FREE SHOWS FOR CARAVANERS
In the case of shows where there is a cover at the door, SHAKE YOUR PEACE! will try their damndest to get Caravan riders into shows for free. If a venue gives us a guest-list (get-in-free-list), The Caravan will be the names that are on it. In rare cases, we'll smuggle you in or say you're our roadie or something.

VEHICLE
You can feel free to bring any Human Powered Vehicle along for the ride: bicycles, recumbents, rollerblades, unicycles, etc. We do ride off-road from time to time so keep that in mind. If you have a medical condition or disability that keeps you from riding exclusively human-powered, feel free to bring electric/ battery-powered hybrids.

PACE
The pace will generally be a "fonzie cruise," that is, laid back and cool, like the Fonz. If you're concerned about keeping-up, don't worry, we go slooow. In fact, if you like going really fast, you might actually be kind of frustrated. We're like 'stop and smell the everything.'

FOOD
Food is "every-person-for-themselves," in other words - everyone's responsible for their own food. Protocol is to have each other's backs if someone scores a huge cache of free food or gets invited by a millionaire French chef to come over for their giant BBQ party. Our strategies for keeping food costs down include dumpster-diving food where possible, or using the old canister technique. This is basically bringing in an empty plastic container to a Mexican food shop and asking how much it'd be to fill it with beans and rice. If they quote you something high like "$6," which they usually don't, you can be like: "it's just beans and rice, nothing more nothing less," then they'll usually bring it down. This is a great way to get a lot of good food for cheap. Other tips: You burn a lot of calories touring, so plan a calorie heavy menu for yourself. Remember that water is weight so bring dehydrated food where you can. Keep in mind that you can't refrigerate stuff on a bike (at least we haven't figured out how), and that cooking, extraneous cutlery, and fuel can be an un-necessary weight burden (eat raw when possible, and rock the spork!).

SHELTER
Shelter is also "every-person-for-themselves," in other words - everyone's responsible for their own shelter needs. Protocol, once again, is to have each other's back where we can. If someone in The Caravan can't hook you up with accommodations: Plan A: Try to make friends at the gigs and get invited to sleep in someone's yard or living room (works surprisingly well) Plan B: implement urban and bush camping skills. Church lawns, schools, etc. are good places to set-up for a night. TARP CAMPING: with two 10 ft. tarps, a couple bungee cords, enough lightweight tent stakes to pin it to the ground, and your bike handlebars as the tent's apex, you can set-up a solid 1 to 2 person 3-season shelter.

TRADE
We encourage you to have some sort of mobile trade you can ply at the different shows or cities we ride into. Not only is it a good way to support yourself on tour, but most importantly it adds a new dimension to how people can interact with The Caravan, and adds coolness to the whole collective bike-tour idea in general. Also, it's a good way to introduce yourself to the community you've ridden into. You could knit, make pedal-powered smoothies with a Byerley Bicycle Blender, distribute a zine you've made, put on a dance show, yoga workshop, create jewelry, food, take photos or write for a press-outlet back home, street perform, tell stories or jokes, etc. Pluto's the limit.

CLOTHES
If you can invest in full raingear, do it: when the only pants you got are the ones you're wearing, you don't want them to get wet. Same goes for your sleeping gear, food, etc. for that matter.

PANNIERS/ HAULING
Whether you got old salvaged 5-gallon buckets tied with rope to your back rack or $500 gore-tex saddlebags in a $600 trailer, your panniers are like your hairdo: however it looks or how much money went into it, what matters is that it covers the stuff you need to live. SHAKE YOUR PEACE! uses normal cruiser and mountain bikes outfitted with Xtracycle FreeRadicals. The Xtracycle is the lightest and most efficient bike-hauling system invented. At $400 for a full conversion, it can feel pricey, but considering that an Xtracycle is THEE facilitator of ditching a car-lifestyle and liberating yourself, and that it takes the average American $7232 a year to run their car, you're making off like a 2-wheeled bandit. Goodbye car.

SAFETY
To protect oneself from the terrorist "axles of evil," some folks wear reflective vests, lights, and stick hunter orange and reflective tape on every visible surface. A full length mirror, duct taped to your back will definitely get you noticed by the death monster parade out on the highway. We like to use front and back lights, especially since the front light is so handy as a flashlight when night falls. Down Low Glow from Rock The Bike is easily the coolest bike light we've ever seen and we use it both in the city and on tour. Helmets are nice because they protect not only your salad but also your salad bowl.

MANTRAS WE'VE FOUND HELPFUL WHILE PACKING
- Kill it (Keep It Less and Lighter)
- Masanobu Fukuoka, the Japanese master farmer, perfected the "Do Nothing Method" of farming - sustainably creating yields twice as great as his conventionally farming neighbors. His mantra is always: "What else can I not do and let Nature do instead?"
- There are backpackers in Utah who chop off the handle of their toothbrushes to eliminate weight. Weight conservation is key to bike touring happiness.
- Ask yourself: "what's another way to accomplish this without bringing this?" with each object. If it's a laptop for example, consider using free internet at public libraries and email yourself files. If it's a whole tube of toothpaste, consider squeezing only the amount you need into a camera film canister etc. It sounds crazy, but you'll french-kiss yourself later.
-Try to make everything you bring count twice. Your bike headlight doubles as a flashlight, bright reflecty tarp for camping doubles as rain cover for gear while riding and doubles as bright surface for visibility during shitty weather etc.