Traveling changes you. It opens your eyes to new worlds, and forces you to see yours from another’s perspective. And traveling by bike, on foot, or by other humble means tends to elevate such experiences. It’s one of life’s most frustrating lessons—you don’t quite know what you don’t know until you travel, and those who stay in their comfort zone at home will never experience enough to truly know anything. All this, and much much more, is discussed, considered, and mulled over many times in One Year on a Bike, a new hardcover by Berlin-based publisher Gestalten.
In 2010 Dutchman Martijn Doolaard quit his agency job as a designer to go freelance, and never looked back. In his newfound freedom he began to travel around Europe, often seeking solitude and the natural world. But the quick trips between gigs wasn’t enough, so he committed to let go of all commitments and put rubber to the road, and cycle from Amsterdam to Singapore.
Through 368 pages of full color images and deeply insightful entries touching on cultural experiences, the beauty of an ever-changing landscape, learning to trust strangers—something we too learned on our recent bikepacking trip across Oregon—and much more. Acting as a visual travelogue, One Year on Bike documents the good times, the tough times, the inspiring times, the wet and miserable times, and everything in between.
If our recent bikepacking feature and photo essays has piqued your interest, but you aren’t quite convinced to take the plunge just yet, a quick flip through this sizable hardcover will surely send you into full on adventure mode. (If you’re already sold on traveling on two wheels? You’ll dig it just as much.)
