chrisx

How long?
How long did you go without logging on to this or any other web page?

I went over 2 weeks without internet multiple times this year, as I either rode my bicycle, or hiked.

How much virtual touring is too much, how much internet is to much?

jamawani 

Log off of Soda Butte Creek - Yellowstone N.P.

chrisx

Is the Chief Joseph hwy a good place to ride my bicycle?

Happy Feet

I ride to work, most weekends and take holidays on my bike and still manage to post pics and participate on BF. They aren't always mutually exclusive.

Just some from this year:

Athabasca River, AB


Columbia Icefield Parkway, AB


Lake Minnewanka, AB


Great Sand Hills, SK


KVR, BC


Rundle Range, AB


Moose Lake, AB


Kamloops Lake, BC


Sea to Sky Hwy, BC

Andrew R Stewart 

Every time I ride I'm logged off in that I have no data plan for my stupid flip phone. But I did take a week long tour (ACA's CO/UT inn to inn) with only checking in at motel house computers a couple of times. Andy

jamawani 

Chief Joseph Highway is insanely steep -
especially on the switchbacks coming north off of Dead Indian Pass.
It gives me the heebie-jeebies - - and I've been in a lot of heebie-jeebie places.

There have been long-term slide problems which WYDOT is trying to fix.
Don't know if the highway will be open or closed in 2019.

A permanent fix for Chief Joseph Highway - KULR8.com | News, Weather & Sports in Billings, Montana

I would certainly hope you are logged off of all devices if you attempt it.

J.Higgins 

I couldn't tour this year. After our inn-to-inn tour around Lake Champlain, and commitments needing fulfillment, my wife developed spinal problems which needed me home. She'll have surgery next month, so hopefully a green light for me next year. Obligations and responsibilities have a way of squashing dreams. It seems like the older I get, the worse it gets. I still get out and ride every day, but touring - my passion - is only a dream right now.

Happy Feet

Consider smaller tours like s24o's or s48o's. Small getaways keep your hand in the game and can be fun because they don't involve large financial/time commitments.

In the last couple of years I have discovered a VIA rail service basically from my front door that takes me up province and into the heart of the Rockies for cheap. I've done several 1 and 2 week trips so far and look forward to a couple of more next year as well. I can get off anywhere along the line so even a long weekend is doable for less than $100 and little logistics. Roll on, roll off, ride home.

jefnvk

I rode for two weeks, I doubt I've been off the internet for more than two consecutive days this year. I don't really see where me staying off the internet at the end of the night as I'm having dinner or lying in bed has any relevance to my touring. In fact, we found some cool stuff in France we'd have never seen if it weren't for the internet supplementing our trip.

alan s 

mev

The poll option seems to ask two different questions: touring and off the grid.

I finished my long (18-month) tour at end of December, so it was back to shorter trips this year, particularly after I went back to work in August. I was able to get in:
-- one week to Houston in March
-- two weeks El Paso to Austin in May
-- four weeks Abilene to Minot in July
-- one week Texarkana to Memphis in August
and have plans for two weeks from Brownsville to Abilene in December.

However, I was connected on most of those trips.

3speed

boomhauer

Do they still sell Google Explorer Glasses? Never log off while you tour.

chrisx

Are we degrading to where one guy with google glasses tours and 100 old guys watch on the web¿
Sounds like the glass is more than just half empty.



Sorry about the no 0 place to click.

How many do their touring on the internet only virtual touring?
How many stop their tour to use the internet?
How many stop using the internet and go someplace on their bicycle, or walk in the mountains¿

How many posters here no longer tour, accept virtual touring, live their touring fantsy through the web¿

Can you climb a mountain without a battery?
Is to much internet a bad thing?¿?

I make a point of logging off for a while now and then. Why not live as nature intended, not as the computer intended?

Who are the knee jerkers? We have all seen them. They pull out their phone and their knee starts to jump up and down, involuntary muscel spasms caused by staring at an electronic device.
https://www.bustle.com/articles/1178...s-to-your-body
I expect somebody will find a more scientific link,

3speed

chrisx

I think they are beginning to understand thew question.

2 people voted for over a month so far.
Did they tour by bicycle without logging on for more than a month?

Doug64

I am one of the people who checked over a month, but I did not read the question correctly. We toured for 2 months this year. My wife and I use the internet as a tool while on tours. We check the weather, pay bills, keep in touch with family, book hotels, check campground availability, do work, post to our blog, and navigation (especially through large cities). We have toured a total of 19 months in the last 10 years, and being "connected" actually made our rides more enjoyable rather than diminishing the experience. We usually carry a small notebook to back up photos, use photoshop when needed, and do other tasks that are difficult to do on a phone.

However, we have done thousands of miles before PCs were available, and cell phones were invented. I believe being connected takes some of the adventure out of bike touring. There are not too many surprises. Have you ever been separated from your riding partner in a foreign country with only one phone between you? No, I'm not going to give up my phone or computer. I don't believe that the internet is some evil force; it is just a tool.

Rowan

I agree with everything you've written. Our distances include randonneuring as well as touring, plus commuting in the decade-plus I didn't own a car, and hardly drove at all. As a journo, I saw introduction of computerised production in my 20s, and have seen it in other jobs along the way. However, it provides nil substitute for real-life experience.

Machka 

Absolutely!!





I'll also mention that I'm not quite sure what "virtual touring" is, but if it is what I think it is, I rarely do it.

I have read 1.5 books written by cycletourists. Is that "virtual touring"? If so, then I have done it.

I have glanced over a Crazy Guy on a Bike "blog" once or twice while on tour to see if there was a good way to travel from point A to point B.

I've read a few people's tour accounts on BF or FB because they've interested me for one reason or another.

Is that "virtual touring"?

Happy Feet

When I did my Western Canada tour to raise awareness about dementia in 2016 I logged in daily (or every other day) so that people back home could follow on my blog. The recreation staff at the Residential Care facility where I work printed out the blog and posted it on the wall so the residents could also follow and she made a bobble head of me and tracked that across a big wall map too. Total living vicariously through technology which I'm very happy about. Same thing will happen in 2020 when I do my next major awareness campaign.

These things are just tools and not wrong in themselves. It's only how we use them.

ricrunner

I log off for two months, but their were a few reasons, my computer died and decided to do without for a while. Then went and built a cabin on a block of land I bought with a bunker underneath it. The bunker is 14 meters by 6 meters, fully self contained with underground 30 thousand litre tankes X 2 and sewerage system. Was meaning to build for a while, had the bunker waiting to be put in, just didn't have the time. Then I had 4 days left over and went on a local 150 klm tour with my dog to a fishing spot. Went out again to same spot this last weekend and caught 2 18 inch Murraycod, but had to release them as they are out of season. Still I enjoyed the break away from the Comp. Nothing like a little tour or two to revive a depressed body.

alan s 

skidder

Just two short credit card tours, 3 days and 4 days. Only internet use was using google maps for directions. The only other 'tech' issue was my employer, who wanted me to come in for an 'emergency' (which it wasn't) while there were others who could have handled the it during regular work hours)). I told her I was 2-days away by bicycle and it got her pissed off at me.

BF can wait until I get home.

chrisx

I went on a 2 month tour this year. I checked the over 2 weeks without internet box, because I went without internet for more than 2 weeks a couple of times.

Example;
Baja is eaiser to navigate with with internet maps and posted routes. In the old days I had to turned back a lot of times, and spent many a day lost.
On the other hand.
The best Baja stories I have are from the days of a paper map and hand held compass.

BF¿ What is bf?

alan s