Being a nomadic biker: what we've learned so far

The bike touring lifestyle has been a blast so far...

You are always living in the moment: Where to get the next meal (or three), where to sleep, where to relieve yourself. Its very refreshing. We spent so long looking forward to this trip and living in the future but now we are in the moment.

You always have a perspective of the entire country when you visit a little town: When you roll into another rediculously cute town, many of the tourists there (if there are any this time of year) have arrived by car or train. But we have had the priveledge of seeing the spaces in between towns, the endless, green fields, the thousands of sheep, and the anticipation of an approaching town as a city hall tower grows larger and larger in the distance. Each town is a welcomed pause in our adventure.

You have to eat...constantly: Our daily routine revolves around caloric intake and where to get it, cheaply. In the morning, after packing up camp, we usually drink a pint of yogurt beverage, eat a banana, and some sort of leftover bread thing. Then we ride our bikes to the nearest town and pillage their bakery. We have to order enough baked goods for second breakfast and lunch. I swear the baker has to say 'Anything else?' at least 4 times, usually 5. We eat half of our loot and somehow stow the rest away in our bulging panniers. (Let me just say, the baked goods here are delicious, beautiful, well crafted items. These people are spoiled.) For second lunch we eat whatever edible item is floating in our panniers. For dinner, we swing by a grocery store near camp that evening and buy more carbs, usually pasta and all the fixins. We cook that up on our stove at camp and snarf away. We found that it's important to eat regularly, every 15 miles or so, otherwise crankiness settles in...

This trip has been a learning experience and well worth it!

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