andrewclaus

Ditto this. At your level of fitness, you won't even notice the cycling part of cycle touring. So you can enjoy the people part even more. Forget the bike for a while every day, it's just a passport that gets you to meet more interesting people.

chefisaac

Write a book my friend. That takes a lot of time and dedication.

I went to a seminar the other evening and a few guys did a Trans AM.... 3500 miles plus in 37 days. When I heard that I thought maybe he didnt get a chance to really enjoy the ride and what he was seeing. He stood up in front of all of us and that was the first thing he said... he didnt have a chance to really enjoy the towns and the people and such. He said he regretted that.

For me, if given the chance to tour like the gent does above, I would slow down, enjoy the sites, take pictures, meet people, learn stuff and have fun.

LeeG

Being in shape is not your problem, finding interests other than sitting on your bike is, or it's possible the heavy miles are an avoidance behavior that isn't working anymore.

Newspaperguy

For me, the riding time on a tour is fun, but the off-bike moments define the trip. Enjoy these moments. If you see a stunning waterfall or if there's a great view from the summit, get off the bike and just savour the experience. If you stop at a small town in the evening, take a walk downtown and have a look around. Each town has its own special character. Look for the quirky curio shop which also sells homemade ice cream, or the coffee shop with the best cinnamon buns in the region. Chat with some of the locals. They'll probably have plenty of questions about what you're doing and some might even try cycle touring in the future.

Also, consider keeping a journal or setting up a blog about your experiences on the road. Your approach to cycle touring will appeal to the more competitive riders who are interested in touring. Write down the things which interest you the most. Make notes about your speeds, the weather conditions, the hills and anything else which grabs your attention. Other cyclists will want to know these things as they prepare for multi-day rides.

mev

There is room for different styles of touring and for folks to do what works for them. My style has changed over time.

I've never been very fast, but when I started in college I was somehow into mode of started at earliest daylight and then cycling all day until close to dark. As you might imagine, if you ride long times, there are also longer distances. One example I remember was when a friend and I had agreed on a weekend overnight ride where we went our separate ways on Saturday, met at a campground and then cycled together on Sunday.

When we met up Saturday night, it was interesting since we were essentially speaking different languages. Mine was essentially all about distances, routes, miles and how far. Her description was about getting lost, finding a rhododendron park and wandering through to explore, about meeting people and what they said. My questions to her were along lines of "yes, but what route did you ride and what distances" and her questions to me were along lines of "yes, but what did you see, who did you meet".

Over the years of touring, my style has evolved a bit more closely to her style, though I'm still one of those personalities that keeps track of distances as well. I no longer see it as necessary to ride every hour of daylight and physically that isn't the same as when I was in my 20s.

So I'm sympathetic if the original poster might want to ride in a different style. However, it doesn't get much sympathy if this is somehow posed as "a problem" since the answer seems more obvious - if somehow this doesn't work for you - then do it differently. If style isn't the same as mine, that is fine, but if you ask for advice and say it is a problem then expect me to come and tell you what works for me.

Machka 

I have the opposite problem ... on tour, and in life in general. Each day, I seem to have a list of things I want to do which would take up about a week rather than the 24 hours that make up a single day.

Rowan

Yep, and one of the things that keeps Machka occupied is editing her photographs. She can, on a good day, take up to, let's say, 200 pictures, then she gets out the computer at night and sorts through them, "processes" them, crops them, and stores them away. That takes up a good part of the evening...

Then maybe the OP should find a nice young woman to tour with who, likewise, can take up the rest of the evening <wink wink, nudge, nudge).

And one of the things that kept us occupied (well, mainly Machka) on our current travels was planning the next few days' routes. We were open-ended most of the time, and we rarely use goggle and maps and other electronic stuff... so it's out with the paper maps and the train timetables, and away we go with the planning.

