TDA Global Cycling Blog
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Read stories from TDA Global Cycling, the experts in long distance cycling tours. Whether it's cycle touring tips for first timers, information on new bike touring destinations, stories of cycle trips, how-to and informative tips and advice, or thoughts from the founder on cycling.
TDA Global Cycling Blog
2d ago
“Looking at the world
Through the sunset in your eyes
Trying to make the train
Through clear Moroccan skies”
– Crosby, Stills and Nash
As I was entering the outskirts of Casablanca on the way to the start of the Morocco: Kingdom of the West Cycling Tour, all I could think of was Humphrey Bogart at the end of the 1942 classic film Casablanca, saying “Play it again, Sam.” Another TDA adventure was about to begin. I had been to Casablanca once before for the start of the 2018 West Africa on Vélo Cycling Expedition so it was strange that “Play it again Sam” had suddenly emerged in my head ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
1w ago
Yanez Novoa is a long time TDA staffer who was helping out on the 2024 Tour d’Afrique Expedition in Rwanda & Uganda.
What do you get if you mix 50 strangers and several tons of steel, food supplies and bikes together? Something like a TDA expedition.
And what is a TDA expedition really? I have heard it being described in many ways: a forced march, a circus, a family. What it is, is big and noisy with lots of sharp and shiny bits; it is high vis-vests and flashing bike lights, chain lube and back up derailers. Add up all these miscellaneous parts and you end up with a TDA tour.
In t ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
2w ago
Benjamin Levin is the Content Creator on the 2024 Tour d’Afrique Cycling Expedition. He reports on the recent TDA Foundation bicycle donation that took place in Livingstone, Zambia.
Why do we ride bikes? On a TDA tour we ride bikes for an adventure, for the experience of cycling in a place you never have before – we bike for fun. In Africa, and many places around the globe, people bike for a different reason. They bike because school can be up to 30 kilometres away and elephants have prevented them from leaving on time. They bike because it is the only way that they can carry their goo ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
2w ago
New Zealand is a long way from anywhere else and that distance has created a singular identity, one that is full of fascinating surprises and captivating anomalies. Previously known as God Zone, Māoriland, The Shaky Isles and Pig Island, this country will certainly delight and amuse the riders on the Trans-Oceania Cycling Tour.
Here are 13 fun facts about New Zealand.
1. Just A Baby
Original flag, Waitangi Treaty Grounds
New Zealand was the last country settled by humans. The Māori were the first to arrive around 1300 AD, followed by Europeans in the 17th century. The 1840 Treaty of ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
3w ago
Benjamin Levin is the Content Creator on the 2024 Tour d’Afrique Cycling Expedition. In this report, he looks at some of the bikes being used on this year’s ride.
What is the most important thing that you can bring on a bike tour across Africa? Well, a bike of course. Simple, right? In a way yes, but it is also a huge decision that will potentially impact four months of your life if you are riding the entire Tour d’Afrique from Cairo to Cape Town.
Do you want a carbon fibre bike, light on the road but potentially fragile? Maybe, maybe not. Do you want a steel tank of a bike that destro ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
3w ago
Australia is a unique place – a one of a kind destination, a once in a lifetime opportunity…well, you get the idea! This large country (6th in the world) contains some famous landmarks, like the Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach, that the riders on the Trans-Oceania Cycling Tour will have the opportunity to visit but there is a lot more to the ‘Lucky Country’ than that.
Here are 10 fun facts that may surprise you about Australia.
1 – Tasmania has the cleanest air on earth
Yup – straight from the cold, cleansing shores of Antarctica, the air in Tasmania, delivered by strong westerly w ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
1M ago
Benjamin Levin is the Content Creator on the 2024 Tour d’Afrique Cycling Expedition. In this report, he takes a look at TDA Global Cycling’s method of navigation for the riders on tour.
TDA’s Navigation History
In the company’s not so recent past, GPS mapping software was not as readily available as it is today. That meant in order to navigate groups of cyclists across continents, they used biodegradable flagging tape. Yes, flagging tape. Imagine biking 10,000 km down the entire length of Africa and only being directed by little pieces of bright orange tape hung on whatever the staff ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
1M ago
“I was totin’ my pack along the dusty Winnemucca road When along came a semi with a high an’ canvas-covered load.”
Are you familiar with the song – I Have Been Everywhere – whose lyrics I quote above? The version that most people associate with this song is performed by Johnny Cash but the original version comes from Australia. It goes like this – “Well, I was humpin’ my bluey on the dusty Oodnadatta road, When along came a semi with a high and canvas-covered load…He asked me if I’d seen a road with so much dust and sand, I said, ‘Listen, mate, I’ve travelled every road in this h ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
1M ago
“As we cycle through these vast lands in the heat and sun, with our Camelbaks and water bottles full we know that if we run out of water we will have a source at the end of the day.” – from ‘The Water Shuffle‘ on our blog
As a participant on one of our tours, you can feel rest assured that there will always be enough water to drink. This is a relatively easy achievement for the support staff on our Touring and Adventure category tours where we stay mostly (if not entirely) in hotels each evening and where water is either filtered or we treat it using water purification chemicals. On ou ..read more
TDA Global Cycling Blog
1M ago
We have been running cycling adventures in India since 2011 and these adventures remain amongst the most unique on our tour calendar. As we noted in our introduction to our 2023 Hippie Trail rider reviews, “India is like no other place on the planet! The colours, the people, the sounds, the smells, the food – it really is a multi-dimensional journey and the most immersive way to experience this kaleidoscopic trip is, of course, on a bicycle.”
Check out these videos from the 2023 ride and then get ready to join us in 2025 on this incredible cycling experience! Spaces are limited.
This ..read more