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How to bike across the country

brooks.team

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Re: How to bike across the country

#111

Post by giantg2 »

jaxtracks wrote: post #2

One theme that pops out to me here is the reliance on other people being a positive experience for the author. In the software field, we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society. This can be alienating and warp worldview. When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my…

"we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society."

I really don't see this as being directly true. Most sorts of interactions where we would depend on others/strangers would happen outside of a job, just like all the examples you give. Maybe there's some truth to the stereotype that us IT guys are nerds and participate in fewer IRL group hobbies, which could make your statement indirectly true. However, there's still communities build around stuff like MMORPGs, FOSS, etc where people are from different backgrounds and regions. But then again, maybe I'm the odd one out as a middle class developer with everyone making more than me.

Re: How to bike across the country

#112

Post by giantg2 »

dangus wrote: post #89
jaxtracks wrote: post #2

One theme that pops out to me here is the reliance on other people being a positive experience for the author. In the software field, we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society. This can be alienating and warp worldview. When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my…

I feel like this comment and the article itself together in context have kind of a sour taste for me. Just the fact that it takes such a great effort to experience first-hand how poorer people just help each other out because nobody has money, so they help. But for a tech bro to do that they have to engage in a self-indulgent hobby and cosplay as poor like they're on Undercover Boss. Ironically this effort to relate…

If you have to go out of your way to have a humble experience and then blog about it, then it's not authentic and you don't really know.

Re: How to bike across the country

#113

Post by timonoko »

fransje26 wrote: post #110
timonoko wrote: post #96

I made it twice in 1980s. Or maybe trice, at least piecewise. -- Note about "prepadness". No need for that. I started at 70km per day, but eventually made 500 km in 24h. Because good back wind and too hot for camping by the road. It takes about two weeks to totally numbify youres backside. Thereafter rockhard professional saddle is the best. https://youtu.be/8D-S8nYCwjA?si=TZfnb2qrkiZdiYU6

> https://youtu.be/8D-S8nYCwjA?si=TZfnb2qrkiZdiYU6 Quite a helmet! Cool, eclectic video. With a bit of a teleport jump between the Pecos river and NY. :-)

Sony Handycam froze. But recovered when I realized there is no hurry and I stayed some days in a warm hotel in New Jersey.

Re: How to bike across the country

#114

Post by testing22321 »

blindstitch wrote: post #22

I think that finding free camping outside when you are in some shit nothing town is probably the most important skill to have, which is easy with satellite maps. Once you get the hang of it you realize that every town has at least one site where you can definitely get away with pitching a tent for one night. I think I have camped this way about 80 times and have never even been asked what I'm doing. That said, state…

I’ve camped thousands of nights in nearly 70 countries this way.

Re: How to bike across the country

#115

Post by testing22321 »

downut wrote: post #37

For the people who are wondering whether this is a good idea or not, lemme tell you about some x-country cyclists I met on a ride. 3 years ago in the middle of summer I was climbing Iron Springs Rd on the west side of Prescott AZ. 3 youngish cyclists were paused on the side of the road with an apparent mechanical. They had a modest amount of camping gear in their panniers. Turns out they were French, had the barest g…

I’ve bumped into scores of people doing the same around Africa, from Alaska to Argentina, all over Europe etc.

There are tons of people out there having great adventures!

Re: How to bike across the country

#116

Post by jaxtracks »

dangus wrote: post #89
jaxtracks wrote: post #2

One theme that pops out to me here is the reliance on other people being a positive experience for the author. In the software field, we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society. This can be alienating and warp worldview. When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my…

I feel like this comment and the article itself together in context have kind of a sour taste for me. Just the fact that it takes such a great effort to experience first-hand how poorer people just help each other out because nobody has money, so they help. But for a tech bro to do that they have to engage in a self-indulgent hobby and cosplay as poor like they're on Undercover Boss. Ironically this effort to relate…

I agree that availing yourself of other people's charity for the sake of gaining a novel experience is gross if they have no way to decline or you're misrepresenting your circumstances. I think you've got a poorly adjusted take on the level of imposition happening in the situations described here though.

When I thumb a ride with a boat over my shoulder, nobody has to stop, and I'm sure nobody feels too bad for the dummy who might have to walk all afternoon because he decided to huck a river without a shuttle plan. When the author crashes at a fire-house, my hunch is the chief isn't worried that if he declines then the guy who's been camping for most of his trip anyway is going to freeze to death. Maybe he's just stoked to do someone a solid and chitchat with a traveler on a slow night. These are not 'CEO at a foodbank' type situations.

