score:2
The main alternative would be to stay in hostels, bed&breakfast accomodations or hotels. It's much more comfortable, but also more expensive and requires some planning, at least if you're going through sparsely populated areas.
Some countries (especially in Europe) have designated long-distance bike trails, and along them you'll typically find so many accomodations that you can be quite spontaneous about where exactly you stop for the night.
Upvote:1
Having a bike and a tent, ring at some house, explain that you're traveling by bicycle and ask if you can put your tent in their garden.
It's possible that they invite you to sleep over at their house, propose a dinner and/or use their shower.
There are also hospitality networks, like
warmshowers.org dedicated to cyclists
couchsurfing.org
bewelcome.org