Traveling by bicycle: Is it a good idea?

Several times in my life of travels I have run into people that are traveling vast distances by bicycle and as you would expect these people were in extremely good shape and had a lot of stories to tell. They truly take traveling to a new level by attempting and mostly succeeding in traveling hundreds and even thousands of miles by bicycle.

When I talk to these people I am kind of in awe that they would take something like this on and there are upsides and downsides to trying to do this. Some of the stories are pretty fantastic but there are some bad and sometimes unsolvable problems associated with it as well.

I'm thinking of doing one of these trips myself soon so I'll go over the good and bad sides of it as best I can.

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Downside: Weather

This is something that you can only prepare for to a certain degree. I have met people that have talked about how the forecast looked glorious only to have the skies open up and absolutely drench them while they were riding. They told me that sometimes this can actually be a bit refreshing depending on where you are riding. Most of the people I met that were attempting this did so in countries that are quite hot and humid so it cooled them down, but if you are traveling somewhere that is cooler this can be a very bad situation and even potentially deadly.

Downside: Limited carrying capacity

There are a lot of add ons and packs that you can put on a bicycle and you are going to need them too. For the most part, it isn't a good idea to attempt to travel while wearing a backpack because you are going to hurt your back after a while. There is a real science to "taking only what you absolutely need" on these trips and many of the people I have spoken to thought they packed light enough but ended up giving away or tossing out a lot of the stuff that they brought with them half-way through the trip. For the most part you should only be bringing a few, very high-quality sets of clothes and repair tools and items for the bicycle itself. Which brings us to the next downside

Downside: breakdowns

You better be very well versed in bicycle repair before you even attempt something like this. Punctures are annoying when they happen just "around the town" but out on the open road you could be many many miles from anyone that can fix a flat tire. The good news is that any place that can repair a motorbike innertube can easily fix a bicycle innertube as well. The really bad situations that can happen is if you damage the frame or the rims of the tyres. If you manage to do that your trip is basically over in most countries because they simply do not have the parts.

Upside: Unreal exposure to scenery

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Because of the relatively slow pace of travel and the fact that you aren't really in a hurry there are going to be amazing and unique opportunities to enjoy scenery that people traveling by any other means aren't going to have access to. The photos I have seen that the people who have traveled like this are like no other and they often come from places that are too far away from accommodation for anyone to even offer them on a sight-seeing trip. You will fully take in the places that you are in while you are cycling and get some experiences that no other form of backpacker can possibly accomplish. It all just depends on if you have the patience or not.

Upside: You are going to get or stay in fantastic shape

Maybe this isn't as big of a deal to some people as it is to others but as I get older I kind of worry about whether or not I am getting enough exercise and for the most part I don't think that I am. If you are traveling 50-100 km per day by bicycle, you are going to be absolutely tearing through the calories and you can feel really good about that at the end of every single day. All of the people I have met that were doing this sort of travel were in magnificent shape and this only improves the further you go.

Upside: GPS is basically global these days

It isn't really as much of an adventure into the unknown that it used to be with modern technology. In all of the countries I have visited in the world and I have visited quite a few of them, even the poorest of countries have really good network coverage to the point where I believe that my home country of the USA has some of the worst in the world. As difficult as that might be to believe it has been my experience and the experience of the people that I have spoken to that have done this sort of travel that they always have GPS service on their phones. The notion of getting completely lost in a foreign country is a thing of the past and all you need is a simcard, some credit, and any number of apps like Google Maps in your arsenal.

There are other things that are country specific such as danger and what not but out of all the people I have spoken to that have done this none of them have experienced any sort of real danger like getting robbed or kicked into a ditch or something horrible like that. For the most part they feel as though they are kind of celebrated as they travel down the road because what they are doing is so unusual and interesting to the locals.

I do think that it is very important to have a very specific goal in mind though because not just everywhere has accommodation and staying in a tent on the side of the road is not only not idea but could potentially be illegal. Traveling in a group is always an option as well and there are many groups online that organize exactly that sort of thing. I will be looking into those before I finally take off on my first trip. If you have any suggestions for me I would appreciate it!