Cycling Around the World, Sadly had to return for major repairs

[John Peel]

Having attempted to cycle around the world myself (along with my husband) I can say a number of things such as if you want to blog, do so.
SNSSO

Hi, there are some similarities here, especially with regards to meds and photography. I too carry a lot of meds, as a number of years ago I was run over by an articulated lorry and suffer a permanently damaged spine as a result. The meds take up nearly half a front pannier.

Photography is also my hobby, and you should check out my images on my social media, its easier to view them on Google+ so here is a link https://plus.google.com/collection/4KjhX G+ is more geared towards photographers and its easier than most other platforms to upload to. You will be able to tell the shots mixed in with my phone images. I use a Sony a7rii, with a great prime 55mm lens and a Sony G 70-200 lens. With all the cables and bits, it can take up a lot of space and weigh quite a bit. Then there is the GoPro 5 and bits for that too. My laptop and cables. All this gear takes up a lot of room and is heavy, but being as I'm a solo traveller it has helped stop me getting bored later in the day or at night when I have finished my ride, and is all a part of recording this whole adventure. Like you, I also capture RAW. I'm set up to capture both RAW and JPEG for each image, then I transfer everything to SSD external drives for safekeeping.

Not having anyone else to talk to or even argue with is quite difficult, and probable the single hardest part of this journey, mentally. I'm a social creature, and so love being around other people, which is why I try to get to a campsite rather than spend the whole day on my own cycling, then wild camping on my own at night, it would drive me crazy I think. The laptop I use to keep videos and do some editing, but charging it up can be a real pain. Pushing yourself on your own is hard too, and not being able to just nip into a shop or to a toilet without securing all your gear can be difficult too. Yes, solo is very hard, and the bit I find difficult. In Spain, I passed just 2 other cycle tourists, probably because of the route I chose through the middle via Madrid.

And so blogging is another way for me to keep occupied. If I reach a campsite at the end of the day, I have a little routine. I set my tent and gear up, take a shower and wash the clothes I had on that day and change into clothes for sleeping in, then I prepare clothes for the next days cycle because the ones I have just washed are unlikely to be dry by morning. Then its food time, and I don't cook my own food, but I do have a burner and make coffee. I usually pick some food up like bread and things to put on it during the day to eat at night. Cooking with company to share a meal with is much better, and I have been asked many times by other campers if I would like to sit with them to eat, and have had BBQ and all sorts of lovely meals, thanks to the lovely people I have met. I'm not looking for free anything, its just that some people see me on my own at my tent and welcome me, its lovely.

Then its time to do my blogs. This can take me an hour, and I then spend a bit longer replying to comments which I love doing. Making and posting blogs and posts is important to me, it keeps me connected to my friends and loved ones around the world. I have countless more people eager to catch up with my day, than people not liking reading blogs, and so I have no intention of limiting them. Its like a reality show

I left off at Marseille at day 80, and when I return to Marsielle to continue, it will post day 81. All this time in between I don't count in my blog days obviously, although I do update my blogs from time to time to keep people up to speed on what is happening with me and my bike. And besides, I think my daily posts are great So after spending an hour or so on my evening posts, its time to make phone calls home to my children and other loved ones, and then if I'm not sleepy I will watch a movie or something on my laptop.

Getting up in the morning, packing up all my gear, and taking those first few pedal strokes is the best part, I love this part more than any other part of the day. Its a real feeling of freedom, of excitement, not knowing what the day will bring. I can't describe to people how amazing this part of the day is, even if its raining and cold, its fantastic. What also really makes my day, is when someone talks to me, asks me about what I'm doing and takes a real interest. I love that. I have met so many wonderful people. People on holiday from all over the world are inviting me to stay with them if I am ever passing through their own countries, as you have done and thank you.

The biggest let down thus far though, has been the bike, as you are aware from reading parts of this thread. It has seriously put a dent in my adventure. I wanted to be out of France, Italy, Greece and Turkey before the harshest parts of winter, but have now missed that window and I am back in the UK. I won't now be returning to Marseille until lat Feb/ or the beginning of March in order to catch warmer - if wetter - weather, and truly enjoy Greece. I truly hate the cold. I was born in Manchester, but brought up in Perth Australia, so love warm weather.

