Does Adventure cycling exist nowadays

[Andy in Germany]

My Daughter thinks that every bike ride is an adventure, especially when there's a chance of finding a new playground in a new town, Horses, or she can make a hiding place in the forest.

 

[Mike_P]

Every outing with my Garmin is an adventure once I go off planned route and ignore it's make a U turn instructions. One day in the depths of York I foolishly followed the U turn instruction only then to get another which when followed resulted in another and so on.

 

[Sallar55]

This guy took a bivvy, a phone and a drone so likely doesn't count as an adventure. All he did was collect a bike from the Giant factory in Shanghai and cycled it back to the Giant sales office in the Netherlands. Just another cycle delivery - not an adventure. Worth watching though.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmdxs_0yYwc

Yes it's an epic ride but nothing compared to the China- home rides people done 20 years ago. Met a guy( tunnelling engineer) told us it's a must do as China is changing fast. Wish we had done a bit of China but other places won. When a big contract was over he hit the road for 6 months that was 20/25 years ago. Today you have the the modern roads China has put in to export its products to Central /South Asia and the west.

 

[Sallar55]

I used to go with a mate and we did not take a map. Wanted to go south of Normandy so get a ferry and then go south.

If your both there then your not lost. We had great adventures and occasionally we even bought a map later.

Though one day in the Tatra mountains my mate tore it in half and gave the best bit away as a very nice French lady was lost.

She was shocked, and we thought it hilarious.

That an adventure.👍if you're lost its just a road that you have never cycled on.

 

[Cathryn]

I love this definition of adventure: An adventure is something you’ve never done before!!

Let’s not get snooty about adventure! I love the definition above because surely anything we’ve not done before carries the element of risk, nervousness and excitement! In that vein, I had a total adventure tonight when I cycled in the dark for the first time in 14 years from home into Marlborough! Not going to make any hipster, award-winning films about it but whizzing through the dark illuminated by my front light was a total adrenaline buzz! Loved it!

 

[Drago]

Explain what you think adventure cycling is.

Cycling through Jamaica while dressed as Merle Haggard.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Adventure cycling is just cycling

I had a total adventure tonight when I cycled in the dark for the first time in 14 years

Fantastic stuff. Riding in the dark is routine for me, must never forget it can be an adventure for someone else. Try and get out on a full moon and clear night if you can. You’ll love it even more.

 

[Jameshow]

I love this definition of adventure: An adventure is something you’ve never done before!!

Let’s not get snooty about adventure! I love the definition above because surely anything we’ve not done before carries the element of risk, nervousness and excitement! In that vein, I had a total adventure tonight when I cycled in the dark for the first time in 14 years from home into Marlborough! Not going to make any hipster, award-winning films about it but whizzing through the dark illuminated by my front light was a total adrenaline buzz! Loved it!

I must have been 16 or so when I cycled from High Wycombe to Littlehampton rtn. First time I had ridden 100 miles (150) and first time to go to the seaside by myself.

 

[Cathryn]

Adventure cycling is just cycling


Fantastic stuff. Riding in the dark is routine for me, must never forget it can be an adventure for someone else. Try and get out on a full moon and clear night if you can. You’ll love it even more.

Exactly!! What’s one person’s normality is a massive adventure to someone else and that stretches across the spectrum!! Yes, we loved it!!!!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Does Adventure cycling exist nowadays​

I think it's long gone,

What an utterly depressing thought. And on the Touring & Adventure Forum!

We carry all the information on the phone, navigation to get anywhere. Garmin wahoo etc with Komoot and other apps to guide you from A to B.

Having access to the information is not the same as using it. Having the comfort of knowing there's a vast pile of info a few finger taps away can give some of us the courage to spread our wings further. We may not even use it when we get there but it's that support that gets us out.

(Let's not forget that the same tech can play a huge part in calming the fears of loved ones at home).

Ironically, if ever there was a navigation app to regularly throw up "Adventure" it's Komoot - and I don't mean that in a positive way.

The only hiccup is the weather

Only hiccup? Only hiccup?
I admire your positive outlook!

What about mechanicals? A global pandemic? Closed borders? Terrorist attacks? A robbery? An accident? Dog attacks? Or bear ones? There's no shortage of folk who headed off on a bike, met their soulmate and totally changed their plans. Is that a hiccup?

Colin Mortlock's book Beyond Adventure, "Mortlock, C. (2001) Beyond Adventure. Reflections from the wilderness: an inner journey."

I feel by saying that there is no more adventure cycling, that you are making a value judgement based on what you see from the outside, rather than what the individual themselves is experiencing on the trip.

