31 Mar Bike Touring Evolution: Roadie to Traveler
If you’re like me, you got into bike touring by mistake. Chances are, you took the plunge into bicycling when your coworker or your friend begged you to be part of their team, whether it was for a triathlon or a bike ride. You remember thinking to yourself, “This is for a good cause and isn’t life about giving back?” You either dusted off your bike,or if you’re fortunate, bought a brand new bike, to start your training regime.
Every weekend, you got dressed in the brightest fluorescent riding kit and pedaled for a few hours, ever increasing the mileage as your body shook off the rust of inactivity and replaced the “not so flattering” parts of your body with more muscle. Next thing you know, you’re able to pedal fast and far. You go to the event that you’ve been preparing for and knock it out of the park.
You feel great.
You don’t take any breaks and continue to ride even after the race. You upgrade all your bicycle parts and eventually end up buying an entirely new bike in favor of efficiency in weight and speed. You also upgrade your wardrobe. You no longer wear biker shorts. Instead, you favor bibs. Your kits are replicas of those worn by professionals, like Sagan, Kavendish, or Wiggins. Your shoes cost almost as much as your first bike.
One day, you are stopped at the side of the road admiring the beautiful vista and a cyclist rolls up next to you to take in the beauty. He’s not like any cyclist you’ve ever seen before. His bike is filthy. He’s got bags attached to both the rear of the bike and the front wheels. He’s piled on tons of stuff on the back of the rear rack. He’s not wearing your typical cyclist clothing. He has on just a normal looking shirt and shorts with regular shoes. It looks like he’s carrying everything with him like a homeless man.
Out of curiosity, you start a conversation with him. You ask him where he’s headed. He tells you this absurd place that seems far by car, but on a bicycle; your jaw drops. He tells you that he’s been traveling for months and this was his half-way mark. You marvel at what he’s telling you and contrast it with what he’s riding.
You’re impressed.
You start researching on the Internet. That’s when you find this article (I can dream, can’t I?). Before you can go down the rabbit hole or take the red pill, there are few things I’d like to make you aware of about bicycle touring.
Photo Credit: laurent_tine via Compfight cc
1. Speed is Not Important
In your previous world, you used Strava to keep track of your speed and time. You want to stand on top of the KOM at your local route. You take pride in your progress and standing (for your age bracket). In bike touring, we really don’t care how fast you’re going. We don’t care if you are the first to make it into camp. The more important thing is that you make it into camp. The only person you can compare yourself to is just yourself. Strava doesn’t differentiate your speed record between a touring bike or a road bike.
We are excited by the mere fact that we get to go down a hill at 20 mph with the help of gravity.
You have to realize that hauling around 70 lbs of stuff is tough. Tougher than riding around with a 15 lb carbon fiber bike. Understand that speed really isn’t a badge of honor. Not that going fast is a bad thing, good for you if you can go fast. I applaud you and all the young 20 somethings out there who are riding 100+ miles a day.
2. Forget About Weight
One of the most absurd things I had to listen to was when someone was talking about spending money on lightweight inner tubes. Really? Lightweight inner tube for a 70 lb bike. How silly is that? Your bike is loaded down with all your bare necessities and you want to lighten it up? Just stop right there. Know that what you gain in losing the weight, you lose in comfort.
You can point me to whatever ultralight bikepacking site out there. Yes, they have great ideas, but what I see is really a form of touring that is uncomfortable. I’m not ruling it out completely because who knows what the future holds, but I am definitely not looking into bikepacking just yet. I am definitely about traveling with what I have and understand what this means weight-wise.
3. Stop It with the Carbon
Carbon fiber has no place in touring! There I said it. Avoid carbon fiber anything at all cost for bike touring. Say “No” to carbon seat posts. “No” to carbon forks. “No” to carbon monoxide (bad joke).
Carbon fiber was the crème de la crème of your former world, but is an inferior material in the touring world. We look highly on steel, aluminium, and titanium metals. These metals will withstand the abuse and weight that you put on it. It will endure the myriad of conditions from the scorching heat of the sun to the freezing conditions of mountain overpasses. Would you trust your carbon fiber frame in these conditions? Do you even want to sacrifice it?
I’ll even take it a step further and say, forget about aluminium and titanium and get yourself a nice steel bike. Imagine you’re riding through the countryside and you take a spill. You look at your bike and notice a hairline crack. Most villages or smaller town may have someone who can repair that. Good luck finding someone to repair aluminium or titanium frames.
4. Lose the Tight Fitting Kits
I used to wear my bicycle jersey and shorts on tours until I realized that I really didn’t like how they felt and looked. I wanted to be able to travel and not be pegged as a cyclist. I wanted to be a guy passing through town.
I stopped wearing my jersey and kits. I have since replaced them with various clothing options, like wool shirts and lightweight hiking shirts and shorts. These pack well, lightweight, and still wick away sweat and moisture. Not only is this good for when you’re wearing it, it is fabulous when you’re waiting for it to dry after a wash.
Admit it, you hated wearing bicycle clothes, but was forced into it because everybody else you rode with was sporting them. I certainly did. One thing I do continue to wear are the riding jackets. They’re bright and obnoxious, but I love them. I normally wear them during the early morning or evening time periods when visibility is usually limited. They pack away well and are great wind breakers. If you have these, hold on to them.
5. Expensive Components are not the Best Components
You have an affinity towards getting the best that money can buy when it comes to your road bike. For bike touring, that thinking is only valid to a certain point. In the example where you may be traveling in remote locations and your fancy Italian derailleur becomes defective. Save your money and opt in for something that may not be as superior to what you can get, but rather what is readily available in most parts of the world or can be easily fixed or shipped.
If money is burning through your jersey pockets, I would spend that on really good gear. I’m talking about light tents, light sleeping bags, or generally anything that’s light. I know this sounds a bit contradictory to #2 point above, but if you’re starting out without any gear, going lighter makes sense for your gear purchases in the long run. Confused yet?
Final Thoughts
My evolution from road biking to bike touring was a relatively short window. I raced in 2 sprint triathlon and a few charity rides. I have always been curious about traveling with my bike and loved camping so the transition was natural and obvious. It was not until I decided to participate in my first charity bike tour for the Arthritis Foundation in their California Coast Classic bike ride from San Francisco to Santa Monica for 8 days that made me a convert.
I slowly shedded my road biker persona and ditched all things “roadie.” My road bike was stolen, I stopped wearing clipless shoes in favor of Keen sandals, I stopped wearing my kits, and I stopped training. Now, I just ride for the sake of riding and exploring.
If this still sounds appealing to you, come on over to the fun side (not dark). This site should help you get started. If you have any questions about bike touring, feel free to reach out to me or comment below! Happy evolving.
Bunny
Posted at 18:52h, 01 AprilWell written and an eye opener.’….