Planning

The most important lesson that I learned about planning a bicycle tour is, ironically, that a good bicycle tour cannot be planned; it must be allowed to happen. With the benefit of hindsight, I recognize that the whole point of a cycling tour is to appreciate an area by traveling through it on a bicycle. In the case of my trip, I also wanted to see the Tour de France. I think, at least initially, I overcomplicated my trip by trying to create an itinerary too far in advance instead of just riding my bike. Planning beyond the general picture only limited my options, whereas keeping my options open allowed me to always seize the best opportunity available. For me, these spontaneous opportunities were the best part of my trip: my experience was not improved by reaching my "goal" town for the day; it was immeasurably improved by spending time in a town that looked interesting and accepting an invitation into a farmer's home to watch a stage finish on television.

As my trip progressed, I planned less because I became more confident in myself. Scribbling down a plan in my journal every day was really just my way of convincing myself that I would be OK: If I could represent good day on paper, then I didn't have to worry about them, right? In practice, actually touring for three or four days without any problems made me far more confident and I stopped worrying about predicting good days on paper. Then, instead of worrying about planning good days, I just enjoyed the ride. The result: I had only good days and great days.

While planning is overrated, preparing is not. Let me explain. Based on my experience, I don't think it's important to know exactly where you are going to stay on a given date but I think it is very important to bring a tent and a sleeping bag. I have discussed my thoughts on what to bring in the gear section. This is probably the most important consideration in a bicycle tour - for example, it would be awfully hard to do a bike tour without a bicycle. Since traveling with a bicycle is a bit intimidating at first, I have discussed bike travel, including things to think about when flying to France and traveling with a bicycle in France. I also suggest that learning at least some French before traveling to France is very useful. Lastly, touring the mountains of France on a fully-loaded bicycle is probably not for the average couch potato but it is well within reach for a fit individual. You can read about what I was doing on the bike prior to my trip in the Fitness section.

June 22, 2007

The first step in doing anything is committing to do it- actually making a decision do it. Often overlooked, I think that for most things worth doing, this is the hardest part. I have fantasized about going to the Tour for about five years. Why now? How did it happen? The answer is easy: I bought a plane ticket. By buying the ticket , I was committing to make the trip. The trip is happening. Everything else is a detail of the trip, many of which I still need to iron out.