A little inspiration, especially for the ladies....

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OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
This one's a bit different.....

View: https://youtu.be/E4YpEwrnxCA


From Land's End to John O' Groats, mainly off road, solo, by a woman who, I think, is new to cycling.
As far as I understand she has her own outdoors channel on YouTube and there is a lot (and I mean a lot) of plugging of bands but there are some great shots of scenery, some moments of honesty and a few decent tips along the way.
 
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
And something a little different again....


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5xYTzoLasE


Young woman plans to cycle from Croatia to Greece, solo.
She has company for the first week to learn the ropes and then off on her own.
Interesting for not being a "professional" standard production and for the people she meets along the way.
Her second video is a bit more interesting with some unpleasant reality but some great scenery.

Some of the bikes featured wouldn't be classed as "proper" touring bikes (whatever they are)
 
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
I am no fan of Komoot but some may be interested in this....

https://www.komoot.com/collection/1971478/komoot-women-s-slovenia-rally-2023


Excuse the crappy formatting but this is copied from an email (I can't find the text on the website :banghead::banghead:)

(And giving people a little over a week to commit to something in September is also :banghead:)
KNOW SOMEONE UP FOR AN EPIC ADVENTURE?

Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s a friend – either way, the komoot Women’s Rally applications are open and we need you.

You know what happens when women aren’t supported to get out on two wheels? Routes aren’t ridden, laughter doesn’t ring out across the countryside, and muscles are not pushed to their brink… and where’s the fun in that?

With your help, we aim to boost this support. Get the low-down on the komoot Women’s Rallies and share this email with friends, partners, and daughters – all the women in your life.

Volcanoes, cloud forests, gravel trails, and ferry crossings

In January, we wrapped up the GranGuanche komoot Women’s Rally. An epic adventure, it saw 50 women riding across four Canary Islands, along volcanic tracks, and over breathtaking passes. As always, the rally was led by the beaming face of Lael Wilcox, the woman who has been the driving force behind these rallies since day one.


‘The only wrong way to have an adventure is not to go at all. So go have some fun!’
– Lael Wilcox

Lael wasn’t leading a group of pros who crunch the kilometers like they’re granola bars. She was pedaling beside women from all over the world who had two fundamental things in common: They had a bike and had come together for this adventure.

For some, this would be the farthest they’d ever ridden. For others, their first multi-day bikepacking trip. Some had never ridden in groups and many had no idea if they could even reach the end. But you can do anything when you’ve got 49 other women supporting you. Plus frame bag snacks and a lot of laughter.


‘The support given to each other during the rides, like helping each other with a mechanical issue, helped me to have an amazing experience.’
– Cora, Women’s Rally rider.

This ain’t a one-size thing

So what’s the komoot Women’s Rally? Well, it ain’t a one-size thing. The routes are flexible with distance and elevation, and the group splits to cater for different abilities. Some women camp, some head to hotels. Some enjoy trailside picnics, others seek out the most delicious local cafes. There’s no one woman, so there’s no one way.

Why only for women?

Since 2016, the komoot Torino–Nice Rally has been sending cyclists through epic mountain scenery and yet by 2021, still only a handful were women. But the problem wasn’t the women and it wasn’t the route. It was the lack of support, diversity, and inclusivity.

Together with Lael, we knew it was time to put in place an additional rally, one that would support women in bikepacking adventures and encourage those who weren’t convinced they could complete such a route. And support comes in many forms, including the language we use, the flexibility we build in, and the openness with which we communicate.

In 2021, the komoot Women’s Rally clicked into gear for the first time, bringing together women from different backgrounds and abilities to ride the beauty and ferocity of the Torino–Nice route. It was such a success that we did it again the following year, adding another rally in as well. In 2023, we’re running three.

We’re going, are you coming?

