One tour to live?

[Pavel]

I would like to do the southen tier, perhaps next year if my health holds out.  It is a perfect ride from East to West if one leaves early in the year, supposedly about late February to mid March is one of the two ideal starting times.  I've found the Cycling Association maps to be fantastic, but I'm in southern central North Carolina, and so to go north is just two days into some very tough hills, while going south is much more forgiving for one who is out of shape now as I am.  I value those maps because they encourage other cyclist to ride the route and I've found out that people are more welcoming to the strange bunch of dangerous nuts that we cyclists are sometimes perceived to be out in these parts, and that services are far easier to get.  Especially water.  Out on this overpopulated east coast, it seems that services exist right next to the major roads.  There are many wonderful small roads in these parts, but all day long once cycles by old sixties and seventies era closed gas stations and stores.   
My problem is being away from my cats and dogs, and yet I dream of three months plus road trips.   How wimpy is that?

[Andre Jute]

I would like to do the southen tier, perhaps next year if my health holds out.

As a student I crossed the US both ways by Greyhound on one of those $99* tickets that let you ride any route once in each direction for six months. I deliberately took no reading matter, so that I spent my time on the 'hound listening to people. But I've often wondered if the Greyhound will take your bike, as busses here in Ireland do (mind, it's in the discretion of the driver, so don't try it in the rush hour or after lunch on Friday when the students are going home to the countryside).

But what I hanker for, though I never did it on a bicycle, only a few times by car over fifty years ago, is Autumn (in American English Fall) in New England. The colours of those trees are truly glorious. Won't happen of course, but we can dream of some kind lady who'll undertake to look after our cats and foxes and hedgehogs for a couple of months... On a bicycle you'll have to choose your place and time carefully, probably moving from the Canadian border downwards as the trees turn from the last week in September to the middle of October.

The thing is that practically, my Round Ireland on the Little Roads Beside the Sea, from guesthouse to guesthouse by daily rides manageable on the right bicycle, is much more accessible (for instance, within my cycling experience), planable and therefore possible. I don't see it as a shrinking horizon -- I've been to all the continents and places of note -- but a more detailed progress than the mad dashes of one's youth.

I hope your health does improve, Pavel.

* I know, everyone else remembers those tickets as being a $199, but I distinctly remember that at the time it was $99.

[Pavel]

I would like to do the southen tier, perhaps next year if my health holds out.

As a student I crossed the US both ways by Greyhound on one of those $99* tickets that let you ride any route once in each direction for six months. I deliberately took no reading matter, so that I spent my time on the 'hound listening to people. But I've often wondered if the Greyhound will take your bike, as busses here in Ireland do (mind, it's in the discretion of the driver, so don't try it in the rush hour or after lunch on Friday when the students are going home to the countryside).

But what I hanker for, though I never did it on a bicycle, only a few times by car over fifty years ago, is Autumn (in American English Fall) in New England. The colours of those trees are truly glorious. Won't happen of course, but we can dream of some kind lady who'll undertake to look after our cats and foxes and hedgehogs for a couple of months... On a bicycle you'll have to choose your place and time carefully, probably moving from the Canadian border downwards as the trees turn from the last week in September to the middle of October.

The thing is that practically, my Round Ireland on the Little Roads Beside the Sea, from guesthouse to guesthouse by daily rides manageable on the right bicycle, is much more accessible (for instance, within my cycling experience), planable and therefore possible. I don't see it as a shrinking horizon -- I've been to all the continents and places of note -- but a more detailed progress than the mad dashes of one's youth.

I hope your health does improve, Pavel.

* I know, everyone else remembers those tickets as being a $199, but I distinctly remember that at the time it was $99.

Dream are to life Andre, what spice is to food.  The Fall foliage here in the NC mountains is a close second to that of New England, should you want to come visit me.

[Andre Jute]

The Fall foliage here in the NC mountains is a close second to that of New England, should you want to come visit me.

Hah! That would be a fine thing! Regrettably, for me the Carolinas are as far away as New England. I doubt I shall see them again. I worked under Dr Rhine at Durham for six months as part of my education, and did actually catch the changing of the foliage, and a few of years later from a base in Asheville I conducted a market research project for my ad agency and again caught the Fall just right. This sweet girl and I used to cycle out into the woods for picnics... The bicycles had fat tyres with whitewalls -- yea, really; no idea where the bikes came from or what their purpose was; they were certainly heavy with superfluous doubled curving top tubes and pressed steel fenders. Slainte!

[John Saxby]

Pavel,

My problem is being away from my cats and dogs

Don't be too hard on yourself, mate.  Any travel we consider depends in the first instance on the availability of our cat/house-sitter.  Long ago, when I met my wife-to-be, I thought of cats as barn animals, a product of my upbringing, I guess.  We humans had to be kind to the creatures, but it was essentially a benign feudal type of relationship, with mutual rights and obligations, but a clear hierarchy.  For my wife, however, the cats are really small furry people; so as you may imagine, I have had to make a major conceptual/emotional adjustment. I'm not quite as daft as Marcia, bless her, about our two, but believe me, they've been a welcome source of company and laughter in these COVIDian times.

Cheers,  John

[steve216c]

One tour to live is almost like Desert Island Disks where we imagine the perfect scenario of how it ought to be if faced with this situation.

Faced with my own mortality (a stroke at 49) I decided to stop putting off the desire to get a Rohloff bike and bought one as an early 50th birthday present. One last tour? I was happy to be motivated to ride most days.
Another mortality challenge… Covid and lockdown. Work from home or volunteer to go to office? Despite being medically vulnerable I plumped for the daily commute (tour?)just to use my bike 5 days a week for a reasonable distance.
2 years into Rohloff ownership and another existential challenge with stage 3 cancer diagnosis. I spend much of last year unable to ride my bike for the best part of January through September. I’m coming to the end of my treatment (about 8 weeks to go) but I’m happy to be fit enough to be working and commuting by bike most days again despite chronic issues that might never go away.

One last ride? I don’t think the where is as important as being able to. On my bike riding to work, through the park or just pottering about is escapism from the realities of my own mortality. On my bike my mind often wanders freely and is a place I can be temporarily freed from the chains of work and doctors appointments which rule my life currently.

Aerosmith sang “life‘s a journey not a destination‘. So regardless of destination, let that journey be powered by my Rohloff and free of traffic. That would be my tour, following my nose to wherever I need to go that day.

Or New Zealand.