Cheers for the kind words and I will definitely be looking into the saddle recommendations.
As you may know or not know depending how deep you've delved into my blog I have spent the last eight years of my life dealing with severe depression and anxiety. For anyone that has first hand experience of depression you will know how totally debilitating it can be. For those that don't have experience of it either personally or through friends and family it can be almost impossible to understand. Before I allowed myself to be convinced that this was an illness and not a phase I was going through I had no idea either.
Iraqi jails, mountain passes, vertical freezing rain, border officialdom, scary traffic and dangerous animals have hardly been of any problem to me. Yet sometimes just getting up in the morning is totally impossible. That's why I sometimes end up in one place for a while. I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel like I do and have the money to travel for long periods of time. This enables me to not fight the black dog and just accept it and wait for it to pass.
When I left the UK i was two years into a three year group psychotherapy course. I made a very difficult decision to leave that to come on this trip. Getting everything in place was one of the most difficult periods of my life. I was splitting from my girlfriend of six years and my mother was moving into my house at the same time. The only way I was able to find the strength to keep going was because I was able to draw on my experiences of my trip to Istanbul. How alive that made me feel and how much it opened my eyes to a totally different way of approaching life. The Istanbul trip was made possible by realising that I (Richie) could actually do this kind of thing. Even though my first five day trip to Wales did leave me feeling more physical pain than I could have imagined. All of this was inspired by seeing and reading about other people having done similar things. When I first saw the BBC documentary "The man who cycled the world" I knew instantly I wanted to do that. The idea of cycle touring had never even existed as a concept before I saw that program. This big tour has evolved in the same way my managing of anxiety has evolved. One step at a time. Just making the FIRST step is the most important action. I've spent the last few weeks here in Kuala Lumpur going through my photos and videos of this trip. I still can't believe what I've done. I don't think it will truly sink in until I stop and I'm back in the UK.
What I know now is that this is the perfect lifestyle for me at the moment. I'm able to live a life, which back home is incredibly difficult. A combination of living simply and cheaply, having time to breath, being outside and having my eyes opened to this big wide world we live in is just what I need. The difficult stuff is just the good bits for the film or book, that I will never make or write
I haven't gone on this trip , written my blog or posted here with the intention of inspiring anybody but if it does happen to do that to just one person it will have been worthwhile for that reason alone. I'm preaching to the converted here I know but something that has hit me more than anything else on all my trips has been how kind people can be, its effected me deeply so if I can ever get the opportunity to give back I want to take it. Sometimes the smallest gestures can make such a big difference and it's taught me that nothing is ever to small a reason to not do something.
This thread has probably not been much practical help to people regarding touring and it's had next to no information about Thorn Bikes
That's because apart from stuff that wears out, stretches or punctures my Nomad has been perfect.
So now I'm preparing to go back to sunny Hertfordshire and try and sort out a load of stuff so I can continue to do more of these two year trips. Everyone asks me where I'm going next and as usual I have no idea. I'll just see what time I'm all sorted back home, look out the window and decide wether to get on the bike or get on a plane. The world is my lobster as some wise person once wrote.
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