FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Have you ever regretted giving up your job?
Never. Building a career was a rewarding chapter in my life, but it's
finished and I don't look back. I'm too busy enjoying what I do now.
When you first started out, you couldn't mend a puncture. Can you
mend one now?
No. I've never mended a car, so why should I have to mend my bike? I pay
someone to do it for me. I don't enjoy tinkering and I'm no good at it.
But there's a serious reason too. In poorer parts of the world, the small
sum of money I pay for a puncture repair is nothing to me, but to the
man who earns it, it's dinner for his family.
But what happens if you have a mechanical problem in the middle of
nowhere?
So far, I've been lucky. I usually seem to have these problems outside
a bike shop! I had a puncture just once out in the desert, in Colorado.
But my luck held. In no time at all, a man appeared in a pick-up truck
and drove me and my bike to a shop in Vernal, where I got the puncture
repaired. I was cycling round the world at the time, so I didn't cheat.
I hitched a lift back to the spot where the nail attacked me and started
cycling again from there.
What bicycle do you ride, and is it still the same one?
Yes, it's still the same old faithful, though it looks different because
it's been resprayed and is now bright orange instead of sea green. Parts
of it have been updated over the years, as cycle technology has advanced.
But what I shall never update is my wonderful Brooks leather saddle. All
those thousands of miles and I've never once been saddle-sore!
The bike is a Condor, (Condor Cycles.com) built specially by Monty Young and his team for my first journey round the world in 1987. It's light, but very strong, and I love it.
Specifications:-
| Frame Reynolds 631 Mixte, butted tubes Transmission Shimano Deore. Front 28-38-48. Rear 13-15-17-20-23-26-30. Wheels Deore LX hubs Mavic TS19 rims DT stainless steel spokes Tyres Continental Top Touring 2000 Handlebars Humpert Pro Bars Pedals Shimano M324 SPD Saddle Brooks B17 STD Mudguards SKS Pannier Rack Blackburn Ex1 |
How far do you ride in a day?
I never train, so for the first day or two, I can only manage about 30
miles (50 kms). Then I build up gradually to about 50/60 miles. With rest
days and sightseeing time, I reckon to average about 250 miles (400 kms.)
a week, 1,000 miles a month. But mountains, winds and weather can affect
that, and often do!
Are you very fit?
I am at the end of a ride. But when I'm in writing mode, I get out of
condition, eat too much and put on weight. Then it's time for another
ride.
How much baggage do you carry on your long journeys, and how do you
decide what to take?
I carry two rear panniers, combined weight around 25-30 llbs. (11-13 kilos).
On the rack between them I fasten a small nylon rucksack, just big enough
to take my down sleeping bag. The rucksack makes a handy daypack or overnight
bag when I'm not using my bike. On top of the rucksack, I lay my Thermarest
mat, folded into four, which gives extra waterproofing. It's not a very
elegant arrangement, but it's practical. I used to carry a handlebar bag
too, but that isn't possible now that I have butterfly handlebars. I find
I can manage quite easily without it.
Packing everything I need into two small bags is a challenge which I enjoy. For more details on selection and organisation, see the opening chapters of A Bike Ride and Lone Traveller. Here, as a sample, is the list of things I took with me to India:-
| Cycling Clothes (layers worn as required) | |
| Long-sleeved cotton/polyester shirt Loose cotton trousers Lightweight wool jersey Trainers, socks, baseball cap, cycling mitts Anorak, waterproof trousers, woolly hat Silk longjohns, silk long-sleeved polo-necked vest, silk balaclava. |
|
| Additional Clothing | |
| 2 changes of underwear and socks 1 long-sleeved shirt, 1 short-sleeved blouse 1 nightdress 1 pair of flat sandals, doubling up as slippers 1 pair of smart cotton trousers and 1 smart top Liberty silk suit, black silk T-shirt, black petticoat, black tights, black patent high-heeled sandals, small black handbag (for special occasions) 1 large all-purpose cotton square (as scarf, laundry bag, emergency pillow-case, sarong, etc) 1 swimsuit and small towel. |
|
| Medicines and Toiletries | |
| 1 course of Amoxycillin (wide spectrum antibiotics) Prescription medicines for my polymyalgia rheumatica Imodium capsules Aspirins, Senokot, Rennies Paludrine and Avoclor tablets (malaria prophylaxis) Antihistamine cream Savlon antiseptic cream Canesten cream (for fungal infections) Cicatrin antibiotic powder Anti-inflammatory gel Selection of plasters Clarins Sun Block (factor 25) for face Ambre Solaire (factor 20) for arms and legs Basic cosmetic kit Tablet of Roger et Gallet soap (my one small luxury) |
|
| Miscellaneous | |
| Down sleeping bag Thermarest sleeping mat Universal plug Swiss Army knife Camping knife, fork and spoon set Electric water boiler, mug, Nescafe, herbal teas Torch Alarm clock Sewing kit Nail file, clippers, tweezers Airmail writing pad, envelopes and three notebooks Compass Nelles maps of India India Handbook, Lonely Planet India The Ramayana, Horace's Odes. Stacks of Times crosswords, copies of Tough Puzzles. Pentax Espio 115 camera and four slide films. |
|
How do you keep yourself supplied with cash?
