Exiting the Rat Race!

[JustinF]

I'm looking at fecking of on me bike around the planet, on a minimal budget.
Got a few years to plan it as jr is 15 and still partially reliant on me (lives with womb parent) and has been invited to come if he likes.

I missed the opportunity to go see the world when young because I never had money, but I've come to realise with a bike and kit I only need to feed myself and shell out for the occasional repair or luxury.

Now obviously this isn't quite as simple as it sounds, it's going to need a list or twelve.

starting with... if it were you what bike specification would you take? ( my default leaning is to drop bars)

My very limited, two trip, backpacking experience tells me I know nothing about spending more than 3 days away from a hotel room, which is quite the disadvantage when trying to navigate the globe on £5 a day.

I have destinations in mind and I'll be looking at detail on where's and how's later but for now I'm focused more on what I should take extra for a year on a bike instead of a week.

[Pirahna]

Speaking with no experience whatsoever, just bugger off and do it. There are plenty of people who've done stuff on minimal budgets, Dervla Murphey is someone who comes to mind.

I met up with a mate when I was travelling in Australia and we had dinner on his aunt and uncles boat in Brisbane. They'd left England about 10 years earlier to sail around World, any money they had was long gone and they survived by picking up work wherever they could. They were away for 20ish years, he died in England. She got into cycling and the CTC and would disappear for weeks and months by herself. Eventually she finished up cycling to Crete where she lived for a while before passing away.

I met another bloke on a battered old mountain bike at Dublin Port one evening waiting for a ferry. I asked how for he had to go at the other end and he said about 80 miles. I asked how for he'd been and he said "all around the World". he'd spent two years riding with very little money but had survived.

I worked with a bloke who was going to Uruguay to see his brother. The bloke had left home many years earlier on a two week cycling holiday and had decided to keep going. He'd worked as he went along and had no plans to return.

[Richard G]

I've have thought your best bet for a bike for something like that would be keeping it as simple as possible.

Steel, no suspension, 8 or 9 speed for easy spares, flats etc

[adjustablewench]

I like the books A bike ride by Anne Mustoe and also Alistair humphries two books (the names escape me atm!). Both went around the world different ages and routes but both inspiring stories with lots of insight into what to take

[voodoo_simon]

My friend at https://jblewi.wordpress.com did just that two years ago.

He used a Surly Troll with butterfly bars, scwalbe tyres and a rolhoff rear.

He's pretty chilled, so feel free to ask him questions directly.

He basically cycled to Turkey, flew into India, toured Burma and then flew back to Turkey and cycled back from there. Took him a full year (the bastard )

[ootini]

Fargo?

[atk]

Take what you got. Save your money for experiences (or just food...) en-route. You'll figure out what you're not using and what you've forgotten soon enough and adjust occasionally.

[Fat tyre kicker]

Lots of books on the subject of course, my personal favourites are by Josie Dew,
She travelled the world in stages 20 odd years ago and her experiences are worth
Reading, also, at the moment there's a Young fella called Ed Pratt unicycling his way
Round the globe for charity, he's on Facebook and YouTube and his journey has been
Very interesting, a lot of his luggage and kit is homemade so it's an ever evolving story,
He's also met a friend and took a two week trip on a borrowed tandem....the point to all
This is, as others have/will say just point and go and make it up from there. I wanted to
Cycle to Majorca as an adventure with my girlfriend (now wife) 20 years ago but over planned
It and it eventually became impossible due to life pressures.....should of just gone and done it

[Bearbonesnorm]

I'm focused more on what I should take extra for a year on a bike instead of a week.

Not a lot.

Tha Adventure Cycling Handbook by Stephen Lord is worth looking at. I've met Stephen a few times, the last time, he stayed with us on his way through Wales. He had a Dutch lad with him who left Holland over 10 years earlier. He didn't have much kit, worked on £5 a day to live, picked up work when he needed to ... and was the happiest, most contented person I've ever met. His only 'worry' was how he'd cope when he finally returned to a 'normal' existence, not financially but mentally.

