Touring the country by yourself



Corzhens

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May 26, 2015
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One of my colleagues who is a bike addict is finalizing his plans on touring the country solo. His only companion is an assistant who would provide him help and security not to mention the handling of the camera for documentation. His tour starts from the northern part of the country and going down south. The tentative duration is 10 days so he think he should be covering more than 100 kilometers in a day and with no rest day.

I cannot imagine the loneliness of traveling alone. I have taken rides with some groups and it seems to give me strength when I am with some other riders. But riding alone, maybe I would easily get tired and it would be boring too.
 
Yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking, I mean, riding is great, but so long and alone has to be strange.
 
I don't think it is possible. Visiting the entire country is not an easy task. The journey would surely get boring if you don't have any companion. I don't think it is a great idea to visit the various places in a country with a bike. I think this is possible only if you have a group of friends. I can also complete this goal by riding with my family members.
 
It depends on the size of the country and it's eventually doable, but would it be fun?
 
10 days with 100 km each? That's a big country, haha. Well, maybe for me, I'd probably go around my country a few times in 10 days.

But seriously, I'd love to go on a big tour (of Europe for example), but I highly doubt I could do it alone. Which is weird considering I usually ride alone, but recently I managed to get some friends to ride along and it's been great. I still like riding alone, but I don't think I could go 10 days of riding alone.
 
Some people though prefer to ride alone than in a group, so I guess if that's the case there's no harm in touring in your own.

Personally if I was traveling that amount of distance and for so long, I think I'd prefer to travel as part of a group. The safety aspect isn't an issue for me, it's more the loneliness aspect of it that I'd feel uncomfortable with.
 
There is a fair chance I'm moving to a "countryside" area with miles and miles in every direction with pretty much nobody around, fair weather and lots of nice climbs. If I do secure the location, I will be doing hundreds of miles out by myself.
 
I'm with you, I could never travel that far on my own. My dad never toured the country, but he used to ride for miles and miles with no aim in site. He was able to see a ton of the states and the states surrounding us, but sometimes he would end up not knowing where he was. That was back in the day though when you weren't always connected to something. I just could never imagine it.
 
Our country is composed of islands so there are parts that the rider would have to take the ferry. I think the intention of my colleague is to publicize his solo tour that maybe would be a record of sorts. But I agree with most of the comments that it is no fun riding alone. But what if the media takes fancy on his tour and would cover his riding? I think there would be some fun in that for it's like being in a reality show.

PS. For @bykster, Our country is quite long from north to south. The biggest island of Luzon may have a stretch of maybe 1,000 kilometers from tip to tip so the whole country on a straight line can reach 3,000 kilometers in all. However, the intended solo tour will cover only selected highways and chosen provinces.
 
10 days with 100 km each? That's a big country, haha. Well, maybe for me, I'd probably go around my country a few times in 10 days.

But seriously, I'd love to go on a big tour (of Europe for example), but I highly doubt I could do it alone. Which is weird considering I usually ride alone, but recently I managed to get some friends to ride along and it's been great. I still like riding alone, but I don't think I could go 10 days of riding alone.

100km per day is not that much if we are well prepared really, but alone could be tiring.
 
The fatigue is a good point to make, and cycling 100km can seem like 200km if your cycling on your own. Sometimes aswell as needing somebody to chat to and pass the time with, if your struggling at any point of the ride there's less chance of you giving up if your riding with others.

Not only can they motivate you, they can also give you that incentive not to show you might be struggling, and a lot of the time its that mental aspect that helps to pull you along.
 
Need some spare parts and a well fit mountain bike for that ride. Can't expect to be riding across concrete road all the path across the country.
 
Oh yeah, I agree 100km isn't impossible, but I think the loneliness would do it for me. I'm just comparing how @Corzhens country is a lot bigger than mine.

Yeah, it wouldn't be something that I would be thrilled about either, it's always better to ride with company.
 
Sometimes riding on your own instead of in a group can be ok as it gets you talking to others that you probably wouldn't normally do. That's on the smaller rides though, and if your cycling on popular, well known tours.

Riding a long tour, possibly in a country your not familiar with by yourself is a different matter altogether.
 
Riding alone is FAR preferable to riding with a group that isn't very well trained. Most injuries in these cross country rides is from someone on front of you putting on their brakes at an unexpected time and you hitting their rear wheel and going over and injuring yourself. A lady friend of mine was on a cross-the-USA ride recently and that happened and she broke a hip. She was only 600 miles into the 3,000 mile ride and now out the $2,200 it took to enter. She had to pay her medical bills and find a way home. Her jerk husband wasn't any help.
 
Riding alone is FAR preferable to riding with a group that isn't very well trained. Most injuries in these cross country rides is from someone on front of you putting on their brakes at an unexpected time and you hitting their rear wheel and going over and injuring yourself. A lady friend of mine was on a cross-the-USA ride recently and that happened and she broke a hip. She was only 600 miles into the 3,000 mile ride and now out the $2,200 it took to enter. She had to pay her medical bills and find a way home. Her jerk husband wasn't any help.

While I do agree that riding with inexperienced riders can be dangerous, I do think that group riding as a whole is more dangerous experienced or not. Riding solo you only have yourself to worry about and look after, but in a group you also have to look after others. That might not be a problem for a lot of cyclists, but I'm sure that in the past we've all ridden with those who are only concerned with looking out for themselves.
 
If you're in a group that isn't trying to race one another (rare around here) the faster guys are on the front and the slower on the back and they leave a lot of space between one another. This is as safe as riding alone and safer in that if you fall for some reason there are people there to help you and/or repair the bike. I've been on trips where someone was bandaging the fallen rider while I fixed whatever caused the fall - flat usually - and the resultant damage.
 
If you're in a group that isn't trying to race one another (rare around here) the faster guys are on the front and the slower on the back and they leave a lot of space between one another. This is as safe as riding alone and safer in that if you fall for some reason there are people there to help you and/or repair the bike. I've been on trips where someone was bandaging the fallen rider while I fixed whatever caused the fall - flat usually - and the resultant damage.

Like you said yourself, a lot depends on what kind of group your cycling with. I know that in some groups they cycle the opposite way to what you've said and they'll put the slower riders at the front so the rest of the group will go at the pace of them. Its stops the group being strung out and some being left behind and if you're not there to compete and race against each other anyway, I can see the merits of employing that kind of tactic.
 
It's important for me that the group is not racing, at the same time each one has their own speed and we need to respect that.
 
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