[originally posted in hebrew on 30.04.2022]
So… me and the bike went on the road for a while.
Summary of matters so far
7 months ago, after Rosh Hashanah (jewish new year) 2021, I crossed a small but significant personal Rubicon for me. I went into an bi-annual review with my team leader and after we chatted a bit about how was the holiday and such, I told him that this conversation is going to turn out a little differently than he expected : ). I informed him that I am resigning in three months so i can head out there around April 2022. When he asked if I would rather take an unpaid leave for a while, I said it isn't going to be on that scale…
If we go back a little further – around June 2020 I decided it was time to get going again. In 2017 I went for seven months on a bike (half in Southeast Asia and half in the US) and those were the happiest seven months of my life so far (especially the second half of the trip) and I told myself I was going to do it again in the next few years. I don't remember what the trigger was in June 2020, when the world was starting to emerge from what turned out in retrospect to be the first out of many waves of the corona, which made me think "yes, *now* is a good time to go on a trip around the world", but that's what happened. So I set a goal of leaving for April 2021, nine months ahead, and assumed that the corona thing would surely blow over by then. seemed reasonable, right?
As you must have noticed, I didn't set off in April 2021, and in retrospect it wasn't the corona virus that stopped me. I mean, it would have prevented me from going if I was ready to go, but I wasn't ready. And I wasn't ready due to a combination of personal and professional circumstances, and especially a lack of time to prepare properly, because everyday life is something that eats up a lot of time. And so I decided this time to resign three months before the planned date (and four years to the day from the day i started working there!) in order to prepare properly. Because friends, it turns out that going on a long bike trip is a serious fit of logistics.
Apparently I already did that, didn't I? How complicated can it be? Not very complicated, just that I chose to challenge (read = complicate) myself. Specifically, because I chose to do this bicycle journey differently from the previous one (and more on that later), the space and weight I could take was much more limited, which forced me to approach it with a much more limited approach, and mainly it's enough to start from scratch regarding many things and do a lot of equipment research and equipment orders and full of small decisions , something I've found I hate only slightly less than packing gear, which I've been doing a lot lately.
So in January, after one last significant assignment, my resignation went into effect, and I began to organize. The period also included quite a few apartments changes, which was made easier by having some good friends (you know who you are, and if I could give you five stars on Google, I would totally do it). Naturally, my activity in Bicycle for Jerusalem also went into overdrive – full flurry of emails and white papers, meetings, rides and community events for the most part (including a ride with the mayor!), many interesting meetings and a lot of good work (and one very failed campaign…).
The last period was a very stressful period – planning a route, shopping for equipment, a handful of bureaucracy, catching the corona virus, cycling activities, moving between sublet apartments, and a general feeling that there is a mountain of things I need to get done before I set out. In my four years of work or my seven years at the academy I had few periods when I felt such pressure. It was clear to me that it was mainly stress that I'm putting on myself, but I still had trouble letting go. Luckily, I had enough family and friends around me to help me, so thank you, (again, you know who you are). Even here in Istanbul (oh, yes, I'm in Istanbul) I spent most of my days doing last minute shopping and logistics that I postponed from Israel. Only today I decided to stop and wait for another day to relax and write a little about where I am and what I'm doing (hence this endless digging [israeli slang for talking endlessly]) and I'm glad I did it. Getting started is hard, but it's also important to stop and breathe sometimes.
So after all this introduction – what do I actually do? and why?
Basically – I'm going on a bicycle trip from Istanbul to London for six months. Some of those reading this have heard from me about more grandiose plans, and they are still in the scope of "the plan", but it seems silly to me to make big announcements before I've even left the borders of Greater Constantinople. This is the theoretical route (and I can already see how it is going to change a lot, but every plan is a base and so on)
Why am I doing this?
Because I can, I guess. Why aren't you doing it?
And seriously, it was the right time, as far as I was concerned – the project at my work, which was a very cool adventure with people I am proud and happy to have worked with, reached a stable place that I felt would be right to release now. A long bike trip around the world is something I knew I wanted to do, and It's something that, how to say, doesn't fit in with any other plan in life (career, relationships, etc), so now is the time. And above all, cycling around the world will always feel like the best thing to do with my time. I suppose that when I get a chance I will try to explain exactly how it makes me happy, and what I find in it*, but this text is already getting long (and is not over yet) and the day is getting shorter.
*And it's clear to everyone that it's not fun all the time, right? To ride a whole day against the wind is a hellish despair, for example.
