Tour or a trudge

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
Tiggertoo
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Tour or a trudge

Post by Tiggertoo »

Is a 'Tour' a Noun or Verb?

If one is riding LeJog (as an example) as a tour (noun) requiring 100 miles a day then that could be construed as a 'Trudge (verb)' if doing so requires an average on the bike time of say 7-8 hours and maybe 9-10 hours total time for the day. A ride like that will leave little time for sightseeing as the journey and time allotment on the route will take up most of the day.

On the other hand, if one is undertaking a ride with no time constraints or specific end locations with only an idea of the direction of travel without the pressure of 'making' it then that would be a better definition of a "Tour' since there are no critical goals to be met and no pressure to arrive anywhere within a certain time frame.

I posit this after reading about Molly ( I think it was) asking about riding around Ireland and I thought, that would make a nicer Tour (noun) than the LeJog I am planning in a couple of months which requires 100 miles a day to complete the Trudge (verb).
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CJ
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by CJ »

A favourite quote of mine is by Mark Twain on the game of golf, which he desribed as: "a good walk, spoiled"!
I am also rather fond of paraphrasing this author, reference Audax - or any ride undertaken on such a strict time schedule as Tiggertoo's End to End "trudge".
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Jdsk
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by Jdsk »

CJ wrote: 23 Jun 2022, 8:42pm A favourite quote of mine is by Mark Twain on the game of golf, which he desribed as: "a good walk, spoiled"!
I like the sentiment but I doubt the attribution.

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PH
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by PH »

It's about whatever you make it, use whatever words you like but make the definition your own.
Some trips I like to push on, see the unfolding countryside from the saddle, the more of it the better. Other trips the bike has been almost incidental, a means of getting where I want to be.
jimlews
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by jimlews »

If it was a cycle tour, wouldn't it be a trundle, rather than a trudge ?
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MrsHJ
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by MrsHJ »

I’m not sure it’s a trudge, but I mentioned that there may be a lack of enjoying the moment in the LEJOG forum and got soundly told off for wondering why they were all doing so many hours a day. So I describe it as a sportif approach ie getting a lot of miles in the legs is a bigger priority than seeing the sights.

I am definitely a potterer on the bike- I rarely do more than 70km/40 miles a day these days and like to finish by about 3. Doesn’t always work like that but that’s the plan. As I’m moving a bit more onto gravel paths and less paved stuff the shorter distances help too but 3pm doesn’t always happen. The speed can be ridiculously slow compared to bowling along a smooth surface. I can do 100km+ days when touring but I like my down time and my coccyx can start to play up if I do repeated long days.

Just remember to have fun whatever you do and if that’s cycling 10-12 hour days good for you and for all of us doing our cycling however works for us- at least we’re out there doing it.
Last edited by MrsHJ on 23 Jun 2022, 10:25pm, edited 2 times in total.
ossie
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by ossie »

Some people 'cycle to tour' and others 'tour to cycle'...I can't recall where I read that but its quite apt. I'm kind of in the latter. I haven't done a LEJOG but without doubt would try and get the damned thing over as quick as possible as most seemingly do. You can do similar mileage down (or back from )Spain or Switzerland and actually have fun.
Jamesh
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by Jamesh »

Having done lejog in 8 days 120mpd.

It's more than a trudge is a endurance test!!

Tour might be 3-4weeks 50 mpd.

Trudge might be 2weeks 80mpd???
cycle tramp
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by cycle tramp »

Hey, I like this thread....
... surely a Tour would mean planned stops at places of interest along the cycle journey ... and thinking about LeJog, I guess as you travelled through the south west you could include places of interest like St Michael's Mount and the Eden Project which means not only would you be travelling at perhaps 30 miles a day.. the route would be even longer, as it meanders in a vague north north west direction...

..Perhaps a tour would also include the taste of the regional food and drink. Which means the number of independent distilleries in Scotland could see the day mileage drop below twenty...

