reprobate

This is no longer in print but you can find it on eBay for next to nothing - small enough to fit in many seatbags and much excellent information:

https://www.amazon.com/Bike-Bag-Book-.../dp/0898150396

And I second or third or fourth the request for your travelogue: your adventure has captivated me on a variety of levels. May the universe treat you well.

Flic

so... I'm going to Africa tommorow... thanks for all the advice!

For anyone whoose interested... my website address is https://www.wanderingword.com/nucleus/rad.php

Though I'm pretty lazy and there isn't actually anything on it yet! But maybe I'll try write something before I go... you can leave comments on it once I write an entry, but please no, you know, mean ones...

I'll try and put the sort of info that might interest cyclists, but please understand that this isn't a purely cycling tour, and for the first week especially I'll be sorting out visa's and the like.

ernok1923

enjoy your experience. be safe.

foggydew

I have followed this thread with varying degrees of scepticism and absolute disbelief over the past few weeks. After visiting "her" web site, I think that her entire trip to Africa is a total fabrication. Some of her (is IT really a her?) statements have been absoutely bizarre. And then to state on her supposed web site: "I may indeed stretch the truth to make my achievements sound more impressive and myself more interesting" is setting all of us up for another round of BS over the next few months!!!

However, I will continue to follow the adventures of our dear flic to see how far she/he will try to take this fantasy...

IronMac

I'm also beginning to suspect that we're being taken for a "ride" here. How many people, when they set up a blog or travelogue, would go with a totally unknown site?

And, yeah, the admission standards at Berkeley must have really fallen because I can't see how anyone can get in with that number of spelling and grammatical errors.

Machka 

Yes, I read that too, and basically wrote off her whole trip ... she completely lost all credibility! If she admits she will be lying to everyone who reads her site right up front, she's probably been lying the whole time ... and laughing. Right Flic?

Sadaharu

I've always been a big fan of giving people the benefit of the doubt, especially when there's nothing at stake. If she's a fraud, which I don't believe, then it's been pretty entertaining. If she's not, then bully on you!

MrPolak

Leaps multiple posting in a single bound, carries more BS than a locomotive, it's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's SUPERTROLL!!!

Zommaz

"At this stage I should probably warn you that I'm prone to exaguration. I may indeed stretch the truth to make my achievements sound more impressive and myself more interesting, but hey, whats a few small exagurations between friends right?"

I'm fascinated by the trip, but maybe you could have an alternate site for people wanting to hear the unstretched truth?

Mzungu

Well flic I am rooting for you. When you get to Tanzania and stop and visit us i will be able to tell some others to eat their words.

I think the "exaggerations" and misspellings are intentional on Flic's part.

I think she is a bit crazy, but then so am I as I suspect many on this forum are.

ken cummings

Sir Edwin Mallory, who died climbing Mt. Everest. My dad got the story from his daughter when they and other Sierra Clubbers climbed Gannet Peak in Wyoming. At a dinner party a lady asked Sir Edwin, "Oh do tell me one of your marvelous adventures." He replied, "Madam, I do not have adventures. I plan too well."

NoReg

"I may indeed stretch the truth to make my achievements sound more impressive and myself more interesting"

That's either the statement of an honest or dishonest person kinda hard to tell from that quote alone.

jibi

I usually find people will read what they want to read.

Its only words on a computer screen.

If one becomes too cynical then is every word we read just a fabrication?

If you choose to believe a troll is loose and we have all been duped, is anyone hurt by it?

george

IronMac

That may be the most honest statement made by her so far.

IronMac

First off, it's "cynical" and, second, yes, because we have put our time and effort into our responses. Time is the most precious thing in our limited existence and to waste it on lies is a crime in my book.

RiotBoi

If you think it's a bunch of lies then shut up and go to a different thread? Seeing as you don't want to waste your time.

womble

Ditto. There are some fairly wacky Aussies out there who do all sorts of crazy stuff (and they're great to meet). And if it's all made up, then it's still been a fair bit of effort and entertaining to follow.

reprobate

Once a long time ago a guy I met told me he made a point of listening to everyone because you never know if it might be God/god/Allah/Zeus/G_d/Gaia/who/whatever speaking.

I think he was onto something.

CHenry

This is a ridiculous thread. An 8-month unsupported trip through Africa, for heavens sake, with the idea that an appropriate bicycle should cost you $80. No knowledge of bicycles. No experience with touring. No experience with bicycle maintenance. No apparent effort except to go online and post lists of a bunch of names of cheap bikes which no halfway experienced tourist going across far friendlier terrain than African desert and bush would ever consider. No route selected. No background reading in evidence. Please.

This is like someone with zero experience in climbing asking online which boots he should buy from Sears for his assault on K2.

This is a troll.


edited for clarificaton

reprobate

Your post, or the OP?

It's not clear, except perhaps to you.

Of course, it could be mine. Not the first time.

amaferanga

Its amazing what is possible. Below is the bike of a Japanese guy called Yoshi who I met in Lusaka, Zambia. He'd cycled already from Cape Town and was on his way to Europe.

Bike cost him about $100 in South Africa, he didn't even have proper panniers, he'd never even toured before that trip, didn't tell his parents because they'd worry too much,.......but he did it!

It will become abundantly clear soon enough if Flic is indeed a troll, but in the meantime may as well just give her the benefit of the doubt.

reprobate

Indeed.

I hope all the naysayers recognize who they are.

Especially me.

chromedome

Did Yoshi happen to mention what route he was planning to take through Sudan and Egypt? I imagine you've emailed back and forth a few times since to share your stories. Maybe you could invite him to Bike Forums and he could share his experiences with the rest of us. We'd like to hear from him.

amaferanga

Yawn.

chromedome

But it looks like you're not able to tell us much about Yoshi. That's OK. I wasn't expecting much from you.
I was just wondering if and how Yoshi made it to Europe. You said what he was planning. But that doesn't mean he did it. He might have been just hoping to make a stab at it.
Of course, you didn't indicate whether or not he had done any research on his trip before he set out.
You also didn't indicate whether what he had said he had already gone from Capetown to his meeting with you actually happened by bike.
Or if that's really Yoshi's bike, and if it's really in Africa. Just a Raleigh M290 leaning against a cinder block wall with gravel on the ground. And a cigarette butt. And a bottle of water that won't fit in the one holder on the frame. And a blue poly tarp that looks too big for anything useful on a bike trip.
You see, I'm sure you met somebody named Yoshi, and that he was on a bike trip in Africa, and he made some noise about wanting to ride all the way to Europe. But there's all kinds of people with all kinds of plans and dreams and big ideas, but they don't necessarily accomplish them. And sometimes they're just plum bad ideas, and the other people around them says things like, "Maybe you should think about this a little bit, do a little planning, and ensure you give yourself the best chance at success."
But what I'm really not surprised about is how you've come up with Yoshi now, after Flic has already started her trip, instead of a few weeks ago. Now she has no chance of gaining from his experience of riding from one end of Africa to the other. But you had a good idea that he didn't make it, so you never brought him up until now. Once again, you don't take the responsibility to back up your words.

It is amazing what people can accomplish on their own. None of us here have said anything negative about having a goal or a dream; just how a person goes about attaining it. Doing something on an impulse is Ok when it comes to eating a pizza or buying a new pair of shoes, but it takes on an entirely different dimension when it involves riding a bike from on end of a continent to the other.