I can imagine your blog is amazing and really informative, so I'm just checking it out on crazy guy on a bike and will give it a really good read. Is crazy guy on a bike easy to use on a mobile phone, or is it really for laptop use, as it looks a little tricky, and I have tried commenting on a RTW cyclists page in the past, which was awkward too. All the best. Steve

 

[John Peel]

Dont botther with a blog etc, get back, write a book about it, self publish on Amazon, and donate the royalties to a charity of your choice.

Each time I write a blog, post or article, I copy it to a word document too. I'm keeping everything I write, as I would love to write a book on my return. I think it would be interesting for people like me who have never cycle toured before and are just ordinary people looking for adventure.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

View attachment 384904

Thanks for your post above satnav, though must admit that despite you saying you love the rohloff, it does sound problematical on a long trip.

None of the problems experienced were actually with the rohloff speeding itself. My gear change issues came about from an accident/incident on day 5 that neither of us realised was going to be a problem much further down the line. Put that one down to a combination of someone else helping us (getting the bike on a train) and the gear changer at the handle bars well that was just one of those things. Had I have known what I know now, or even ever ridden my husband's bike I would have realised that there was a problem that needed to be addressed before it became critical. Water pipe insulation (yep!) saw me safely through Serbia one the problem had been identified. By then we had realised we needed to stop off in Greece for an overhaul of the bikes after 13,500km or so and before we headed off into eastern turkey, Iran and beyond, though that never happened sadly.

The very slow oil leak on my husband's bike was a seal which had some dirty under it this not making a deal properly. The hub can run without oil. It always had enough inside that can't drain out for it not to be a problem. It was just a matter of keeping his chain clean. It only lasted 9,000km compared to the 14,000km that mine did. Same with the sprocket and chain thingymajig I can't remember the darned name of (sorry memory issues since my 12 day stay in icu back in July).

They are anything except problematical. I would still hate to have done what we were planning to do (pamir highway via Tajikistan and Kurdistan which was a viable entry into China at the time) on a derailleur system which I still hate having to index!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Is crazy guy on a bike easy to use on a mobile phone, or is it really for laptop use, as it looks a little tricky, and I have tried commenting on a RTW cyclists page in the past, which was awkward too. All the best. Steve

CGOAB is set up so you can pretty much use anything. You can email your updates in and I know Neil has (last time I looked) an app as well which can be used to upload to your journal.

We also took a 13“ laptop and 2 SSD's for backups. I carried one, my husband the other. I also wrote everything up in word first, spell checked what I could and then copied it over to my journal. at the end of each country we posted home a bag of 'souvenirs' information leaflets, papery maps, little things we had been given along the way etc. It helped with memories and also lightened the load.

One thing we did learn the hard way add the need to keep receipts because of my hubby's occupation. On his security clearance application when we returned to the UK, they wanted us to prove where we had spent every night! Talk about a challenge because we wild called a lot including very close to the certain borders they were not happy about. Our only saving grace was that we never actually collected the visas we had obtained so our papers were pretty clear (a shame really but it helped considerably given the countries we had visas for!) obviously we managed because we had a gps reference for every night, the journal which clearly indicates the list time a page was edited and enough receipts or entries on visa card to prove what we had done, but it did take quite a bit of work to convince them!

Right I must retire for the night.

Best wishes and stay fit whilst you are off the bike otherwise those first few weeks are going to be hell again. Another thing we found out the hard way whilst waiting out (in Greece) the worst of an exceptionally bad winter in eastern Turkey. (even I bailed at -40C overnight temperatures and ordinarily I don't bat an eyelid at even -20C.)

 

[John Peel]

Great comments @SatNavSaysStraightOn . I have done a lot of touring, mainly shorter but going across the US shortly. You learn from your own experience what matters in terms of comfort etc. I LOVE to write a blog (see www.jmhr.com for my offerings) and even now I re-read my own often to relive trips.. So why would I not do it? I have had people on this forum tell me I should leave my mobile phone behind. Why? I LOVE talking/texting my family (inc 5 children) very often so again, why would I follow someone else's rules.

Best one was being told that dental floss was not needed on tour as "you're hardly going to pull are you?"

Having said all that, @John Peel you will learn new stuff from others, and glad to see you actively are doing so.

Have fab trip!

