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This web site is based on the"TEN ESSENTIAL SYSTEMS"
of camping, backpacking, rafting, and bicycle touring.
Take nothing but pictures,
Leave nothing but footprints,
Kill nothing but time...
BICYCLE TOURING *
I believe in being environmentally conscious. I see Mother
Nature being destroyed so people can live in lazy and unhealthy luxury. I don't want my pursuit of Nature to create a need
for wider highways through the forests, to create more ozone and oxides of nitrogen to kill forest ecosystems, or to add more
carbon dioxide to our global warming weather disaster. Instead, I want to engage in a guilt-free communion with Nature and
the God that made me.
Why Go Touring By Bicycle?
Long-distance bicycle touring is by nature
a Quixotic activity. In these days of light-speed communications, multimedia entertainment, fast, powerful, and prestigious
automobiles, luxurious homes, exotic restaurants, and instant gratification, why would someone choose to pedal at slow speeds
up high hills carrying a heavy load to boil rice in a small pot in the dark, insect-filled woods alone at night? Are bicycle
tourers and bikepackers driven by a masochistic self-hatred that causes them to perform painful and anachronistic pilgrimages?
I would like to believe I have left the car at home because
I did not want to spoil the mood of the day. To me cycling is a pleasurable activity that I do of my own free will, while
driving a car is an uncomfortable activity I have to do in order to meet other people's requirements. My behavior while driving
is different from my behavior while cycling. When I was younger, I used to curse and fume at other people's slowness and stupidity
while I was driving.
Now that I am "over the hill" or "mature" (take your choice), I feel threatened by other people's
kamikaze driving. Five hours of driving makes me lethargic and dreamy, gives me aching legs, and leaves me out of the mood
for doing anything active. Five hours of cycling passes pleasantly and safely. I feel less at risk, my mood remains cheerful,
I remain alert, my legs arrive full of energy, and I arrive happy.
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