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Entertainment on Tours

Old 01-14-02, 09:11 PM
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Entertainment on Tours

Anyone bring music along on tours? Books? Journal? Anything else to keep your mind occupied?

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Old 01-14-02, 09:25 PM
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My days on a tour are usually pretty full. However, I do have a small radio that I take with me. The batteries in that thing have lasted for ever. Occasionally I might buy a magazine in a town somewhere if I want something to read.
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Old 01-14-02, 09:50 PM
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I carry a small AM/FM radio that runs on 3 AAA cells, and sponge headphones (very light).

I really enjoy reading a small town newspaper when I can find one.

Last edited by Louis; 01-14-02 at 09:53 PM.
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Old 01-14-02, 10:34 PM
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I never took music along, sometimes i missed it though. I have thought about a mp3 player for next summers tour but think ILL just get along with out it.

I read many books during a tour. it makes the time go by on rainy days holed up in a tent I take one to start and make trades along the way or stop in used book stores, sometimes pick one up in a hostle.

Ive visited interseting museumes along the routes I stoped at a barbed wire museumes never knew there was so many types of barbed wire and I grew up farming

A journal is a must. for entertainment it is fun to re read what you wrote a few weeks or month ago.
the people i meet ae entertaining in them selves.
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Old 01-15-02, 12:05 AM
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Can't say touring ever turned so boring needed entertainment. I did take a "Bicycling" magazine(featured emergency repairs) and a compact radio to keep in touch with the news.
Usually get to camp couple hours before dark, set up camp, go out and eat. The company of cyclists is never boring. At state parks in California there are special campsites for cyclists to suit their special needs. Just hiking the state parks would keep a person entertained. Walking through the redwoods, boring. Don't think so.
Then after dinner the company of cyclists and a bottle of wine keeps the night entertaining and sleep easier. Also, we constantly ran into interesting cyclists. Remember camping near cyclists on tour from England and Germany and a couple cyclists talked about what it was like to tour from upstate New York to California. Looking for entertainment was never a problem. Just touring is an adventure.
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Old 01-15-02, 02:42 AM
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My tourings all B&B based ( at least with my wife)

To be honest we spend so much time talking to each other (touring is really good for a relationship) that we don't need anything else.

I occasionally take along a magazine tho'
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Old 01-15-02, 05:15 AM
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I favour a book!

A life saviour on my last tour when I was stuck in my tent for 2 days owing to heavy rains and a howling gale.

Tear the pages out as you have read them , lightens your load (well slightly!)
They also double up as tiolet paper!!
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Old 01-15-02, 04:27 PM
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I'm working on running my radio off the dynohub. I'll need a rectifier, but that's not a big deal.
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Old 01-15-02, 09:37 PM
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I've started to carry a CD player since I ride solo and end up in places where most tourers don't congregate....a little Enya, Mckenna or a wee bit of folk music, a sky full of stars and the sounds of the night, awesome...if you've got an MP3 here's a great site of a lot of the stuff I listen to...........

https://www.contemplator.com/folk.html

a few of my favorites....

https://www.contemplator.com/folk/gowen.html

https://www.contemplator.com/folk2/tallmen.html

https://www.contemplator.com/folk/ponchtrn.html

enjoy, en roulant

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Old 01-16-02, 08:31 AM
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Originally posted by willic
I favour a book!

A life saviour on my last tour when I was stuck in my tent for 2 days owing to heavy rains and a howling gale.

Tear the pages out as you have read them , lightens your load (well slightly!)
They also double up as tiolet paper!!
I cant help feeling that tearing pages out of a book is sacreligious and barbarian even if its only a guidbook, that I want to lighten up.
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Old 01-20-02, 01:13 PM
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I have always traveled solo. The serenity of solitude and the emotional insights one discovers about onesself are entertainment enough; however, when that fails a small radio, a paperback and toilet paper are essential equipment.

Some would choose a camera as their recorder of choice; I choose a journal, sketch pads and watercolor paints.

The thing is, you have to know WHY you are taking the tour in the first place, and that will provide you with all the enjoyment you could ever desire. All the other stuff is to over come temporary moments of boredom and the insanity of asking yourself, "Why the hell am I doing this?" (And you'll have the answer, because you knew WHY when you started.)

Solo touring, for me, is the most spiritually regenerative endeavor imaginable. It cleanses the soul, the mind and the body and gives you something to brag about when you get back to work.
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Old 01-26-02, 09:33 AM
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I do bring a tape-recorder/radio and two tapes. It is quite heavy, and while I would like to find a smaller one I have never considered throwing it away. It is not so much for entertainment, but rather it has become tradition. One of the tapes have been along for the last five tours and brings back memories of places visited. Music is only played at camping grounds (not when camping in the wild or while on the road). As I usually tour outside Sweden, it is nice to hear Swedish music, and I guess it somehow makes the tent feel like home. I don't bring books, except for the occational guide book.

