When I was four I decided to set off on a great bike ride by myself, just like my big sisters. So off I went on one of those tiny plastic bikes that you push along with your feet. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there was a fresh smell of adventure and horse manure in the air. I managed to traverse an arduous few hundred metres, before some well meaning but interfering soul decided I was too young to be playing by the highway and returned me to base (and some rather embarrassed parents).Well, my plans may have been foiled that time, but finally, some 20 years later, having freed myself from educational institutions, leases and all such bonds, I'm now able to finish what I started. The bike's a bit different, and my legs are a little longer, but the sense of adventure is just as strong.
Not that the bicycle and I have always been best buds; we did have a falling out, after I had a falling off, bringing my face rather closer to a gravel road than is comfortable. This period of estrangement lasted most of my teenage years, and it wasn't until a rusty little pink 50euro number came into my life and showed me the rustic alleyways of a Spanish city that I was truly won over to the two-wheeled way of life. Since then it's been rare to find me far from a bicycle-bud.
Wren is a Surly Long Haul Trucker. She wears front and back racks, mudguards, big fat pedals and power grips, a brookes saddle, and raised handlebars (am slowly developing a section on bikes and gear so see that for specifics). She especially likes quiet backroads, stopping to talk to birds, whizzing downhills, a freshly lubed chain, and bananas.
About our adventure
Here is an edited excerpt from my first post, explaining a bit about the journey I am on.
Who? Just me and a bike and the many friends we will no doubt make along the way.
Doing what? Cycling, wwoofing, learning, sitting, eating, sleeping, playing, singing, exchanging, exploring...
In fact, there are a range of things I am particularly seeking, in terms of skills to learn, places to visit and types of experiences. Here is a by no means exhaustive list: all things food eg. fermenting, preserving, cooking; all things gardening eg permaculture, biodynamics, horticulture, pruning; massage, yoga, martial arts, building, woodwork, herbal remedies and natural medicine, field ecology (eg. field volunteer for research), all things music, drawing, photography, interesting community projects and activist groups, community gardens and CSAs.....Get in touch if you have any suggestions!
Where? Around Australia. Not around in the circumnavigation sense necessarily, but around about in a meandering sort of way.
How? Slowly. While this is certainly a relative thing, it is more about a frame of mind. I'm not interested in setting any records, or having an impressive average km per day. I want to go my own pace, zig-zag and back track and loop the loop. I want to have the freedom to stay a while in places I like and be open to opportunities as they arise. I want to go down tempting side-roads so often rushed past in the obsession with Getting There. Or to put it another way, I want to go fast enough to get places and slowly enough to see the birds.
Why? In a flurry of night-before preparations and anticipation, tiny nervous voices are asking the same question. And so the much louder excited voices remind me of the many reasons:
- Because I've been telling too many people my plans to 'cycle for a year' for too long and am too proud to back out now!
- Because I believe there has to be a more satisfying way of travelling than whizzing around on huge jets and waiting for your soul and body-clock to catch up. Not to mention a less carbon-intense way.
- Because cycling makes me happy!
- Because Australia is amazing and diverse and heart-achingly beautiful, and has so much to teach me.
- Birds!
- Because after cycling Melbourne to Sydney with the Otesha Project, cycling for sustainability (www.otesha.org.au), I've well and truly caught the cycle touring bug.
