Steady Pedals

So having been back a few days, life is getting back into a normal routine. I’ve also had a bit of time to reflect.

For a few years I’ve really wanted to get a longer tour out of the way. Partly because of the physical challenge, but also the mental one. As someone who likes to have things organised and in control and who gets anxious when they’re not, how would I cope with something more unpredictable ?

In the end both aspects turned out well. In terms of the physical side, it actually wasn’t that much of a challenge, we kept the distances fairly sensible and speeds slow. I stopped worrying about average speeds, even below 10mph, that was still only 5-6 hours cycling a day. Plenty of time for a leisurely start, coffee and lunch breaks and still at campsites by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Sure there were steep hills, but again taking it easy and gearing down eventually got us up them.

The mental challenge was probably tougher, but again not a problem. Not making too many plans was actually quite liberating. As long as I knew there were some options for camps in the direction/distance we were heading, we didn’t worry about booking ahead. In terms of everything else the tour threw at us, I’d decided that it was all part of the experience and the best thing was just to have a laugh about them. This seemed to work quite well.

So what next ? Well I’ve got the long tour out of the way, so that box is ticked. I definitely want to do more and will try and get some shorter tours in this year. That gives me the whole winter to think about next year !