Bike touring is getting popular. Post-pandemic, even more people are thinking and acting differently about life choices, consumption, and travel choices. Often raised by environmental purposes as climate changes or/and by the weariness and meaningless of the routine of life inertia, nowadays, many of us wonder what propels us down the paths of our lives, the direction to take, and the way to take it. From the visit at home of Juliana, a 32 years old Colombian girl, and Nicolas, a 35 years old french man who have already spent 6000 km on their bikes, and from the discussions we had with them, they made us understood the reason they left, the mechanism they employed to achieve their decision, and their personal introspection consequences that occurred on their errand. Today, we will follow them from the birth of their choice to leave their past behind, the flow of freedom accumulated during their journey, and the benefits they collected during their trip. A space to connect you with the fifty shades of traveling by bike.
Leave your past behind
Out of the technical aspect of bike traveling (which we won’t go over since there are tons of good blogs related to it), there is a much more interesting point to explore, to develop, and to understand. It concerns the process of deciding to expose oneself, by the only strength of your body to a journey in which you confront your past comfortable life with the determination you just acquired to retreat from this existence, to get out of your comfort zone and to rebirth into a new person. A new challenge to face up build from a reaction, a discovery, or simply satiety of the last past years you have had. And, of course, the result one can gain by experimenting with such adventure.
For Juliana and Nicolas, leaving their previous organized life, the act of traveling by bike was apprehended differently but their impulse was identical.
When we asked Nicolas, a talented architect, whose career was traced with numerous ambitious projects in an architecture firm, between of those 3 steps (facing his past life and coming upon a will to operate a change, the actual decision to leave by bike for a new reality or the whole effort, physically and morally, needed during the trip) which one was the toughest to experience: «The motivation to travel is not so much linked to the idea of a change of life but rather to a pure desire to discover, to change air, to see the world. There is nothing really difficult about it, on the contrary: it is what pushes you to move and all you need is the impulse. It is rather the decision to leave that is the big step to take. To overcome all the apprehensions, even the anxieties linked to leaving one’s comfort zone (which go from leaving a way of life, a job, close relations, to facing more basically the rotten weather when we decided to leave Lille, France, in October). But once you’ve left, from the first pedal strokes, everything goes away!
For Juliana, a Jr. high teacher in Holland, with no previous bike experience, her answer differs: »I had made the decision of leaving a very settled and comfortable life a bit before starting this trip and passion was the impulse. Actually, to me, it has always been scarier to see too clearly the path that I’m following and to know ahead where I will end up, almost without surprises. That’s probably the reason why I’ve « changed lives » a couple of times. So the most difficult to me was planning something that I didn’t have any idea about (aka: Bikes). I love traveling but getting interested in the technical part of biking was not easy, I thought all bikes were the same and I had no idea how big of a world it is.
Often it is the small things that break our mindset and set us free. We often overcome our fears more easily than we think.
Society builds us but nature frees us
Our lives are governed unconsciously and consciously by society’s dictates! Meaning that our brain assimilates quick habits and behaviors from the environment we endure to. For example, generally speaking, people living in the city would be more stressed than people in the countryside. On the contrary, people living in a quiet environment would be more worried about a sudden loud siren sound than a city person. Social codes are also prevailing in our daily life such as bodily and behavioral codes based on social conventions.
From our environment, we build our inhibitions, excitements, or fears from those codes. Traveling by bike, either on a short term or a long term period, annihilates a huge part of those foundations we construct in ourselves, reinitiates others as our basic survival instincts, primitive skills, strength our physical capacities, and teach us back selfresilience. Traveling by bike, it’s not to fade away from life nor to avoid it, it’s a direct confrontation to its core, a combat against its own deconstruction toward society, an obligation to leave its comfort zone, to adapt to situations in the best rational way, to encounter people more openly! Traveling by bike, it’s not running away from life, it is an act of life!
Nature is in permanent movement, it lives, it expresses itself and it works, but its expression can become, in certain contexts unusual to the modern man, extremely anxious and confusing. Traveling by bike and being part daily to nature wipes out those feelings. It adds a new world to you as Nicolas says; » I have always loved mountains, to get on top, to walk for hours without crossing anyone, to sit and meditate in front of the great landscapes they offer. I need that in my life, so I obviously had to leave Lille one day or another and discover the World to have that in my life. ». Thoughtful, he continues with
« To be on a bike without any other attachment is a pure feeling of freedom! I feel deeply alive on a bike, but nothing is black or white Fred ahahah, I had some good things in my previous life and it would not be fair to say that it was only death. ».
To them, by being minimalist in their expedition, it was a necessity to learn back uncertainty, to experience physical strength, and to value basic needs like water, food, and warmth. A direct confrontation to the world, to apply to all forms of otherness, to accept the danger of their present daily life, to live in the present tense.« The attraction to the unknown, the idea of going to the simplest most basic human needs, the connection with the nature and the incredible feel of freedom of movement that it gives me. »says Juliana who’s past life already took her into this path.
« The harvest is done according to the seed »Estonian quote
Wind on their back( north to south direction is highly recommended from experienced bike travelers as most of the time wind blows north to south or its variants), they pedaled from Lille across France, through Mediterranean coastal Spain down to Andalusia. They reached then Algarve and south of Portugal to start, by the ocean, their ascent back north for their return in France throughout Serra de Estrella, Gerês, Galicia, the basque country, and Lille again.
Both renounced their position and got on their bike. The needs of a soul can trigger different things. Everyone is different. By principle, they settled a low budget (15€/day), they decided to adapt the bikes of Nicolas’parents (hybrid bikes) to their sizes, and riding preferences, added racks, and little accessories. They collected different things from friends (tent). Bivouac was their preference, even if it demands a tougher organization and gives a slower pace (weight), so they bought sleeping bags. Already eco-responsible in their previous life, Juliana and Nicolas have been reducing their approach of consumption and are vegetarians. By being self resilient, they adopted their will of being eco responsive, powered by the only energy of their legs.
Meeting people is a leitmotiv for most bike travelers. The perspective of others changes radically when you meet them. Without any shell, on a bike, you show your vulnerability, and a sort of trust can be built with the person you encounter. Kindness, compassion, and interest are automatically the prime effects that you can receive. Traveling by bike opens a wider depth of understanding of one’s self and others.
Before the biking aspect, there is a journey. It broadens the horizon, creates lifelong connections, teaches humility, gives you new perspectives on life, and makes you understand it better. Every day is a different day. There is no more routine other than the need to pedal to continue your journey and enjoy. The present tense is infinite and time seems boundless. This an absolute freedom.
And what about you now!
Travel is one of the best ways to expand one’s horizons; with the sun, the rain or the wind upon your face get out on the road and let your inhibitions drift away, explore places, meet new people and make many friends along the way. If there is a will, there is a way to cope and react to situations, to enjoy different landscapes, and to leave in its wake a cloud of dust, our past life. You will have uphills and downhills, rainy and sunny days, and even days of depression and excitement, except that here you will experience true freedom.So, is it time to step out, get on your bike, and start to live? »Even the longest journey starts with a first step. » Lao Tseu.
PS: Nicolas wrote a book (in french) resuming his state from being fully busy into his architect job to his first long backpacking experience in South America which changed totally his perspective of life, throughout their hike in the Jura range till the beginning of their journey by traveling with bike. A beautiful sens of humanity and reflexion illustrated with amazing pictures. He is on a search of editors who would help him editing it. If you re someone who can help him, here is his email: nquenson@gmail.com many thanks