wa...

We are joined today by Kevin Belanger. Kevin is here to share his wisdom, knowledge, and personal experiences on the important conversation of being queer in the outdoor community. Kevin was a guest on Bike Life episode #33 , Great American Rail Trail. He is the Manager of Trail Planning with Rails to Trails Conservancy and The Great American Rail Trail , a multi-use cross-country trail under deve...

We are joined today by Aaron Stephenson. Aaron is a Spanish teacher who lives with his family in Massachusetts and uses his summer breaks to cycle for a cause. At age 13, Aaron began working in a bike shop where his dream of cycling across the country was born. He has always been fascinated with the beauty and simplicity of the bicycle. The speed of a bike is perfect for encountering the world aro...

We are joined today by Kevin Belanger. Kevin is the Manager of Trail Planning for the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the Great American Rail Trail. The Great American Rail Trail is the flagship project of the Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC). RTC was formed in 1986 with the mission to convert unused railway lines into hiking and biking trails. There are many miles of abandoned railway trails acr...

We are joined today by Lorraine Lambert. Lorraine is a “later in life” first-time cyclist who discovered her path after a traffic jam moment. About eight years ago, while sitting in a traffic jam on the way to work, Lorraine was struck by the thought that she was “stuck on the slippery slope of middle age and heading downhill fast with no way out.” She knew right then and there that she wanted her...

Today's episode of Bike Life, first brought to you last year, contains some great information on planning your next bike tour. Whether it is your first long tour or you are a veteran, you will learn something from our guest Bill Roy. Bill is a 66-year-old seasoned touring cyclist who has logged over 30,000 miles on his bike! Since 2016, he has taken four major tours visiting almost all of the stat...

After releasing their first book, Bike Life , detailing their personal cycling journey, Tristan and Belén dreamed about writing a book featuring unique ways other cyclists travel the world. Their goal is to get more people traveling by bike, so the stories in 50 Ways are relatable to everyone. No matter your situation, 50 Ways to Cycle the World showcases unique stories of riders and how they over...