In tandem with the recently revived post on old cycle tourists I wonder if there are any, or many, young fully loaded (ie all camping gear) cycle tourists.
Internationally I see few Brits on the road. In Southern Europe this winter I've met young German, Swede, Mexican, US, etc, all camping. No Brits.
Are there any in the UK, or is it only the oldies who are keeping self supported touring alive.
Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
They call it bike packing and they’re not on forums like this (at over fifty I’m going to categorise myself as veteran)! But on places like the women’s bikepacking and cycle touring page on Facebook there are quite a few and I presume there are plenty of guys somewhere too.
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Yup.MrsHJ wrote: ↑15 Mar 2022, 8:56am They call it bike packing and they’re not on forums like this (at over fifty I’m going to categorise myself as veteran)! But on places like the women’s bikepacking and cycle touring page on Facebook there are quite a few and I presume there are plenty of guys somewhere too.
(although I have no idea why. Cycle touring is a perfectly good, well understood term ... )
I do think though that in recent years UK cyclists haven't been pulling their weight - relative to Germans, etc etc ... /sweepingGeneralization
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
My last tour in France I seemed to be cycling often with a young French cyclist, loaded touring with a very basic bike, bits of rack held to bike with jubilee clips. Her bike was not well set-up or robust and at one point her bike had failed (both brake and gear cable slipped) - so I repaired and we continued together that day. We were not cycling together but often seemed to be camping at same sites and passing each other. She was cycling EV6 from around Tours aiming to get to Budapest. All credit to her for the undertaking making the best of what she had available. I'm not good as guessing ages but she must have been early 20's.
We first bumped into each other arriving at a camp site where reception said "Are you together as it's cheaper if you are a couple?" (Me mid-60s and she being early 20's) - to which she immediately announced we were a couple!
Ian
We first bumped into each other arriving at a camp site where reception said "Are you together as it's cheaper if you are a couple?" (Me mid-60s and she being early 20's) - to which she immediately announced we were a couple!
Ian
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Obviously not me, at 70, but in recent years I have met young British cycle campers.
3 girls, late teens or early 20s. They were riding to Biarritz to meet up with their parents on holiday. Not experienced cyclists, but giving it a go.
3 lads, early 20s. I met them somewhere around the Vosges. They were going to a music festival in Croatia with no plans other than "we need to be there by a date". Route made up as they went along ----- the proper way.
3 girls, late teens or early 20s. They were riding to Biarritz to meet up with their parents on holiday. Not experienced cyclists, but giving it a go.
3 lads, early 20s. I met them somewhere around the Vosges. They were going to a music festival in Croatia with no plans other than "we need to be there by a date". Route made up as they went along ----- the proper way.
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
I think we are behind in infrastructure and probably the attitude problem towards cyclists in the UK.
It’s a lot easier to get into if you can get to some of the big river routes in Europe that are widely accessible to a range of people. I totally understand that not everyone here would automatically be a fan of the Loire route etc but you can see how it gives people an easy way into cycling trips.
I can’t think of anything even vaguely comparable to that in the UK (a mixture of different topology and lack of political will). Happy to be corrected.
It’s a lot easier to get into if you can get to some of the big river routes in Europe that are widely accessible to a range of people. I totally understand that not everyone here would automatically be a fan of the Loire route etc but you can see how it gives people an easy way into cycling trips.
I can’t think of anything even vaguely comparable to that in the UK (a mixture of different topology and lack of political will). Happy to be corrected.
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Interesting question, but as interesting is the definition of a 'tour'.
Is a tour a race to get from one point to the next, or is it the chance to experience all that the route has to offer at a reasonable pace. If one has reservations at either a camp site or other forms of accommodation to reach each day, does that mandate an absolute need to make the distance regardless of the attractions along the way?
One UK 'tour' operator insists that all cyclist must 'check-in' by seven each night, doesn't this rather require a hell-for-leather pursuit of the distance, just in case? If a castle or view or anything warranting a second look beckons, or a meal at a road side cafe looks inviting, does one shrug disappointingly and pedal on because of the imposed curfew?
In my opinion, a 'tour' means a meandering journey ending wherever one finds a place to rest, but these days, it seems the need to book ahead for accommodations suggests otherwise.