I haven't exactly decided what kind of trip I want to do, and that is reflected in my bike
The original idea was to do a long backpacking trip (this is the decision in question from earlier that cost me a lot of preparation). I got the inspiration from several sources, one of which was a couple of riders who rolled up to my campsite in Montana back in the summer of 2017, with two pairs of well-packed bikepacking bikes, and I immediately knew that's what I wanted to do too*. So a few words about the difference between touring and bikepacking. Touring is taking a few large panniers, usually two in the front and two in the back, throwing in everything you'll ever need on the road, and setting off. It's simple, it's friendly (you can do it with zero preparation) and it's very convenient – it's just big bags that attach (and come off) easily from the carriers. On the other hand, you are limited to relatively paved roads, because these large bags (and especially the hard plastic connections that connect them) are not designed to withstand the prolonged jolt of off-road riding.
*Another (lot) of inspiration came from a guy named Tristan, which I hosted sometime in 2019, but about it in detail on another occasion
In bikepacking, on the other hand, all the bags are tied with soft fabric straps to the chassis. It is difficult to install or remove them, their volume is more limited, but they can take any blow without breaking, so you can ride in any possible road conditions. And that's what I wanted this time – complete freedom to choose my route, as far away from cars as possible (and by the way, many times it's impossible), without listening to the clatter of bags and luggage. So I sacrificed a lot of the comfort for the all-terrain-ability, and friends, after making one or two trips in the field with full equipment, I can say without a doubt that this tractor can do some tough terrains 🙂
Only… I don't really do bikepacking either. I'm planning a visit to many interesting cities along the way (I fell in love with Istanbul, I stayed another day because it's hard for me to leave), I want to have a backpack but also not to ride with it for days on my back (which is quite a punishment), and I want to be able to carry a little more equipment if needed. So I added a rack and on it I tied the large seat bag and on top of that the bag. Bikepacking people will probably see it as a kind of abomination and touring people will just laugh at me and ask why I didn't take touring bags and that's it, but (what I tell myself) is the idea is versatility – on paved and simple roads, I tie both of them on the saddle and ride for fun, but If you reach difficult terrain, the bag goes back to the seatpost, the backpack to back, and the rack, free of equipment, can take a few hits.
It is possible that along the way I will change the setup again to full touring or full bikepacking, or I will change the type of trip, but these are decisions for Oren from the future, and good luck to him.
FAQ
There are some common questions that came up to people I told about the trip, so here's a quick FAQ and I hope to expand on some of these things (because who doesn't like expense details?)-
"Are you riding alone??? Doesn't it feel lonely?" – there are some plans for people joining, but in general, yes. Traveling alone is a challenging experience sometimes, but in my opinion it is an experience that everyone owes to themselves at some point. And yes, it's probably lonely sometimes*, especially when you have to make decisions, but in practice you're all just one WhatsApp away.
*Although this creates excellent opportunities to connect with the environment you are in. Traveling with someone else somewhat closes you off from the world a bit
"How do you finance it?" – 4 years as (pretending to be) an engineer, without a car, children or rent in Tel Aviv. Also, after the initial expenses for equipment (and there were expenses, some of them a bit unnecessary or excessive in retrospect), a bike trip is quite cheap, you mainly ride most of the time.
"What about bicycles for Jerusalem?" – the organization existed long before me and will exist after as well. This is the project I am most proud to have taken part in in my life so far*, but sometimes you also have to know how to let go**. The organization has an excellent group of activists and I believe that it will continue to be one of the best civil society organizations in the city (by the way, this is a great time to join the activity, heard there's a vacacy for a Nudnik [Hebrew slang, untranslatable]).
*Although the project at work was awesome as well, it was a great first work experience.
**As far as some specific topics are concerned, I can't guarantee that I won't show up for zoom meetings from the middle of the Balkans, ahem-the bike path in Elazar street and electric bikes-ahem.
Am I going to seek sponsorship/start a Patreon – why would anyone pay me for something I want to do anyway? I never understood this concept. And as I said, I'm still deep in Byzantium Local County jurisdiction, so let's get going first, okay?
Am I going to write a blog? Apparently you are reading it, but no promises. I can't promise to update here regularly, it takes me forever to write something, just this post took 3-4 hours (and I can't believe I'm using mikledet again *, I fucking hate this site), but I'll definitely try, because there are already some stories. I have an account at POLAR STEPS and I opened an Instagram , because it turns out that's what the cool kids do, but over there too – no promises. By the way, if someone understands WordPress, has free time and wants to help me design this blog into something less ugly – talk to me.
*For those who don't understand, I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Istanbul (meaning arcade) and I type this site and then do copy paste for the blog. Then an i edit something and copy paste and so on. It's as tedious as it sounds, and if anything in the text sounds illogical it's entirely the fault of this process.
So that's it, I'm off tomorrow. I hope not to report in three days that my knee is gone bad again and the trip is over (nothing that ever happened to me, ahm), and I'll see you later!
יצאתי לשאוף קצת רוח 