Cycle Touring | Health | Mental Health While Cycling

Cycle Touring Health & Medical Issues

Cycle Touring Health | Mental Health

One of the best features of cycling touring is that it
allows the traveler to get away from the tourist
centers to remote locations at a slower pace with
few barriers between the local population.

Trouble is, those things that make cycle touring
exciting can also make it psychologically difficult.

Remote locations where few travelers
venture can be both interesting and
overwhelming. Accommodations may be
poor or nonexistent. Communication in the
local language may be more difficult than in
the tourist centers. Menus may not exist and
food may be unrecognizable. Residents
may find the traveler more of a novelty and
this instant celebrity can be unnerving.

The slower pace of cycle touring allows a
more human view of the landscape. Rather
than zooming past in a bus or blasting over
in a plane, the cyclist views life at a pace just
slightly faster than walking. That speed can
be terribly frustrating when time is of the
essence. A route that takes the typical
backpack tourist six hours in a minivan may
take the cyclist six days.

Fewer barriers between the cyclist and the
locals can lead to some wonderful
encounters. A bicycle brings the traveler
down to a level that just about anyone in the
world can appreciate. But that lack of
barriers can sometimes be exasperating
and, on rare occasions, frightening.

Everything is different: For us this is the
greatest beauty of traveling by bicycle.
Cyclists often find themselves in places
where everything is different from what they
know. Language, food, culture, customs,
and traditions all meld together to determine
how we interact with one another. When
those common links are gone strange and
uncomfortable things begin to happen. The
mantra "Just because it is different does
not mean it is wrong," helps us to deal with
the disorienting feeling that the floor has
dropped out from beneath us when we are
faced with a situation we are unable to
grasp. Also, a few days immersion in the
cafés, televisions, and newspapers of a
tourist center reinvigorates us for another
round of adventure.

Language is a funny thing. To speak in
ones native tongue activates something in
the brain that is comforting. Since English is
the common language of most travelers
Amanda finds herself craving Spanish (her
first language), so much so that she will
barge right into the conversation of others
just to satisfy this need. Fortunately,
Spanish speakers are always happy to
include a new member in their discussion.

Familiar food can bring a feeling of comfort
in much the same way as language. Cyclist
are fortunate that they can carry a bit more
than the average traveler. For Rich, his
morning bowl of oatmeal is a necessity.
Amanda enjoys tortillas on the rare
occasions that we are able to find them. In
countries where they are not readily
available we carry them along in our food
duffel bag and enjoy them sparingly.

Keeping in touch with family and friends
back home is easier than ever and can help
to assuage homesickness. A quick,
inexpensive call through Skype or checking
email at an internet café usually reveals that
while the travelers has gone through a
metamorphosis in their short time on the
road, friends and family members are still
worried about the mundane matters of
everyday life.

Our shortwave radio helps us to feel
connected to the world we left behind.
Reading an English language newspaper
can also have a soothing effect on a jarred
traveler psyche.

Some travelers who wish to escape the
world they left behind eschew a watch as the
ultimate link to schedules, dates, and
appointments. We both wear watches as
they keep us, in a small way, attached to the
real world.