Touring and Boredom

[dellzeqq]

I've probably got one big ride in me, but, Time's Winged Chariot is hurrying near, and, if I don't do it soon, I will never do it.

What worries me is this...if I set off for a month on the road, will I get bored? Will it degenerate in to simply being something that I can say I've done?

I love day rides, and I love London to John o'Groats, but LEJoG (or, at least, days two, three and the first half of four out of five) left me cold - only the company sustained me. I have done week long tours on the Continent, but that was less about getting from A to B than busting passes and drinking the wine. I detest Audax's, because they go nowhere, and the course means little to me.

The sad truth is that I crave entertainment. I want each moment to be meaningful. I'm concerned that traversing (say) Iowa might be a tad...samey. And boring.

I appreciate this is an individual thing, but if anybody has wrestled with the same dilemna I'd be interested to know how you thought it through.

 

[TimP]

Comes down to daily planning - make sure that each day has something to it (rather than just being x miles closer to your arrivee of three weeks hence).

Try and get interesting places to finish each day - get your riding done by 4pm so that you have time to explore your destinations - look at their architecture, the bars, the coffee shops, the boutiques, the wildlife, a tour should be about "Where am I going today? What will I see...".

If you get somewhere particularly interesting take a day off to look deeper, make sure that your plans for the complete journey are suitably flexible to be able to accommodate whimsy in your days.

Look back at the end and stitch together in your mind all it has been and it becomes a long journey, but make sure that each day is an independent event when you are travelling.

If it becomes more of a case of "I've got to get x miles done so that I will get to my destination at the right time" it just becomes a mile crunching exercise - it's a kick for some, and those people are destined to succeed at RAAM.

 

[Randochap]

Touring ... boredom? Does not compute. This is boredom. The bicycle is an escape from boredom.

 

[Cathryn]

I agree with Tim - it's in the planning. Try it - the worst that happens is you get bored and give up. At least you tried. I wondered if I'd be bored towards the end of our month tour but new countries, new languages and new varieties of apple desserts kept me more than occupied. As did the mountains.

I know of some people cycling round the world and they have books and language courses on their ipods which they listen to as cycling. If you're on quiet roads, that could be feasible.

I also think that anywhere flat and anything that follows a river is lethally dull after a day. Go for hills - you'll be too knackered to get bored. Where are you thinking of going?

 

[rich p]

I prefer to tour with a destination in mind that you have to get to rather than an artificial loop. Having said that, I prefer either to anything else I do! Ialso have never toured on my own and I'm not sure what I'd be like on my tod for a long tour. Who would laugh at my jokes or appreciate my witty bon mots?

 

[Percy]

The sad truth is that I crave entertainment. I want each moment to be meaningful.

I'm the same. I went on a big ride looking for adventure and excitement and whilst I got that on occasion there were obviously 'normal' days - lots of them. I would frequently be telling myself 'you're here, enjoy it' while in my mind I was impatient for the next 'adventure' to begin. I did at times even get bored of new towns, buildings, places, people - the sort of things that you would think could sustain your interest forever but like you say, I wanted excitement! And a nice church just didn't cut it sometimes.

I think part of it for me was the challenge of the thing I was doing - how would I cope away in foreign lands for so long (I planned to be away for around a year) and with the people, languages, mountains etc? But after a while I realised I could deal with all that and it was no longer a challenge - it was 'normal', so I wanted another challenge, in my mind. Even physical challenges went the same way. In one section, I rode from the Portuguese coast all the way across Spain and then over one of the highest passes in the Pyrenees. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy riding up hills or across countries after that, just that I knew I could do it so the challenging element of the unknown was missing for me.

I sometimes think it's a shame I couldn't have simply enjoyed the ride for ridings sake, instead of thinking about things like this a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed it! And I've wished I was out there again pretty much every day since I've been back, but I think there will always be an element of my mind that says 'ok, done that. What's next?'

I think you'll find a different mindset sets in after a week or so - I found the first week quite difficult, compared to many of the other weeks, and you do definitely settle into it more. Some might say you get used to the rhythm of the bike, or some such nonsense, but it is true that it takes a while to get used to the relatively slow pace of living life on a bicycle.

 

[dragon72]

My second "big" (>1,000km) tour was a 6 week cycle-camping tour on my own from Trieste, on the Italy-Slovenia border, to Portsmouth, via Venice, Cremona, Piacenza, Turin, Grenoble, Strasbourg, the north of France and Caen where, to be honest I did get a bit bored.

