black.damon

Just wondering what draws different people to touring, or biking in general for that matter.

For me, it's all about the freedom. I'll admit to at least a little of the 'personal challenge' bug, but the real draw is just the complete independence of it all. I can take off from wherever I happen to be - and go hundreds of miles in any direction I choose. And I go without a motor, without a license, without insurance, without asking permission from anyone.

Granted, there's a level of naive fantasy in my perception of the "freedom" in all that - we're all tied down more than we want to admit - but still, it works for me. Any other 'bicycle-libertarians' out there?

gpsblake

Same with me, it's the freedom.

sedges

Its about the ideal velocity to travel through the landscape. At least for me it is! I see, smell, hear and feel much more of any place I travel through if I am on a bicycle. I suppose that walking would be even better, but I like to cover a bit more ground. The bike also gets me to those services I appreciate, like food, showers, campgrounds, a bit more often than walking.

black.damon

Very nice. Hadn't thought of it that way, but fully agree!

zoltani

Yep. I've always said it is fast enough to get you where you want to go, but slow enough to allow yourself to enjoy the journey.

Bacciagalupe

Yeah, "freedom" is a tad naive.

With a bike you have a 60-70 mile daily range; with motorized transport, you could cover 300+ miles a day with far less effort, and virtually no limit on gear. On a bike, you need to stop for food and water about as often as you'd need to stop for gas.

To me, it's just a better way to see the countryside, get some exercise, and eat a ton without getting [strike]fatter[/strike] fat.

In turn it has its limits. E.g. I would have very little worries about parking a car with my stuff outside a museum, and am much more circumspect when all my stuff is on panniers, on a bike, in an urban center, parked outside a museum. When I'm not on the bike, it's an anvil around my neck. I feel much more "free" when I'm traveling on foot, can leave my main pack behind, and wander a city with a daypack.

antokelly

that reply makes a hell of a lot on sense

staehpj1

For me it is the simplicity of life on the road and the lack of "stuff".

mev

Initial touring attraction was as a college student in a big city (Boston) with an outdoorsy background (growing up in Colorado) and no automobile. It was a great way to get out of the city - and all over New England. Since then, I've found cycle touring to be a good balance between several things:

- Faster and further than walking, but still more engaged with my environment than an automobile. For example, sometimes can catch a smile or eye contact. More aware of hills/terrain, weather and related things.
- Blend between a type A personality that gets goal driven (e.g. cycle across a continent) vs. more laid back (take things day by day). Can do a level of advance planning and preparation but then on the trip dynamically adjust and take things as they come.
- Feels good to be traveling under my own power and having everything with me. While my motivation isn't for health or environmental reasons, still feels good on those fronts.
- Good way of exploring new places, while still pretty safe and straightforward. Cycling is fairly universal and easy to connect with folks most places I've traveled.

fietsbob

did that chicken cross the road..

I took my bike to tour Europe , because there was a lot of places to see
between the cities with their central rail stations..

jamawani 

Why not?

Quemal

+1

Jude

The insatiable urge to wander and explore new, exotic and beautiful places.

MassiveD

I do think freedom is part of it, the idea a camper can drive further is not the element of freedom in play. As the OP noted there is far less regulation, and the distance you can go is irrelevant to the sense of freedom you have. Or only a small part. I think if you go back to the early days of the camper/RV there was a sense of wide open spaces. Now they limp as far as they can go for a few hundred, to expensive RV parks. Only Walmart has restored the sense of an open road. While we may need to stealth camp, there is a degree where we really can go on the cheap, the space is more wide open because after all it is 10 times further in any direction than if we went by car. And we can stop all kinds of places from the front of stores to the campsite, that an RV can't get to. We can also put the whole rig on a plane, and travel the world, try that on your Winnebago.

There is also a lot of adventure. From every car that passes, to testing one's own resolve, to whether it rains. A lot of this is somewhat negative, but that is adventure, people say they want it, but most don't really. Bike touring has a lot of it, though for the most part it isn't the bone crushing type. But a world of minor of semi-minor inconveniences is actually pretty sporty at times. Ask the guys at Guantanamo. It isn't just the big stuff that breaks people. So if you want to venture into a world were not every day is easy, where the outcome isn't known, and where it can change at any time, bike touring has that moreso than most equally accessible sports.

I have to say, I like the pleasant stuff, lots of riding (when it is good) out in the country for the most part. I like the camping, and I like the pleasures like finding good food along the way.

black.damon

Interesting perspective. It's almost as though there is more 'frontier' between the destinations than at the edges. Or at least that's where we find it. I remember when I was a kid, traveling with my parents, I always enjoyed looking at the forgotten side roads along the highways as we sped across the country. I always wanted to find out where they went. Touring takes me to that place, to that sense of wonder.

Anyway, it's great reading everyone's views. I really love this stuff.

Papa Tom

From the many early 1900's news articles I've read, it seems early automobile owners experienced the same euphoric feeling that we continue to feel every time we get on a bike. Imagine a time when all drivers waved to each other as they passed. In those days, if you took a 25-mile drive, it made the newspaper.

I totally relate to your comment about the freedom that cycling provides, and I hope cycling never loses its novelty.

indyfabz

+1. My third long tour was from Seattle to Cortez, CO with a stop in Glacier N.P. Took over a month. I went to Cortez to meet up with my then GF who was working at Mesa Verde N.P. When she finished up, we did some car touring/camping. We had much more "stuff" than I had carried on my bike. I actually felt somewhat overwhelmed. And it often seemed that whatever we wanted was burried under other stuff.

That, and what Sedges wrote.

Booger1

It's like backpacking,except I can actually go somewhere.

Newspaperguy

There's a spiritual component to cycle touring. When I'm on a tour, I'm on my own. The distractions and obligations of day-to-day life are gone for a while and I can unwind. A tour provides opportunities to meditate and pray and to be amazed by the world in which we live. Going to the same places by car does not have the same effect.