Travelling with my bike such a long way i inevitably want to put a lot of effort into personalizing it to represent both my style and my goal (chasing the sun). I would like your thoughts on my proposed colour schemes: -
Bike
- A black surly, probably matte black. If this isn't possible it will be either white or dark green
Panniers
Back = Black
Handlebar = silver
Front = white
This is to give the dark --> light look ... i.e moving towards the sun
Spokes
All black w/ design (not sure yet because i want to see how it spins.. but probably including a bit of red or white)
Silver with a design (red)
Wheel rim.
Either silver (with black spokes)
or all black.
i am leaning towards silver rim, with all black spokes with red design (to be decided). It'll be interesting to see what it looks like when the bike is moving = )
I'll let you know once i eventually get the bike and paint it.
Til then... have a good one!
Monday, 15 December 2008
Friday, 5 December 2008
Wild Camping
Wild camping is, simply, setting up camp whereever you find yourself at end of a day. Sometimes this leads to amazing campsites that are a 100 times better than any hotel.
On my trip i am planning on doing a large amount of wild camping. Probably 70-80% particuarly in more western countries where accomodation is expensive but also high up in remote mountainos regions (which i am looking forward to as one of the highlights of my trip).
I recently found this website by Alastair Humphreys ( i have his 2 books) a fellow touring cyclist is has cycled for over 4 years around the world. He has posted a link to another fellow cyclist, Peter Gostelow, whose journal is one of the best i have read, website about wild camping with numerous pictures. It really is worth a look.
picture taken by Peter gostelow. You can find his journal by heading to www.crazyguyonabike.com and searching for peter gostelow "a long way home"
Enjoy!
http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/2008/12/wild-camping/
On my trip i am planning on doing a large amount of wild camping. Probably 70-80% particuarly in more western countries where accomodation is expensive but also high up in remote mountainos regions (which i am looking forward to as one of the highlights of my trip).
I recently found this website by Alastair Humphreys ( i have his 2 books) a fellow touring cyclist is has cycled for over 4 years around the world. He has posted a link to another fellow cyclist, Peter Gostelow, whose journal is one of the best i have read, website about wild camping with numerous pictures. It really is worth a look.
picture taken by Peter gostelow. You can find his journal by heading to www.crazyguyonabike.com and searching for peter gostelow "a long way home"Enjoy!
http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/2008/12/wild-camping/
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Message in a trailer
Over the last few weeks i have been watching numerous touring, rock climbing and bouldering trailers and clips on youtube and production sites. I recently found this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfi1iHyhIl0&feature=channel
The message contained in the music and the way it was presented interested me and stuck a chord
I have transcribed the lyrics below but i recommend you watch the trailer.
"Time passes in moments.. moments which rushing past, define the path of a life. Just as surely as they lead towards its' end.
How rarely to stop to examine that path? To the see the reasons why all things happen. To consider the path we take in life is our own-making.. or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed.
But what if we could stop... pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes. Might we then see the endless forks that have shaped a life... and seeing those choices... chose another path."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfi1iHyhIl0&feature=channel
The message contained in the music and the way it was presented interested me and stuck a chord
I have transcribed the lyrics below but i recommend you watch the trailer.
"Time passes in moments.. moments which rushing past, define the path of a life. Just as surely as they lead towards its' end.
How rarely to stop to examine that path? To the see the reasons why all things happen. To consider the path we take in life is our own-making.. or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed.
But what if we could stop... pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes. Might we then see the endless forks that have shaped a life... and seeing those choices... chose another path."
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Mawson's trail
Unfortunately, due to financial circumstances and my insistence that i do my world tour correctly i had to delay it until the start of 2011. However, i have always planned on touring before then.
Initially, i chose New Zealand with its gorgeous sccenery and impressive mountain ranges. However, i then concluded i would want to save this for the final around the world tour as a sort of practice run. Thus i was left with a problem, where to tour, somewhere cheap so in Australia, yet interesting and challenging. I am planning on doing this touring the winter months, 6 months before my departure, so i'd have most of my gear ready.
In my searching i came across the Flinders ranges. Reading about it, its' history, mountain ranges and deserts it seemed like the ideal place to go touring. It would also serve as a crash course on airline travel and bikes (thou i may take a bus). Upon further searching i discovered that there was a route specifically for cyclists that extended halfway of my draft route. Known as the Mawson's Trail it seems like a worthy accomplishment and good starting half of what would be a 2-3 week tour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawson_Trail
Let me know if any of you have any thoughts or other ideas for a touring location.
Video
http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=567353
Initially, i chose New Zealand with its gorgeous sccenery and impressive mountain ranges. However, i then concluded i would want to save this for the final around the world tour as a sort of practice run. Thus i was left with a problem, where to tour, somewhere cheap so in Australia, yet interesting and challenging. I am planning on doing this touring the winter months, 6 months before my departure, so i'd have most of my gear ready.
In my searching i came across the Flinders ranges. Reading about it, its' history, mountain ranges and deserts it seemed like the ideal place to go touring. It would also serve as a crash course on airline travel and bikes (thou i may take a bus). Upon further searching i discovered that there was a route specifically for cyclists that extended halfway of my draft route. Known as the Mawson's Trail it seems like a worthy accomplishment and good starting half of what would be a 2-3 week tour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawson_Trail
Let me know if any of you have any thoughts or other ideas for a touring location.