[atk]

Another example of a very loose plan going pretty well...

https://aroundtheworldbyaccident.blogspot.co.nz/

[Scud]

I think that you just need to do it,on a trip that long where you are not racing then a dependable steel framed bike like a Fargo or a Surly Long Haul Trucker are ace (especially the 26" version).

Don't worry about bike being light or fancy, just ask yourself when it brakes in the middle of Africa, would an African bike mechanic (and you) be able to fix it, carbon rims etc are ace, but can't be fixed with a hammer. (See the guy recently who got hit in rear by a car on fat bike in Ethiopia, had to plea for people to fly a fat bike wheel to him).

This is a great book:

http://adventurecycle-touringhandbook.com/

I've done similar, friend and i buggered off through France, Spain, North Africa down into West Africa on old '72 Land Rover, got as far all Mali before running out of money. Cam back and bought a Land Rover 101 and kitted it out to take 8 people and went back and drove from Portsmouth to Cape Town, budget was fuel + £5 a day

I've done the length of South America on an old Africa Twin motorbike too.

You just have to be pig-headed, set a date and go for it, don't over think it with Excel spreadsheets, carry spares and learn to fix your bike and maintain it well.

[Fat tyre kicker]

" bought a Land Rover 101.....budget was fuel + £5 a day" quote from Scud

That must have been quite an extensive budget with the fuel if it was a standard 101

[MuddyPete]

...what bike specification would you take?

Bike type doesn't seem to be too important: http://www.pennyfarthingworldtour.com/. Just don't forget your pith helmet .

There's some useful info' here, too: http://www.whileoutriding.com/about . The underlying message seems to be "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

[Borderer]

Yeah, just do it is the answer. My son and I have travelled extensively in Europe since he was five. Firstly in a self-built campervan (til it got nicked in Naples), now on bikes. Bikes is by far the cheapest way to do it obviously. When we were cycling in France we met a number of people living and travelling on their bikes for extended periods. Tbh they were all carrying far too much stuff, so you have the advantage of knowing how to travel really light which will help you enormously.

One thing to consider is that your son may not want to be away from his home-life for as long as you do, so you might have to factor in places where he can fly home after a bit if needs be. My son is 12, so it is different, but after around 6 weeks he starts to get homesick and miss his friends, clubs, bedroom and so on. Three months is the longest we have ever managed to stay away in a single go because of this. As a home-educating single parent I am fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time with my kid, but there is something about facing the challenges and experiences of travel together that always brings us even closer.

As for a bike, well I think you can over-think that too. As someone else said - just use whatever you have got as long as it is in good shape. We came across people travelling across Europe on recumbents, tandems, cheap crappy decathlon bikes and allsorts. Its more important to just get out there and do it.

Do you cycle much with your son just now?

[Scud]

" bought a Land Rover 101.....budget was fuel + £5 a day" quote from Scud

That must have been quite an extensive budget with the fuel if it was a standard 101

She was thirsty wagon, 3 litre V8, we did a few smaller trips first and realised that it wasn't feasible for months away, so it was swapped out for a Perkins diesel and we welded rack on side that took 8 jerrycans and we'd fill up wherever was cheapest (Ceuta was always first place)

[/url]Untitled by Scud75, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]Untitled by Scud75, on Flickr[/img]

[mikehowarth]

I spent over two years riding bikes in remote places around the world.

In many ways it was one of the best things I've ever done and would recommend anyone to do the same if they are thinking about it.

People often worry about returning back to the 'real world' or the 'rat race', to be honest you'll be just fine, often its the initial inertia of leaving that is the difficult bit. You'll learn loads of things about yourself along the way, some good, some bad but generally all things to strengthen your character and make you a better person.

I've been back just over two years, currently debating when I'm going to make another trip.