Thursday, February 29, 2024

How to stay alive bikepacking and bike touring

How to stay alive traveling by bicycle Lessons from the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (My personal experiences and solutions) Bikepacking School with Bill Poindexter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribed Authors note: Much of this information relevant to all travel by bicycle, survivalists and backpacking as well. It is primarily intended for novices, but I believe the experienced folks will enjoy it as well. Introduction: Understanding situational awareness and cause-and-effect: Situational awareness and understanding cause-and-effect is paramount to surviving any long journey. Knowing where you are and what’s around you and then taking the appropriate action to navigate through that environment or situation will keep you alive, hopefully. It all depends on your skill set, grit, and knowledge as well. Common sense is needed as well. A good example of situational awareness is riding from one destination to another in the middle of a rainstorm when the temperatures are between 35f and 55f. Knowing your gear and limitations, and where possible shelters are on route. And also having the understanding of cause-and-effect that if you keep riding in that weather, eventually you could get a hyperthermic and have to call for rescue which could put the lives of other people in danger. So maybe in this situation it would be better to stop and camp and get under some shelter versus continue. Or, if able to find some commercial shelter, and wait out the weather. I will talk more about this later. Another example is cycling through bear country, especially in Montana, making sure that you are making noise, “HEY BEAR”, especially at turns in the road, so you don’t come around the corner, coming off of downhill at high speed and bumping into a grizzly bear with cubs. I’ve seen too many people on FB with pictures of grizzly bears that were fairly close to their proximity, that only tells me that they weren’t being properly noisy on route. Situational awareness and cause-and-effect is very important here… Because if you get attacked by the grizzly bear, the grizzly bear will be euthanized. End of story. Other examples I have are people that did not state properly hydrated and ended up having to be rescued, and others who are just unrealistic on goals. There’s more that I’ll talk about in my next podcast on the subject. But I think you get the idea. Invisibility The number one thing I teach in bicycle safety courses is to have the consistent mindset, while riding, that you are invisible. I know that on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) much of the time you’re in areas where there’s very little traffic but even then, it’s good to stay vigilant and make sure that people can see you and they know you’re there. There are times when you have to bike through urban areas where traffic can be fairly heavy or in resort areas like Breckenridge, and in those times, one should have flashing lights and make sure they obey the street laws that you are a vehicle yourself. I know of at least one person who was hit from behind and killed on a New Mexico Highway in 2019. I don’t know the circumstances, but I do know from riding numerous highways myself heavily trafficked that it’s super important to be on whatever shoulders available and have flashing lights and also a good they have a rearview mirror to know there are vehicles coming, so one can ditch. It’s also important to know that in times of early morning or late afternoon that makes people harder to see as well because of bright or low-level light. Additionally, coming to turns or cresting hills can be dangerous. So, if you want to stay alive, and I’ve ridden my bike for 24 years commuting, full-time and doing my long-distance journeys and I’ve never been hit by a car because I assume I’m invisible and you should always do the same. Bear country tactics (and other wildlife) The first time that I rode part of the GDMBR. I flew into Missoula Montana and rode my bike over to Seeley Lake, MT to connect with the Divide. I stayed at the campground in Seeley Lakes, there was an ex national park ranger who used to live in Alaska, and he asked me if I was carrying bear spray and I told him I didn’t think I needed it and he proceeded to explain why I did need it. He shared a story of a man who was killed by a bear because the bear was surprised by the man who ran into it on a turn, a sad ending for the man then Fish and Game came to euthanize- the bear so I went and bought some bear spray. Last summer, I based myself out of Polebridge, Montana in between the Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park just 20 miles from the Canadian border. The Saloon I worked at had us go through bear training through the Glacier Institute where we actually were taught how to use bear spray by using inert bear spray. It’s important to go through that training and the two biggest things I learned was that you want to carry the bear spray on your body because if you