Is a tour a race to get from one point to the next, or is it the chance to experience all that the route has to offer at a reasonable pace. If one has reservations at either a camp site or other forms of accommodation to reach each day, does that mandate an absolute need to make the distance regardless of the attractions along the way?
One UK 'tour' operator insists that all cyclist must 'check-in' by seven each night, doesn't this rather require a hell-for-leather pursuit of the distance, just in case? If a castle or view or anything warranting a second look beckons, or a meal at a road side cafe looks inviting, does one shrug disappointingly and pedal on because of the imposed curfew?
In my opinion, a 'tour' means a meandering journey ending wherever one finds a place to rest, but these days, it seems the need to book ahead for accommodations suggests otherwise.
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
There's the children of non-young tourers who are now old enough to ride their own bikes and carry their own stuff on the family tour...simonhill wrote: ↑15 Mar 2022, 8:41am In tandem with the recently revived post on old cycle tourists I wonder if there are any, or many, young fully loaded (ie all camping gear) cycle tourists.
Internationally I see few Brits on the road. In Southern Europe this winter I've met young German, Swede, Mexican, US, etc, all camping. No Brits.
Are there any in the UK, or is it only the oldies who are keeping self supported touring alive.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Given i was 40 before i did my first loaded tour (as opposed to centred with rides out which i've done from @ 13!), i don't think i ever qualified as a 'young Fully Loaded Cycle Tourist! 
On my travels i have seen/see all ages of course, once across the water i don't think i've encountered another Brit of any age doing anything remotely like touring. (there were a handfull of Brits riding the Austrian sportives i did in 2016 but they clearly don't count). I think most of those 'camping with bikes' i have encountered have been 25-35yo, sometimes with small children in tow, often not well equipped for the task in hand. (the French couple riding from Nordkapp back to France spring to mind, china crockery, domestic kettle etc, etc)
Easy access to easy routes may be a factor but i rarely see more than a couple of other 'loaded' cyclists even on supposedly busy routes. I've done most of the big German rivers, wombled about the Swiss/Austrian Alps, followed North and Baltic Sea coasts as well as stuff like the 'Romantic Road' and its always the same. I've encountered riders from most European nations, a few from across the pond and fewer still from Asia/Antipodes, if any nation dominates its probably German or Swiss but that could be down to geography - i think all the other bike tourists i encountered in Sweden were German!
The age group i see most of 'touring', 'bike packing' or whatever they want to call it, in the UK, seem to be 40 somethings. There are no doubt hundreds of reasons for this but i'm sure financial security and less dependent children rank pretty high. I see hundreds of younger people riding bikes, commuting to work/school, getting the shopping, 'playing' and so on but converting that use to 'lets go camping with the bikes' just isn't there in the UK. Its not helped by the UK's societal image of cycling as being inferior to just about any other past time you can think of, if they were allowed we 'd rank lower than raping and pillaging!
By comparison, in Europe its quite common for groups of older teens to head off for a couple of weeks unsupervised camping each summer, okay its not strictly touring but they'll load everything on their bikes, tents, cooking gear etc and make their way to a destination far from home. Its less of a leap from that to doing one of the rivers or heading to the Med.
I do know of UK kids who accompany their parents on cycle tours but its not like they get much choice in the matter!
On my travels i have seen/see all ages of course, once across the water i don't think i've encountered another Brit of any age doing anything remotely like touring. (there were a handfull of Brits riding the Austrian sportives i did in 2016 but they clearly don't count). I think most of those 'camping with bikes' i have encountered have been 25-35yo, sometimes with small children in tow, often not well equipped for the task in hand. (the French couple riding from Nordkapp back to France spring to mind, china crockery, domestic kettle etc, etc)
Easy access to easy routes may be a factor but i rarely see more than a couple of other 'loaded' cyclists even on supposedly busy routes. I've done most of the big German rivers, wombled about the Swiss/Austrian Alps, followed North and Baltic Sea coasts as well as stuff like the 'Romantic Road' and its always the same. I've encountered riders from most European nations, a few from across the pond and fewer still from Asia/Antipodes, if any nation dominates its probably German or Swiss but that could be down to geography - i think all the other bike tourists i encountered in Sweden were German!