Plus a call into the information centres in each town inevitably turns up something worth seeing. Often you've got to pay to get into the attraction, but there are plenty of other things that are promoted that are free. Often they are often off the route you are travelling, so that can soak up a bit of time, especially if there are a few in opposite directions to each other so you have a ready-made hub-and-spoke sequence within the main tour.

As mev says, all this really does require a change in touring style. We've all been in the same mould, at some time or another, where getting from Point A to Z was a matter of urgent achievement.

But you will find after a while that (a) people's eyes start to roll back in their heads with incomprehension when you tell them that you rode 3000 miles in 25 days (b) and your satisfaction will start to wane with each successive ride...

When you start talking about what you saw, what happened, and the people you met, the interest will always be there.

If you want examples of this, go to CGOAB, and read the journals that say: "I got up at 7.00, on the road at 8.00, rode 120 miles, got into camp at 5.00... great day!", then read the ones that go into some depth about the things that were done, the people they met, the emotions they felt (good, bad and indifferent), and maybe even the history of the places they went.

----------------

By the way, no-one is denigrating (at least outright) your ability to ride long distances. That's great. The beauty of that ability is being able to get through quickly and efficiently what can be boring parts to get to the exciting stuff on the other side. The real talent comes from being able to slow down and recognise and enjoy that exciting stuff.

Rowan

The musical instrument idea mentioned by fietsbob and Machka is pretty sound. Claire, who is a sometime member here and a friend of ours in Paris, tours with her fiddle attached to her bike. It means when she gets into camp (and she camps a lot), she can wander into town to see if there is a jam session happening. She had a great time on a recent tour in Berlin and Ireland, as just two of the places she did this.

And if money gets short, a bit of busking on street corners or even in campgrounds might be a good way to raise some cash.

Machka 

I suggested knitting to someone else who recently posted about whiling away the hours on winter tours. Or if knitting doesn't appeal to you, there are lots of other hand crafts ... cross-stitch, embroidery, lace-making ...

Go to a Michaels or other craft shop and see if you can find something that appeals to you.

In the old days of cowboys, didn't some of them sit around the campfire and whittle things ... there's another idea for you.




Maybe you and shipwreck could plan a tour together ...
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-winter-nights

bikenh

It's not so much an avoidance behavior, even though I don't handle boredom worth a crap. I've never been one that can sit around and do nothing for hours on end. I always start to fidget, when I had teeth I would bite my fingernails all the time. Now I just sit there and pick at the nails, pick at scabs, anything to keep my hands busy. I don't handle boredom worth a crap. I'm not a person who can sit around for very long and enjoy the view. I can do it for a little bit but then I get bored and have to find something else to do/move on. If I've already ridden 95 mles for the day and I'm around the area where I want to spend the night and it's noon time...

I don't mind the big miles, but I would like a different challenge for next year. Next year my main focus is actually on climbing miles and not so much on 'horizontal miles'. I know I have no option but to ride horizontal miles as it takes 'horizontal miles' to give you elevation gain. 50, 60, 70 feet per mile takes a while to add up to 250 miles of climbing for the year. Obviously, if I end up reaching my challenge for next year, I will ride a lot of miles. I would rather ride them in short daily distances rather than go out, like I did this year, and do a bunch of 100-225 mile long days. I also know I have one big project next spring that is going to take a fair amount of time to get done. I want it done before I head out to the midwest. That means I have no other option that to try to get it done in as short of time as possible while still getting in the climbing miles here in New Hampshire. I won't get much in the way of climbing miles in while I'm in the midwest. As a results I figure the only way I can really do two things at once is to ride 90-95 miles in the morning, starting at the break of daylight and being done by 9:30-10:00AM and then
I will have the rest of the day free for working on the other project.