get separated from the bicycle and the bear spray is on the bicycle, then it makes for even more of a dangerous situation. One can attach it to the strap of a Camelback, hip belt, or small backpack, and there are also companies that sell bear spray holsters that are strapped to your chest. The instructors told me about an incident, where a young woman had the bear spray attached to her chest strap on her Camelback and had come around the corner and surprised a grizzly, and she fell off the bike trying to stop and was on the ground as the surprised grizzly charged her. She was able to reach up to the strap and unclip the safety and expel the spray still in the holster, driving off the bear -not an ideal circumstance, but it did save her life. Another thing to that I took away from the class is how to spray the bear spray- is that if a bear is coming to you (mountain lion, moose, dog, wolf, anything that is about to attack you) with a charge, you spray it from hip to hip and a half circle basically at hip level, so whatever animals coming to you, they get into the cloud of the spray and it will immediately deter them. They recommend you carry two canisters, for obvious reasons. And do not accept old canisters as they can fail. Oh, and hang your food or buy a bear canister and don’t keep food in your tent! Water purification The last time I was on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. I ended up getting Giardia and some other nasty parasites that affected me for almost 2 years afterwards. Even caused me to poop my pants while I was on the Divide- you can read about it in my book, Bikepacking School- What ‘they’ don’t tell you in the guidebooks-available on Amazon. And I was using two forms of water purification, a Steripen and chlorine tablets. The Giardia was never really bad when I was on the Divide with the exception of the pooping accident and that could have been a combination of things-stress, bad water, a greasy hot dog. But when I got home, I really felt the effects. My contention, based on my experience, is that no water purification is completely safe. And also on the Divide, there are many places where there’s agriculture and the use of insecticides, fertilizers, poisoned water sources from mining as well as many high places in the high country where there is grazing for animals, and that runoff is in the water supply. There are a few exceptions. But I’ve also come to the conclusion that it’s almost better to just drink water directly out of a source, then try to purify it. I know this is controversial and there are exceptions to that. But unless you are just totally anal and wipe off any excess water on containers that you purify and don’t swim in streams, then chances are you’re somewhat at risk. I know riders who drink out of streams and rivers, and creeks on a regular basis. As long as I am below a town or pasture, I would try to drink bottled water or even ask locals if I can refill. And I also know riders who will only buy bottled water. And I’ve known a lot of through hikers on, like the continental divide trail who say they end up getting diarrhea anyway. I myself have done a lot of backpacking and I usually have a bout or two of diarrhea at the very least even with regular water purification. I am not going to plug any products, do your own research. This past summer I drank out of lakes and streams in remote Montana, and never had any problems. I do have questions about some of the water purification companies to like, for instance, the trip where I got Giardia. I was using a Steripen, which says it kills everything because of the use of ultraviolet light? But doesn’t ultraviolet light come from the sun? And they talk about how the UL kills viruses but yet viruses are believed to be from dead tissue-because to date no one has ever been able to show us a “living” virus-which begs an even larger question 'how do you kill something that is not alive?’ And how could something so small that can only be detected by an electron microscope be filtered? And one has to wonder if the reality narratives we, as humans, are being told, are indeed false. False by ignorance or blatant lies. Do your own research. I can speak of this as I was very cautious but still got sick. This is a good article citing a study out of the Sudan and here is a good book that will give you more insight on water borne parasites. If you think you're compromised you should on a regular basis use electrolyte mix as well, there are many out there, just practice with them so you know it won’t upset your tummy. Most water is sterile and your body needs the salts, and minerals when spending long days in the saddle and those mixes will help you avoid bonking- I have been on two trips with people who bonked severely and had to be helped-to recover, they were completely irrational, ranting, messes. I got food and water in them and stayed with them until they were coherent and themselves again. Fuel up! If you are solo and bonk severely you can make a bad decision and crash. Staying safe, camping strategies I always prefer