His birth certificate says : “Shane Velotramp, Born in England sometime before internet.”
His mum says : “I think what Shane does is great/mad I am excited for him but at the same time worried.”
His colleagues say : “I have know idea how he gets so much time off work……”
Strangers say : ” Thats impossible.”
His friends say : “What this time….?”
His girlfriends say : “Hurry back.”
His Twitter profile says : “Part time Adventurer, Part time Blogger, Part time ex-Boyfriend, Part time 737NG ground Engineer, Full time dreamer looking for balance between my parts.”
Shane says : I’m just a normal person that likes to get out and about, life is too short to have a “Standard life”, Live life now, have no regrets. “Adventure is turning fears and dreams into memories.”
I have a healthy disregard for doing what is expected of me. Since 2009 I’ve combined my love of outdoors and travel with my childhood passion of cycling. Since 2009 I’ve cycled :
- Thailand for one month
- Uganda for one month
- USA for 3 month
- Africa for 13 months
- Winter cycling in Lapland
- Winter cycling in Canada
- Brompton shenanigans
- Bikepacking the Transandalucia trail
- Bikepacking the Trans Vosges route
- Bikepacking a chunk of the GR5 hiking route
- Plus commuting and various weekend trips
Recently I’ve also developed a taste for ultra endurance cycling events including:
From time to time I also go on hiking trips, though these are generally less extreme than my cycling trips. Hiking trips have included:
- The Great Glen way
- A dozen or so Munro’s in Scotland
- The Giants cup trail in South Africa
- The Peterpad in The Netherlands
- Hadrians wall in England during winter
I’ve given up on backpacking trips, travelling from bus station to bus station doesn’t do it for me. I’d rather get to places under my own steam and avoid cities. Before “retiring” from Backpacking I’d travelled in :
- Thailand, Loas, Cambodia before they became over run with LP morons (2000).
- West coast of Australia
- Various cities in Europe
- NYC, West USA and Hawaii
- Transiberia express from St. Petersburg to Valdivostok
starting young
Loas 2000
Mekong River 2000
Walking Loch Ness 2004
Walking highlands and Islands 2005
Transiberian winter 2006
Wyoming desert 2009
Finished C2C in NY 2009
Uganda 2011
Hi Shane, thanks for putting us on the path to Katwijk yesterday! Don’t forget to check out our blog – you are in it now! Also, you could start a cycle cross Canada or Canada to Mexico, right at our house on Vancouver Island. Your room there is ready for you now!
Pleased I could help 🙂 I have vague plans to cycle west canada in 2015/16 🙂 see you soon. Enjoy the rest of your trip !!!
Dear Shane,
I too am a touring cyclist and was struck by the name of your web page. Just thought I’d say hi to a kindred spirit with a similar name. (As you can see from my email address.) I live in the U.S. Sorry I missed your trans-am tour. Nice web page. –Jackie
Welcome to the party 🙂
I read with interest your blogpost about the Trans-Labrador Highway. I thought well of myself for having ridden it this summer, until I read about your effort in the middle of the winter: http://www.shanecycles.com/winter-cycling-in-canada/ I banged out Baie-Comeau, Quebec to Deer Lake, NL in 11 days in the saddle. Longest day was 296K from Churchill Falls to Goose Bay, where I had to wait for my lost passport to catch up with me by Fedex. I think I ate everything on the menu of the Tim Horton’s in GB. Jumped from there to Port Hope Simpson in two 250K days.
And yet, what you did defies imagination and logic.
2x 250km days defies imagination and logic 😉
Whats next?
Hi Shane
Great site, liked your tent review. Done a fair few trips myself in Asia/Australia/Europe, thinking of doing another in July and looking for a cycle partner. If you have contact details, email them back, would be good to have a chat if you feel up to it.
Cheers
Eric
Hi Ruben,
Thanks for your interested, send your list of questions to info@……. and I’ll see if what I can do.
Hi Shane,
Great website – hope the regular world is agreeing with you.
I have built a website on cycle touring my backyard – BC’s Vancouver Island & Sunshine Coast. The emphasis is on backroads biketouring and bikepacking (some rides quite remote), although there is content for cycle touring on popular main road routes as well. There’s rides, campsites, areas and info on what you need to know about riding the backroads. And a section on some tough rides in uncommon remote corners of the wider world.
I am uncertain whether your site shares links or site reviews, or keeps a cycle touring resource library, but I’m sharing this with you just in case. It is possible some of your readers may be interested in this area of BC: in remote backroads routes and camping, or regular cycle touring.
Here’s my URL: http://www.backroadsbiketouring.com.
Thanks so much. If I should be approaching this request differently, please
let me know. Keep up the great work,
Gregg Strong
Hi Shane!
My friend and I have a big dream of cycling New York to San Francisco next year.
We’ve been planning for a while now but as we’ve never done anything like this before we feel like we could use a pro to bounce some ideas with. Is there any way to contact you directly? The facebook link didn’t work.
Thank you in advance!
/ Fred & Chris
Hi Fred,
I assume you’ve read >this< already? There’s plenty of tips and info to be found on the crazy guy on a bike website or the ACA forum. I’m a little busy right now (and have 2 broken fingers) for long correspondence sorry.
Good luck on your trip and have a blast !!!
Hey!
Of course, read it like 5 times over to try and gain as much tips as I can find.
Sounds bad with the broken fingers, fight through it!
Thanks for getting back to me anyway.
Hi Shane
Could I ask you a few questions per email about the trans germany?
I’m planning on riding it this year ( if corona wont mess it up)
Shane I’m keen to do a story on you. Do you have most of your images in hi res for print?
Hi Paul, see your email 😉
Hi Shane, liked your Forces blog. I was at PRB at the same time. Good luck on your adventures in 2021. Kath.
Hi Shane,
I have just discovered your website, what amazing adventures you have had! I am planning on cycling from Namibia to Tanzania next year and was wondering if you were able to share/advice the best route from up to Victoria Falls. Thanks Mimi
My Africa trip was 10 years ago so I couldn‘t give route advice other than avoid the Trans Kalahari highway if you can 🙂 and other similar main trucking routes. Have fun !!
Hi shane, i’m planning to do a usa coast-to-coast from San Francisco to NewYork, so fairly similar to what u did from Oregon. I really have just one question: what months did you ride in? And also what months would u suggest? I’m planning to do it in two months and am wondering if i should go for may-june or july-august to avoid both heat and cold.
Hi Kwinten,
I started around 20 August I think so the high desert was quite warm, it took me 10 weeks so it was quite cold and damp towards the end.
May-June would be a good time to ride though some of the high passes may still be closed. July-August will be a hot start. Sadly planning around weather is problem for such a long trip. Have have blast !!