It gets easier all the time, as there are now ATMs almost everywhere.
It's one of the real wonders of modern technology that I can push a bit
of plastic into a hole in the wall in some Greek or Egyptian village and
get out a wad of the local currency. When I started my cycle travels in
1987, I had to set out with a stack of traveller's cheques. Now I just
take a few sterling notes and dollar bills for emergencies, and rely on
the ATMs.
Do you work to a budget?
I have to. Otherwise, expenditure would run away with me. I work out the
minimum daily amount I think I can manage on for food and accommodation
and try to keep within it. In Western Europe or the U.S.A., that calls
for great self-discipline, but as I travel further south and east, I can
move upmarket and still be within budget. As an example, on my second
ride round the world which I did between 1993 and 1995, I worked on a
budget of £20 a day, £150 a week. I went a little over that
in Italy, but managed on less (often much less) everywhere else. In fact,
taken over the whole trip, my average worked out at only £89.67
- much less than I spend at home. My 2001/2002 ride to Egypt cost more,
because I was crossing Europe and the Middle East, and the only cheap
countries were Turkey and Syria. I set a limit of £300 a week on
that trip, but averaged just £164 overall. If I camped, travelled
and shared accommodation with a friend, and/or rented out my London flat,
I would be a rich woman by now!
Do you ever camp?
Not if I can help it. I'm too old for discomfort. At the end of my day's
cycling, I look forward to a shower, a meal in a good restaurant and a
comfortable bed. I rarely carry my tent, and the only time I've ever slept
in it was in the Australian Outback, where there was nothing and nobody.
Even there, I didn't crouch over a camping stove. I lasted out on trouble-free
tinned tuna sandwiches, with nuts, fruit and chocolate for pudding.
What happens if you can't find a hotel?
What if? What if? How many questions start with those two words!
If there isn't a hotel, I have to rely on the kindness of local people,
who always come up with a safe place for me to spend the night. I've slept
in some funny accommodation - pilgrim shelters in Hindu temples, on the
table in a station waiting room, seven-in-a-bed with Tadjik nomads (and
when one turned over, the other six had to follow). I've even slept with
the Chinese Army at a frontier post in the Pamirs. Being a lone woman
has its advantages, as vulnerability brings out the protective in people
and I'm obviously not a threat.
Don't you get scared? (Women ask this question)
Yes. Quite often. The time I was chased by a pack of wild dogs in the
Atacama desert and the time I thought I was being kidnapped in Pakistan,
for instance. But I deal with these emergencies when they strike. I don't
cycle along worrying about all the dreadful things that might happen.
What I have learned on my travels is that 99.99% of the world's people
are kind, honest and helpful - much readier to give than to steal. And
as for that .01% of a killer or a rapist, the one who always hits the
headlines in the media, he's just as likely to pounce on me outside my
own front door as he is in Zonguldak or Timbuktu.
Don't you get lonely? (Men ask this one)
Occasionally. I'm never lonely when I'm bowling along on my bike, or in
the early evening, when there are always so many jobs to do, just to keep
the show on the road - shirt and socks to wash, trousers to patch, tea
to brew, notes and letters to write, the post office to find, hair to
shampoo, etc. etc. The only time I really miss company is over dinner,
but I get round that by doing a crossword or talking to chance acquaintances.
People are much more likely to open up a conversation with a solitary
person, particularly a solitary person on a bicycle, than they are with
a couple or a group. Travelling alone leaves me much more open to experience.
Have you changed since you took to cycling?
Yes. So many of my attitudes have changed that I've almost become a new
person. It's too profound a question for a faq file. Read Chapter 12 of
Lone Traveller to find the answer!
Where are you going next?
What would make you give up?
Only ill health. There's still a lot of world out there to be explored,
and I love the freedom and challenge of my cycling life.
If you have any questions that I haven't thought of, why not send me an
e mail? anne_mustoe@yahoo.co.uk
I may be away on my travels, but I will reply as soon as I can.
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