I don't consider a camera entertainment or luxury, though. For me it is a necesity, and would not consider touring without one. The pictures enhances the memory of the places not caught on film as well. I use pictures from my tours as a screen saver, great during these cold winter days. A journal is also very important.

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Old 02-09-02, 07:04 PM
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I learned a long time ago to tour for the tour itself and forget about trying to do as much mileage as possible.

In this way, the tour becomes the entertainment. I stop whenever there is something to see or someone to meet.

A really fun part of every tour is the days end; whether it is camping or exploring a new town, or enjoying the festivities of an organized ride.

I always travel with a harmonica, though. My harmonica made me famous with the mountain people in the Golden Triangle of SE Asia and it makes for musical fun on bike tours in the USA.
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Old 02-10-02, 01:29 AM
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Besides a paperback, I usually take my SMS-enabled handy. It is entertaining to send and receive SMS messages. If I wish to stay incommunicado I just switsh my Nokia off.

I will have to buy a new handy GSM 1900 for my next tour in the USA, on the Great Allegheny Passage, as the European standard GSM 900/1800 is not supported in the USA

Last edited by Alexey; 02-10-02 at 01:34 AM.
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Old 02-10-02, 08:19 AM
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WOW, did you notice that "new-ish" member Alexy is from the Ukraine!

That is really neat. Alexy, are you Ukrainian or from somewhere else living in the Ukrain now?
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Old 02-10-02, 09:18 AM
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I am as Ukrainian citizen as it gets. Though I was born and grew up in Eastern Siberia, near the lake Baikal. It is the deepest fresh water lake (5315 feet).

By the way, any idea if GSM 1900 MHz mobile phone will work in the area of Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh? Phone calls to Eurasia will be too expensive, but the SMS costs peanuts.

I know that in Eurasia SMS is very popular. Billions of SMSs are being sent. However, I have no idea if this technology is widely used in the USA. Should be, I guess.

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Old 02-22-02, 03:11 PM
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On my first solo tour last fall in North and South Carolina, USA. I carried a mini-disk player with small speakers which I placed in my handlebar bag. The speakers allowed me to hear the music quite well and more importantly to hear upcoming traffic. The mini-disk player is great, it allows you to store four full length cd's on one mini disk, I would have various disks for different times of the day, relaxed and easy going music for the morning, and then more hard edged music for grinding out music in the afternoon. Happy cycling.
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Old 02-27-02, 04:30 AM
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I can't imagine not bringing music along on solo rides. I always throw a nice mix of d-loaded MP3's on my portable [Nomad II] before leaving for a training ride or a tour. With the exception of some longer races in the summer months, though, I'm never gone for more than a few hours, so the 128 MB storage capacity of the tiny player is adequate. For the upcoming tour of the west coast, i've purchased a microdrive-based player that has a storage capacity measured in gigabytes--this means i'll be able to put several *thousand* of the greatest hits of the 80's and 90's on the unit before leaving home, not to mention the endless hours of comedy, books on tape, radio dramas, etc, that i've archived over the years. Judging from the other replies, i guess i'm weird, but i'd really go nuts if i could't pack my tunes along.
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Old 02-27-02, 09:31 AM
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I just purchased a Brunton Half Note FM receiver for $15.00 it's no bigger than silver dollar. The company makes compasses and GPS equipment, I hoping reception will be good on those relaxing evenings in the back country of anywhere USA. They are on line
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Old 03-12-02, 04:15 PM
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I did a Euro trip in '95. Read "Patriot Games" twice! That's in between the pub scene.
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Old 03-12-02, 04:28 PM
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"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." --Groucho Marx

I carry a book. I don't rip the pages out. If I finish reading it, I look for a small town library or a campground with a used book exchange. Used book stores are good too. For reading in a sleeping bag, I carry a Petzl head light...also useful for setting up a tent in the dark. I keep a journal, but have to conciously make time to write in it. My days get pretty full too. I've never found the need for a radio or tunes. I think an MP3 player could be a good, lightweight way to carry music. I just like to lie in my tent listening to the birds singing, the crickets chirping, the owls hooting, the coyotes howling, the WHATWASTHAT?!? Oh, great, now I'll NEVER get to sleep!
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Old 03-12-02, 06:29 PM
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Originally posted by MichaelW


I cant help feeling that tearing pages out of a book is sacreligious and barbarian even if its only a guidbook, that I want to lighten up.
Agree, Michael, but then I am a bit of a book nut!
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