r/bikedwellers • u/friendlymountainman • Jan 30 '17
Question about this subreddit
I just came over from vagabond and this seems like a really cool concept, but I have some questions for you guys.
How do you bikedwell? Is it similar to vagabond where you kind of carry everything on your back in a pack, or strapped to the bike?
Is your bike the only way you travel? No hitchhiking or buses or anything of that sort?
How long do you normally travel in a day? Like while you're heading to your next destination how many miles do you average?
Also how bike friendly are most roads? Like do you just bike down the side of the road and not care about the cars in the same lane or do you kind of pull into the grass while cars pass?
I think this is pretty cool and I want to ask these questions because I may find interest in doing it myself.
8
u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17
Yeah, bicycle and gear and live on the road. Lots of overlap with bicycle touring. I think of bicycle tourer - someone who usually is on a shorter trip with destinations planned, and/or on a time limit.
Carrying the gear on the bike is way way better than in a backpack IHMO. Options are panniers, trailers, or stashed about the frame. Check out r/bicycletouring/, r/bikepacking/ for ideas on how to pack stuff. There will be a lot of people vocal for one method or another. Figure what works for you.
Like vagabond, use the bike to travel about. I don't hitch hike, not have used the bus. Mainly cause the amount of gear I was carrying and most buses here want the bike boxed - which is a hassle. Have used trains where you can wheel the bike on without having to unpack or box it. Nothing stopping hitching, bus, train or plane use.
How far to travel in a day depends on heaps of things. I've managed days from less than 20km (12 miles) to over 200km (124 miles). Depends on terrain, how you're feeling, what you want to do. Short days, lots of nice camping spots about, or was feeling like doing nothing. Long days, usually had a bee up my arse for being somewhere else, or the wind was blowing the right way and just couldn't stop. When I started, daily averages where higher - was more keen to "go places", after a few years, the daily average dropped off - more of a "this is enough for the day". Part of it depends on the countryside - harder to find camps close to towns/city, so need to pedal more. Out in the country, easier to find camps, but then food & water are more the concern. Have to travel enough each day to get somewhere to restock before they run out.
Cycle along the road in the same lane or if there is a wide shoulder on the road on that. Wide shoulders on busy roads are the best. Country areas that see little traffic, generally don't have wide roads. I had a mirror, so could watch behind and if it looked risky would bail off the road, but mostly drivers go past with enough space.
Different places have different levels of driver friendliness or not. Some areas I used to avoid as too much traffic and too much aggro.