By Fin from the Cycling Gypsies
As I write this from Nova Scotia, in Atlantic Canada, I am listening to a rather unnerving soundtrack outside the window. There are no squeaks and squeals from bicycles coasting by, for there are no bicycle lanes. There are no footsteps from pedestrians, for there are no footpaths. There is no distant train whistle, for no trains operate here anymore. Buses? They are almost non-existent, and ferries? Well, those are struggling to stay in operation. What I am listening to is the drone of cars going up and down the road in an endless stream.
Despite being considered as a ‘progressive’ country (the most university educated population in the world, universal health care, 1 year maternity/paternity leave), Canada has its share of shameful statistics. One in four people in Nova Scotia are obese, the average Canadian uses 329 litres of pristine tap water per day in their homes (the second highest rate in the world after the Americans), and they produce among the highest emissions per capita in the world,
Sometimes it is not so much about what we know, as about what we do.
Life in the Broken Glasshouse
I was living in Europe at the time that it dawned on me that I was an environmental hypocrite. I had always liked to think of myself as ‘green’, but the reality, I reflected, was uncomfortably different.
Never-mind that I had read The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery’s shocking and powerful analysis of the impacts and solutions to climate change, I had continued to drive long distances to work every day, saving up money which I would later cash in on the cheap flights phenomena.
Ah yes, global warming, that BIG ISSUE, that ticking time bomb, that great challenge of our time. Something overwhelming, yet paradoxically caused by something that you can’t see, touch or smell, making it dangerously easy to ignore in the daily grind. And ignore I did.
I knew the problems, I knew some of the solutions, yet I was still guzzling more than my fair share of fossil fuels. That was about to change, and in a rather unconventional way…
Walking the Walk, Pedalling the Pedal
I was discussing the idea of ‘green-travel’ with my girlfriend Zoa, and in particular the popular travel tip to explore your own backyard rather than globe-trotting. This didn’t sit well with either of us. Both of us have itchy feet and oodles of wanderlust, and besides, I was still aiming to get back home to Australia.
“We could always cycle there.” Zoa said.
“Cycling around the world!?” Ha! “Yeah right… bicycles are for around town, not for around the world!”
But Zoa was serious, and a quick Google search proved she was right. Thousands of cyclists are traversing countries and continents at any given moment. The idea seemed absurd, yet irresistibly epic. Sign me up!
Only one small problem. Well, actually one medium sized problem, and another big, hairy problem. Our two dogs! Can you believe it? Nobody wanted to look after them while we cycled carefree into the sunset. Hmmmm….
In a mad two month dash we quit jobs, sold almost everything we owned (including a car), and sought out the equipment for the job. For our 40 kilogram dog Jack we found a suitably heavy duty dog trailer, and for our 15 kilogram scruff-ball Paco we found a long tail bike fit to carry a large basket mounted over the rear wheel.
Sixteen months later we had pedalled over 17,000 kilometres through 18 countries, and were further away from Australia than when we started. Along the way we experienced an unforgettable, life changing, life affirming ride, often joyous, sometimes bitterly challenging.
So What?
Not everyone in the world is in a position to just pack up, sell everything and pedal into the horizon, and of course not everyone would want to. But along the way we had the luxury of coming to a few realisations.
Cycling long distances is easy… (and FUN)
The good thing about cycling long distances is that you don’t have to do it all in one day. If you don’t make the mistake of tying yourself down with a rigid itinerary, a rainy day is a good excuse for a sleep in, a sunny day is a good excuse for exploring an unknown town. And if you are leading a simple life with some wild camping and stays with hospitality clubs like CouchSurfing or WarmShowers thrown in, it doesn’t cost much at all.
Over time strength and stamina will build up until leg muscles start to take on Incredible Hulk proportions, the kilometers tick by, and the line on the map starts to look more impressive. Life becomes routine, but at the same time filled with endless surprises.
Most cyclists agree that the hardest part about a long distance bicycle trip is getting out of the front door in the first place. Judging by the number of blogs on the internet about cycling adventures, it is fairly safe to say that travelling by bicycle is something people want to share and promote, and not for reasons of eco-guilt, but because it is simply one of the most rewarding ways to travel.
The weather is indeed getting wackier
Along the way a common thread of conversation we had with locals was just how unusual their weather had been lately. Abnormally high rainfall and snow flurries in Spain, record snowfall followed by a heat wave in Slovenia, and an unusually hot summer in Norway (unfortunately we got there too late to experience it!). It made for challenging cycling at times, but re-confirmed just why we were on the bicycle saddle.