I also had to respond. I looked at your map of southern USA that you rode. I have driven through all of those places, and those landscapes are truly amazing and I would love to cycle through them to experience them at a nice pace, and as a part of this tour, maybe I will. I am the same with regard to doing exactly what I want to do, and at the same time I will listen to advice being given from anyone, and if I find its something I can use, I will use it. Before I left, people would ask me why now, why would I do this when I have worked so hard for everything I have and could just retire comfortably into my old age instead of risking life an limb and finances. Well, being as I'm nearly 55, and there are no grandchildren yet, it's a perfect time for me. I could have taken a month here and there once in a while, but it was never really about me going to a country and cycling it, then going somewhere else another time and cycling that one, but I can truly appreciate that appeal for a lot of people, and understand that life restrictions dictate that kind of touring.

This is going to sound really strange, but it was the cycling completely around the world bit that I wanted, not so much the cycling . I know, it sounds crazy. I'm trying to explain that the challenge to do one last amazing multi-year adventure that had a start and a finish, while at the same time experiencing the world at a perfect pace, was what I wanted. I'm not a cyclist, and to be honest, if I manage this mammoth tour, I might pack the bike away and never cycle again, because going out during the day from home for a bike ride for an hour or 2 bores the hell out of me, so I rarely do it. But the bicycle was the vehicle I needed to do what I wanted at the pace I wanted to do it. Look, I'm going to stop writing because I'm almost confusing myself But its like those who would love to single cross the Altantic Ocean solo. Its not that they love rowing boats, its the challenge and adventure and personal reward for completing or attempting something amazing. I'm going to copy this to a blog I think )

 

[John Peel]

One of these? View attachment 385209

No, one of these, times have changed This one I have loaded with 128gb of albums. It is tiny and lasts a few days without having to charge it. I link it to my BlueTooth speaker which hangs off my bar bag. I love listing to sounds without the earphones while I'm cycling. I have 2 battery banks that keep everything going for days on 1 charge each.

 

[John Peel]

You made me laugh talking about the KOGA dealership you dropped into. I had 3 Kogas, including the World Traveller which is a lovely touring bike. But without any doubt at all, KOGA has the worst customer service of any organisation I have ever dealt with.
Lovely bikes but awful service.

I agree, the bike is striking to look at, and when I park it up people stand around it looking at it, and it feels solid. I had narrowed my original choices before purchase to Thorn Nomad and KOGA Worldtraveller, and just 2 things had me choosing the KOGA over the Thorn, and that was that I thought the Thorn was ugly, really ugly, and I didn't want to feel that way about such a purchase, regardless of how good it was. But what is ugly to me could be stunning to someone else. Not only that, but the Thorn had no stands, not one, and that made me a little concerned as to why. The KOGA on the other hand had one on the front and one on the rear, and I can't stress how much I love that idea, it has kept my bike stable with tons of weight in the front panniers.

When I have just put the back stand down and not the front, the front wheel turns and swings the bike under the weight of the panniers. So 2 stands and good looking bike was all it was. I'm so so let down by the customer service, and will never again have another KOGA. I have been speaking with company called Stanforth Bikes here in the UK, and if I were to get another bike, I think I would give them a go. I like their confidence in being able to offer great support. How that is in reality is another thing, but besides that, I like the look of their bikes.

 

[John Peel]

If you're ditching the chair/table I'd suggest using one of these,

View attachment 385196
Very light but comfy back support

This is my chair, and to be fair it only weighs a pound, takes my bulk, and collapses really small, the table is a bit bigger though.

 

[John Peel]

You sound keen on photography - no idea this helps at all but Nikon have a feature called SnapBridge that allows you to automatically transfer pics from camera to phone via Bluetooth.....

Yes, my Sony a7rii does the same with its built in wifi to my iphone. It will still leave the original image on the sd card in the camera, but it will send a much smaller 2Mb copy of the image over to my iphone for me to use. I have only just loaded this app to my phone and set up the camera this last week, but I have my new iphone arriving this week so will see how it all works like that, and see how good the imaging is on the iphone x. I'm due a romantic visit for a week once I reach Rome in March, so if I can't live without my camera and laptop, I will have that stuff brought back out to me at that point. I have a Tb of cloud space to upload to from the iphone, so the 256gb of space on the iphone will be great to see how the phone manages 4k video too. You would think I would have enough to do with just the cycling, but at the end of a short day or at night, I have a lot of time on my hands to play with toys, its just the weight of everything I'm trying to work with.

