Trailblazer Guide Books

These Trailblazer guides ...are a godsend for independent travelers.
 - Travel & Leisure

INTRODUCTION
PART 1: PRACTICALITIES
    Planning and preparation  What kind of trip? 9
        Research: Online and in print 11

    Documentation, money and information  Passports and visas 13
        Money 14

    Health on the road  Inoculations 17 – Other health hazards 18 – Sunburn    and sunstroke 19 – Altitude sickness 20 – Other hygiene issues 21 A healthy diet 21 – Learning to pace yourself 22

    What bike?  Narrowing down your choices 23 – Touring bikes 25
        Mountain bikes 25 – Expedition touring bikes 27 – Recumbents 28
        Tandems 28 – Frame material 29 – Component groups 30

    Choosing a new bike  Surly Long Haul Trucker 31 – Bruce Gordon
        Bicycles 32 – Thorn Raven Tour & Nomad S&S 32 – Koga-Miyata 33
        Roberts Roughstuff 34 – Thorn Sherpa 34 – Mid-range MTBS 35
        HP Velotechnik Street Machine GTE 35 – Marin Muirwoods 36 – Other
        dream bikes worth considering 36 – BYOB: Build your own bike 36

    Adapting a used mountain bike 37

    Gears, brakes and wheels  Gears 39 – Choosing brakes 42 – Wheels 44
        Bottom brackets and headsets 48

    Comfort stations!  Suspension forks  49 – Finding the sweet spot 51
        Love in the saddle 53 – Handlebars 54

    Racks and panniers  Racks 56 – Panniers 59

    Other bike accessories and tools 60 – How much stuff? 62

    Transporting your bike by air 65

    Clothing  Layering 69 – Footwear 72

    Camping  Tents 73 – Bike touring tents 75 – Sleeping bags 79 – Stoves 80
    Carrying Water 82 – Treating drinking water 82 – Kitchen essentials 83
    Toilet bag: some suggestions 84 – Other useful camping gadgets 84

    GPS 85

PART 2: ROUTE OUTLINES
    Europe  Western Europe 89 – Eastern Europe and the Balkans 95

Asia  Russia 97 – Roads & routes in Russia 103 – Turkey 105 – Lebanon,
    Syria & Jordan 107 – Some routes 109 – Georgia,     Armenia &
    Azerbaijan 111 – Iran 115 – Central Asia 116 (Turkmenistan 120
    Uzbekistan 120 – Kazakhstan 121 – Kyrgyzstan 122 – Tajikistan 123
    The Pamir Highway 124) – Afghanistan 124 – Northern Pakistan and
    the Karakoram Highway 126 – India 131 (The Himalayan foothills 133
    Sikkim & Darjeeling 133 – Rajasthan and the West 134 – The South 135
    The Interior 135 – The East Coast 135 – The North-east 136)
    Ladakh, Spiti & Kinnaur 138 – China 141 – Cycling across China 141
    Tibet 144 (The Friendship Highway: Lhasa to Kathmandu 146
    The Tibetan epic: Kashgar to Lhasa 150 – Eastern Tibet: Lhasa to
    Markham 153 – Leaving Tibet: south to Zhongdian & Dali on the Yunnan
    Highway) – Cycling in China’s south-west 157 – Mongolia 159 – From
    Mongolia to China 160 – Crossing the Gobi 160 – South-East Asia 163
    Vietnam 165 – Cambodia 166 – Thailand 167 – Laos 169 – Malaysia 170
    Singapore 171 – Indonesia 171 (Sumatra 172) – Myanmar 173 – Japan 175

Australasia  Australia 178 – The Nullabor Plain 179 – South-Western
    Australia 180 – South Australia & Victoria 181 – An Outback Tour 181
    New Zealand 184

North, Central & South America
    Canada 187 – USA 188 (Pacific Coast Highway 190 – Alternative routes 192     The Great Divide 195) – Cuba 198 – Baja California 199 – Central
    America 203 – South America 204 – Patagonia 208 (Carretera Austral 210)     Bolivia 212 – Peru 215 – Ecuador 215 – Colombia 215

Africa  North Africa 217 (Trans-Sahara 222 – Morocco & Western Sahara 223
    Tunisia 223 – Mauritania 224) – Cairo to Cape Town 224 (Egypt 225
    Sudan 225 – Ethiopia 226 – Kenya 226 – Tanzania 226 – Malawi 226
    Zambia 227 – Namibia 227 – South Africa 229 – Botswana 229)
    West & Central Africa 229 (Guinea 230 – Mali 230 – Ghana 231 – Togo 231     Nigeria 231 – Cameroon 231 – Gabon 232 – Congo-Brazzaville 232)

PART 3: TALES FROM THE SADDLE
    The Hungry Cyclist    Tom Kevill-Davis    233
    England to Australia     Tim Brewer        241
    High in Ladakh and the Spiti Valley  Stephen Lord with Chris Scott    249
    Desert Blitz – across Libya on a transit visa    Peter Gostelow    255
    On the run in Tibet    ‘Corsair’        259
    A long day to Sihanoukville     Jonathan Waite    267
    No pay, no pass: on the edge in Central Africa    Amaya Williams    273
    Now check your brakes    Edward Genochio    276
    Tour fatale? Extracts from the diary    Igor Kov?e         280
    The Great Fig Hunt    Alastair Bland    288

APPENDICES A: Bicycle maintenance 292 – B: Staying in touch on the road 303

CONTRIBUTORS 304 – GLOSSARY 306 – INDEX 307