10 things we realized during bike touring

In no particular order, these are some things that we noticed during our long hours in the saddle. See also point 7.

1. Using your senses

When cycling you realize not are not only watch where you’re going or visually enjoy your surroundings, but also the other senses highlight your journey (good or bad!). Like in commuter cycling, or when going for a walk or run, we rely heavily on hearing cars approaching (damn those Teslas!). But the major realization was for us the sense of smell. In Turkey the smell of orange blossom was overwhelming, the sweet scent of hay fields in summer, we would smell a bakery before we would see it. But also the burning of waste next to the road and the smell of death; the smell of a dead dog might linger for a long time in your nostrils.

2. Asphalt comes in many forms

When planning a route on Komoot for instance, you get a breakdown of the types of road on your route. Unpaved or paved, gravel of asphalt. However, asphalt comes in many different forms. The new black tarmac that make you tyres sing is of course a favorite, but there’s also the coarse asphalt, making your bike dance over the surface. The road that has been patched up too many times. The potholes in the mountains. The small hills created by trucks in corners and steep inclines. And the almost orgasmic feeling when after kilometers of bad road you finally hit the smooth tarmac… Heaven.

3. The remarkable thing that is the human body

We were quite fit before we started our tour, as we both cycled and like to run. Kevin more so than Julia, but we were definitely no couch potatoes. But we can honestly say this is the fittest we have ever been. It took some time, especially for Julia, but cycling has become so much easier. When we plan our route, we are confident we can do those 2000 high meters, or push through a long day. Sure, we still get tired and the muscles feel tight and we still require a rest day every now and then, but on the whole, we feel so strong now!

4. You need to build up

That being said, we realized in the beginning of our tour that we still need to build things up. From running we already know that stamina increases faster than your ligaments and tendons can keep up. In 2 weeks you feel you can do way more (as in: you don’t feel like needing supplemental oxygen after a hill), but your tendons need up to 6 weeks to get stronger. Keep that in mind and you’ll avoid injuries; especially the knees are notorious for cyclists!

5. Communication during cycling

This is for all you touring couples out there, or friends cycling together. We realized that most of the times we cycle behind one another, rather than abrest, sometimes with quite some distance between us. Communication is either absent (we spend 24 hours a day together, there is a limit), reduced to “it’s nice here right?” or shouting at each other. This was also the source of 99% of our arguments on the road. One would shout something, the other would assume to hear it correctly and then minutes later the arguing starts after some misunderstanding and the words:” but I thought you said….”. Yeah, “assumption is the mother of all screw-ups” also goes for arguments. We learned to actually wait for confirmation or ask a third or fourth time…

6. Most people are nice and are not out to kill you

As children you are told to be wary of strangers and probably that is a smart thing, but in general people are willing to help. You just have to ask! Whether it’s information you need, water or shelter, sometimes the easiest is to stop a local and ask the question, rather than trying to figure it all out by yourself. Most people are happy to help. On the other hand, we also noticed that assholes are everywhere, so maybe don’t hold back on the wariness completely.

7. Meandering thoughts

Cycling becomes like breathing on a longer tour, it’s not something you do consciously. At least, when it’s relatively easy. This gives ample opportunity for your mind to wander as the world glides by. Picking up words in a different language by seeing signs, wondering about the purpose of weird things in the landscape and our favorite; imaginary arguments with drivers that cut you off. Not just the legs keep moving, the mind is busy as well.

8. Real hungry (and hangry)

We have written about it before, but the amount of food we devour is astonishing. Guess we need it, but it keeps surprising us. Luckily Julia has learned how to prevent getting hangry, so we made progress. Apparently something sweet every 2 hours does the trick, and prevents the aforementioned arguments.

9. Most of the stress originates in your own imagination

We noticed this mostly during wildcamping, where your spot seems nice and peaceful during the day, but rather scary during the night. It’s during the dark hours that every sound you hear is a bear, rabid dog or serial killer. Your imagination starts to run wild and you toss and turn through the night, sit up and light up a torch at every sound, only to wake up the next day grumpy but still in one piece.

Or when planning a route, figuring out that at one point you have to go through a long tunnel and fret about it all the way to said tunnel. It takes you maximum 10 minutes to cycle through, but you’ve spend hours worrying about it.

This was mainly a problem for Julia (overthinking might be a woman’s thing). Julia would also like to point out that worrying and planning did help in certain situations, as opposed to the laissez-faire attitude of Kevin (who slept well in the wild). Maybe that’s why we are such a good team.

10. There is no right or wrong way to travel by bike

We like to cycle, and our daily average is higher than of most bike tourers. We received quite some comments or questions, where people would wonder if we actually take the time to see things, or whether or not we should take more breaks. The truth is that a) we really like to cycle, that’s how we see things and b) we are lousy tourists. Sure, a museum or some old buildings every once and a while we do enjoy (not to mention local food!), but on the whole, we like to be active and outdoors. That’s not to say that this is the right way to do bike touring. Some people see the cycling more as a mode of transport, do it because it’s cheap or environmentally friendly. Whether 30 km a day or 130 km, it’s all fine and everybody does it their own way.