Cycling UK Forum

tyreon wrote: Have been trying to find what happened to that Ffyona Cambell for years. Gone off radar. I reckon her hardest journey began when she'd finished her RtW walk.

She's doing shorter walks these days: http://www.wildfoodwalks.co.uk/

So many thanks for that link Beekeeper.You read her books? Fascinating! Not the travel as the inadvertent(?)psychological profile she gave of herself. Enuf there for a room full of psychologists and psychiatrists to have a conference about! (I do not mean to disrespect the lady)You see her meet JSP on the last leg of her journey?

Those big journeys can make or break people. Thinking of Donald Crowhurst,Lewis and Clarke. The aim,the goal,the undertaking...then the experience. Goin off on a tangent: Do read The Voyage of Madmen. 1st RTW yacht race by solo sailors. And most(all?)had never captained a boat on such a grand venture. Some dropped out,some never came back,some carried on sailing!! And no sat.nav then. By bike RTW is a doddle...(says me sitting by the fire opening up my next box of chocs!)

Off tangent again: Ffyona Cambell and Victoria Pendleton both seemed to be 'driven' by their fathers. That is,they seemed to impose/wish to meet/exceed their fathers achievements on themselves. Am not sure(and I don't know if they are sure)why they felt this need, or whether they enjoyed anything they put themselves through.Good subject for Anthony Clair to discuss...In the Psychiatrists Chair. AC now deceased.

Hope our present RTW cyclist's just escaping our weather!!

tyreon wrote: By bike RTW is a doddle...(says me sitting by the fire opening up my next box of chocs!)

OPen another box of chocs, call the psychologists and psychiatrists and have a read of this I started loosing my marbles 9 months in (The interesting stuff starts about half way down)

http://www.shanecycles.com/africa/2012/ ... ear-later/

On a lighter note, I'm enjoying being home again, you mentioned being back to shopping in Tesco on a friday night. Now 4 months on I can still enjoy the fact that there is a supermarket fully stocked with nice food for me, and the anonymity of not being the only white face around. Not to mention the clean bed, no bugs, clean running tap water and a hundred other things that people around me take for granted.

But compared to other transport cycling really is one of the easiest ways to go, and still the best

This guy seems better balanced than myself! Younger too. Aint read the complete blog,but luvin his philosophy. Moderation,rumination,reflection... I am still learning!Be kind to yourself...try to be so with others. We're just passing thru...moderate your haste.

A very interesting read.

On really big trips perhaps the biggest problem is staying happy. Planning for that is entirely possible (if you understand yourself well enough) but its completely different to the logistics which tend to dominate. Maybe when you can't do a big trip the contrast of just riding everyday seems to be the be all and end all. But if your doing a lot of riding, things that were novel become routine and then a chore. Then the ultimate question becomes "why am I still doing this?", what am I getting out of it.

No mistake a bike is often a great way to travel but not always. Do you do so much of something you love that you stop liking it.

I think that the psychological makeup of long term nomads is not really "normal".

Barrenfluffit. You got it! What contrary and difficult creatures we are! You know what,I am now no wiser than what I was when I was younger...but that I guess I am now prepared to say it. The more I go on,the more views I can understand. Guess if I sat down with some dictator I would tend to understand why he chose to act the way he did. The individual doesn't stand alone but is made up from his background,parentage,environment. Analysed, some would say there is no such thing as an individual...but a collection of aggregates! God must have some difficult decisions to make at those Pearly Gates! Queues must be long. I would demand a month's hearing from him anyways.

For me, I go along for some time then begin to question myself! After a time,when the thing I am doing becomes a trudge,something to equal or surpass others,something that's seeking some form of recognition...I then do a double-take,moderate myself,thinking I will only be here for 80 or so years. After that, no one will even know I have passed this way! From this you will know I haven't won any gold medals!

It's nice to achieve some things,but not at a great cost to your health,or at the expense of others. Some of the greatest times of my life are sitting down with a coffee and having a Kit-Kat! Then,the sun has been out,I'm sitting in the warm,I've just cycled somewhere,been in for a swim...free from guilt,without an overwhelming desire to prove myself.

Dunno if I'm a natural philosopher...or an excuse for a man!