Video
http://getaway.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=567353
Why? a brief history
Those who find this page may wonder, why is he doing this? And perhaps more importantly how did he come to this pathway.
I have always been interested in bikes. From an early age i used to ride to school, down the dusty streets of a desert outpost town, around the corner and then safely into the waiting arms of teachers. It wasn't too scary, at least i don't remember it being. My own problems back in those days was my jumper (not sure why i had it considering desert temperatures) wrapping in my BMX chain.
Yes i must admit my first bike was a BMX. I've long shied away from such creations, abandoning them to the realm of tricks and flips. A long time passed, everyday i would ride to school, but bikes in my mind where limited to a simple method of getting from point a to point b without having to worry about being dropped at school.
Several years went by and i ended up in Canberra, one of Australia's leading hotspots for mountain biking. This interested me enough that i bought a medium quality bike, Giant Yukon, and would ride the 1 hour needed to reach the best tracks on a weekly basis. It was enjoyable, but i never took it seriously. Once my bike was stolen a year later i did not get on a bike for another year.
But that time would be different. I was living in Copenhagen Denmark and a friend came up to me and said "I am thinking about going to the island of Bornholm and riding around it, are you interested". Now at this stage i had nothing to do, but i did fell a niggling to stay at home and relax. However, in a single moment that has most definately changed the course of my life, i threw out the voices of comfort and security and agreed. Two days later i was on the island, with crappy rent-a-bikes, a backpack and no panniers. Indeed, i had no idea what panniers were at the time. Over the next two days i had a blast.
Over the six months that followed, i cycled around Denmark (twice), i randomly went down to Germany and within perhaps the 5th hour knowing an American girl, set off again on rent-abikes and no panniers, a quick 3 day trip from Konstanz, across SUI, AUT and GER to Fussen. To put the trip into a few words, i had an amazing time and made a lifelong friend (who i hope to tour with extensively in the future). I then cycled Normandy.
Several months later, i met an Australian girl who before she came on exchange went to another major city in Denmark and rode around for a week. This astounded me. This person had come to a strange country and before settling in went riding around parts of the country for herself. I had been planning on riding to NOrway and thus it was settled. I fixed up a broken bike, hired panniers and set off up across Denmark and up into Norway.
Eventually, upon reaching Norway, the high costs and cold temperatures shortened our trip, yet on this first medium-length tour, i had learnt so much and it continued my passion for touring.
So where am I now?
Ever since that fateful Bornholm tour i have been reading numerous journals and books on bike touring and have it firmly stuck in my head that as soon as i have enough money i am going to tour the world. That is where i am at now and that is primarily what this journal is focused on - my musings of an Icarian nature.
The journal will be structured so that each post deals with a topic relevant to my journey that is currently on my mind. Feedback and information is greatly appreciated. Night.
I have always been interested in bikes. From an early age i used to ride to school, down the dusty streets of a desert outpost town, around the corner and then safely into the waiting arms of teachers. It wasn't too scary, at least i don't remember it being. My own problems back in those days was my jumper (not sure why i had it considering desert temperatures) wrapping in my BMX chain.
Yes i must admit my first bike was a BMX. I've long shied away from such creations, abandoning them to the realm of tricks and flips. A long time passed, everyday i would ride to school, but bikes in my mind where limited to a simple method of getting from point a to point b without having to worry about being dropped at school.
Several years went by and i ended up in Canberra, one of Australia's leading hotspots for mountain biking. This interested me enough that i bought a medium quality bike, Giant Yukon, and would ride the 1 hour needed to reach the best tracks on a weekly basis. It was enjoyable, but i never took it seriously. Once my bike was stolen a year later i did not get on a bike for another year.
But that time would be different. I was living in Copenhagen Denmark and a friend came up to me and said "I am thinking about going to the island of Bornholm and riding around it, are you interested". Now at this stage i had nothing to do, but i did fell a niggling to stay at home and relax. However, in a single moment that has most definately changed the course of my life, i threw out the voices of comfort and security and agreed. Two days later i was on the island, with crappy rent-a-bikes, a backpack and no panniers. Indeed, i had no idea what panniers were at the time. Over the next two days i had a blast.
Over the six months that followed, i cycled around Denmark (twice), i randomly went down to Germany and within perhaps the 5th hour knowing an American girl, set off again on rent-abikes and no panniers, a quick 3 day trip from Konstanz, across SUI, AUT and GER to Fussen. To put the trip into a few words, i had an amazing time and made a lifelong friend (who i hope to tour with extensively in the future). I then cycled Normandy.
Several months later, i met an Australian girl who before she came on exchange went to another major city in Denmark and rode around for a week. This astounded me. This person had come to a strange country and before settling in went riding around parts of the country for herself. I had been planning on riding to NOrway and thus it was settled. I fixed up a broken bike, hired panniers and set off up across Denmark and up into Norway.
Eventually, upon reaching Norway, the high costs and cold temperatures shortened our trip, yet on this first medium-length tour, i had learnt so much and it continued my passion for touring.
So where am I now?
Ever since that fateful Bornholm tour i have been reading numerous journals and books on bike touring and have it firmly stuck in my head that as soon as i have enough money i am going to tour the world. That is where i am at now and that is primarily what this journal is focused on - my musings of an Icarian nature.
The journal will be structured so that each post deals with a topic relevant to my journey that is currently on my mind. Feedback and information is greatly appreciated. Night.
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