That's a very thoughtful reply Chris and a book I'll check out. Thanks for mentioning it.

Labelling is not something I'm comfortable with, although I can see its uses at times but I definitely agree with the overall observations.

Even the most mundane trip can turn into an adventure if you're not properly prepared.

I'd rarely, if ever, suggest for someone to head off without being prepared. There's a difference between levels of preparation and also preparation can be unbalanced.

In the end it boils down to just you and the bike, and what you do with it.

That saved me from a whole lot of typing! 100% agree.

As @chriswoody suggests, it's a state of mind as much as anything else.

Full agreement here. The "head" side of things, though, is something that can often be overlooked in preparations.

Adventure cycling is not having a pre made plan, just a map and today a credit card.

No plan? How does one decide what map to get/use without even the most basic plan?

If you want a discussion on the merits or otherwise of the degree of planning then fair enough.
But laying down the law on what is, or is not, "Adventure Cycling" isn't a good look.

Not carrying a phone would give a real meaning to Adventure cycling.

It might. But any issues with that credit card you're carrying is going to be a whole world of hassle without a phone.
There's the security and comfort it can give to friends and family left behind.

Judging by your posts on here carrying a phone is something you do, no?

Years ago it was not a problem finding accomodation if a b&bb / hotel/ hostel was full.

I'm thinking there's some rose tinted viewing taking place.

The world is a very small place today.

Yes. Smaller than it was 10, 20, 50, 100 years ago.
So?

If it feels like an adventure it is an adventure.

That's pretty much it!

Yes it's an epic ride but nothing compared to the China- home rides people done 20 years ago

Nothing? A bike ride from China is nothing? Jeez, tough crowd.

told us it's a must do as China is changing fast.

About the only thing I can agree with. The world is always changing. If we want to see a place as we think we know it, the sooner the better.

My Daughter thinks that every bike ride is an adventure, especially when there's a chance of finding a new playground in a new town, Horses, or she can make a hiding place in the forest.

Tapping in to our inner child is no bad thing. At all.

There's a moving little anecdote in Jenny Graham's account "First Coffee, then the world". A very accomplished cyclist and adventurer, she's at the starting line of her attempt to cycle around the world faster than any woman (and lots of men) before, totally unsupported but there's a young fella there to join her on his first big adventure - a 100km ride to visit his Grandfather.
The scales of the "adventure" facing both might be worlds apart but his attempt is recognised and remembered by her for what it is - to him - and features in a great book.
Written several years after she completed her quest - and broke the record - I find it very heartening that this little story made it to the final book.

Adventure is what's between our ears and beating in our chest.
Feck the begrudgers.

 

[Venod]

As a 12 year old the first ride I remember as an adventure was a 15 mile ride to Grimethorpe ( what a name) whith friends similar age to see their cousin, not far and not pretty, but it's still there in my memory at 71, there have been many other adventurous rides over the years none of them epic or life changing but a lot of them memorable for the sense of adventure feeling they brought to me, I hope that feeling is still there on some future rides.

 

[dimrub]

As for the world becoming smaller - don't count on that in the long run. One's world can suddenly become very small indeed - not in a sense of being able to go whenever you want to, but the opposite of that, not being able to go pretty much anywhere. It could be temporary, like due to a pandemic we've all recently experienced, or it could be a more lasting phenomenon.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

The definition of adventure that has continued to resonate with me over the years, is that it's anything you embark upon that has 'an uncertainty of outcome'. But not simply whether you're going to succeed, but how you're going to feel and cope along the way. The classic adventure that's always quoted is romance, marriage and even life in general. You can research, plan, practice all you like, but there is no certainty of outcome - you have to deal with everything that crops up along the way, come what may.

The same is true of any cycle tour; you can plan to the nth degree and have all the kit in the world, but if prior to embarking you feel a degree of 'nervousness' about how it's all going to pan out, then that's an adventure. It's not routine. But the only judge is you - there is no absolute scale of adventure.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It must be sad that the OP has not been on an adventure for a very long time. Luckily the rest of us continue to have them.

 

[Sallar55]

It must be sad that the OP has not been on an adventure for a very long time. Luckily the rest of us continue to have them.

Touring and Adventure cycling posts have been thin on the ground lately.
Perhaps Ming can kick start a flurry of posts and pictures, after all LEL and PBP were unusual this year due to the warmer weather. The weather can add a sense of adventure to any ride. As I said before having all the world's knowledge on the phone waters down the Adventure 😂