But I only ever got bored of things I had to repeatedly do - i.e. the sodding unpacking and packing of the tent and panniers every evening/morning.

After a while, to turn the tedium into a challenge, I started to say to myself that, if I managed to do the packing or tent set-up quicker than the previous day (and I timed myself), I could reward myself with something nice. Usually an extra course for my evening meal or an (extra) aperitif before it!!

Otherwise the change in locations and languages and local nosh/plonk and scenery and architecture and people more than compensated for the dullness of the routines.

Just enjoy, and think how some people holiday on a costa for two weeks.

 

[Flying Dodo]

I agree about the planning. Start with an atlas, and let it fall open at a random page. Jab a pencil down at random. That's your starting point. Then plan 80 - 100 mile sections from there, incorporating any wiggles or deviations to anything interesting.

 

[andym]

I'm concerned that traversing (say) Iowa might be a tad...samey. And boring..

So don't go to Iowa. Go to places you want to go to.

If you get bored after a week or so then maybe a long tour isn't for you. But equally the ADS may let up as you get into the groove of it. Why not try going for say three weeks, and then if that isn't a disaster think about a longer tour.

 

[MessenJah]

It's what you make of it that counts... so if you end up bored, find something to do... there's always something to do, it just depends how willing you are to look for it...

 

[stoatsngroats]

I've toured for a month in europe, and had an itinery of places to visit. Might not seem much to you, but I've climbed Mt Vesuvius, walked round the Olympic park, in Munich, seen live motor racing, and would've seen a Milan football team live too, if the days hadn't merged into one through some alcohol infusions!

There is plenty to see, (even if it IS still in this country,) you just have to plan so that what's in a given place is available to you when you get there...., then, when you're done, go home, and know that you TOURED, rather than cycled around the place!

 

[Cranky]

When there aren't interesting sights or terrain I find, rather than getting bored, that the rhythm of cycling becomes quite meditative. Meditation and boredom don't mix.

However, in February I was cycling through Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire fenland for about six hours into a headwind. The dead flat, featureless terrain and constant speed of 12mph did become extremely tedious. Also, I had no company on that occasion and realised that, for me, touring is not as enjoyable alone.

Agree with others about the planning of routes to provide an incentive to reach or take in particular points of interest.

 

[Crankarm]

However, in February I was cycling through Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire fenland for about six hours into a headwind. The dead flat, featureless terrain and constant speed of 12mph did become extremely tedious. Also, I had no company on that occasion and realised that, for me, touring is not as enjoyable alone.

Ah the Fens and a strong breeze no better preparation for climbing steep cols. Eddy Merckx was from the flatlands of Belgium and what a climber he proved to be.

12mph...... the head wind couldn't have been that strong. That's just a light breeze. When it really blows you're lucky to be able to reach 5mph and you spin like a windmill reaching it.

 

[Crankarm]

I suppose if you really want adventure or action then try touring around Iraq, Afganistan, Sierra Leone or Somalia.

 

[Randochap]

Meditation and boredom don't mix.

"If we are to save ourselves from spiritual materialism, and buddha-dharma with credentials, if we are to become the dharma without credentials, the introduction of boredom and repetitiousness is extremely important. Without it we have no hope.

"Boredom is important because boredom is anti-credential. Credentials are entertaining, always bringing you something new, something lively, something fantastic, all kinds of solutions. When you take away the idea of credentials, then there is boredom.

"In order to cut through the ambition of ego, we must understand how we set up me and my territory, how we use our projections as credentials to prove our existence. The source of the effort to confirm our solidity is an uncertainty as to whether or not we exist. Driven by this uncertainty, we seek to prove our own existence by finding a reference point outside ourselves, something with which to have a relationship, something solid to feel separate from.

"Boredom has many aspects: there is the sense that nothing is happening, that something might happen, or even that what we would like to happen might replace that which is not happening. Or, one might appreciate boredom as a delight. The practice of meditation could be described as relating with cool boredom, refreshing boredom, boredom like a mountain stream. It refreshes because we do not have to do anything or expect anything.…As we realize that nothing is happening, strangely we begin to realize that something dignified is happening. There is no room for frivolity, no room for speed. We just breathe and are there.”

Chögyam Trungpa