A Touring Straw Neil

Neil Fein's account of our October ride to Red Bank, NJ, is posted at the Crazy Guy On A Bike website:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/shoretour2007

It's entertaining reading, but I must disagree with one of Neil's statements. He writes:

"Frustration stemmed mostly from our different perspectives on tour planning. I mapped the tour out turn by turn, knowing that my deficient sense of direction would [require] adjustments along the way. Neil saw this as a problem, but I like to think that the point of touring is to see things, meet people, and to explore."

I don't think this is an accurate description of my 'perspective.' In fact it's a straw-Neil. I enjoy seeing things, meeting people - well, most people, and exploring. But they have to be worth seeing, meeting, and exploring. A salt marsh on a road bike isn't one of them. Nor is a parade of parking lots.

No, I think the frustration both Neil and I felt - yes, there was some frustration on Neil F.'s part - was that the route was excessively plotted. Neil F., on his first tour, was determined to get it "right", and so his analytical abilities went into overdrive. It was inevitable we would get lost. I was on my first tour, and I don't deal well with frustration. Frustration is part of touring, and so we lost our tempers at times.

On our recent tour of Philadelphia, I purposely kept the tour vaguely plotted. I knew we needed to be in certain locations by certain times, but until then we had the run, err, ride of the city. Neil F. could relax and not worry about maps and compasses, and he seemed to have a good time exploring. I did too. And if Neil F. had been with me on Sunday, he would have probably enjoyed my visit to Colestown Cemetery, a spontaneous bit of exploration on my part.