The Wandering Idiot

It looks like the start date for this bicycle tour is going to be sometime in mid-October – the 15th of October exactly. Perhaps I’m being totally stupid and this is the absolute wrong time to do it, but as far as timing goes I feel like I have very limited choice. It’s going to be cold and getting colder – and I’m expecting to live in a tent?!

Either I go when I can – or I get stuck in a new job not knowing when I will make this dream a reality….

I don’t know. It leaves me quite scared – a little apprehensive. But I trust that things will work their way out and need to let go a little. Just get on my bike, and see what happens.

Another thing that also scares me is the fact that I know so little about bicycle maintenance…what if something happens and I have no idea how to fix it?

I was talking to my friend about this the other day actually – and lo and behold – a spoke broke on my road bike yesterday during a day ride to Eastbourne!

So I went to the bike shop, asked them what I need to fix it. Got the tools and watched a few youtube videos on how to replace a broken spoke – voila! I’m a genius.

Ok – self confidence slowly building here. Good.

I’ve got most of the things I need now – tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear, bike is on the way (not arriving until September 21st though). I’m now focusing on clothing that I’ll need to keep me warm.

I have a feeling that doing a winter tour is going to be tough.

I’m originally from southern Oregon, US. I grew up in the land of plentiful forests (BIG trees!), unending mountains, and more offroad trails than you know what to do with so my natural state of cycling would have been on a mountain bike. It’s all I ever knew for many years.

I then moved to London, UK (by way of Norway, Switzerland, and the US – with a few trips and a few stops in between). In London I quickly realised that tube and bus simply would not hack it and took up road cycling as my main mode of transportation. Now this may sound a simple task, but riding a road bike in London is far more dangerous that one might imagine (and makes bombing down a dirt track on a mountain bike look like child’s play). Road biking in London is more like a full contact sport as opposed to a reliable and quick mode of transportation. Seriously, you are constantly pushing away black cabs and buses while dodging idiot tourists – now throw in a little London weather just to spice it up!

I’ve been thinking about a long bicycle tour for a long time. Just me, the bike, and the open road. Nothing holding me back but the strength in my legs and my ever dwindling bank account.

So as I started to plan a multi country bike trip across Europe I really had no idea what kind of bike I should be buying. I’d never really heard of a touring bike, or the act of ‘bicycle touring’. Call me ignorant, but it’s all new to me.

I’ve spent hours scouring the internet learning new things about things I didn’t know I should know (like the difference between Reynold 753 and Reynolds 653 steel, or the hierarchy of the Shimano components). Go on, persecute me if you must. After reading through countless forums, visiting every bike shop in town, and Googling my heart out. I was still no closer to finding the right bike.

It has taken a few weeks now. But I have finally decided on the bike for me. I will be buying myself a Surly Long Haul Trucker. It’ll be brand new…it’s not the top of the line…but it is beautiful. And she (I’ve decided it will be a she) and I are to become best of friends. I suppose you’d have to give your bike a name as well…after all – it is your only company and companion for a while…

This does mean however that my trusty TREK 1200 road bike and I will have to part ways, as there just isn’t room in my life for two special ladies (and I need to sell her to help subsidise my trip!)