 

[John Peel]

drivers 'over there' don't seem to adhere to the same rules and regs 'over here'.

T)

Trucks were my biggest concern. While working on the Hard Shoulder of the M6 Motorway in Birmingham, I heard the rumble strip, rumble, and I turned around to see the front of an articulated lorry, then it was lights out. I awoke in hospital after being thrown down the hard shoulder and bounced off signs and barriers. 3 years of therapy to get things on track. So this was going to be a huge challenge for me, and one reason I didn't practice before setting out on this. I had a feeling that if I did practice on busy roads, I wouldn't have take it on. But you know, in less than a couple of weeks of my nerves being shot on this tour, I was OK. It still goes through me when I hear the rumble strip behind me, or straps whistling in the wind on a truck, but I've actually really dealt with it really well, too well really, as a healthy fear of that kind of thing is important.

 

[John Peel]

Stephen? John? I am with you on taking a laptop btw. One comment is that you said you are backing up videos on SSD drives/ Are you also uploading to Cloud. I have a 1TB account with Dropbox, and it would certainly help once in a while when you have good wifi to let it all sync to the cloud

I had to change my username to something other than my real name according to the rules here, so I chose my middle and last name. My name is Stephen.

If I take my laptop back with me I will transfer files to SSD, but if I don't, I will use my iphone to upload to my online Google Drive with 1tb of space I have. Connection permitted. The iphone has 256gb of internal memory so will store things until I can upload.

 

[Pale Rider]

It's a shame the Koga has been a disappointment.

But it seems to me now that you are chain drive, you can reasonably expect the premium riding experience and reliability you paid for.

You rarely hear anything other than praise for the Rohloff hub, mine has been faultless and a delight to use during its first 2,500 miles.

@Littgull on here has found the same.

From what I can gather - not least from @SatNavSaysStraightOn - if there is a weak link it's the twist shifter.

Even if it fails, the design of the hub means you can always select the gear you want although you have to dismount to do it.

Given my reservations about the shifter, if doing a world tour I would be tempted to replace it with the Giles Berthoud aluminium one which looks sturdier.

However, a Rohloff dealer told me gripping it to twist can be difficult, particularly in cold/wet weather.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-shifters/22-mm-gilles-berthoud-twister-for-rohloff-hubs-silver/

 

[John Peel]

It's a shame the Koga has been a disappointment./

I have noticed that sjs cycles seems to get mentioned a lot through some of the posts and threads I have read, and yet they don't actually build bikes from what I can see, well other than putting them together from other manufacturers, but the reviews about them seem good.

I expected a premium service from KOGA before the chain drive. The belt system was a very expensive bit of kit, the belt and spare belt I bought worked out at a couple of hundred sobs on their own, 2 chains would have been much cheaper than that, and that goes for the sprockets and components too. So I'm in no doubt the chain drive is much cheaper, but lets hope its much more reliable and gets me around the world hey.

If it fails again beyond my own or a shop in a countries capabilities while I'm away on this next leg, I'm dumping it back to the UK. I will either have another bike sent out to me with derailleur gears from another bike builder in the UK, or I will buy a bike with derailleur gears in a shop where I am at that time, if they have one available. Even it ends up a cheap'ish (under a grand, a lot under) bike to allow me to finish that country, then that's what I will do. I can't keep taking these kinds of breaks for bike repairs, I will be 90 years old before I complete. Losing my weather window to clear Europe has been heartbreaking enough, setting me back 4 months, not to mention my having to survive in that time, so very expensive too. But I'm upbeat, despite how my words are coming out here , I'm on a mission

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Thorn is SJS's brand Stephen - built to their spec & design.

 

[tyreon]

One of the strangest phenomena when cycling is trying to find a spot where you can find privacy in wanting to 'spend a penny'...or maybe twopence. Rest assured when you see your place there's a sudden burst of traffic,or vans and the like will stop by for a break. Out country,with no one around,just as you wish to undress you will have a bus turn up to 'take five' or an ice cream van. Works almost everytime. Shoulkd you ever have any further mech problems it maybe worth waiting until you-need-to go. Just as you're ready and wanting no one to see,suddenly everyone seems to stop where you are. Very annoying