My 5 Fears of Bike Touring (And How I Overcame Them)

26 Mar My 5 Fears of Bike Touring (And How I Overcame Them)

Looking back on my life, fear has dominated my outlook and ambition on more than one occasion. It was not until recently that I have learned to recognize when fear is taking hold of me and acknowledge it before I make a decision. With bike touring, there are many fears one may feel. Instead of doing a post where I list all the fears or negative things that I have heard of, let me go over 5 fears that I had to deal with personally and how I overcame them.

Sang, Johnny, Yves, Portlan, & Roberto

1. Fear of People

Before I even took my first ride around my own city, I always had this unspoken fear of people. Listening and reading about car versus bicycle incidents helped fuel the fear. This was just in my own city! I mean, Los Angeles still has ways to go to becoming a bike-friendly town, but this was my perception every time I took to the streets. At first, I was apprehensive to take the lane, fearing that people would get upset, but as time went on and I gained experience and training, all these concerns fell to the wayside.

It was not until I went on my Pacific Coast tour when I encountered the hospitality of strangers. Yes, there were incidents when people harassed us on the road, but there were far and few compared to all the positive encounters we had. I believe most people are good. There are a few rotten apples here and there, and I cannot base my outlook on just those bad ones and miss out on the opportunity to meet the good ones.

The way I overcame my fear of people was I took an active role and talked to people instead of shying away. I think people are ever so curious when they see someone riding along with so much stuff strapped to the back of their bike. Opening the dialogue will help bridge that missing connection and help win over another supporter. I also learned not to take anything personal. This was important as I don’t let what people say impact me. This is all part of a philosophy popularized by Don Miguel Ruiz who wrote “The 4 Agreements”.

Me at my first stealth camp site.

2. Fear of No Accommodations

One of the early things I used to fear was not being able to find a place to sleep after a long day of riding. Meaning, I make it to a campsite and they turn me away because they are full. The fear stems from being uncertain about where I can relax and unwind. That is why stealth camping isn’t really one of my favorite things to do as I can never get a good night’s sleep because I’m too busy worrying about people or the authorities finding out.

I decided not to let this notion of not having accommodations get to me. Part of the adventure is figuring things out what to do when things are uncertain and learn from it. The best part of it is when you can look back and laugh about the experience as you realize it was rather silly to worry about such things.

If your personality won’t let you go with the flow, check out my previous blog post, showing you how to find all possible accommodation options on a bike tour. This will help you line up accommodation even before you get there.

Photo Credit: Tim.Deering via Compfight cc

3. Fear of Running Out of Money

When you’re on the road and not working or living off of your savings, the fear of running out of money will eventually seep into your consciousness. This was more of an issue when I was on my Pacific Coast trip and now when I’m thinking about my trans-Europe trip. What I found out from my trip down the coast was that the cost of traveling by bike was significantly lower than expected. I ended up spending only $40/day. This included eating out for lunch and sometimes dinner, a couple of nights at hostels and rv campsites, and camping fees.

If I really try hard, I can reduce cost further by strictly sticking to camping or even wild camp all the way down. Maybe even take advantage of Warmshowers or Couchsurfing opportunities more. I could also strictly cook all my meals and go out on rare occasions, but doing so would deprive me of the experience and how much I enjoyed my trip. To help alleviate this fear, having a budget in mind will help maintain our finances so we won’t run out of money. This is something we are doing for the trans-Europe trip. We are planning on spending $40/day as well.

Injured on the ride down

4. Fear of Being Sick or Injured

Aside from accidents or physical injuries, I have the fear of falling ill on the road. It could be from food poisoning or bad water. The last thing I want is to visit the local hospital or clinic – anywhere.

To address this fear, I choose to be prepared for most common illnesses. That means carrying medicine with me along with a first aid kit. I am also First Aid AED certified through the Red Cross.

In the event where I will need to check into a hospital, I’m going to make sure I have my medical identification with me and know the emergency numbers to call in case of an emergency.

I am fortunate that I rarely get ill, but that doesn’t mean I am immune to being sick, so being prepared will go a long way to ease my fears. In addition to this, I have been hearing about travel insurance. Something I am going to look into after meeting Matt Kepnes of Nomadic Matt blog who recommended getting travel insurance. It will protect you should you fall ill or injure yourself and will also protect any expensive equipment like your camera or even your bike. More research is needed on my end so I will keep you all posted once I find out.

5. Fear of Being Stranded

When I didn’t bike before, one of the most scary scenario was being stranded in the middle of nowhere with my car. I think it’s the fact that when I am traveling with my car, I may be ill prepared to deal with such an ordeal, especially if I do not have cell signal to call for help. Somehow this translated over to bike touring.

I eventually realized that being stranded by bike is much more ideal than with a car. For one, your bike is not that difficult to fix. Learning how to make your own repairs (see my post about the top 5 repairs you should know) will go a long way to get you over to the next town with a bike shop. Secondly, you have practically everything you need with you to survive: shelter, food, and water (I hope) – a very comforting thought if you think about it. These two facts alone made it easy for me to be ok with the fact that I will be okay if stranded.

I just need to be prepared for it. This means having the right tools on hand to make your repairs. This means traveling with enough water and food at all times. This also means having the right attitude to persevere through all obstacles.

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of things that I am afraid of when it comes to bike touring, but my biggest fear is the fear of regret. I am deathly afraid of the day when I look back on my life and realize that I should have gone and bike toured. I don’t want to have any regrets in my life and would like to cross everything off on my bike touring bucket list. That is the greatest fear that I don’t mind having around as it motivates and keeps me going. It is that fear that is fueling my passion for bike touring. It is driving me to help you experience the joy and satisfaction of bike touring.

Are there any fears that you have? Can you relate to my fears? Leave comments below and let me know what your fears are.