There are two schools of thought when it comes to bike touring: stop a lot and see a lot of stuff along the way... or ride a lot and see a lot of stuff along the way while riding.
I guess either way you see a lot, but the latter doesn't allow one to take many photos or notes from their trip.
After a few bike tours that definitely fit into the latter category (Oregon coast, ~125 miles/day, UK, 100 miles/day) I decided that I really wanted New Zealand to be in the former category. I wanted to stop and get in some hikes along the way. Chat with strangers. Take some pictures. Write some stuff down.
To be able to do everything I wanted to do (like hiking in an alpine environment, as well as biking in all sorts of weather), I decided to bring A Lot Of Stuff. In hindsight, there are some things that I could have left behind without affecting my ability to do what I want. I could have left the bike shoes at home and just used toe clips or platform pedals... and I probably could have done without the stove (although it was definitely handy when I camped out in Ms. Hope's yard). In the past, I haven't carried along as much extra clothing for cold temparatures while camping.
I guess either way you see a lot, but the latter doesn't allow one to take many photos or notes from their trip.
After a few bike tours that definitely fit into the latter category (Oregon coast, ~125 miles/day, UK, 100 miles/day) I decided that I really wanted New Zealand to be in the former category. I wanted to stop and get in some hikes along the way. Chat with strangers. Take some pictures. Write some stuff down.
To be able to do everything I wanted to do (like hiking in an alpine environment, as well as biking in all sorts of weather), I decided to bring A Lot Of Stuff. In hindsight, there are some things that I could have left behind without affecting my ability to do what I want. I could have left the bike shoes at home and just used toe clips or platform pedals... and I probably could have done without the stove (although it was definitely handy when I camped out in Ms. Hope's yard). In the past, I haven't carried along as much extra clothing for cold temparatures while camping.
Long story short, all of this weight has resulted in this being the slowest ride of my life. And it has been hard on Susan's pride.
It's not unusual for me to average 18 mph on a decently long ride (let's say 50 miles). When I biked the Oregon coast I still averaged 15 mph for 125 miles per day. When I biked the U.K. I eventually took my bike computer off of my bike because I couldn't bear to see how slow I was riding.
On Thursday I rode 73 miles (more than I had planned, but the riding was pretty flat) at an average of a whopping 13.1 mph. How. Very. Slow. Ugh.
The amazing part is that on Friday I rode even slower. It didn't seem like it was all uphill... though in retrospect it must have been more up than down. Long story short: 25 miles at 9.9 mph. Ow.
Here's the thing: I'm OK with going that slow. Really. I'm getting to see more of the foliage. Stopping and taking pictures of the beautiful green mountains. Baa-ing at the sheep. But it still is embarrassing to reveal this to anyone I've ever ridden with that I'm riding slower than my grandfather would (even after his hip replacement).
Honestly, I'm pretty proud of every pedal stroke. I'm really just happy that I'm making this little dream of mine come true, no matter how fast or slow I go.
But when my bike computer died yesteray evening (probably because it was completely waterlogged, I wasn't too sad about it.
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Set your cycle computer to km/hr -- it fits with the NZ metric and makes you feel a lot faster :)
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