The Realities of Bikepacking: When Things Don't Go to Plan - Rebecca Gross

What's it like when you are on a long distance bike tour and things don't quite go as you'd like? Well this week I have another audio update from our intrepid bike travelling adventurer Rebecca Gross.

Rebecca along with her partner Javi, left their home in Austria in March, headed for the Pamirs. This is Rebecca's first forray into long distance bike travel and she is sharing updates of her journey periodically.

She and Javi have just left Turkey and have now entered Kurdistan.  Rebecca candidly shares the reality of the last few days, and a moment where she just wanted to give it all up and go home. 

You can follow Rebecca and Javi via their Instagram accounts - @Rebecca_GRB and @Hacker.Bikepacker

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hello everyone, Bella Malloy here, host of Seek Travel Ride. Welcome to another midweek mini episode where I fuel your stoke and wonderlust for bike travel with a story from one of our listeners sharing what it's like during one day of their trip. Now, something I have done in a few of these midweek mini episodes is followed the bike tour of our awesome intrepid adventurer Rebecca Gross. Rebecca left her home in Austria with her partner Harvey and they are headed for an adventure all the way to the Pamires. This is Rebecca's first dip into the bikepacking world, and she quite kindly offered to take us along the journey and send through some voice memos along the way letting us know what it's been like. And this week I am stoked to be sharing her latest update. I'm gonna share that Rebecca has made her way through Turkey and is sharing not only what Turkey was like but also what it's been like for the first few days there in Kurdistan, Iraq. So let's hear what Rebecca has to say.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