The age group i see most of 'touring', 'bike packing' or whatever they want to call it, in the UK, seem to be 40 somethings. There are no doubt hundreds of reasons for this but i'm sure financial security and less dependent children rank pretty high. I see hundreds of younger people riding bikes, commuting to work/school, getting the shopping, 'playing' and so on but converting that use to 'lets go camping with the bikes' just isn't there in the UK. Its not helped by the UK's societal image of cycling as being inferior to just about any other past time you can think of, if they were allowed we 'd rank lower than raping and pillaging!
By comparison, in Europe its quite common for groups of older teens to head off for a couple of weeks unsupervised camping each summer, okay its not strictly touring but they'll load everything on their bikes, tents, cooking gear etc and make their way to a destination far from home. Its less of a leap from that to doing one of the rivers or heading to the Med.
I do know of UK kids who accompany their parents on cycle tours but its not like they get much choice in the matter!
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Same is true, I think, of camping. UK campsites seem to have a give-'em-any-old-rubbish-they-can't-afford-to-be choosy design ethic, cobweb-filled sanitation installed by someone's semi-skilled brother-in-law. French campsites tend to be far more salubrious (and far cheaper too), and I recall a sanitary block in Italy where the worst criticism I could make was that the decorative fair-faced brickwork perhaps didn't perfectly set off the marble countertops.
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
My tours (virtually entirely France, NL, Belgium and DE) only met one cycle touring person from UK and he was camping as well. Plenty of French, Swiss, Dutch, Austrian, etc., etc.foxyrider wrote: ↑15 Mar 2022, 9:25pm ....On my travels i have seen/see all ages of course, once across the water i don't think i've encountered another Brit of any age doing anything remotely like touring. (there were a handfull of Brits riding the Austrian sportives i did in 2016 but they clearly don't count).....
I have found in camp sites in Normandy plenty of Brits in motorhomes where, on seeing my bike, the male partner comes over to declare what a keen cyclist he is (bike at home in the UK) ...
Ian
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kylecycler
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Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Unlike the Germans I encountered in the camp site at Le Mans in 1977 when I'd cycled there to watch the 24 hour race who called me 'Mickey Mouse' - a bit rich considering I was there supporting 'their team' - Porsche!
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Cost? Just one small factor. Campsites nowadays are full of luxuries which add to the cost.
Size of country? To go anywhere different it's a big trip so you might as well fly somehere. Also it is so quick to drive to the other end of the country and thus why waste time pedalling through places you knoww to get there? Train there ? See cost.
Fashion.
Age. Just how many young cyclist do you see anyway. My cycling club is pretty representative I reckon. 1 person under 40 and he has a young child. By the time you have freedom and the money you are no longer young.
Young people that I see MTB. That tends not to mean long days out. See above I guess
Alays exceptions to all rules and generalisations of course.
Size of country? To go anywhere different it's a big trip so you might as well fly somehere. Also it is so quick to drive to the other end of the country and thus why waste time pedalling through places you knoww to get there? Train there ? See cost.
Fashion.
Age. Just how many young cyclist do you see anyway. My cycling club is pretty representative I reckon. 1 person under 40 and he has a young child. By the time you have freedom and the money you are no longer young.
Young people that I see MTB. That tends not to mean long days out. See above I guess
Alays exceptions to all rules and generalisations of course.
Re: Are There Any YOUNG Fully Loaded Cycle Tourists?
Also the paranoia nowadays about letting young people go off on their own can't help. I'm sure most of us older ones were allowed to go away with their mates at 14 or so.
I had a good family life, but I was only too keen to get away. Not cycling, but camping and sailing. I had a mate who went with his brothers, cycling to YHAs. I don't think you can do that nowadays.
I used to joke to my Mother that she would be charged with child abuse or neglect or something nowadays.
This bred into me all the things I needed for an adventurous life. Being carted around by mum and dad and only doing organised events sets a completely different mindset for many youngsters nowadays.
I had a good family life, but I was only too keen to get away. Not cycling, but camping and sailing. I had a mate who went with his brothers, cycling to YHAs. I don't think you can do that nowadays.
I used to joke to my Mother that she would be charged with child abuse or neglect or something nowadays.
This bred into me all the things I needed for an adventurous life. Being carted around by mum and dad and only doing organised events sets a completely different mindset for many youngsters nowadays.