djb

this guy deserves a gold star or something

even better than the naked dudes and dudettes

congrats

KC8QVO

Just getting back around to this thread. Interesting discussion. I was back on tour for another 10 days and didn't keep tabs on the discussion here.

Anywho, with regards to the above quotes -
In the sailing community something I hear is how many people "talk about" sailing and people that "are planning such and such trek", yet never leave the dock. You can prepare for ever and a day and never leave, but if you want to make any progress and have a real adventure - at some point you have to untie the boat and go.

Same theory on the bike tours. Though, I think preparing is always wise - the more you do the more you fine-tune what you need and what you can get by without.

As to approval from someone or some group, who cares. Its your adventure. Have at it. Do it and come back with stories to share with the rest of us.

Symr00

Unsupported is without the help of others on your ride that wouldn't help any other cyclist they encountered. This term is used quite frequently on ultra-distance cycle races, ie: TransAm, Tour Divide,Transcontinental, North Cape 4000, etc. Sleep in a hotel every night and order takeout or sleep in a tent and carry your own food-same thing. So long as you don't have a chase vehicle and aren't having someone else book your rooms, that's self-supported in that context.

saddlesores

i have experience in unsupported touring.


a couple years ago, i was in a bit of a rush due to work commitments,
stuff spread all over the living room floor, last minute packing for a
tour the next morning, finally had it all stowed away after midnight.
...........or so i thought.


left just after dawn, still a little groggy from lack of sleep, all
went well until reaching the first day's destination. booked into
a seedy $15 hotel in the texas outback , rolled the rig into the
dingy room and took a well-deserved lukewarm shower in a filthy
barf-room i shared with an evil-looking black widow spider.

feeling refreshed, i went to get dressed to hit the "town," two
dozen dilapidated adobe huts and a filling station/convenience
store, and discovered i'd forgotten to pack my underpants.

so there ya go, my introduction to unsupported touring.

tcs

Can you really say you are unsupported if you didn't carve your own utensil?

https://bikepacking.com/plan/making-wooden-spoon/

Doug64

Using that premise, you would have to make your knife used to carve the spoon by knapping a piece of obsidian to really be self supported

Happy Feet

I love where this is going...

The make your own utensils reminded me of a funny thing we used to do in scouting, when a youth invariably lost their cutlery on a camp out. I'd carve a wooden spoon and tell them that was what they had to use for the rest of the trip. It was a neat synthesis of demonstrating adaptability, knife work and self sufficiency. We always got a chuckle out of it and after some good natured ribbing the kids were pretty happy doing so.

Now, if I had forged the knife, that carved the spoon... who knows what sort of astronauts we might have produced!

tcs

You chose wisely.