Lots of things to share this next week, including thoughts on gear, the first bike touring person I met that rubbed me the wrong way, routes and more…
Category: lifestyle
Being on tour when things happen at home
One of the consequences of being on tour is you may not be around for things you’d prefer to be around for. Sometimes they can be good events you wish you could celebrate with your family or partner (success at work, winning an award, etc.) and sometimes it’s sudden or not-so-sudden things when you’d like to be there to provide comfort.
Today’s the latter.
My girlfriend’s cat Bonnard is rounding the corner on life number 9. Tonight on the east coast, Kimberly will have to face losing her first born without me. As I tap this post out I’m sitting in the shade of a tree with no cell signal, no data, no wifi and no way to get in touch. I knew this could be the case, and I told her I might not be there for her even though I desperately want to. Some might say, “it’s only a cat” but he’s been a part of Kimberly’s life for a long time and losing him is not going to be easy.
So… I’m going to add a few miles. Up Leggett Hill (only the highest summit on the entire Pacific Coast bike route). In the heat. At the top I know there’s a weak cell signal and I intend to be up there and try my luck at getting through. I’m pretty cooked from the ride already (I’m not a hot weather/direct sun kind of rider… I wilt quickly under these conditions) but it’s important that I try to find the balance between being on tour and being home for a loved one.
I share this mainly because it’s part of the dialogue in the bike touring lifestyle… Where’s the balance between relationships at home and being on the road? For me today… It means giving up a comfortable night at a campsite and a fully rested assault on a big climb. It means deviating from loosely held plans and schedules. But… It’s all worth it.
The Goblin blends into its native habitat…
Avenue of the Giants, Burlington Campground…
Another Reason Bike Touring Rocks… Value
Hiker-Biker sites are often as cheap as $5 a night. Wild camping is free. Kind of puts that $200 a night hotel in a major city into context? A week-long tour with your existing bike and heavy camping gear can be less than a single night in a mid-grade Manhattan hotel…
Pedalshift on The Sprocket Podcast
I was a guest on The Sprocket Podcast… Brock was a lot of fun to chat with, and he was kind enough to do a ride up Mt. Tabor following the show. Check it out:
The Sprocket Podcast episode 140
I was happy to share the concept with the Sprocket audience, but I was most happy to be able to thank Brock (and by extension everyone who has ever had a hand on the podcast) for creating something that I genuinely believe is an inspiring and fun weekly show.
It was fun to listen to it as I was rolling on tour… Talking about the tour… Very meta!
Podcast recommendation: Sprocket Podcast
Carving out its own little corner of the Internets is Brock and Aaron’s Sprocket Podcast. It’s a show about simplifying the good life, bikes and alternative transportation, and a whole lot of interesting things in between. The Sprocket continues to be a great companion on a lot of long rides over the years, and if you’re into bike touring you really need to give these guys a listen. It’s based in Portland, Oregon so things will get a bit local from time to time, but Portland has some of the most interesting local events and things to talk about anyways. Full throated endorsement… and not just because I recorded a future episode today!
New here? Learn more about Pedalshift…
Bike Touring Lifestyle
A few years ago (way, way before Pedalshift), I’ll admit I was struggling. I was approaching 40, had an unusual but fulfilling job, a great relationship… hell, I even had a cool dog.
But for some reason, I was missing something. Hindsight being 20/20, I now know I was missing adventure.
When I was a kid, I was probably a lot like other kids… I would devise grand stories in my head and run about in the woods behind my house. Hours would go by and I didn’t need an iPhone or video games to keep me entertained. Later, when I was introduced to my first bike, the world literally opened up. Places that were too far to walk to suddenly were accessible by two legs, two wheels and a chain to make things go.
Then I grew up. Got a car. Got a degree. Got a job. Fell in love. Fell out of love… did all that a few times… Fell back in love again.
Things caught my interest in fleeting ways. I liked snowshoeing for awhile. I tried climbing mountains until what I like to refer to as “the incident on Mt. St. Helens” happened. Nothing stuck, and my childhood sense of wonder of being in remote places by bike seemed a distant memory.
Then I discovered bike touring. Did you know people bungee up their bikes with camping gear and then bike dozens… hundreds… THOUSANDS of miles? Even for a rapidly aging thirty-something, that spoke to me. And so I started. A little at first, and then eventually I began biking weeks at a time, living in my tent off the Oregon coast on my way to San Francisco… or on the C&O trail between DC and western Maryland… it all came back. All of it.
And now… I want more. And I think a lot of people do too. The great part about the adventure and freedom of pointing your bike in a direction and pedaling for hundreds of miles is you can’t do it for more than a few days or – if you’re lucky – a few weeks of vacation time in your standard American life.
Or can you? This is what Pedalshift is all about. What are the things you can do in your life, to allow you to have more time, finances, and ability to seek that sense of adventure on the roads, paths, bike lanes and trails of the world? Gear shifting is a metaphor for the changes we can make in our lives to make this all easier…
Let’s shrink the world by bike
I’m not the most experienced bike touring guy (far from it!), but I’ve been trying a few things. I think they’re working, and I’d like to share them with people who might think the same way as me. And I’d like you to help me create a community around this concept here so we can all learn from each other.
- How can we make small changes in our lives to support this?
- What kinds of things can we do to simplify our lives so we don’t need the soul crushing job to pay for stuff we don’t need?
- How can we work remotely… even when on tour?
- What kind of resources are out there to help with things like this?
If this all sounds good to you, let’s recapture that sense of adventure we all had when we got our first bike and traveled farther than previous limitations allowed… because it’s that feeling of freedom and adventure that has me really excited for what lies ahead.
The Pedalshift Project
The core of Pedalshift is The Pedalshift Project… a biweekly (fortnightly… depends on where you live) show that explores bike touring lifestyle. From tips and tricks to how to tour more. We do a lot of shrinking the world by bike. The secondary podcast is Pedalshift Tour Journals, which takes you along on the ride for some of my bike tours. If you’re new, dive right in and start the binge. Most of the shows are pretty evergreen, so there’s plenty to take along on your own ride or for inspiring your future tours.
Want more?
Join the free Pedalshift newsletter and get access to even more… monthly musings on bicycle touring plus an exclusive extra podcast every month just for you.
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Pedalshift Plus
Liking the podcast and the newsletter? There’s even more! Archived versions of my past bicycle tour audio journals (Pedalshift Tour Journals) are available for $5-10 each. These bring you along for the ride on some of my favorite rides: the Pacific Coast, across New York state, the C&O/GAP trails from DC to Pittsburgh, and more. Check ’em out!
