Originally Posted by
Brian25
Hi fellow tourists. I have been touring since the mid '80s. My tours tend to be run like a military operation. I tour from town to town, cruise about the town, shop for food, figure what to do about accommodations, sleep, repeat. I really rarely have conversations/ social connection(s) with other people while out on tour. After looking at a bunch of the Crazy Guy On A Bike Journals, I have read about some tourists who have quite a social life while out on their tour. Do you have any suggestions as to how to have more of a "social" bike tour, because now, mine are null.
I have to admit I'm more like you on tour.
Part of it is being focused on what I'm doing; usually higher mileage so my stops are matter of fact and not hanging around for extended periods. I would say for tours I am goal oriented more than socially oriented. Another part is that I don't drink so that whole area is a miss. Not that I care one way or the other what others do but I wouldn't be heading to a pub or bar.
But mostly it's that I am rather introverted until I get to know someone. Just my make up. I can be stand offish or self contained pretty easily and have to work at things like "smiling"
That's the price of genius I guess...
Seriously though, I actually need to set social goals on tours because I can be quite solitary. Try to have two good conversations each day sort of thing. A funny byproduct of riding a fat bike while touring is that everyone wants to look or talk about it. On my last couple of short s24o's I had a lot of chats around the ferry waits.