camping out either setting up my tent or just sleeping cowboy style on the ground just my pad and sleeping bag. And although I do welcome the occasional campground with showers and other folks, I usually prefer to stealth camp. I once rode with a Chinese guy who claimed he rode all the way from New York City to Baja California, where I met him, and never paid to camp. While camping, unless in bear country, there are two things I worry about. That I’m well hidden from human eyes, and I make no impact on the environment, well as little as possible. In all seriousness, it’s the the wildlife, you really have to be leery of, not the animals, unless you’re in beer country and you were foolhardy enough to leave a bunch of smelly food in your tent, now the type I’m talking about is the wild humans. One really has to use common sense. It’s important to memorize the no trace camping principles- I’ve been mortified by all the places I’ve been to in the United States all over the United States where people camped and they left behind trash and toilet paper, and I’ve been to some pretty remote areas. Being safe camping also means camping smart too. You can be harmed by an inanimate object like a tree falling or a branch falling from a tree. I’ve seen a lot of how-to videos from newbie Bikepackers, and experienced, who set up their tents right under trees that look pretty sketchy. And when stealth camping- as long as you start camping at around dusk, and leave at first you can camp anywhere, within reason, without having to ask for permission if it’s not public land, most people won’t begrudge you a place to sleep especially if they’re close to the route. Go with your gut instinct, and if it feels wrong, move on. Bumps in the road I don’t have very many fears when I’m on the road, but I do like to make sure I err on the side of caution. Sometimes there’s a lot of bumps, debris, litter, on the road and it’s always important to keep your line as you ride. And it’s always important to stay in the moment as much as you can. It's easy to get distracted with thoughts and maybe look at the scenery. And I have this issue whether I’m in the city commuting for bikepacking on expeditions. There’s always bumps in the roads or holes on the roads. It’s just an evitable and it’s important to know where they are so you can avoid them otherwise you can have a catastrophe that could possibly end your expedition. One of the biggest things I learned on the great divide mountain bike route was that when you’re on a downhill and the roads rough and it’s either early morning or late afternoon and the roads surrounded by trees, there can be lots of shadows from those trees that make the road look dark in some places and light and other places, and it’s hard to tell the difference between a shadow and a rock, so it’s probably a good idea to take it slow. Bike failure This past summer I was based out of Polebridge Montana. I was working out of the saloon there, and I took my surly bridge club. That was basically only three months old and did a lot of bikepacking trips, mostly bike overnights in that area in Glacier National Park also into the Flathead National Forest and up GDMBR as well. For some reason the bike I had was jinxed, I had issues with the crank arm coming off five times and I managed to put it back on, but it was a pain. And later in the season, I was cleaning my rear wheel, and I noticed there were cracks in the rim on eight different places where spoke entered the rim. There was a total of 23 cracks, it was the WTB rim which came with the bike. I ended up replacing the rims, but I was definitely aggravated that I had to do that. Later on, I went to Glacier Cyclery in Whitefish, MT, and they told me that there were a lot of Divide riders that came in with the same issues. I’m not sure why wheel manufacturers would make such a product. And then I was equally aggravated at surly bikes for promoting that bike as the ultimate Bikepacking bike and having such a crappy wheel I mean; don’t they test the wheels? I’m just glad it didn’t fail on me when I was doing a trip. I also found that using simpler bikes versus sometimes better than a high dollar one. In 2018 I rode my Salsa Cutthroat from New Mexico to Banff and had more issues than I ever had with any of my other bikes. Then after the divide, I used it on a few bikepacking trips in Kansas, Missouri and Colorado and I used it as a commuter bike as well and two years later I was going to sell it and found out the top tube had two cracks in it. Salsa claimed it was my fault because I didn’t clean the top properly but that could’ve been a disaster as well. Keeping your bike well maintained and checking it over every day can perhaps avert a disaster. I have had a pedal come off that caused me to crash, and a chain issue that caused a crash as well. I was riding with a friend of mine on a very rough gravel road, he got his wheel stuck in a deep rut, tried to turn his handlebars to get out of it, but the handlebars were loose, and as he turned the bars, the bars moved but the wheel did not turn, and