boredom on cross-country?

[tonythomson]

Avid reader, me too.  I bought a Sony E reader and now carry around 100 books with me, including manuals.  Absolutely brilliant and even has a "page Light" so no need to mess with torches, candles etc, in a tent at night. Plus a bonus for me (62) you can enlarge the text.

OK Mr Sony was that OK - now can I get paid?  Seriously the best thing I have ever invested in as a lone rider and for when you get holed up somewhere due to the weather.

Prior to that had to make do with whatever books I could find  along the way and I used to tear out the pages as I read them - save weight - especially when reading War & Peace. 

Good luck

[Westinghouse]

Boredom is a coarseness of thought, feeling, and action. Most of us should be able to feel it at some time or other. Loneliness is another matter. A long bicycling tour has a way of magnifying incompatibilities between persons, couples. It is about personal freedom. It is about the thoughts and feelings and actions of an over-the-road adventure, and what we are able to tolerate from others. I think solo touring is probably the best way to go; however, I say that with certain reservations, and with an eye to the choices  of OTR partners that were available to me in the past. With 13 others it is a matter of what they call group dynamics, or, how you get along with the others. 

[staehpj1]

Avid reader, me too.  I bought a Sony E reader and now carry around 100 books with me, including manuals.  Absolutely brilliant and even has a "page Light" so no need to mess with torches, candles etc, in a tent at night. Plus a bonus for me (62) you can enlarge the text.

I find that for me an iPod shuffle loaded with audiobooks works out well and allows me to carry 7-10 books at a weight of about two ounces including a light weight third party charger.  Similarly I can load audiobooks in my blackberry if I am taking it anyway.  It can take a 4gb memory chip so it holds a lot of books.  Using either you can even read while you are riding though I am generally not inclined to.

[mikedirectory2]

Audio books are a great idea!  I never thought of that. 

[tonythomson]

Tried audio books but they always send me to sleep, which isn't a bad thing after a days riding, but the battery tends to drain.  Not sure that is useful or not only that's why they don't work for me. 

Or do you listen to them whilst riding is really what I would like to know.

[staehpj1]

Tried audio books but they always send me to sleep, which isn't a bad thing after a days riding, but the battery tends to drain.  Not sure that is useful or not only that's why they don't work for me. 

Or do you listen to them whilst riding is really what I would like to know.

If I am tired enough that I would fall asleep, I just go to sleep and don't bother listening.  I have never fallen asleep while listening to an audiobook.  I know that won't work for everyone though.

I generally don't listen while riding, but have on occasion.  In the flattest, emptiest, most monotonous parts of eastern Colorado and Kansas it can be a nice diversion.

[indyfabz]

I don't see how, if you love to ride your bike, explore and enjoy new experiences, you could ever get bored.  Personally, I love going solo.  But if you are the type of person who needs companionship and attention from others, it's probably not for you.  I like to say that you really have to enjoy your own company to be out there for extended periods of time on your own.

Also understand that if you go with a group, you may be stuck with people who you cannot stand.  During my group AC tour we had one guy who was definitely not a team player.  Another guy was a an alcoholic bigot who almost got arrested--twice.  You will need to have the temperment to not let such types of people ruin your good time.

[Westinghouse]

I imagine you might meet a better class of people on an ACA expedition. I met an ACA group, then called Bikecentennial, in 1987 on the NT. They seemed OK. One guy seemed to get up tight when I mentioned his tent  needed a rain fly that went all the way to the ground, and not part way there. I guess they hadn't cycled in the UK where it rained hard daily for weeks. I was a lot younger then, and the young women with their sleek athletic bodies in tight lycra cycling clothes were hard to ignore. They didn't seem any too friendly. There is one aspect of group travel which is important which is safety in numbers. The group leader invited me to dinner with a few of the others. As soon as we had ordered in a restaurant one of the members started a conversation about a part of his anatomy nobody talks about, especially at the dinner table. The more graphic and specific he became with his descriptions the more disgusted I became. They did seem to have it organized though. Fankly, I was glad to get shed of them.

