From requesting accommodation with a kitchen to making sure there is room on the truck for his bicycle, touring performer Jens Altheimer, shares his tips for maintaining a healthy balance while on tour.

What special requests do you make to ensure you keep healthy on tour?

We request accommodation with kitchens as often as possible. So we can unload our ever-growing food boxes from the van and cook up a storm. Helps that I really like cooking, I suppose.

How do you keep fit on tour?

I threw my road bike into the van and thought it would be great if I could match 10% of all car driven kilometres with bike ridden ones. It will be a long tour: I think in the end, the van will have about 16,000 km done. My legs will be in great shape!

Do you have a daily routine?

There is no routine, just the attempt to grab as many opportunities as possible to move. I throw my yoga mat out quite often to do my floor program, mix of stretches and strength exercises (including the infamous 'Moby Push up Challenge'), hop on the bike or go for a run.

 Do you have any tips to keep energy levels up?       

It helps me not having the show (and the long bump-in and out with all the tech gear) as the physically hardest part of the tour. Pushing my limits while riding the bike takes physically and mentally some exhaustion out of long performance days.

How do you strike a balance between dinning in, eating meals out and enjoying a beer at the pub?       

Again, there is no real balance. In general, I like my pub meal from time to time, but I definitely love plates where veggies are king: those ones, I prefer to cook myself, in lots of variations. As for the beer: tastes pretty good in the pub and at the motel!

Do you have any other tips for people spending a long time on tour?

Try not to see it as a burden, but as a pleasure. Try to have as much fun as possible, doing things that break the routine. Climbing up mountains, finding out what is curious about the region, asking presenters to join you for a beer and hear some local stories. Spending a sun set or a sun rise on a hill, over looking incredible landscapes. Thinking that there is good point of drinking what they sell you as coffee: back to a city, the first real latte will be sooooo good. Maybe that's what touring is about: accepting it as a moment of your life, where different qualities are on offer. If you manage to enjoy them.