Originally Posted by
jamawani
It's just that so many inexperienced people want to believe what they want to believe.
Check out the journals of those who hit the Rockies far too early or late to be prudent.
Not only do they risk brutal weather, but they are often guys riding on a shoestring budget.
Usually, they get help from a kindly local in a pick-up truck - often food and shelter, too.
(I have rescued my share of soaking, freezing, bedraggled riders, too.)
And yes, many of those who I stop to help -
Have been amazingly foolhardy and unprepared.
I am beginning to wonder why I bother.
If it bothers you that much to help people then simply don't. You're being so aggressive with your language that nobody is going to listen to you irregardless of what point you're trying to make. Who wants to listen to someone that is sitting there telling them they are an idiot?
Yes as a matter of fact, if you bike 4000 miles on a bicycle you may (should/will probably) come across some condition that you're not prepared for, but is that all bad? It's meant to be an adventure is it not? I think most tourers are fine at improvising. There is being informed, and then there's letting that information stop you from doing what you want to do.
Any well informed sane person wouldn't climb Everest or hang glide. Some of them may be well informed and are taking a calculated risk with the notion that they will improvise, and accept that risk. You have to on some level to hop on a bicycle in the first place.
Do you think people should simply always bike west to east on the transamerica trail because it's optimal for wind? . . . as Greg mentioned, there are so many factors in choosing that direction other than wind. In fact most people decide direction irregardless of wind before they even think about when they want to start, which is what the thread started as anyway. For me, living on the east coast my whole life was my biggest reason to ride west. It would be boring to me to bike home.