Why I chose to go cycling & If bicycle touring is for you?
It is a question everyone asked me when I was prepping for my first cycling journey. ‘Why cycling?’ Some asked it with genuine curiosity & an air of enthusiasm, others thought I was crazy or not mentally well. But all had the same question. Why did I choose cycling over any other means of transport? In this blog I hope to answer that exact question and help you decide whether you should consider the bicycle too.
3 reasons I decided to take my bike.
I can state some facts here that could already make it more obvious as to why I’m cycling. I don’t have my driver’s license, for example. I am Dutch, and as you may know, we love our bikes as a means of transport to get us from A to B. Being Dutch however was definitely not the only reason that weighed my decision.
Family background
To understand exactly why I chose to go cycling you have to know about my family’s background, because bicycle touring stories is what I grew up with. Both of my parents are world cyclists. And the stories I grew up hearing are these. I’ll keep it short, for they are not my stories to tell. My father cycled from the Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles to New York City in the span of 3 months. My mother cycled from Bali, Indonesia back home to the Netherlands in 15 months with longer stops here and there and, unfortunately, a flight over Myanmar and Pakistan & Iran as these countries were anything but safe at the time for two women to cycle across.
I was practically raised on these stories as well as many others of them cycling in Europe together. With this background my decision to take my bike is already clearer, but my family’s background with bicycle touring is not the only thing that led to this decision.
Sustainable & budget friendly
Cycling is a very obvious choice for sustainable & budget friendly travel, after all there’s no gas or batteries/electricity needed for the vehicle. I started my journey close to home, so a flight to ship myself & my bike to the location where I would start wasn’t necessary either. Of course, this is not always the case, but home is as good of a starting point as anBy choosing to use my bike to get around, I made a very budget friendly decision too. I packed my camping gear on my bike, and stayed at local and small campsites most of the time on this trip. Unfortunately, dispersed camping (or wild/free camping) is illegal in the three countries I traveled in, this would’ve otherwise been a great option to create an even more budget friendly trip for myself.
Slow travel
I think slow travel is the key to authentically seeing & experiencing places. It seems contradictory, but you see more when you go slower & make less kilometers. Instead of zooming past landscapes & villages to get to the next highlight on your itinerary, you have a closer connection with your surroundings. Cycle touring is a great way to travel at a slower pace. This also allowed for me to make stops when I wanted to, take photos at the places I wanted to.
These 3 components made for the bulk of my decision to go cycling instead of hitchhiking or traveling by public transport. Despite it not working out for me in the end, I’m glad I tried this way of traveling.
Is bicycle touring for you?
Perhaps it is, but it’s not for everyone! And as it turned out, it wasn’t for me either. I genuinely think it is worth considering for you if you enjoy cycling in any form, whether you enjoy bicycle racing, mountain-biking or daily trips by bike. Though it is no guarantee that you will enjoy long distance bicycle touring, it is worth a try. If you are thinking about embarking on a cycling journey, do it but do it closer to home & don’t expect to much of yourself. Embarking on the journey is really the only way to figure out for yourself whether it is for you or not. Before I started, as well as the first three days, I was convinced that traveling this way was made for me.
How I started, motivated & full of energy to start this new journey (photo: Raph de Rooij)
My fourth & fifth days were filled with setbacks and even though, yes that was hard, it wasn’t the cycling part of my journey that made it mentally & physically challenging. It was day six that foreshadowed my quitting, the landscapes became more and more hilly and I was walking more than I was cycling. The next day I didn’t even want to deal with the hills anymore, I walked instead of cycled almost all the way. During my trip I realised that maybe, yes I did like cycling long daily distances, but no, I did not like it as a means of travel. The only way I could have figured this out was by experiencing it, by just doing it. So that’s what I encourage you to do! Try it for a week, maybe two, don’t let yourself give up too fast but listen to yourself and don’t push yourself too far.