The trouble comes once I leave for the trip, I would still rather do a more relaxed ride than I did this year. I didn't mind the big mileage days as I knew I had to do them. I hope I don't find myself in the same scenario next year. I would rather off keep the mileage to under 100 miles a day. The trouble is handling the boredom. When you are in the middle of the midwest, not the most scenic of locations by far or the most populated I realize I will have the tendency to run into boredom. Not following the standard bike routes everyone else follows but making my own means I probably won't see many other bikers either. I know a few places I plan to stop at, depending on what I actually end up doing, route wise, for the trip. Again the problem there is being in the midwest doesn't provide the most opportunities unless I were to radically change my route around, especially west TX to central NE. I know two spots, both in NE where I will definitely spend some time. Plenty around the Dakotas, but there isn't much down south of there other than nothingness.

There are two things I can try to do, probably won't succeed the best at either one though, avoid the wind and avoid the heat. LOL

Hence why I've asked the question in the first place. It may not be an issue but if it is I would rather off some things in mind for staving off the boredom.

bikenh

You're not suggesting I should try to steal Machka out from under you are you? LMAO

My number one problem, at least this year, is changing the route often, sometimes multiple times a day. Trying to do advanced planning is great as long as you don't screw up your route and miss a turn or...how shal I say get anxious and decide to take a different route to maybe speed things up a bit. The only stretch of next year route, if that stretch happens, that is pretty well decided is fortunately one where I will stay on the same highway from one end of it until the other end of it. That would be easy to do research on and I already know several spots along that stretch I plan to stop and visit once again for the first time in 13-14 years or more. The entire rest of the ride only has start and finish points, some 700-1500 miles apart and no set course. Pretty much take it as it comes.

Doug64

Bikenh

I'm just a little curious about what an average, non touring, riding month looks like for you.

I know during the short period in my life when I was racing, I had a very hard time juggling work family and training. Even with an understanding employer and wife it was always a struggle. Our peak mileage was about 400 miles in a week. This was just for one week not every week for the entire year! I do remember one week at a little over 460 miles. The reason I remember it is my wife was out of town with the kids and our only car; and I rode 30 miles on a non-training day into a nearby town to pick up her birthday present.

andrewclaus

I just had this vision of cowboys knitting and crocheting.

CCgirl83

Is you want to stop the boredom try to find work in the places you stop. Cut someones grass, do some dishes for food. Help in homeless shelters for a night.

Ride with out your money and depend on the kindness of strangers. The miles won't matter when your looking for your next meal.

Machka 

Who knows ... maybe some did!!

Machka 

I don't think too many of us just sit around and stare into space. Most of us have a variety of interests which can keep us occupied when we're not on the bicycle. Some of us have so many different interests, it is hard to know what to do next.

I've given you heaps of suggestions, as others have too. You have to figure out what you'd like to do. After all, that's how we become well-rounded individuals ... we learn, see, do lots of different things.

My own personal interests are sight-seeing and photography.

I visit lots of tourist information centres, gather information about the places I'm visiting, and then go visit anything that catches my interest ... even things that don't look like they'll amount to much such as small musueums. Once I start doing that, I very quickly discover that there's way more to see than I'll ever have a chance to see. I'm sitting here right now surrounded by brochures and maps and stuff that I've collected during our very recent 6 weeks in the US (we just got back into Canada yesterday), and in glancing through it all, we only saw a small fraction of the interesting things we passed by. There's heaps to see once you start looking.

And when it comes to photography, I have frequently wished I had my good camera with me. I'm making do with my little one, and I've taken thousands of photos with it (to the point that it is wearing out, despite being only a year old). The world is a beautiful place, and I'd like to try to capture some of that in photographs.


Then I read or do Sudoku when I'm not busy with sightseeing or photography.


[HR][/HR]


How old are you? And what do you do in your non-work time at home? You cycle, of course, but what else?

