females on tour
Our friend bill's request of a female companion for a tour of Australia got me to thinking. Rather than hijack bill's thread and risk depriving him of finding his female co-tourist, I decided to ask my question under a new thread.
2009 marks the 30th anniversary of when I purchased my first real bike and began bike touring. Over that thirty year span, I have logged thousands of miles on my tours. I have come across precisely ONE solo female bicycle tourist, and that was over 20 years ago. About 25 years ago I met a pair of females on tour. Aside from these two instances, every bike tourist I've met on the road has been male solo, male pairs, male groups, couples or mixed groups. Some of my favorite and most compatible day riding partners have been females so it's a little disappointing that more don't tour.
I was wondering what experiences others have had with encountering female tourists. I'm under the impression there are very few willing to go solo or only with a female partner. However all my tours have been on self-determined routes and avoided established routes like the TransAm. It's very possible I haven't been riding in the right places to encounter them.
I'm asking this question simply out of idle curiosity. Just to be clear, I don't need lectures about why women won't travel alone. There are lots of good, valid reasons for that. I'm just curious about your experiences and if they differ from mine. Did those of you that have ridden the TransAm encounter female tourists on a routine basis? Do you live in an area that is frequented by numbers of bicycle tourists, including females?