We are now exactly two months on the road, and it is amazing how far we have come already. We left Turkey behind, and for me, Turkey was the most wonderful country we have visited so far. We have seen beautiful nature. There were high mountains, there were beautiful waterfalls, green landscape, and then also bizarre rock formations in Cappadocia where we also had some magical moments when we saw the hot air balloons. And afterwards we came to some desert like areas with beautiful ancient cities. Turkey has a variety of landscape which I would have never thought. But even better than the landscape were the people. So there were a lot of moments we met people on the road and they immediately invited us to their home and they made us feel like family. But within a second, they offered us so much food, we uh we were drinking chai constantly, and there was never a moment where we didn't feel welcome. And always when we needed help, if we had some mechanical issue or if we didn't know where to sleep, there would have been always people who help us. We didn't even have to ask. Somehow they were here and they helped us, and it is just amazing to see this kind of hospitality. Something like this I would never expect in Europe, which makes it even more special. And I really enjoy this kind of culture here. Also, in Turkey I somehow realized what bikepacking is all about. It's unbelievable how your plans change throughout the day. In the morning, when you set off, you have more or less a plan in your head, like how far you will come or where you could set up camp more or less, but without having any other plan, just the route or just a city you want to see. But then all of a sudden you meet someone and your whole plan will change. Sometimes the whole day there was nothing special or nothing had happened. And all of a sudden at 4 pm you meet someone, and then the whole afternoon and evening you spend in their house and eating a lot and chatting a lot, and these kind of moments you would have never planned in the morning, and it is just so amazing to see how every day is different and how impossible it is to plan a day here on the road. And I would have never thought I enjoyed this because I'm more like a planner and I like my organization, but I really enjoy these unplanned moments and these moments of surprises, of positive surprises, because there are also moments which aren't as positive as this one. Although I have to say, like 90% of the days and the moments are positive, are beautiful, and are amazing. But there are still some moments where I just want to go home or I just don't feel very comfortable. And today I want to share one story of a bad moment because I think, like on social media or everywhere, you see just the positive side of bikepacking, and it is positive and it is amazing, but there are also hard days, and I think we have to allow ourselves to accept this also being part of the journey. So when we entered Kurdistan, the first night was actually really bad because there was a huge sandstorm going on and we couldn't sleep. And on top of this, I felt a bit ill. I had some throat infection. So the plan was the next day to go to the next city and find a hotel to have some rest. But it was impossible to find a hotel. We were in a rural area, and the towns were very small. There was hardly a supermarket, and I would never even call them supermarkets, they are mini markets, and you just can find water, coke, and some crisps, and that's it. So eventually we found an abandoned house where we could stay, and the neighbors were fine with this idea. So we pitched a tent there, and we actually slept the whole day, and I could recover a bit, and it was the perfect place to stay overnight, and this was the plan. But just right before we wanted to go to sleep, there were some military officers coming to our tent. And they told us that it is impossible to stay here, that it is dangerous, and we have to leave, and we have to go back to the city, which was probably 20 or 30 kilometers, and it was already getting dark, and I was still not feeling very well, so this wasn't an option, but it is also hard to discuss with someone being armed with some AK-47. So this was not a very comfortable situation, and they nobody ever wanted to harm us or do something bad to us. They were just here to protect us and they wanted the best for us. They were always super friendly and very polite, so we never felt anything negative. We were protected, we felt good, it was okay, it was just a bad timing. So luckily, a neighbor offered we could stay with him for the night and go back the next day. So that's what we did, and I thought now it will get better. There were two bad nights. We had the sandstorm, we had the military in front of our tent. It can't get worse, but it can get worse, of course. We were riding beside some beautiful mountains, there were no people, no cars, just us, and all of a sudden there were farmers, sheep, and of course, dogs. And we got this amazing anti-dog device from some friends in Istanbul. It is some kind of ultrasound or also with light, and so the dogs would go away, and it works really, really well if there are just like two or three dogs. But we got surrounded by five dogs, and in seconds there were like 15 or 20 dogs chasing us. They were super aggressive, they were barking, they were jumping, they were chasing us, and we just didn't know what to do. I mean, everybody always says go off the bike and bring the bike between you and the dog. But probably this person was never in this situation because you just can't get off the bike with 20 dogs chasing you and jumping at you. It was just terrible. And we were shouting so the farmers would realize that something is going on here and would help us. We tried to paddle as fast as we can, but unfortunately it was a bit uphill, which is always the worst case in this situation. And eventually a dog grabbed my bag and I started wobbling around, and I just thought, don't fall down. If I would fall down now, they just would come over me and bite me. And I just didn't want this to happen, so I tried my best to stay at the bike. I was shouting for my life, and luckily the farmers came and somehow the dog stopped and we could go on. So nothing bad happened, it was just a terrible situation, and my bag was easy to fix, so everything was okay. So we kept cycling and took a break, had some breakfast. But in this moment, it was just too much for me. This was too much stress for this amount of time. I mean, there were the military with the guns, the dogs, and also everything was dusty, everything you would touch, every bag, your bike, your fingers immediately would grab some sand. My shirt was already stiff because of all the sweat. I felt so dirty that I couldn't even say if I am that tanned or just dirty, and I still wasn't feeling very good, and this was just too much of everything at a moment. I just started to cry. I broke out in tears, and I just couldn't hold it back anymore. I wanted to go home so bad. I have never had a moment where I thought I would love to go home, but at this moment I just thought I need to get home now. I don't want this anymore, and I hate this, and this is just too much. So, on top of all of this, getting homesick is just the worst. So I just let out all my emotions