Fuck I miss long-distance bicycle touring

[aprilstarchild]

Not a day goes by I don't think about the tour Shawn and I did in 2011. Still one of the best things we ever did. And since then I've done a bunch of Cycle Wild trips, and they're fun, but totally not the same. A group of up to a dozen, doing a thirty or forty mile ride from Portland and then coming back the next day, is just not the same as one or

Comments

[ellettra]

This plan sounds amazing. I am not remotely into bicycling, but I read your adventures on your last trip with great interest. I'm pretty fascinated by it all. And I love it that you're thinking of going alone. How very kick-ass of you. I do roadtrips on my own, and have done several "ExplOregon" trips, taking the back roads, seeing the small sights. It was something my ex and I loved to do together, but just because he's gone, I didn't want to stop doing it. It's been unbelievably empowering, I have to say. Hiking by myself is almost more fun than hiking with other people/person.

You probably know about Couchsurfing as a free way to move through the country? I have nothing but good things to say about that organization.

[aprilstarchild]

There's something similar to couchsurfing that's just for bicycle tourists called warmshowers.org. Shawn and I stayed with lots of warmshowers people and met lots of great folks that way. We also tried a trick we learned from some friends--when you get to a town, go to the bike shop, or natural foods store if they have one, or a bar if they don't; and tell people you're on a bicycle tour and just looking for a backyard to pitch your tent. Now admittedly both us and our friends were young-ish hetero couples--and our friends also were able to say they were on their honeymoon 'cause they were--but this almost never failed. And sometimes they'd insist on letting you sleep in the house and feed you!

[ellettra]

Sometimes I really love people. :)