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Cyclists: The Last True Travellers
Barry and Margaret Williamson
July 2010 Cyclists are the last great travellers, making their silent and sometimes solitary away across great distances, unsheltered from the elements. They are at the mercy of the winds, the rains, the hills: sometimes for the better (back wind, downhill, a cooling shower) but more often, it seems, for the worse.
Cyclists are travellers rather than tourists or holiday-makers. They are travellers simply because they travel; they are wholly engaged in the activity of travelling or moving. Less concerned with destinations, objectives or places, they enjoy the process of cycling. Of being on the road. They are in touch with their surroundings, the seasons, the climate, the weather, the country, the people. They don't just see the flowers, they smell them – though the same applies to the roadkill! They know a town or a city as a whole, from entering it to leaving it, and not just the tourist hot spot in the centre. People say that Prague is a beautiful city – but not if you have cycled right across it!
Paul Theroux wrote that tourists don't know where they have been; travellers don't know where they are going. Tourists spend their time checking out their expectations about places: is it as good as the guide book or brochure promised it would be? Have they missed one of the top ten 'must sees'?
Cyclists as travellers spend their time focused on their own experience of travel itself, something unique to each traveller and not found in any guide book or brochure. A cyclist can only be disappointed with him or herself; that they weren't prepared enough for the challenges faced.
Cyclists don't know how far they may get each day; they don't know where they might stay. They carry the bare minimum: the very necessities of life. A map, a little food and drink, a little extra clothing, basic cooking apparatus, a sleeping bag, perhaps a tent or a simpler cover for the night. A paperback book is a luxury.
Cyclists are also explorers of their inner being, their own ability and potential. How much more are they capable of achieving? They are tested physically, intellectually and psychologically every time they ride. They find their limits and they learn what happens when they have to go beyond those limits. Whatever might arise, they have to know that they can cope, that limits can be exceeded.
Cyclists are at the mercy of their fellow humans, who rush past inside their motorised metal and glass cages, sitting passively or simply manipulating levers. A slight movement of a hand or a foot might mean the difference of life or death for a passing cyclist. After all, the charge in England might only be one of 'careless driving'. What an imbalance: a monetary fine, a few 'points' on the driving licence for the motorist; death or a life of disability for the cyclist.
So please give cyclists a wide berth and a cheery wave and, since you carry plenty in your car or motorhome, perhaps give a little - be it time, food or drink - if you meet at a place of mutual rest. Cyclists need breaks to aid physical recovery and rehydration; drivers need breaks to alleviate boredom and to reduce the possibility of falling asleep at the wheel!
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