Road Cycling - Brave guy i met on my ride the other day.

I was out on short speed cycle the other day, when i reached the middle, i got out my water and sat and watched the world go by. I saw a guy coming up a really steep hill in the distance, with a fully laden tourer. I decided to wait to meet him/her and see if they needed anything.

I asked him where he was heading, and he was german or austrian, we got talking, and he said he was on a Dublin to Dublin tour (around coast of Ireland) alone, he had been at it for a fortnight and had already covered over 1900kms, the guy was built like a tank, and i had huge respect for the guy, from the hill he had just climbed without rest. And to take a tour of like 2400kms in total. I said goodbye and wished him luck and went home.

Anyway just thought id share, weird me meeting him at that particular part of the cycle. Encounters like this really do give you something to keep in the back of your mind the next time your suffering on a steep uphill section.

Not sure I could ride that far in that amount of time. From what I've learned about Ireland, I'd be stopping all the time to enjoy the scenery and the people.

Yea i know what you mean, there are some great views around where i live, must take some photos some time and post them up.

that's a neat story, I rarely see any people touring through vegas, but every once in a while I meet some interesting people....

Last summer I spent some time in a small moutain town north of here where cyclists on tour would come through all the time... it was pretty cool to see people cover the massive mountains to get to the city :)

Meeting up with cycle tourists seems to always be inspiring. I live near the Pacific Coast Bike Trail and it's part of a number of my regular rides. One day, I saw this bike up ahead and I was sure that a wire-haired fox terrier was sitting at the back of the bike. Since I love wires and have two right now, I had to catch up. Sure enough, I was right. The little guy was sitting on a gerry-built platform over the back wheel. I had to talk to the guy about his dog. He adopted him in Chile while cycling there and he always talked to him in Spanish. When we got to a lightly traveled road going uphill. The little dog jumped off and ran with the bikes and took a run in the forest and then jumped back on. The rider had been on the road for nearly two years, having started in Montana and going as far south as Chile and Argentina! When I met him, he was on his way to Vancouver, B.C. Wow, I thought about that journey all the way home and for many days after. What an adventure that man and his dog were having.

Rich

if you can find it there's a good book about touring, it's called Freewheelin. Not sure who it's by.

man, riding in Ireland in general would scare the crap out of me. When i visited, I found the roads to be very narrow. (wanna play mirror slap, anyone?) and although the drivers were very courteous (much more so then in the good ol' US of A) they drove extremely fast. I would need freakin' nerves of steel to ride there...

they drove extremely fast

You're right there, most of them are complete *******s, driving small hatchbacks, with body kits etc, they really have no idea. People around here pretty much dont pay any attention to us cyclists, but i suppose im in a nice part of the country, so i get it pretty easy.


Wow, I thought about that journey all the way home and for many days after. What an adventure that man and his dog were having.

thats a nice story man, two years, the dude must be mad!

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read :)