...when comparing the above to a cycle route planned for its linear appeal to be taken at some 70 to 90 miles per day, sounds like a military route march (or some sort idea derived as a government correction scheme for the criminally incompetent)
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rualexander
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by rualexander »

Tiggertoo wrote: 23 Jun 2022, 7:29pm ..... if doing so requires an average on the bike time of say 7-8 hours and maybe 9-10 hours total time for the day. A ride like that will leave little time for sightseeing as the journey and time allotment on the route will take up most of the day.....
Little time for sightseeing? You've been sightseeing for 7-8 hours while you are on the bike :lol:
tatanab
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by tatanab »

cycle tramp wrote: 23 Jun 2022, 11:01pm... surely a Tour would mean planned stops at places of interest along the cycle journey ..
Not for me thanks. I much prefer to come across things by accident. Tiny back lane in France, a fine monument to an aircrew that crashed in WW2; small town/ village with a massive black basilica; I doubt either of those would show up on a search of things to see.
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Back in 2010, recently having stopped working, I wrote a piece for a local cycling club which started with "The plan was to cycle camp across France to Switzerland and back with no defined end date, other than “about a month”." That is pretty much how I like to tour, with an aim or target. In that case I wanted to revisit Basle where I worked for a short time; and on other occasions it has been to see certain stages of the Tour de France. No planned route, no list of things to see - just go. I cannot imagine riding anything like LeJoG , or the river routes of EV. Just as well we are not all the same :D
mattheus
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by mattheus »

rualexander wrote: 24 Jun 2022, 12:15am
Tiggertoo wrote: 23 Jun 2022, 7:29pm ..... if doing so requires an average on the bike time of say 7-8 hours and maybe 9-10 hours total time for the day. A ride like that will leave little time for sightseeing as the journey and time allotment on the route will take up most of the day.....
Little time for sightseeing? You've been sightseeing for 7-8 hours while you are on the bike :lol:
Exactly! I gain a lot of pleasure from riding my bike through lovely countryside - I try to do as much of it as possible while I am still healthy and young(ish).
And I find the further I ride, the more satisfying the stops+food+drink - win-win!
cycle tramp
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by cycle tramp »

rualexander wrote: 24 Jun 2022, 12:15am
Tiggertoo wrote: 23 Jun 2022, 7:29pm ..... if doing so requires an average on the bike time of say 7-8 hours and maybe 9-10 hours total time for the day. A ride like that will leave little time for sightseeing as the journey and time allotment on the route will take up most of the day.....
Little time for sightseeing? You've been sightseeing for 7-8 hours while you are on the bike :lol:
Yeah, I used to think like that too... but for the last couple of years, it's slowly been dawning on me that most of my cycling isn't looking at the view, or the clouds or watching the misty horizon...
..most of what i'm doing is watching the road for imperfections and hazards and watching out for other traffic. Occasionally I'll be brought back into the wonder of the world, say by a heron lifting off from a drainage ditch or the surprise of a hot air balloon...
...while I like to think that I've seen alot of beautiful countryside, the truth is I've probably only noticed some 10% of it, whilst I've been riding..
..which makes me wonder if the best place to sight see from isn't perhaps a canoe or some sort of ship..

(Perhaps the worst thing said by any cyclist, as reported by my brother was 'I would have stopped to look at the view, but I was on strava and had to keep cycling.')
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Sweep
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by Sweep »

cycle tramp wrote: 25 Jun 2022, 10:53pm
(Perhaps the worst thing said by any cyclist, as reported by my brother was 'I would have stopped to look at the view, but I was on strava and had to keep cycling.')
:(
One of the very best things about cycling is the ability to stop on a whim.
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Jamesh
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Re: Tour or a trudge

Post by Jamesh »

cycle tramp wrote: 23 Jun 2022, 11:01pm Hey, I like this thread....
... surely a Tour would mean planned stops at places of interest along the cycle journey ... and thinking about LeJog, I guess as you travelled through the south west you could include places of interest like St Michael's Mount and the Eden Project which means not only would you be travelling at perhaps 30 miles a day.. the route would be even longer, as it meanders in a vague north north west direction...

..Perhaps a tour would also include the taste of the regional food and drink. Which means the number of independent distilleries in Scotland could see the day mileage drop below twenty...

...when comparing the above to a cycle route planned for its linear appeal to be taken at some 70 to 90 miles per day, sounds like a military route march (or some sort idea derived as a government correction scheme for the criminally incompetent)
That's the retirement plan!!!
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