Bike touring has its challenges. But this is where the memories are made. This is my “what you don’t see” on social media blog post. Social media has a way of showing only the good times. But there are also the physical and mental challenges that come with living on a bike that, for the most part, you don’t see on social media.
Fellow cycle tourists can appreciate a lot of what I am about to write. And we all have our ways of dealing with these challenges. I had the additional privilege of being able to experience some of the winter challenges that many cycle tourists don’t get to enjoy. (A bit of tongue-in-cheek there).
Winter Bike Touring Challenges
- I remember being so tired at 4 PM, for example, and it being pointless to set up my tent to take a nap because it was the middle of winter.
- And the reason I would be so tired at 4 PM was that I would toss and turn all night in my sleeping bag until 4 AM because I slept horribly in the cold, even though I would be exhausted and actually enjoyed winter camping in the tent.
It’s no fun packing up your tent looking like this
- My bike bags (panniers) were regularly caked in snow and ice, and I had to put them in my dry tent, knowing they would melt inside my tent.
Piling all this gear in a dry tent is nothing to look forward to
- Putting on cold cycling clothes in the morning. I would change out of my daily biking clothes every night into sleeping clothes to let my biking clothes air out.
- I ate my meals in restaurants because I discovered that I hated cooking in the cold because it was too difficult. Your fingers would freeze, and it would be nearly impossible to do dishes because everything would stick.
Summer Bike Touring Challenges
- Did you know sweat-soaked clothes don’t dry overnight? And they are cold and sticky to put back on in the morning (when the mornings are cooler).
- Sweat-soaked clothes get heavier each day.
- Getting in your tent with your hair being drenched in sweat.
Saturated in sweat tends to suck
- Needing a bathroom in the morning when you are stealth camping.
- And being anxious if you are going to need a bathroom in the morning when you are stealth camping.
- Having difficulty finding a place to stealth camp, and then it gets dark.
- Your battery packs are starting to drain.
- 6+ days without a shower. I believe my record is 14 days.
- Running out of clean clothes.
- Being soaked from the pouring rain.
Soaking wet from the rain isn’t much better
- Setting up your tent in the rain.
- Making supper/breakfast in the rain.
- Biking 8+ hours a day in hot, cold, or rainy conditions.
- There is always one last hill to your destination.
- When you can smell your clothes in your tent.
- Facing (and actually) climbing steep mountains.
- All your gear and bags are wet from the rain, and you have to put them in your dry tent
- Setting up a wet tent.
- Setting up camp and making meals with 1,000+ mosquitoes buzzing around your head.
- All the different noises that forests make. Was that a bear or your imagination?
- Sleepless nights because of hearing car traffic from the highways all night.
- Being stuck in an absolute downpour and having nowhere to go but to continue pedalling.
- On cool or cold days, being drenched in sweat when you climb hills (also a factor in the winter).
- Climbing in your tent with soaking wet clothes on.
Most People
Most people have experienced many of these experiences (soaked from rain or sweat), but then they go home and have a nice warm shower and feel great. Not a cycle tourist.
Other Bike Touring Challenges
Potentially, another challenge for many cyclists is loneliness. Fortunately, I can not really speak to this as I don’t really get lonely, whether I don’t see anyone all day or all week. I did a YouTube video about loneliness – HERE. I also did a YouTube video about fear that can be found – HERE.
Being away from home. This would also be another challenge that I don’t really have to deal with. I was a long-haul truck driver for 6½ years leading up to my bike ride. Finding a new place to sleep every night is nothing new for me. Actually, I was homeless and living in my truck for the last two years leading up to my latest bike ride.
In front of my old truck
Concluding Thought
I loved living on my bike and finding a new place to sleep virtually every night. And for all the challenges – I just dealt with them. What problems can be helped and solved through other people are usually solved through other people. The challenges that I’m required to face by myself, I simply face. On a side note, all the challenges and discomfort described in this post are what make the greatest and life-changing memories and best stories.
