One type of outdoor activity is called bicycle touring. This is the process of loading up a bicycle with your gear and planning a trip to ride hundreds of miles over a certain period of time. Think of it as backpacking but using a bike instead of just hiking.
In order to complete a bicycle tour, there is quite a bit of preparation that you need to do before this is even possible. While some like the idea of just grabbing some gear and giving it a try, preparation for this type of thing is needed for a better experience.
The first thing that needs to be done is to improve your endurance on a bike. There are many local bicycle clubs that will have longer rides that you can do to build up your endurance and get used to riding longer periods of times. Many of these groups have programs that are designed to get cyclists ready for tours that they train for each year at some point in time.
You need to get your gear together. There is quite a bit of debate over what is needed and what is not needed to pack on a bicycle tour. Get your gear together and go out and test it. One way of doing this is to literally ride out to a camping location with some friends and spend the night just using the gear that is attached to your bikes. Do this a few times and you will start to find out what is necessary and what is not.
Look for planned tours that you can take part in. There are some organized events that will have a path that is marked for the riders and some even carry your camping equipment for you. It's best to try one of these organized events before venturing off on your own. These will give you the basics while still having some support if anything goes wrong.
