My thoughts on cycle touring

My four, short sentences of advice for a cyclist beginning touring

Get a bike and go. Don’t agonise over the specifications because it will stop you going.
Devise a rough plan only. Plans are things that fail.
Have an article of celebratory clothing for those momentous occasions – mountain tops, border crossings and the like.
Have the attitude that the only bad outcome is life-changing stuff (like being chucked in a Chinese jail). Anything else, a fractured leg or broken bike is a mere inconvenience.

Training

I don’t train, as such. I have spent my adult years fit or injured. I ride a bike most days and when cycling alone I tend to push myself. So, make a bike part of your life. A touring bike is perfect for this because you can fit it with racks and panniers and drag an enormous load home from the shops. If it’s fitted with mudguards you won’t look like a tiger in the rain and you’ll have a steed that’s too uncool to nick. Mudguards provide the ultimate bicycle security!!

Cycling philosophy

There’s an industry that will disagree with this statement: “organised trips are not travel!” I’m pleased that many enjoy them but they are not for me. I relish the unknown. I have no qualms about flying to a foreign land, finding accommodation and proceeding from there. I'm going to do just that in a few days. I have a ticket to Hanoi and, on arrival, will assemble my bike and cycle into town. I did this 20 years ago with Cora, my brother, Clifford, and friend James. Back then, airport cleaners requested our bike boxes. We happily passed them on knowing that these workers would get a few $ and a relieved cyclist will get a bike box. What will happen this time?

My trips (mostly with Cora) have followed the same philosophy. We typically do little planning and prefer to camp and to cook our own food (except in Asia where camping is difficult and good street food is common). We don’t want any support and have never been on an organised ride. Just blow with the wind! Let me express it another way. If someone invited me on a trip that was all laid out – where we stay each day, the roads we ride, then I wouldn’t go. It would steal my freedom. If someone offered to pay for luxury accommodation then I would take the money, give it to a charity, like the indigo foundation, and nick off into the bush and camp.

I have often said that I can’t imagine repeating a long ride; returning to a place means missing out on visiting a new place. But this time I will be revisiting past haunts. It's worth it to ride with Winston!

An amusing moment

Let me finish with an amusing moment that summarises my thoughts. I was approaching the border between Turkey and Iran in the late afternoon when I saw a sign to Noah’s Ark. How could I not take that rough dirt road? After all, I had been hearing of the Ark since I was a child. Well, it was easy to blow off the Ark because I was determined to cross into Iran and perhaps find a place to watch the Champions' League Final. That night I crammed into a hotel room with about 30 Iranians and watched Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1. It was the start of a magnificent ride across Iran.

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