From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Mon Mar 10 2003 - 10:45:15 MST
I have a better idea....
-For the days that you need a car, strive, as you are now, for the
cleanest and the most efficient automobile.
-For the days that your car needs are questionable, leave it at home,
and take your bicycle.
Consider taking your bicycle on vacations and on weekends out.
Consider your bicycle as your first means of transport when you
visit someplace new.
Consider family holidays to be a mobile family on n*two wheels.
Consider it as a healthy alternative to sitting in front of the boob tube.
(That American slang describes much of Italian T.V...)
To get you started,
Adventure Cycling Online Journals (400 files available)
http://www.adv-cycling.org/journals/
(I especially enjoy the writings of Willie Weir)
I've been a member of Adventure Cycling since 1980, and can vouch
for their skill in promoting the best aspects of bicycle touring.
While I've not been on any of their organized tours (usually I tour
with one other person or else alone), they often have the maps that
I need, and their reader's stories in their monthly magazine are
inspiring, sometimes giving me ideas of places to bike tour next.
They devote most of their attention to mapping new U.S. routes
(although they are supportive and enthusiastic of bike touring
outside of the U.S., too) and they give organized tours of duration
a few days -- one month.
The Adventure Cyclists monthly magazine is one of the few magazines
that I subscribe to which I read cover to cover. The best part of
this group of people is their attitude. For example, in the
"Companions Wanted" section of the magazine, where folks are seeking
other people to tour with, you will often find these kinds of
descriptions of themselves and their desired route:
"In Shape and Ready to Ride. I am 61 years young male and in good
shape and somewhat experienced in riding long distances. Looking for
someone to share the fun of the road with me...."
"Southern Africa. I'm a Peace Corps volunteer who will be finishing
my service this African winter/northern hemisphere summer and am
looking for cycling partners to explore southern Africa, possibly
Malawi, Botswana, or Namibia. 30-60 miles per day depending on
terrain, road conditions..." [a woman sent this in]
"Counselor, companion wanted for three 16 year old boys who wish
to ride the entire Great Divide route...."
more here:
"Adventure Cycling Companions Wanted"
http://www.adv-cycling.org/journals/
Bike touring is, in my opinion, the best way to experience a new
place because you travel slowly enough to really see/smell the
environment, you eat the local food on the way through (you can eat
as much as you want, so no worry about diets), and you do your best
to communicate with the local people. You're a tourist, but you are
also intimately tied to the area that you are traveling through.
Since my 20s I've bike toured a couple thousand miles on my bicycle,
not huge miles by hardcore biker standards, but I notice that my time
spent on my bicycles is increasing, rather than decreasing, as I get
older.
And if you spend time with your bike, getting to know it as an
intimate friend, it will support you in more ways than just carrying
your weight as you travel. The process of putting my bicycle
together from its pieces and then being totally dependent on it and
myself, in strange foreign places has done more for my confidence
than anything else in the area of learning self-reliance
and self-responsibility, and being open and trusting in the world.
If I'm hot and bothered about something, especially for weeks
at a time, the solution for me is to pack up my bike and go for some
days or more and get a dose of the unfailing warm friendliness
that exudes from humankind.
The Web has been a boon for cycle tourists, telling their stories.
One of the best sites is the Trento site:
"Trento Bike Pages, the portal for bicycle touring and recreational
mountain biking in Europe and the Mediterranean."
http://www-math.science.unitn.it/Bike/
Here's another good one:
"Ken Kifer's Bike Pages" (Travelogues)
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/links/tourlink.htm
Happy Wheeling,
Amara
-- *********************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD email: amara@amara.com Computational Physics vita: ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/ *********************************************************************** "If you postpone a pleasure long enough, it may melt, spoil, die, evaporate, or move away." --Ashleigh Brilliant
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