Few Thoughts

OK, a bit of ado after all. I wanted to share some thoughts to better understand my mindset.

My Equipment

My bike is German-made, called TourTerrain, it has a belt drive and an 18-speed Pineon gear-box. This is a great touring bike, it is by no means light, but for that, sturdy.

The new trend in cycling is bike packing, with the riders having light road bikes, with only essential equipment attached to the frame. I am a member of the old school, with not less than 5 water-proof large-size Ortlieb bike bags, two smaller ones in the front, two large ones in the back and one on the handlebar.

What for?, you might ask. I schlep around a tent, sleeping bag, an inflatable mattress. I dislike wearing dirty clothes, so I have like 8 T-shirts, the same number of underwear and socks, two pairs of shoes (one of these is a pair of sandals with clips), three bike shorts, two jumpers, a light wind jacket, two small towels (one for the shower, the other for swimming), a pair of swimming trunks and a warm pair of trousers. In terms of weight, it is quite a luxury, I have thought of cutting down on the clothes, but somehow I prefer carrying this, with the benefit of putting on clean clothes each day, then washing these once a week. I also have my toiletry bag, a head-light and a few maps. There are also a few power banks for my phone - which got to play a rather central role on this trip. Oh, I also carry two water bottles, and a large Lidl bag for food, which was rather handy in many places. So all this stuff needs space and the five bags were never empty.

Electronics

Part of the equipment, but worth a separate chapter, is electronics - and here I am referring mainly to my cell phone. This little thing is probably my most important companion. Not only does it help to keep the communication with friends and family, but it helps me navigate - I use Google Maps quite extensively, which not only tells me the distance to the next destination, but also shows where the next lodging or restaurant would be found. Further, it also tracks my trip (through a thing called Google Timeline), so it helps me write this very blog. An important aspect is taking pictures, during the six weeks, I made over 3,000 (!), which is quite a lot (hmmm, one shot every kilometer? or so it seems). Last but not least, I use it to listen to music or talk-shows. So, I was quite a heavy user and this meant a drag on the battery, which is not the strength of my Samsung Galaxy. To overcome this issue, I was carrying the aforementioned power-banks - but then one broke, one was outright stolen from me (yup...) - and even these do not last all too long. When camping - which I did a lot - these have to be charged and that becomes a challenge - as I do not have direct access to electricity.

In the past, I did have a cell-phone charger built into the handlebar, which used power generated by rotation, but it was useless, hardly being able to keep up the level of charging.

I have seen other long-range bikers carrying a solar panel, I made it a point to try that in the future.

So not an easy topic.

Push vs. Drag

I enjoy riding long distances, after all, I am on a bike trip and not on a museum tour. On this trip, I was not always happy with the number of kilometers covered each day and I thought of a model how I can explain my performance.

As said, I have the desire for pushing on. A day is a good one when I cover some 130 km´s, on a ride in the Balkans a year ago, I even made 170 "clicks" in a day. On any trip, things that would drag is related to weather (head-wind, rain, etc.), the terrain (riding uphill, bad, unpaved roads, boring scenery, etc.) or my bodily state (not having slept well, getting tired, etc.). On this specific trip, especially in France, a new factor came in - this was the amazingly rich cultural heritage. Never before had I ridden in a country with so many impressive churches, ancient monasteries, proud chateaus, castle ruins, picturesque villages, medieval towns, inviting sandy beaches with lots of history (just think of Normandy) - as I told someone, I could have easily spent a couple of days in almost every place I had stopped. Often, I spent only a few hours in wonderful places, leaving with a heavy heart, but then there was the infamous Push factor wanting me to ride on. This brings me to the next point.

The French (plus the French Swiss)

Preceding this trip, I had been quite a few times to Paris, then spent a month on the Cote d`Azur, a few days in Lyon and ten days or so in Corsica (here is a link to that trip). Especially true for Paris, I had not had the best impression of the French people and even though Paris is referred to as the city of love, the inhabitants of it are somewhat rude. It was not with the highest expectations that I reached France.

After a couple of weeks spent in the countryside of France (and that of French Switzerland), my opinion changed - completely! Maybe I got lucky, but I met - with just one notable exception - only polite, friendly and accommodating people - and have very pleasant encounters. How many times would someone call to me "Bonjour Monsieur", where in Austria you would be ignored at best or frowned upon. People would smile at me and even cheer me on; "bon courage" would often be called to me, which means as much as "hang in there,” “keep it up,” “you can do it,” - when I was struggling up a huge climb. How many times did I ride in places where I was not supposed to and nobody seemed to care - having a kind of (bearable...) lightness of being. A perfect reminder of the difference in the mindset was when I arrived back to Vienna on a very quiet Sunday morning , rode on a very-very empty street with just one elderly guy walking his dog - he immediately frowned at me, in a disgusting tone, instructing me that the bike path is like 5 meters away. Oh my, mon dieu, mein Gott...

The Food

OK, let us talk about the food. Couple of thoughts: even though I now have a very fond memory of both France and the French people, their cuisine did not impress me. Remember, I usually ride solo on my bike trips and it rather an exception than a rule that I visit a restaurant. First, it does feel a bit lonely, then it takes a long time to be served and then it is also a question of price vs. quality. I did end up dining a few times on this trip and the food was substandard, or, maybe more precise, I was anything but impressed. It was so that I became a regular at fast-food restaurants, notable McDonald´s, which in France is called "McDo" (in Austria, "Mäki"). They are fast, have the same quality everywhere (which is so-so), serve a good salad (when available...) and offer a good price level. Price is also a question in Switzerland, where everything is more expensive by a factor of 2, or even 3, than in Austria (or France for that matter).