aenlaasu

Are there many women here that go on solo tours?

I've always loved the idea of going for tours via bike and I plan to start next year. The problem is that I am a very slow cyclist (thanks to bad knees) and I refuse to kill myself with a group wanting to do 50 miles in 4 hours. I also like the idea of being able to go on side trips how I want, stop where I want as long as I want, so forth. My husband has no interest in cycling unless it's mountain biking and then still not that much.

That essentially means, I either don't do it or go alone. I've never been the sort to let going alone stop me for other things because I couldn't drag friends along. I'm inclined to treat this the same way. I'm just curious if other women might do the same?

I'm sure there will be a lot of hollering about how unsafe it is for a woman alone, but hey. If it means living in a nice safe cloister, never sticking my nose out the door after dark... that's not living.

markf

There's Dervla Murphy

takeonafrica

and me.... well my big tour doesn't start until next summer.
But I've been on short tours to Cuba and Ireland alone - admittedly two of the safer countries in the world, but went alone and I can honestly say that cycling in Cuba was my best holiday to date and Ireland is up there too.

I have travelled a lot elsewhere by myself (not with a bike though) and have never had any serious problems.
As long as you are sensible, you'll find cycling/travelling by yourself can open many doors that would otherwise remain shut.

why should the boys have all the fun?!

Helen

aenlaasu

Thanks for the input!

And I have traveled alone quite a bit. Even camped some when I decided I wanted to get out into nature and away from home and job for a while, but none of my friends were interested. Never anything like cycling for days and plopping a tent where ever the fancy took me.

I live in Sweden which is obviously where I'll start my touring adventures. It's certainly one of the safer countries, both in terms of a woman by herself and road safety. Lots of beautiful things too see too.

I did forget, I won't always be alone. I will have my dog with me. Useless as a watch dog, but good company.

staehpj1

Yes quite a few. I know several and met a few on the road. It isn't all that crazy.

PurpleK

If you can find it, try reading Changing Gears by Jane Schnell. It chronicles her tour around the perimeter of the USA, most of it solo. It offers evidence that women may actually enjoy advantages when bike touring alone.

valygrl

There's me, and Machka will be on this thread as soon as she sees it.

I've got about 14,000 miles of touring so far, about half of it solo. Solo trips were in the USA, New Zealand and Australia, self-supported, camping/cooking, carrying all my own gear. I'm 43 years old, 5'2" and lightly built.

I've met several other solo women, and yes, there are lots more solo men than women, but don't let that stop you.

I think the main hazards of touring are cars and dogs, and they don't care about your gender. With regard to dangerous people, of course you are more vulnerable as a female, but just be smart about it - don't tell creepy guys where you plan to camp, check in with camp hosts and let them know you are alone, they will keep an eye out for you, don't random camp unless you are completely hidden. Be aware of what's going on around you - if you encounter a situation that seems creepy, it probably is, so do something - leave, call for help, etc. Get a hotel room if the camping is sketchy. And I think, weird as this sounds, that projecting an attitude of friendly confidence and competence will go a long way towards keeping people from trying to take advantage of you.

Don't let anyone stop you from touring alone, it's just fine.

JohnyW

Hi Helen,

Off-Topic question:

Why you don't take the Niger, Tschad, Sudan, Etiopia route to Kenia?

Thomas

takeonafrica

Thomas,
When planning the route (and I suspect the situation is more or less the same), I felt it wasn't safe to be travelling through Niger/Chad/Sudan - the situation in Darfur has spread drastically and I don't particularly want to get caught up in it.
That said, if by the time I am in West Africa and things on the ground look good I will definitely consider biking it.
I am quite probably going to go to Ethiopia anyway - the route I have planned is flexible and I should have plenty of time.

vik 

I know of one personally:

FlowerBlossom

I just started solo touring, for more or less the same reasons as you.

I almost went alone to Netherlands/Belgium, but at the last minute a friend joined me, and it was a complete fiasco. She over-estimated her abilities to be able to join me, and, it just didn't work.

If I ever go with a group, it's going to have to be "go at the pace you want, maybe we'll stay together as a group, maybe not. See you at camp. Or not."

meanderthal

Denise Goldberg has lots of journals of her solo trips HERE .

tacomee

aenlaasu,

I'd pick an easy, well traveled tour to start with (like the Oregon Coast, USA). Not because your a women, but just new to touring. You'll meet lots of other cyclists on the road, and they will look out for you. As a long time rider, and a man, I still think this a good thing for me.

Learn a little bike repair and learn to be comfortable riding in traffic and the rest is easy.

bicycletouring

I would try and find someone with a similar riding style first and then just go it alone if you don't have any luck. There are a suprisingly large number of women who do solo tours each year. I get emails from the all the time. As long as you take the necessary precautions, you'll be fine... and you'll have a great time too! Just do it!

Machka 

Has someone mentioned Josie Dew yet?

https://www.josiedew.co.uk/


And I have done quite a bit of touring, but most of it has been either with a partner or at least partially with a partner. However, most of my cycling outside touring has been solo. I've done a good portion of my randonneuring events solo, and most of my training rides for those events solo.

