Dheorl

I've been wondering recently what sort of expedition would be possible on a bike, and though it would be interesting to find out what had been done so far. I figured here would be a good place to start, so;

What's the wildest tour you've ever done on a bike.

By wildest I mean to the most remote places, and for how long without seeing any human civilization/settlement?

zeppinger

I tour mostly in Asia and my wildest was through Tibet and central China. However, while I was in some very remote regions of the Earth, I was never more than a few days ride from a town of some sort. People have been living pretty much everywhere for 1000s of years so going for days without seeing another human is pretty tough. My road surfaces were generally good. I actually carried 2 stoves with me because I was paranoid about having enough fuel to boil water from a river for drinking but I never ever had to do that. I doubt I ever went a day without seeing another human being because there was always a truck or something that would pass me every few hours. If you had a hard core MTB and wanted to really get away from people I am sure you could in Tibet but thats not what I did. I was too busy dodge Chinese police, worrying about getting attacked by Tibetan mastiffs, and trying to get to Nepal before my Visa ran out, and thats if I didnt get arrested at the border anyways.... So, I guess my trip was pretty wild but I dont know if it counts in the way that you are looking for.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/thecyclingvagabond

Dheorl

Sounds like a cool trip, and nice blog. That's some dedication there. I've tried blogs on trips but have never found the time to post regulary or keep them going.

You're right though, not quite the type of trip I was thinking of. Purely the sentence "My road surfaces were generally good." far removes it from the ideas I'm having in my mind. As I say though, very cool trip nontheless.

zeppinger

I mainly kept the blog to keep my poor mother informed that I was still alive on a regular basis. China is easy for finding internet even in remote places but it would be harder a lot of other places. I tried keeping a blog or another trip of mine through SE Asia and failed to finish the damn thing....

Northwestrider

Without people is very hard to do as zeppinger had said. If your interested in off road stuff , your best bet is on Crazyguy. Here is mine up the Dempster to Inuvik. https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/11264 Lots of dirt roads, but always people. Again if a side road were taken off the Dempster it may be possible to find the experience you are looking for.

BigAura

I did the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse, AK, as part of my Alaska-Canada tour in 2011. Nine days without resupply. No villages or buildings for days but I still saw quite a few trucks.

Bekologist

if you're on a road, you're on a path leading directly to civilization.

off road cycling is another matter, but bikes are going to be traveling the well-trodden path, so to speak.

i've gone a couple of days without seeing or talking to people in the continental US, but always aware I'm on a ribbon of road.

Dheorl

Well yes, but there's many tracks and paths in the world where you could go for days without seeing anything. I was thinking of some of the places in the world though where I imagine with big squishy tyres you might not need much of a road. For instance would cycling through the outback be possible, or maybe across the Makgadikgadi Pan?

Where abouts in the US were you in those instances?

hyhuu

Can you give some examples of such tracks/paths? I imagine without much traffic nature would quickly reclaim the path.

jamawani 

You don't have to be in Tibet or the Yukon to be remote.
There are two tracks in Nevada and Wyoming where you won't see anyone for weeks.
I was once riding remote public lands in Wyo when a rancher came up in a truck and stopped.
He said, "I hope you're not lost because someone comes down this road about once a month."
I responded, "I'm out here because this is where I want to be." He smiled but shook his head.

The rancher was right - if anything happens, you are totally on your own.

jrickards

I read about a guy who rode the Trans-Taiga Road. The worst thing, as I see it, about this road is that once you get to the end of it, there's nothing for you to do but ride the 670km back to where it turns off from the James Bay Road. At its terminus, it is the farthest point from any community via road in North America although there are plans to extend it to join to other communities.

storckm

I've never tried it, but Antarctica seems pretty remote and wild.
https://www.ericlarsenexplore.com/expedition/cyclesouth
https://www.mensfitness.com/leisure/s...oss-antarctica

Staggerwing

Search up Jakub Postrzygacz and his adventure traversing the Canning Stock Route in Australia.

A little more out there than I would ever consider.

takeonafrica

Funny, I was thinking about the guy who did the canning stock route too...

I've only ever gone a day without seeing another person. Although there have been plenty of days when I've only seen the occasional vehicle drive by or one or two people go past and not had anyone to speak to. But as has been said, with a bike you tend to follow well-worn trails...

But... part of my next trip - biking Russian Far East - will be several stretches up to 2 weeks/400km between settlements and probably only a passing truck every few days. That I cannot wait for! I just got the visa today so I'm really excited about it (and daunted in equal measure)... Take On Asia (it's the 'part 2' I'm talking about). There's a Japanese guy, Hiro Andow, who has biked this region before.

voj112

Take a look at Janne Corax.

Niles H.

What is it one is looking for out there?

Solitude?

Wildness?

Freedom?

Space?

The unkown?

A deeper connection with nature and the universe?

Something more primal and real?

Some people take a year and rent a cabin in or near a wild area, stock up and see what there is to see.

What is being sought might be something right at home and inside oneself.

Andrew Skurka seems to have found a few deeper experiences while on his own in the wild. He descibes some of them in a National Geographic Live talk that is available at www.youtube.com

The best things I have found come unbidden and often when the mind and heart and desires are quiet and not really after anything at all.. Eliane Elias describes something similar in 'Time Alone' which is also at www.youtube.com

Aushiker

I have done a bit of ridding through the Gascoyne (edge of the outback here in Western Australia) but it was on road and whilst the stations are big there is still a few fronting the road at times. That said I re-supplied at Carnarvon and was not able to resupply again until some 15 days later or about 1100 km and had to carry water for up to five days at one point. Remote touring for sure but not what I would think of as wild touring.

A few photos from this leg to hopefully give an idea ...









Andrew

dwmckee

My wildest tour is going to seem pretty tame to y'all. Riding DC to Pittsburgh with first time riders age 6 and 8! 350 miles in a week... Kids did great and oldest is now a well seasoned tourer at 12. It was wild to we adults because we had no idea what we were going to be able to do with two little inexperienced riders! It was an adventure for sure...

JoeMan

No international tours. My favorite wild bike tour was on a MTB pulling a trailer on the back roads of Nevada.

Bekologist

The ground between Bishop and Boise is pretty remote, but even if you tried to stay completely off pavement, you're going to be crossing blacktop every hundred miles or so. When i lived in Nevada, we'd travel N-S to and from Vegas on gravel roads for much of the distance. I suspect it hasn't changed much.

Jamawani has extensive Western touring experience, and has probably found the way to link up extremely remote stretches of terrain. if you wanted to get away from encountering a lot of civilization in wyoming or nevada on a bike, it'd be incredibly easy to do so.

My impression of continental US touring is this, however, and i suspect it extends to much of the world -transportation routes=civilization. If it's developed enough there will be roads, and people, and stuff. Sure, some of the roads are ill traveled. I imagine riding a powerline or pipeline trail even more so. Daily distances on a two track are usually pretty good unless its sand or much.

Of course, choosing to ride across the sahara or the trans siberian or the australian outback, the remoteness is going to be scaled accordingly.

In the continental US, however, the truly wild stuff is impracticable to access on a bike. The truly great, wild terrain in the continental US, at least, isn't easily accessible even on a mountain bike. To get to the great stuff, you've got to walk in.

Can't ride bikes too far off trail in the national parks, for example. If you want to see the great, wild terrain of Washington state (N Cascades or Olympics) you've not going to bike there. Well, you might bike TO it, access the edges of it by bike. Or, for example, Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming -i'm not sure it's accessible by bike. Maybe it's possible to ride right to them.. Jamawani? I can't imagine a rider can very far to the North out of Pinedale by bike.