If I go on a mission to yoink a boater out of a gnarly river, I never hear anyone on my S&R crew worrying over whether the subject could have afforded a guided trip instead. We're just happy to help, and hope they learn from the experience. I think people legitimately enjoy helping eachother out more than you assume here, and are probably less concerned with economic status of the recipient than you.

> Ironically this effort to relate to other real live humans with normal incomes is only possible by indulging in the ultimate luxury, which is taking major time off of work rather than being stuck working a shit job.

So what do you advocate for here? Growing the increasing cultural isolation between economic classes because those lucky enough to afford time off work should be so concerned with potentially imposing that they shamefully avoid putting themselves in situations where they could benefit from the help of someone less well off?

Wealth inequality is a huge problem, and I'm excusing the level of salt in your comment because I agree with your general theme that exploitation of that dynamic is bad. But it feels like you're attacking a harmless treatment because you're upset the disease exists in the first place.

Re: How to bike across the country

#117

Post by jaxtracks »

giantg2 wrote: post #111
jaxtracks wrote: post #2

One theme that pops out to me here is the reliance on other people being a positive experience for the author. In the software field, we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society. This can be alienating and warp worldview. When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my…

"we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society." I really don't see this as being directly true. Most sorts of interactions where we would depend on others/strangers would happen outside of a job, just like all the examples you give. Maybe there's some truth to the stereotype that us IT guys are nerds and p…

Oh yeah that's a sweeping generalization of course. My point was that the heavy reliance on paid services that usually comes with a white-collar lifestyle reduces participation in community-based mutual aid and deepens cultural divides. I figure this probably gets worse with higher income since the more services you can afford, the less you may feel you need community.

Diverse hobby groups are also a great way of attacking these divides, but may lack the aspect of vulnerability that comes from experiences like the author's.

Re: How to bike across the country

#118

Post by petersteinberg »

soared wrote: post #3

Props to the author for grinding through this, but I think a very strongly worded and formatted warning is needed at the top. Embarking on this trip with so little knowledge meant putting yourself far away from civilizations while criminally underprepared. I love the energy of Supertramps, but there is a reason they are controversial. It would be very easy to make a mistake and be in big trouble - underestimating wat…

A very close friend de used to end his freshman year in Western Massachusetts by cycling home…

to Portland, Oregon.

In 1989.

So before cell phones, satellite phones, Strava, electrolyte powders, websites full of helpful tips, Google Maps…

He was likely criminally prepared and yet he says he had a great time. He mostly slept in the back yard of strangers and I vaguely recall that people offered him so much free food that for the entirety of the trip he spent about $35 and went through one giant tub of peanut butter (that he hauled with him). He got some sort of puncture-proof tires and never got a flat.

Skipping the dessert southwest helped avoid the risk of water shortage and she clearly got lucky and avoiding a variety of problems and it’s an n of 1, but it’s a data point saying one doesn’t have to plan to the nth degree.

Re: How to bike across the country

#119

Post by 7402 »

jaxtracks wrote: post #2

One theme that pops out to me here is the reliance on other people being a positive experience for the author. In the software field, we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society. This can be alienating and warp worldview. When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my…

> Now I stop to help anyone who's broken down on the side of the road

I have a certain amount of fear about doing this sort of thing. I am ashamed of that, too.

When I was in college (this was in a small city), I was walking at night by the library and I saw someone trip and fall in front of me. I asked if they were hurt and if I could help. He hobbled up and said yes, one leg was injured, but he just needed some help to get back to his car. I helped walk him four or five blocks, supporting his shoulder. In a darker bit of street, his friend tackled me to the ground and threatened to kill me with his gun. He took my wallet, ordered me not to stir from where he pushed me under a car, and they ran off. To be explicit here, the tripping and falling was fake.

The campus police took me to the student health services; my knee was banged and slightly scraped from the tackle. I related the story to the doctor and he said, "Well, you can't stop helping people." On the other hand, the cop just said, if anything like that ever happens, I didn't have to handle it myself, just call them, they were happy to come and assist anyone who might need help on campus.

I still help others when I can, but I am always cautious about my environment and assessing the circumstances

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