I cycled a while with two newlyweds who were on a Santanna tandem. They sure could cut by me any time they wanted. They hit 59 mph going down one long hill. He was having quite a bit of trouble with his $250.00 rear wheel, while I with my $17.00 wheels was cruising along with no problems.
I had an old aquaintance of mine on a 500 mile tour. He screwed up constantly. I left him at mile 250 and went home. It does matter who you tour with. It is not the same as the easy life back home n the block, and when you free camp alot in  the woods the wedge of incompatibility can drive even further between yourself and others.

[tonythomson]

Going in a group? Watch out you don't get stuck sharing with someone who snores!!!  Had to resort sleeping in the bathroom. Bailed out in the end.  Always enjoyed touring better solo - much more exciting and feeling of achievement at the end.

[indyfabz]

Oh yeah.  Forgot to mention the snorers.  Personally, hearing someone snore drives me nuts.  On our group trip we had three very loud, regular snorers and a fourth who snored loudly maybe a quarter of the nights.  I am talking Fred Flinstone-like snoring.  You almost expected to see the tent collapse and inflate.  This all became obvious the first night when three of us awoke to the sound of a guy snoring some 25' or more away.  "I've never heard anyone snore that lound in my entire life!" came from one tent.  We put in place a segregation plan.  If we had one big camping area the snorers were required to pitch as far away as possible from the first non-snorer who set up his or her tent.  The remaining non-snorers would pitch near the first non-snorer.  If there were multiple sites or we took motel rooms, the snorers had to pitch/sleep together.

[whittierider]

ROFL!  I remember being kept awake by someone in a distant campsite snoring.

[Westinghouse]

You see. Something like snoring can become a major issue as can other behaviors voluntary or involuntary. I know a guy who thinks a bicycle tour, long or short, is a movable beer party. To me that's crazy. There is no way I am going to hit convenience stores three times a day for a four-pack of Natural Ice, and hit the woods for drinking. No way. When the guy was talking about cycling the ST I had to tell him, "absolutely not." A long group tour is an unknown value till you are there and doing it. I have definitely felt lonely at times on long solo tours, and wished I had a girlfriend along on the trip, but I usually go solo and like it just fine. There is something about those feelings of freedom and adventure, and being answerable to nobody that is gratifying.

[indyfabz]

"I have definitely felt lonely at times on long solo tours, and wished I had a girlfriend along on the trip, but I usually go solo and like it just fine."

LOL!  Not sure you meant it one way that it reads.  But then again, maybe you did. 

[Westinghouse]

Why? How does it read to you?

[MrBent]

Boy, Indy, that must have been some tour. 

I'm a huge one about needing quiet when I sleep, which is big reason I like to stealth camp.  Campgrounds aften suck for actually getting sleep--idiots with generators, blokes coming in at all hours, drunken slobs--arg.

I've had an experience recently where a very nice but kind of annoying older gentleman was doing a little riding with a group I was putting together.  He was very slow compared to the rest on his recumbent trike, but on top of that, he was having constant troubles with his gear--this thing sticking, that thing loose, etc., etc.   I just had a bad feeling how things would go days into the tour.  I didn't invite him even though I knew he was keen.  Ultimately he did a tour, and on reading about it, he ended up climbing the big grades in 100 yard segments with lots of resting in between.  I admire his determination to finish, but holy cats!  I would have wanted to push him over the edge had I been riding with him.

So partners matter a lot.  If you don't get along, if the other guy/gal does stuff that annoys you, after a week or two on the trail, everything will be magnified.  Solo for me meant some times when I would have liked to share some thoughts or exclaim over an event, but mostly it was fine.  And there is an undeniable magnification of the experience, too, when riding solo.  Everything seems a little more intense.

Mr. Bent