until there were no tears left, and I also just had to remind myself that no one ever said bikepacking is easy. It is not the easiest way of travel, and I really felt it in this moment. But luckily, I could bring up a bit of motivation to keep on cycling. So our plan was just to reach um the next city or town which was a bit more touristic, where we could find a hotel where we could have a shower, wash all our clothes and the bags, and also with internet access to just call my sister and which just makes me feel better. And when I knew that this night we will be safe and I will feel comfortable again, the situation wasn't as bad as it was anymore. So I just needed some time and and then it was better. Also, riding to this town was beautiful again. I mean, we were in such a great landscape, we didn't expect this of Kurdistan at all. And being in the mountains, being in the nature really helps. And we also saw on the road there wouldn't be more dogs because there were more towns, so there were less farmers, which was also good. It was just a very bad moment, but a reminder: not every day can be like sunshine and can be positive. But afterwards it was definitely better, and I didn't have any bad moment at all, and I really hope it stays like this, but also knowing that there will be some rough days and and hard moments. So yeah. Right now we are planning a bit uh the route, the next weeks and months. So let's see what the future holds up for us.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Thank you so much, Rebecca, and actually I want to say thank you again for sharing the realities of bikepacking. Often before I interview guests, I send through a list of question themes, and one of them might actually say, It's not always rainbows, blue sky, unicorns, and sunshine. Sometimes the reality is grim on the road, and I want to hear about the tough moments too. And your first few days there in Kurdistan sounded like they were an absolute nightmare to navigate. The sandstorm, having armed military personnel turn up until you had to go away, being sick in the moment as well, and then surrounded by 15 or 20 dogs. Oh my gosh, that is my version of hell. I've mentioned it on the pod before. I've been chased by a dog before, and that's been bad enough. I've never known what I would do in a situation where there's a pack of them, and it would be terrifying, I have to admit. There also doesn't seem to be one way that is the right way when dealing with dogs. As you say, the idea of getting off your bike when you're surrounded by so many definitely did not sound appealing. I'm also very thankful that you and Harvey managed to stay safe and weren't bitten. I know a super fan of the show Julia unfortunately did get bitten while she was in Columbia and is really only just recuperating five or six weeks later from that vicious dog attack. So dogs are unfortunately one of the hazards of bike travelling. Many people come away unscathed, but it's not to say that the dangers aren't there, and I think it's right to share that reality as well. Also, it can feel just like at other times of life, where sometimes it's like a cascading of bad things happening all at once, and there's nothing like that to give you a huge megadose of homesickness and make you want to pine for the comfort and predictability, dare I say it, of our day-to-day lives that we leave back at home. So I can totally understand you having that reaction. I'm glad you're able to touch base with your sister. I'm also glad that you and Harvey managed to find a solution in the interim, you know, navigating to a bit more of a touristic city, being able to sort of instigate what I would call a timeout on the adventure, get a little bit of, you know, steadiness, normality, check into a hotel and feel like you could actually go and do this again. You did also mention no one said that bikepacking would be easy, and you are right. Overwhelmingly, a bikepacking trip will be filled with amazing good moments, but again, as you said at the start, it's not to say these grim moments don't occur. And all I can hope for, Rebecca, is that you and Harvey have more amazing moments and many, many less grim moments ahead of you as you continue your incredible journey all the way to Kurdistan. Thank you once again for sharing the updates and for keeping it real. And I can't wait to hear your next update in the weeks to come as well. Listeners, if you want to be following along with Rebecca and Harvey's journeys, I have included both of their Instagram accounts in the podcast show notes. Go into your podcast player, have a look at the episode description, and you can click the links to see some of the visuals behind their journey as well. Now, for those of you who find yourselves living in London or near London, if you love adventure cycling, bike travel, bike packing, ultra cycling, all of those things, then I hope that you have managed to score yourself some tickets to come and watch me and a few previous podcast guests as we present Beyond the Bike. It's coming up very, very soon on the 14th and 15th of May. Two unique live shows, two different panels of guests. We've got stories from their adventures, we have film screenings, and you'll also get the opportunity to ask our guests and even myself some questions as well. You can find out more on the Eventbrite website, just search for Beyond the Bike, or even simpler, click on the Beyond the Bike link in the show notes and get yourself some tickets before they sell out. If you make it to the event, make sure to come and see me afterwards and say hello. I always love meeting fans of the show in person. Speaking of fans of the show, now I get to give you, my super fans, an awesome shout-out for being tremendous and buying me some coffees. Now, today I have a really special shout out to Sin Sexton, who has been a mega super fan, super magnanimous and generous, and you didn't buy me one coffee, you didn't buy me three coffees, you didn't buy me five coffees, you bought me 40 coffees, and I must say I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that come through. And you said, Bella, I love the community you have built. Your podcasts fueled my passion for a bike adventure last fall. Thank you. Well, Sin Sexton, I am absolutely flawed by your generosity. I'm so stoked that the podcast fueled your fall out to take on your own bike adventure. And I am a little bit intrigued. I really want to know where did you go? What sort of bike adventure was it? Was it on a trail? Was it off-road? Was it on-road? Did you cross state borders? Was it mountainous? Was it near the coast? Get in touch with me, tell me all about it, and just again, a massive big heartfelt warm thank you for being such a super fan and being so generous with the coffees. Listeners, whether you're buying one coffee or whether you're like Sin Sexton and you buy 40 coffees, regardless, I am always super appreciative and thankful for those of you who decide to help and support me in this way. If you'd like to do the same, you can do by going to buymeacoffee.com forward slash seek travel ride. Buy me a coffee. More importantly, let me know what is it you love about the podcast and where is your next bike adventure going to take you. Until the next episode, I'm Bella Malloy. Thanks for listening.