This year, we have two more Women’s Rallies coming up:

Ljubljana, Slovenia: 16-23 September – OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS
Tucson, Arizona: 11-18 November
Plus the classic Torino-Nice Rally for everyone: early September
The Slovenia edition is now open for applications until 24 March. Each Women’s Rally is limited to 50 to keep a community feeling and to not overwhelm the often rural villages we stop in.


‘Take a good look at the route and if you think you’ll be able to enjoy it, don't worry about the pace or experience, sign up!’
– Carla, Women’s Rally rider

Got doubts about your ability to take part? That’s cool, you can bring your doubts along for the ride but we can’t promise you’ll be taking them home with you.
 
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
Normally I'd agree but the social media build-up to this has been going on for months - people knew this was coming, knew if they'd want to apply. It's not quite as sudden as it sounds.

That's fair enough. An email today was the first I heard of it.
Having said that, I'm not exactly their target market 😉 and I'm predisposed to judge Komoot poorly ^_^

I'm genuinely glad to know that the word is already out there.
 
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
I'm posting here, but this is really for everyone with a dream - male, female and everyone in between.

Coffee first, then the world (what a great title!) is Jenny Graham's account of her record breaking round the world (unsupported) cycle.

Don't be put off by the subject matter.
Yes, a good chunk of it is a series of daily accounts of astronomical miles/Kms ridden, physical toll, the mental pendulum and uncomfortable sleeping locations.
However, buried in there is a blueprint, a map, that anyone with a notion of having an adventure can follow.
It's all there. The interest, the seizing of opportunities, the serendipity that flows from that, the attempts, the "failures" (felt as such at the time, but hugely beneficial in the longer term), the goodwill and generosity of people - not always beneficial!

There are numerous examples of how she deals with the solo nature of her travel. Podcasts, audiobooks, music lists offered up by friends - she'd listen to the songs and think of the person - all ways of keeping her connections alive and real.

That people who break world records sometimes push up a hill, struggle to fix punctures, get lost and miss their mum is chicken soup for the soul for any budding bike adventurer.

People setting off around the world can have a meltdown with their mapping software and GPS units. ^_^

And for solo adventurers we're never alone. There are always other voices, other parts of us along for the ride. The skill is in mastering which of them we listen to.

Such a journey is a million miles away from my preferences but it's a gripping, educational, motivational and uplifting read.

What it most certainly is not is a travel book. Don't expect to read any great detail of what Russia's like. Or Australia's diverse fauna. Expect to read a lot about bears in Canada, but perhaps not what you'd want to read. There are no TripAdvisor type reviews of famous tourist spots. The Great Wall of China? That's a pick up point for the airport to fly to Australia.

What it is, is an extremely honest account of an extreme adventure. There's very little gloss on the lips and a while lot of grit under the nails. It's real. Dirty real. Painful real. Shocking real.
There's honesty in there that made this reader gasp. Streaks of selfishness, meanness that I think most other writers would omit or polish to deflect but in reality, are the jigsaw pieces that let us see the "real" picture.

I savoured this book slowly, often outside in temperatures well above 30C but when the weather turned cold and wet I continued (if not for as long). It's one of those books, I think, that benefits greatly from being read outdoors, preferably on a bike ride.

Whether your idea is to do similar or head off on a first ever bike adventure there's a whole load of information, really useful information, in there. Feck all of a technical nature, but lots of a reassuring nature. Round the World record holders can struggle to find a comfy saddle!

There's a blueprint for developing the mental strength to undertake such a journey in there. There's no shortage of plans to physically prepare for a bike adventure but there's a dearth of information on how to prepare mentally. This book goes a long way to filling in some of that gap, not in any kind of explicit way, but in a gradual, organic and holistic way. On a round the world trip or a weekend rambling it's the head that gets us through or decides how much (or how little) we enjoy it.

Unusually for a lot of these types of accounts, she talks of her post ride life. That's done with the same honesty as the account of the ride itself. It's not all happy clappy.