And how did you lose your teeth?

robow

Doug64, I'm with you, would love to see his log book because 24000 miles a year translates to 66 miles every single day of the year with not a single day off. I've read several journals kept by some of the elite cyclists in the world and the years when they hit these mile numbers, they did nothing but eat, sleep and ride. They had no other life, no other job, and of course a very understanding spouse.

irc

I'm in the 50 - 70 miles a day area. Using up the time is not a problem I have. If it's very hot lie in the shade for a couple of hours. Or stop and boil water for a coffee. Stop and take pictures of something from different angles and distances looking for the best shot. Stop in the shade and rest reading a book. If you hit a town have a stroll off the bike for a while.

But as already said if you prefer riding more hours and doing big miles that's OK as well.

valygrl

I agree, touring in the rural USA is boring during the off-bike time. It's a trade-off - interesting places usually have too many people, therefore too many cars, therefore the riding is not as nice, but the off-bike time is better.

When I'm solo, I read. An e-reader with the ability to download a new book from anywhere is a great tool. When I'm with a friend, we hang out & chat.

I don't care about "talking to locals" most of the time. Occasionally I have nice conversations, of course, but seeking out conversations as entertainment doesn't work for me - it's an artificial interaction, so for me it just feels .... artificial. Plus, it usually doesn't kill that much time, but that's probably b/c I don't like it very much so I don't extend it.

If I'm lucky enough to be somewhere with good scenery or some kind of interesting feature, i go check that stuff out. However, that requires that you are close enough to the interesting stuff that you can do that, and I don't like riding in the dark so there's another limiter. If I'm lucky, I get something like this once a week.

I think this will be different when I tour somewhere that is really different from my home country - when I go to Europe, I expect there will be more to explore - walking around little towns looking at interesting old architecture, that kind of thing.

Always picking McDonalds for your sitting around time, though, is a problem. You should branch out to non-chain restaurants, for a little more interest.

David Bierbaum

Rather than worry about the miles per day, remove your cycle-computer, so that you have no clue how many miles you've traveled, and just toodle along at whatever pace you feel like going, gawking at the scenery, talking to the people you meet, stopping to picnic at a park (edit: Consuming mass quantities - Beldar approved!), and taking routes you've not taken before, and rack up your "experiences per day" instead. What would one call this? "Experienceage?" Just switch up your measuring criteria, I guess!

Though it would be interesting to see pics of you learning to knit...

fietsbob

It has been said, "Time, in your life, is like pulling on a roll of TP, it goes around faster,

as the end becomes nearer."

downtube42

Once upon a time, knitting was considered a trade skill for men. At least that's what my son tells me, and he knows everything

Don't waste time, it's the world's most valuable commodity. Bikenh, have you ever watched an anthill? That right there can be hours of free education. Once I came across a small stream where a stick was balanced on a rock, occasionally dipping in to the water and spinning around. Amazing. I spent who knows how long trying to reconstruct my own version. Someday when I'm in Minnesota I'll be sure to visit the World's Largest Ball of Twine. I have a couple friends that I could just say "fringe monkey" to and we would burst out laughing - from a campground story one of us told years ago. None of that would I consider wasted time, that's time very well spent. Learning is not wasteful, experimenting is not wasteful, meditating is not wasteful, storytelling is not wasteful.

Western Flyer 

You poor child. It is the rare day I do a century while loaded for touring. It has been many, many decades since I could do a double century loaded or unloaded. If you are really stumped, may I suggest you tour west of the Rockies. I will gladly map out some routes for you that you will struggle to make thirty miles before sunset.

As for myself, I have all but abandoned point A to point B touring. I like to explore areas. If I arrive at camp early I am quite likely to continue riding unloaded. If the opportunity presents itself I will put on my dirt tires and spend the next day exploring off the map and return to camp making zero miles towards any destination. I know I never get bored and never have time to kill.

jwbnyc

"One Hundred Bottles of Beer on The Wall One Hundred Bottles of Beer..."

"Everybody..!"

Doug64

Sounds good, and if you ever get to Iowa be sure to check out the Worlds Largest Popcorn Ball! Heck, we would not have known about it, if it was not for chatting with the local old timers at their coffee klatch in a small cafe.