WHY TOURING?

In the beginning people got really excited about bicycles. Why? Because a bicycle gave the rider the ability to get somewhere. Prior to the bike, a traveler had a few options, walk, ride or be pulled by a horse, or ride a train. Walking was slow and hard. Travel by horse was expensive. Horses cost a lot, and they have to be constantly cared for and fed. Trains were expensive, and they didn’t always go where the traveler wanted to go. The bicycle was fast, inexpensive, and it went pretty much where the rider pointed it. It didn’t need to be fed. (If the fun factor is added in, the bike is almost irresistible.)

Interestingly, the situation today is a close parallel. Cars cost a lot. Gas is getting insanely expensive. Trains are all but useless in this country. Horses are a lost art. Other modes of travel are likely to be expensive, difficult, and limited by the constraints of someone else’s scheduling. A bicycle goes when and where we want it to. Bikes are still inexpensive. (Compare a really nice bike to the cost of a fairly cheap car.) They cost little to maintain. They can go when the rider wants them to.

Those are the practical reasons for travel by bike. But there is more. If you are oriented more to the journey than the destination, then cycling is for you. Let’s face it, travel by car, bus, train, or airplane is boring. When one travels by bike the trip is often a lot more fun than the destination. We are out in the air. We get to coast down the hills. We see things, hear them, smell them, touch and feel them. We have time to experience the features of the journey, that quaint house, the friendly dog, the interesting person, the stunning vista. We can see the sun rise and set. We get to marvel at the awesome spread of the sky. We hear the rain as it moves through the trees around us.

Things happen to us on the bike that would never happen in a car. I’ve had coyotes pace me in the night. I’ve had a huge hawk gliding along, wing pinions at eye level, as the two of us regarded each other, our faces less than four feet apart. I’ve walked into the refreshing coolness of a country café after an afternoon in the blistering heat, and eaten the best apple pie in the universe, washed down with iced cold fresh milk. I’ve pulled out of a freezing night, into an old fashioned service garage and spent an hour warming by the heat of wood stove, while a total strange offered me a cup of coffee and listened in fascination to the story of my travels. (That was possibly the best coffee I’ve ever had.) Every touring cyclist has stories of amazing things, signs and wonders.

Group tours, such as our upcoming Audax Ride, are just about the most painless way to sample this kind of thing. Come join us. You have nothing to lose but your chains.