For anyone put off by the notion of such a challenging, gruelling ride having any connection to their own I'd point to an incident near the end when, with a booming clock ticking all around her, a finish line in metaphorical sight, her phone drops from her handlebars and is lost on the side of the road for an hour. When she finally locates it, smashed and with the battery separated but beside it, her first instinct is to recognise her good luck in locating phone and battery (not chastising herself for carelessness or the time lost). That's a lesson we can all absorb.

There's very much an unstated lesson in there too about not putting things off. As far as I can make out the route she took (and about the only viable one for anyone wanting to break the World Record) is off limits now.

Given that it is such an accessible book, written without lots of jargon and acronyms I developed the idea that it might just be a book that may be useful for those that are left behind when someone contemplates going off on a bike adventure. It doesn't explicitly address why someone might do such a thing but (despite some of the graphic detail) it paints a picture of goals achieved, satisfaction earned, challenges conquered.
It explains, without ever setting out to, what a solo journey can be like, especially a goal oriented one like this one. It puts into words what, I think, many of us struggle to explain. and how interactions with others can affect us. Just one example, messages received can have a huge effect in terms of content, timing and tone.

Like a village raising a child, a long solo journey isn't actually solo - there's a whole village involved.


Coffee first, then the world by Jenny Graham. A great read.
 

chriswoody

Legendary Member
Location
Northern Germany
I've got a copy here that I'm half way through. As you say, it is a very honest account as well as a good read, she is an amazing character.

Lael Wilcox announced a few months back that she was going to go for the record this coming May. No route published yet, but she may well be looking to be going South of Russia. I'm not sure either if there is a viable route for the record that misses Russia, but she seems to be pressing ahead with her plans. She certainly has a lot of experience of ultra long distance racing and it will be interesting to follow her progress.

Interestingly, she is also targeting 110 days, which was Jenny's original target. So if Lael does break the record, I doubt it will be by much. 124 days to circumnavigate the planet self-supported is an incredible achievement, Mark Beaumont's original self supported record was 194 days.
 
OP
OP
HobbesOnTour
Location
España
she is an amazing character.
I can vouch for that. I met her in Southern Spain as she was doing the final edits to the book. Had a lovely chat - of course, Dumbass had no idea who she was - only that she had been in the GCN video on Colombia! :blush:
A more down to earth character would be hard to find. Wore her achievement so lightly I only discovered it by googling later.

I'm not sure either if there is a viable route for the record that misses Russia
Jenny wrote about considering a route south of Russia, more attractive for missing the "busy" highways of Russia. It seems possible.

124 days to circumnavigate the planet self-supported is an incredible achievement,
Agreed.
The mileage, the daily mileage, day after day for four months is beyond my comprehension.
Terrifying for some, perhaps, (me!) but also inspirational.
I recall reading about (slower) circumnavigations and the slow dawning on me that it really was possible to ride a humble bike around this planet of ours.

The rules for the record attempt too, are interesting and effectively limit the possible routes. Even the "self supported" label is wide open for interpretation. And Guinness make no distinction between supported and not.

One thing that makes me wonder about these types of attempts is what happens if the target isn't achieved? Not to be negative but how does the mentality to ride so many kms a day deal with taking 125 days instead of 110? Goal not achieved and no record earned.
An incredible achievement but does it feel like that?
We can read and watch the success stories but there's very little of the "nearly" people. (What a horrible term!)

A RTW attempt doesn't start on Day 1. It starts, probably, years before and continues on long after the finishing line is crossed.
Just like any bike adventure, really.
That's what I love about this particular book. Jenny has the language, vocabulary, honesty and bravery to make a race around the world interesting and inspiring - even for the likes of me.
 

EltonFrog

Legendary Member
Ooooh! Interesting!
I've never really tried audiobooks, always under the assumption that I'd be doing something else while listening but the idea of listening to sections of the book while doing similar to the narrative sounds very exciting! Very vivid!
Enjoy!

It’s read by the author too, including snippets of the audio diary. I’m about halfway through, she’s just landed in New Zealand. It’s an excellent listen.
 
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