Cycling wastes fuel?
During our cycling trip we found that our appetites increased enormously, especially by hauling the extra weight of our dogs around. Like Hobbits, second breakfast became a daily routine, and serving sizes seemed to double. This is not an entirely bad thing. What better way to get fit than by cycling, and what better way to fuel yourself than by eating?!
But it is worth noting that hungry cyclists need fuelling too. For us there was the literal fuelling of our camp stove. And yes it does feel good to roll into a petrol station and only fill up a 1 litre container (which lasted us more than one week of cooking) rather than a 50 litre tank.
But there is the other type of fuel. Food. If you really want to minimize your carbon footprint, you should take note of what ends up on your plate. Eating locally produced, organic food is ideal where possible, if only for the taste. Some of our most delicious moments came from road-side fruit and vegetable stands in Denmark, or a fromagerie in France where our entire supply of goat’s cheese was devoured before we left the car park. And one last thing to think about…
David Pimentel of Cornell University calculates that it takes 145 times more energy to produce beef than potatoes, and nearly twice as much fossil energy to produce a typical American diet than a pure vegetarian diet. This works out to around an extra 760 litres of fossil fuels per year for a meat-eater. Cutting back on meat is one of the easiest ways for a healthier body and a healthier environment.
You don’t need to be a mechanic
When we set off on the trip our mechanical knowledge of bikes didn’t extend much beyond adjusting the height of the seat-post. When our first flat tire took a frustrating three hours to fix we were slightly nervous of bigger problems that might follow. The good news is that bicycles are not rocket science, and that when something did go wrong it was only one thing at a time. What better way to learn bicycle mechanics than to have to sit down and nut out a problem. And if worst came to worst and we couldn’t fix something, there was always a garage or a bike shop somewhere out there, and someone willing to give us a lift there (eventually).
People are great, people suck
If you read the newspaper you will get the impression that everybody sucks. If you ride a bike around the world you will get the impression that everyone is great. I like to think that we can be anywhere on the spectrum of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ at any given point in time. Positivity tends to breed more positivity, and misery likes company. Our experience was that living our dreams and feeling good about what we were doing on our cycling trip seemed to bring out the best in people, making for some amazing interactions and hospitality. Of course we still received many warnings from adults wary of monsters under the bed … “you will freeze to death… watch out for gypsies… you will never make it over that mountain… keep everything locked up… make sure your tent is hidden from the road... beware of radioactive thieves” Thankfully in over 16 months of cycling and wild camping nothing was ever stolen from us, in fact we didn’t really have any ‘bad’ situations beyond flat tires and broken rims.
The less you have, the more you value it
Selling everything that couldn’t fit on the back of our bikes was scary, then liberating. Not only did we not miss or think about anything that we sold, it became a case of trying to minimize even more STUFF from our overloaded bikes to make mountain passes that little bit less strenuous. Sure, we didn’t have endless choices for ‘entertainment’ at night, but sometimes lack of choices left more time for the simple pleasures like enjoying sunsets, reading books and star snuggling.
Without the luxuries of central heating our motto soon became ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing’. Clothing was layered to suit the temperature rather than changing the temperature to suit the clothing and any holes were patched up straight away. Likewise wild camping meant that a shower with hot water became a truly joyous experience, we became much more aware of our use of electricity, and once we approached drinking water as something that is drained, sip by sip, from a quickly emptying container, we never took it for granted.
Don’t get me wrong I am not advocating that we all lead lives of self-deprivation, but at the same time there are lessons we can learn from less, and the chirping bird in its humble nest.
We influence the people around us (even when we are not trying to)
One of the great things about travelling by bicycle is having constant interaction with the environment and the people around you. You can notice wildlife and appreciate views and easily strike up conversations with people on the side of the road. Passing from town to town on bicycle gives you the chance to see how drastically us humans as a group feed off the culture and the energy around us. A town which seems to be full of grumpy and grizzling grinches, might be soon followed by an otherwise identical town that is a serene smile-fest. Likewise trends in the way we dress, eat, decorate our houses, how we choose to get around town, and carry our groceries back from the store can all change from community to community.
So all this adds up to make me think that the problem we are facing is not one of climate change, but one of human change. What capacity do we have to inspire each other to re-think and re-shape our communities before the inhabitability and bio-diversity of this beautiful old rock is greatly reduced? Being the change you want to see in the world seems like an easy way to start.
So excuse me now while I sit down, shut up and pedal.
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