The reasons to post on such a short ride

December 8, 2019

While scrolling through the list of journals recently one particular post caught my interest as it basically conflicted with my previous attitude on when to let the world know about a trip. I always thought of cycleblaze and other bicycle travel sites as the "playground" for the hardcore pedalists. The further away from home, the longer the trip, the better the journal. Steve and Dodie Miller from the Grampies Cycling Team may have had roughly similar thoughts and when an U.S. American couple announced to draft a blog on a ride along their home soil (Vancouver Island) they asked the question: "Where would anyone go around here?". And in succession decided to explore the vicinity of their Canadian residence themselves. I found it particularly interesting to learn about a destination from somebody who doesn´t visit but lives there.

I found their thoughts very inspiring and they are entirely congruent with the process I have been going through over the last few years. Bicycle touring is not all about eating kilometers far away from home but about enjoying the process of exploring the world on two wheels. Regardless whether this is 12 or 12000 km away from your house, whether you are doing 12 or 120 km per day or whether you are out there for 12 or 120 days.

So I will give it a go myself and introduce my home turf to you. Mind you with my post-retirement life the term "home" stretches out over three entirely different parts of the world. So I will try to find the answer to the "Where would anyone go around here?" question for the following areas I all call home nowadays:

- The Rhineland in Germany´s very west

- The Kapiti Coast in New Zealand´s Wellington Province

and last but not least

- The Trang Province in Thailand´s very south

The chronological order would require to start with a ride in Germany where I was born and raised but as I am currently in my house in Trang, the honor of opening this sequence goes to the South of Thailand.

My primary hometown: Königswinter, between Bonn and Cologne on the River Rhine. Riding the vicinity will include visting the adjacent neighbours Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg

Plimmerton in the very south of New Zealand´s North island. Due to the peculiar location I consider the northern tip of the South Island still vicinity and will explore parts of this area early next year.

The south of Thailand, to me anything between the Isthmus of Kra and the Malaysian border. Excluded from my explorations will be the three conflict provinces Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. Not did I only have my very own negative experience but Yala in particular has only just seen another series of terror attacks with several people killed

I am not exactly sure yet how the whole set of "home journals" will look like at the end but the contents of my posts will still be dominated by two desires:

A.: To provide other cyclists with information on my daily stages so they can sit at home on those cold and wet winter days and enjoy planning their own next ride. Like I have done myself many, many times.... I only wish I had the writing skills of my friends Andrea and Bruce who are currently spinning their wheels in Myanmar and Thailand too but I would call myself no more than a cyclist-going-public so my posts will be and always have been more information oriented.

B.: As my mother recently told me my keenest followers are my niece Ronja and my godmother Waltraud. I don´t think I will be able to get the latter and her bicycle down here anymore but I am delighted if I can provide my family and friends with a few colourful photos documenting my wherabouts. That´s by the way another very important reason to go online even with my shorter rides.

Too many words for zero kilometers of cycling so far! I will be rolling down south from Chumphon along the Gulf of Thailand on Dec 10......

The attractive Andaman Cycling Park in Trang

I consider myself very fortunate to know Khun Go Piak, Trang´s most passionate and skilled bike mechanic

I am not the only one who enjoys being out in what is "Thailand´s freshest air". Initially I thought my neighbour takes his bull out to new grazing grounds at regular intervals. But No! The beast loves the actual ride more than anything

My regular Saturday shopping at Trang´s Green Market. Different to many western countries organic fruit and vegetables are not more expensive here. A large bag of peeled pineapple (like on the right) costs me 20 Baht / 60 €-cents

My first choice would certainly have been the inviting king prawns in the foreground. But while being determined to reduce my meat and seafood consumption I had to try some alternative protein sources. The utimate overcoming to me was trying some of the here in Thailand ubiquitous worms, maggots and insects as displayed in the background....

Done! I decided to go ahead with the silkworms. The texture is like chewing a dry piece of toast, all the flavour comes by the soy sauce and herbs. I would declare it emergency proteine.....

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Andrea BrownWe are currently staying in the very same bungalow you were in at Ban Thai in Sukhothai. Chilly and dry, what a change in the last week!

We think you are a superior and informative writer, do not sell yourself short.
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4 years ago

Bruce LellmanFrankie,
As I've said in the past, I think you are a wonderful writer. And then to think that English is not your native language I'd say you are way ahead of us.

I'm looking forward to your journal. I think it is a well thought out premise and it should encourage others to do the same sort of exercise. Scott and Rachael Anderson have done a lot of riding near their (and our) home of Portland, Oregon and we have very much enjoyed their posts.
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4 years ago

Henna JanieschFrankie, thanks that you decided to be on the road again. I m longing for your excellent and informative posts. During the winter time you give the stuff to dream and to escape the cold and the snow.
Good luck to you - take care.
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4 years ago

Frank RoettgenTo Henna JanieschYour comment almost makes me feel embarrassed, Helmut. Like a samaritan....I assure you, this all is great fun to me too!
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4 years ago