If you haven't toured yet, I'd recommend starting by finding your local cycletouring club and seeing what events they've got on their schedule. My local cycletouring club puts on the Golden Triangle Tour which I've ridden twice and really enjoyed. I've also done the Logan's Pass Hub and Spoke tour with the same club, as well as many day rides.

All the cycletouring clubs I've ridden with (3 of them) have riders of a wide range of abilities. You could ride slowly with them, and it would be just fine.

Riding with a club like that will also allow you to meet other people who are interested in touring. In all the clubs I've been in there are small groups of riders who get together and do longer tours in other parts of the world, outside of the club activities.

Now I don't think I'd want to do all my tours in the large group atmosphere offered by the clubs, but it's nice for something different.

A few comments about touring/riding solo:

For the solo parts of my tours in Europe and Australia ... for my own peace of mind ... I tend to make use of hostels rather than camping. Hostels have the added benefit of the sight-seeing events bulletin board so you can cycle to the hostel one day, do one of the sight-seeing events, and then cycle on to the next hostel. Unfortunately North America does not have such a good hostel network.

When I'm cycling either on my own on a tour, or on my own outside of touring, I stop in at a lot of convenience stores, cafes, etc. and I chat with the people who run them. I do that because it's nice to talk to people after a couple hours on your own, and to subtly let them know that I've been there (in case I should happen to disappear).

But in chatting with them, I'm evasive about where I'm going and what I'm going to do there. If they ask, I'll make comments like that I'm going to the next town up the road (even if I'm going much further) and that I'll be meeting my friends who live there or drove out there or whatever. I figure ... no sense telling the world that I'm out there by myself.

And definitely make sure you can do at least the minor repairs on your bicycle on your own.

rodar y rodar

Well it looks like there`s no shortage of examples but I hate to miss a chance to plug one of my favorite CGOAB logs. Heidi D. "Eat, Sleep, Ride the Divide". After she finished in the US, she kept on going several hundred miles through the Sierra Madre in Chihuahua. She has another solo tour on C.G., but I like this one better.
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?...oc_id=998&v=q0

aenlaasu

Well, this is good. I don't feel so crazy for wanting to do it or as intimidated now. Granted, it wouldn't have stopped me.

As for going to the west coast of the US for my first trip, I shudder to think of the cost of shipping the bike and the amount of luggage along with a plane ticket. I immigrated to Sweden a few years ago when I got married.

I still have a whole lot of country here to explore as well.

Machka 

In that case, if you're interested in touring outside of Sweden, I'd recommend France. I love cycling in France.

Rowan

And the North Sea route. I think it covers some of Sweden. I have ridden on parts of it in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It follows, obviously, a lot of the coast of the North Sea.

There is a website about it:

www.northsea-cycle.com

It is acclaimed as the longest signed bicycle route in the world, covering seven countries in its 6,000km. You'd have to ferry across the North Sea to Scotland or England.

It's one of the great cycling routes I want to do sometime.

takeonafrica

may be worth a mention, but don't be put off by the costs of getting all your touring gear to the US.
I flew from UK to Cuba (to cycle tour for 3weeks) with Virgin Atlantic - and with them, a bike counts as sports equipment and so doesn't count towards your luggage weight allowance and doesn't cost any extra either. All airlines will have slightly different policies but it won't be extortionate. And if you buy a ticket when there's a sale, you could have yourself a bargain!

IntoThickAir

This has been my favorite thread I've read...and I'm not a woman. But I've known a couple that tour solo, known them well, and have a feeling that they had no problems because 1) they possess a certain self-confidence that says: don't mess with me; and 2) they know how to camp safely, which in essence is knowing how to hide. I do the same thing - hide - which of course is one of the great advantages of bike touring. At day's end, you can simply disappear.

At least the sort of places I go - deserts. In any case, I wish you well.

aenlaasu

Oh wow! Thanks for the info on the North Sea Cycle route!

There's a route in Sweden, the Sverigeleden (Swedish Trail/Path). It loops and crosses all over the country and is 9500 km long. It goes off into Norway, also passing through Sweden's northern most town and goes off into Finland as well.

The North Sea Route looks absolutely fabulous though! Gets my legs twitching.

Looking at the pictures though, I wonder if I could get through some of that with my tadpole recumbent trike. Some of those bridges look very narrow.

kpfeif

Word, lots of girls tour alone, like me. It's probably safer than riding home from the bars in Berkeley on a Saturday night.

jeff^d

There's also Jill Homer:

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the reference. On a previous thread asking:

I replied:

So I was delighted to hear about a book detailing such adventures, and especially that it was by a fellow Detroiter.

From Publishers Weekly
On her retirement from the CIA, the author and a companion, Bea, set out to travel the perimeter of the U.S. by bicycle, starting west from Detroit in July, 1986. When Bea gave up in Tucson, Ariz., Schnell continued the journey alone, at 57 becoming the oldest person and the only woman to make the 12,000-mile tour. Bicycling for eight and one-half months of the 13-month trip, she camped, stayed in motels and with friends, took side excursions and accepted an occasional ride. Her journal is a lively record of life on the road--encounters with helpful people, observations of wild animals, weather and scenery. Becoming a connoisseur of local bakeries, Schnell gives them cream-puff ratings from California to Maine. In addition to the satisfaction of completing the tour, she discovered a fresh appreciation of her native land. Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.