Wish I wasn’t here.

[Crankarm]

This has only happened to me twice in all the years I’ve been touring.

First time I took the advice of a French cyclist (**** !!) who said that rather than go the flat way from St Etienne to Lyons I should go over the Col de la Republique. I pedalled 400 yards uphill then pushed the laden touring bike for 6 hours up around the hairpin bends to a campsite two thirds of the way up.

Second time I had meandered across France, Spain and Portugal and was stood on a hot July morning in Porto station wondering which was the quickest way to go home. Quite randomly I chose a train going east for 125 miles. It cost £5 and was the finest train journey of my life - a single track railway following a canyon along the river Douro. I just wheeled the bike onto the train and had the third class carriage to myself. The terminus was 60 miles from the Spanish border. It was like a one street cowboy town, but no people, dogs, horses and definitely no saloon. The next two days were purgatory because of the lack of water. Interestingly, part of the journey was on highly elevated brand-new dual carriageways paid for by the European Union and used by one car every 10 minutes.

( As an off-topic aside, this dual carriageway should have been built in England along the east coast. From where I live it takes 90 minutes driving along picturesque scenic roads to get to the motorway network, and these roads are cluttered with pesky cyclists in their little lycra shorts and bulging calves and the men are just as bad)

What’s your worst trip?

This some one, maybe you, is not cut out for cycle touring. I mean chickening out and taking the train because of a little hill ………..

 

[Crankarm]

My worst ride was probably my last one, actually. Not last one, ever, don't worry.

I had cycled out on a very hot, very sunny July afternoon - to a town 30KM away, to test out myself on a fully-loaded touring bike - packed with everything I thought I was going to take on my cross-country trip next year.

I didn't take enough water, and began to suffer from dehydration. Really, really bad dehydration. I rode the last ten kilometers totally dehydrated and suffering from heat stroke.

I got home, had food and water, threw up, went to bed at 7PM, and didn't wake up for about 14 hours. I spent the next day rehydrating and eating. That was the worst I've ever felt, ever.

Only 30km! That's only about 18 miles. You must have been dehydrated before you even started. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail.

 

[jhawk]

Only 30km! That's only about 18 miles. You must have been dehydrated before you even started. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail.

Quite true. Maybe I was. I was dehydrated afterwards, that's for damn sure.

 

[Nigeyy]

No doubt it about me.... about 3-4 years ago (I just want to forget!), Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Flew in day 1, flew out day 2. In between experienced some of the hottest weather recorded in Canada, with (and with apologies to people from Windsor, Ontario) some of the dullest flattest most boring scenery. Add in a head wind that felt like a blow torch, hardly any shops to buy water from and almost passing out through dehydration, a complete lack of shade, a lack of campsites.... and huge amounts of solar glare with gravelly hard shoulders with a higher than expected frequency of traffic.... After one miserable sun tortured day, I realized this was just not enjoyable. Abandoned tour and went back to airport to fly back. Never regretted it!

Yeah, I was really glad to get home.

 

[HelenD123]

No doubt it about me.... about 3-4 years ago (I just want to forget!), Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Flew in day 1, flew out day 2. In between experienced some of the hottest weather recorded in Canada, with (and with apologies to people from Windsor, Ontario) some of the dullest flattest most boring scenery. Add in a head wind that felt like a blow torch, hardly any shops to buy water from and almost passing out through dehydration, a complete lack of shade, a lack of campsites.... and huge amounts of solar glare with gravelly hard shoulders with a higher than expected frequency of traffic.... After one miserable sun tortured day, I realized this was just not enjoyable. Abandoned tour and went back to airport to fly back. Never regretted it!

Yeah, I was really glad to get home.

2010? I cycled through Ontario that summer in a heat wave. It hit 40C at times but I was surprised that I coped OK with it. Someone I met en route had a terrible time in an overheated hostel in Toronto.

 

[mcshroom]

One day on my first long tour round Scotland a few years back.


Started with me trying to explain to a trainee at work how to operate a system I had used once myself, without the manual and hanging out of a dorm window at Braemar SYHA.

Then set off over the Cairnwell pass (with 4 panniers and a tent) into torrential rain and southerly gales strong enough to force me off the bike and brace it against the wind three times on the way. Got to the top and the rain stopped but you couldn't see anything because of the cloud.

That's just touring though. The annoying part of the day was trying to find somewhere to camp. First I went to the campsite marked on my map in Blairgowrie, only to find that it had become caravans only, then the next one, also now just caravans, and the next was the same. I took advice from a local cyclist and ended up riding to Cupar Angus (I think) which he promised had a campsite but it didn't exist, thought about jumping into a field but as I was going to some tractors turned up to harvest the field (in the dark), and eventually rode all the way to Scone CCC site just outside Perth.

Turning down their driveway I couldn't see the post hole in the middle at the bottom of the hill under a puddle, hitting it at about 25km/h, spinning the bars in the stem clamp, and almost going head first over the bars. FIxed this (in pitch darkness by this point) and then rolled to the campsite just in time to put my tent up in the pouring rain (which continued all night), and discover the groundsheet had started leaking

Still it was an experience and a great tour, just a lousy horrible day.

 

[Nigeyy]

If that was the hot summer, then yes! I had a difficult time. I think I could have toughed it out, but then I asked myself, why? Tours are meant to be enjoyable. One of the biggest problems for me was solar glare too -just didn't anticipate how bad it was going to be -and combined with the fact I felt like I had to cycle more out into the road (hard shoulders were gravelly) it just didn't work out...... And well, the scenery just didn't cut if for me either. Notable lack of shade out there as well, very different from cycling where there are more trees.

2010? I cycled through Ontario that summer in a heat wave. It hit 40C at times but I was surprised that I coped OK with it. Someone I met en route had a terrible time in an overheated hostel in Toronto.

 

[Tigerbiten]

This year was probably cycling into Budapest in monsoon like rain only to have my hydraulic brakes fail.
I looked at the DC bridge which is the way out of Budapest on EV6 and thought this looks/is suicidal to try to cross in this weather and in the rush hour traffic with no real working brakes.
It's the first time I've really thought that about cycling on a road.
So it was then trying to find a hotel to hole up in until I could get new brakes from England.
I think it was fifth time lucky, I found a cheap hotel where not only could I stay but I could also store the trike-trailer out of sight.
Six days latter I crossed the bridge on a sunny morning and it was easy.

 

[Low Roller]

This some one, maybe you, is not cut out for cycle touring. I mean chickening out and taking the train because of a little hill ………..

Dear Crankarm, thank you for your encouraging but somewhat grouchy response. I suppose having pedals regularly inserted into your orifices doesn't help you any. Perhaps I can give you some encouragement.: (1) make sure they are not cross-threaded and (2) use plenty of lubrication.