Touring - Touring Incredible Stories

I'm still a big believer that most of us tour for those incredible moments - - which far outweight all of the headwinds, rain, bugs, flat tires, etc. that we encounter. And I'm also convinced that most of us have realized that such incredible moments come BECAUSE we are out on our bicycles in a world that usually zips by at 70 mph.

During the summer of 1988 when they had all the fires in Yellowstone, I was riding forest roads over Union Pass down to Green River Lake. A big fire crew had set up in the campground and the route I had planned was temporarily closed due to fire/smoke. So the concessioners who were running the food operation told me to stay as long as I needed and to eat at the chow line. Between hikes along the lakeshore I help with food prep and joined in the conversation with the fire crews.

Of course, they must have thought me just a wee bit on the daft side biking through burning forests. Actually, I never got anywhere near the fires. J

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=144354

I posted a bunch in my Kindness of Strangers post. :)

I don't know if I've just been lucky, but I'd have to say that the good times, and good fortune, when I've been touring has far outweighed any bad times. :)

Anticlimactic, and not a 'story,' but one of the things that is indelible in my memory was being smiled at approvingly by a stunningly beautiful Amish girl in Randolph, NY.

Love and Sex on the Road, an Interlude

When a male grasshopper’s fancy turns to love, he finds a suitable mate, preferable a young large female and he starts to work his magic. First there is romance and music. He attracts her by taking her to the best corn plants. Only the most tender of leaves will do for his special lady. He woos her with corn kernels that are bigger than her head. He caresses her and rubs his legs together to make that special sound she loves so much. Once she is swooning and is his forever, he invites her to go with him to the blacktop, for there it warmest and his lady will be most receptive to his charms. She is his and he may do what he pleases with her.

“Come my special lady, let’s make love right here on the road, in the heat of the day with the rising sun bearing down on us.”, he says.

“Oh, yes! Please take me now! I’m all yours! But, dear, isn’t the sun yellow?”, she says.

“Why, yes it is my sweet. As yellow as the corn. As yellow as a sunflower. As yellow as your tender belly.”

“But dear, if the sun is yellow, why does it have a black stripe on it?”

“What black stripe?”, he says as he kisses her neck.

“That black stripe that is getting bigger all the time. And there seems to be this odd ominous sound coming from it.” she notes.

Just then he looks up and notices that the stripe is getting bigger and the sound in maniacal laughter just as the bicycle squishes both of them.

“Cool. A twofer. I love those because they can’t get away as easily. I just love the sound of grasshoppers squishing under my wheels.”, I said. Hey, it’s Iowa, you can’t see anything over the corn and there is no one to talk to. What else are you going to do?

I'm still a big believer that most of us tour for those incredible moments - - which far outweight all of the headwinds, rain, bugs, flat tires, etc. that we encounter.

Actually, headwinds and rain are incredible moments in their own right. I actually think it's quite a liberating experience to be so saturated by a downpour that you just don't care anymore. Then there is the feeling of putting your head down straight into a wind to such an extent that the wind itself becomes the objective, and the destination is forgotten for a moment. The satisfaction one feels at the end of such a day is very hard to match.

Moments of complete bliss over the fact that at least at one thing in my life I am completely self-reliant.

The only noise is the wind in my hemet and the fauna inhabiting the side of the road. Why did I ever own a car? For 40 years I have missed the noises, the smells and the vision you have when you travel 20 kms/hr instead of 100.

Meeting the four Welsh women chattering in Gaelic while walking along a rail trail. Chatting with them for half an hour about why I adventure tour. About Leave No Trace and hammock stealth camping.

Lots of great memories to last me for the winter when I go to my special place.

. . . . About Leave No Trace and hammock steal camping.. . . .


What kind do you steal? ;)