recumbent tour

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A tour for peace, freedom, love, wisdom

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The journey?

A proposed journey to Asia by bycycle, to somewhere, then to somewhere else, maybe almost certainly starting from here, but things can and surely will change. No timescale, no budget, but big dreams are the fuel that will pedal me far.

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Bike No.1 Raleigh Detour Delux

....now for sale..? 😊

A nice bike which I dressed up with all the relevant equipment, carriers, bags, bottles, spares, welded and braced the frame because of all the extra weight and set off on a few short test rides, enjoying the sensation of travelling autonomous, but always finishing the day with a sore ass that no matter how many seats, suspension seat posts I tried, never seemed to give any relief. I found that beyond 50km my comfort could not be maintained and was just a matter of will and endurance after that, which is not fun and finally I decided travelling everyday like this would soon lose its romance.

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Bike No. 2 Azub recumbent

....not for sale...! 😞

why a recumbent?

I talked with a good friend of mine...Fabien, who would love to talk to anyone for hours and hours and hours if you have any technical queries about the Azub recumbent, Roholf or Magura braking system...you can contact him through his travel blog at where he may even delay his travelling plans even further...! to talk with you about anything at all for hours and hours and hours......sorry private joke 😊 anyway I talked for hours and hours about this problem with Fabien, who was also thinking of travelling this way and had been looking into recumbents, so after researching the available models and designs and trying a 'condor' for the first experience, proved to be very inspiring, immediately I could imagine travelling long distances this way, very comfortably and more importantly no more sore ass…!

We came upon another brand 'Azub' which seemed to be more substantial, its design being conceived specifically for touring the world. With the help of Cyclable in Toulouse, they ordered three for our little group that was emerging at the time. Then it was a long three months twiddling fingers waiting impatiently for these bikes that were to carry us away on our dreams.

The time finally arrived, they had been hand built to our specification and were waiting to be picked up from the shop, who were also wanting the final payment to be made. I had invested all of my travelling money that I had been saving, which could have flown me to numerous destinations worldwide, so this bike was going to have to work very well to justify this.

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The handling?

Once the initial 'getting used to it' was over which involved a very embarrassing start from the shop, we arrived there early in the morning, stayed all day talking about how it all worked and setting things up, to set off at a sensible time of 7.30pm, dark, heavy traffic, cold with about 50 km to make. Like professional travellers we mounted our bikes, took photos because this was where it all starts, clipped our new shoes into the pedals and…….crash…..fell sideways with my feet still securely clipped in, yes the bikes and these clips do require a bit of getting used to, but a few more wobbly moments and cars giving s a good wide berth, we were off.

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Yes they take a bit of practice and at first and I was not too sure if I had made a mistake or not, but now with a new set of recumbent leg muscles, which have quickly grown now after 600 km I have no doubt it will prove to be a great way to travel. I can easily cycle 120km with more weight than before, with an average speed of 19 – 22kmh.
I love it, the more I ride it the better it gets.

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Why travel at all?

Initially being in a different country, is a relief, a novelty to the boredom and routine of our over stimulated and comfortably lifestyles, that promotes us to decide to do stupid things like I have done before….even to have the freedom to be able to chose, in the name of fun and entertainment. Is a bit of a wake up when you realise the freedom and choices we have compared to what we see when travelling.
The first few times it is easy to get into the usual tourist traps and vices that these places offer, but very quickly it changed the way I see. The more differences I saw in culture, the more questions it leaves me with and the more I saw myself, the more I thought about everything. There is no one way to live, many ways to live and to think and to act, what is 'normal'? so much prejudice, so much hate and intolerance, because we humans make divisions, divisions cause friction. Travelling opens up this void and made me realise how we judge without true knowledge through experience. We just see through third party information which is often biased for political, financial propaganda.
Travelling makes me humble.
I hold dear in my heart the many simple, financially poor but rich individuals that have shown me so much humanity, love and hope.

I decided travelling with a bike this time will have less impact and deliver the more real experiences than the way I have travelled before. I travel because I do not know what else to do that will deliver me from this capitalistic, destructive, greedy, wasteful human race.
With this very much in mind I hope to find and learn about other ways to live, simple, low impact, economical, healthy living. I will use the wwoofing organisation as stop off points during the journey, to learn about organic farming and different ways of low impact living.
Life is a journey of discovery, so rich now with the available knowledge, we have no excuse not to be living healthier, happier and more free.....

Love, light, peace, freedom.

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For a good long chat.....Mon ami blog info. at 😊

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Comments

[denidax]

I'm looking forward to read about this trip!

[mowgli the mo]

....Thanks, yes I am dreaming too much already. Just a bit more work to do and money to put away, and waiting for the wind to blow in my sails again. Yes we all have to keep moving to remain balanced in life....best wishes to you.

[steve]

looking good ...
Nice one ... looking good so far .... I bet you can realistically add on half again for the 'real' mileage ....