Author Topic: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.  (Read 3831 times)

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Offline Westinghouse

The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« on: March 17, 2025, 04:46:25 pm »
There were some people on some internet forum discussing an aspect of bicycle touring. They all agreed that long-distance bicycle touring is a low profile manner of traveling. I must disagree. In a car you are a nameless faceless blank in a motorized cocoon. People notice the cyclist. In a car you move with traffic. Only those around you even know you exist. By the end of a day, thousands of drivers will have seen the man on the loaded bicycle, and he will spark their imagination. In a car you pull into a gas station / convenience store, you pay, pump and go. Your presence causes no curiosity to anyone. Come pedaling in with a fully-loaded touring bicycle people may react. They ask questions. Where did you start? Where is your destination? How long did it take you to get here? How many miles do you ride in a day? When did you start your trip? You have a long road ahead of you. I have thought about bicycling across the USA since I was a teenager etc.

The long-distance, fully-loaded, bicycle tourist is a high profile traveler because he is seen by many thousands of others on a transcontinental ride, and he, to some degree or another, makes an impression and stimulates curiosity.


Offline ray b

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2025, 07:41:54 pm »
Right.
Not a good mode of travel if you are out to avoid people.
One can (and I do) limit the interaction by packing food and hitting the backroads, but on re-emerging, the interest and interaction of shopkeepers often seems amplified by the dust and grime.
“A good man always knows his limitations.”

Offline davidbonn

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2025, 10:51:34 am »
That all kind of depends.  If you are on a pretty popular route the curiosity factor that normies have rapidly goes to zero.  You're just another bike tourist retarding traffic and they've probably seen a dozen or more just like you that morning.

Along the Pacific Coast bike route there seem to be lots of bike tourists most of the year so your presence isn't that remarkable.  To a lesser extent people are used to seeing cyclists along the Northern Tier.

And places where bicycle travel is popular (US San Juan Islands and Canadian Gulf Islands) you are pretty invisible.

I'd guess you stop being very interesting as soon as cyclist-friendly businesses become a notable factor in the local economy.

Online jamawani

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2025, 11:02:18 am »
The ole laminated reply card.

1. I started in Astoria, Oregon
2. I'm riding to Yorktown, Virginia.
3. It will take about 3 months.
4. I was able to get the time off from work.
5. My partner wasn't exactly thrilled.
6. I'm not a millionaire, I saved up.
7. No, my butt does not hurt.
8. Yes, there are times I get tired.
9. No, I am not crazy.
10. Yes, it is worth it.

Offline Westinghouse

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2025, 06:26:31 pm »
The ole laminated reply card.

1. I started in Astoria, Oregon
2. I'm riding to Yorktown, Virginia.
3. It will take about 3 months.
4. I was able to get the time off from work.
5. My partner wasn't exactly thrilled.
6. I'm not a millionaire, I saved up.
7. No, my butt does not hurt.
8. Yes, there are times I get tired.
9. No, I am not crazy.
10. Yes, it is worth it.

That tells us you have heard all the questions. And just about everyone who inquiries asks the exact same questions.

Offline Westinghouse

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2025, 06:29:30 pm »
I forgot a question----Do you get many flat tires?

Offline Westinghouse

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2025, 07:33:51 pm »
High profile bicycle touring. It was winter 1984-85. A girl-friend from England bicycled Key West, FL to San Diego, California. In one western state, New Mexico or Arizona, we went into a small store in a small town. I told the cashier in the store we had bicycled there from Florida. She said she knew who we were when we pulled into the parking lot. She told us they had a CB radio in the store. The truckers had been on the CB commenting on us for the last two weeks.

Offline froze

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2025, 10:54:47 pm »
I'm 73 years old, I remember as a kid my parents would take us on a road trip in the summer in the car, as we would be driving people would honk and wave if you were from their state, they would honk and wave if you were driving the same car as they were, how I miss the days of such niceties; in todays world if they wave at you it's either with the middle finger or they have gun in their hand!

Offline Westinghouse

Re: The Long Distance Bicycle Tourist a High-Profile Traveler.
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2025, 11:47:34 pm »
Certainly it was Ukraine and 1994. When cycling through The agrarian countryside through small towns and villages, young men and possibly older seemed to recognize me somehow and waved hey American. You are on television. The first couple of times I heard that it made no sense to me whatsoever. There were no cameras around anywhere at any time, not that I could see, anyway. After that happened three or four times, somebody stopped me and talked to me and explained. Somehow they had gotten videos of me cycling across their country and somebody posted them on television. That's high-profile for bicycle touring. I could not figure out how they had been able to get that filming. I finally figured it out. That land where I was consisted in one gigantic farm with towns and cities interspaced. Alongside the road where large piles of hay, 50 ft wide at their base, and 30 ft high. Occasionally, there was an odd looking unusual stack of hay closer to the side of the road. It was noticeable because it was very different from the rest of the fields and what I saw there. Those were camera blinds. As far as I know that was the only way they could have gotten those pictures.