he crash landing his 240lbs body on the handlebars. He broke six ribs, and punctured a lung, it was a good thing I was with him to preform first aid and call for help. Weather and self-rescue 101 When I was 16 years old, I was the head medic at Military School. I remember having to treat Cadets with heat exhaustion and heat stroke on an overnight bivouac after hiking through dense woods by the Missouri River in 95f+ heat and high humidity. I had to treat myself for heat exhaustion as well, I remember thinking I never wanted to go through that again. Just a few weeks after that I had to split a football player's broken leg on the sidelines. I learned first aid at a young age, and the need to be able to self-rescue as well. I commute at least 300 days a year, and all types of weather and when I’m home I make sure that I test gear throughout the year and when there’s opportunities to go out and get wet and cold and try new gear out, same with the heat, I take advantage of that because I’m in a controlled environment. On a regular basis I even do long hike and bikes, fully loaded, just to stay strong. I understand hypothermia and I understand heat exhaustion and heat stroke, I know the signs, how to treat and I know how to avoid it. So, I do avoid it. And I’m amazed at the stories I hear of people getting rescued off the great divide mountain bike route because they’re hypothermic. So, I guess it comes from my mountaineering background that I know that if it’s a situation where you could possibly get hypothermia and then you set up your shelter and get into your warm sleeping bag, eat, and heat up a drink if you have a stove. And I know people take lightweight shelters, bivy bags. I personally think people should have to take tents instead of bivy bags so they can stop and set up and wait for the storm to pass if needed, so they don’t have to put other people at risk having to be rescued. They become self-rescued, which is something that I think all Bikepacker‘s needs to take courses on. Maybe I’ll make a course for it. I think too many people rely on the rescue buttons on Spot trackers versus using good sense. It wasn't that long ago when there were no cell phones or satellite tracking devices. It’s cause-and-effect. Consider this, what if you get cold or hyperthermic and you have to call for rescue in the middle of the night and a helicopter is dispatched, but the helicopter crashes and kills a crew because of your mistake? That’s not good. I interviewed a woman in 2018 who rode through New Mexico during one of the hottest years and she was found on the side of the road unconscious and had to be in the hospital for two days before she continued riding. She was 69 years old at that time and turned 70 by the end of the trip. I understand pushing your limits and one can do it smartly. The first time I was bicycle touring the GDMBR I flew into Missoula I was dealing with multiple non serious injuries: Afib, winged scapula, sciatica, old neck injuries that occasional cause vertigo, depression and anxiety-but was not on any medications (by the way know what the possible side effects of medications or recommended travel preventive vaccines are before you head out on the road, so you are not surprised.) I knew how to manage my stuff through Yoga, rest, and breathwork. Anyway, when I flew into Missoula, I had just gotten off the plane and met a Tour Divide rider who had to scratch (take himself out of the race) and was heading home. It was 2017, a cold and rainy year. He had pushed himself too hard and his Afib caused him to quit after a visit to the emergency room. Since I have Afib as well, it scared me a bit, was not what I wanted to hear just off the plane- but I went on my 21-day journey anyway…a story I will share soon. A good dose of common sense, experience, training, and preventative measures can keep you alive on adventures like the GDMBR. I think solutions can be doing a lot of training before you go out on the ride and that training can be just commuting by bicycle, being in touch with your bike, your body, your mind. And how everything works in all different types of weather throughout the year. I know you can’t predict everything and sometimes circumstance and fate will put you in unpleasant situations, but what you can do as a Bikepacker is be prepared as possible. And that brings me to one thing I should’ve brought up earlier I’ll just bring it up now- is make sure you have strong wheels and make sure before you go on a bike packing trip that a couple weeks before hand, if you need to replace your chain then replace your cassette, have your brakes bled if you need to check your brake pads. Also do a full inspection of your bike especially if you’re on a carbon fiber bike, check the bike internally for cracks if possible. Also, my last thing and I want this one to go to heart more than any of the others. Sidenote, to all you who travel by bicycle, you are the explorers of the 21st-century, you have many character traits that are similar to the explorers of past. I will write about this soon, so stay tuned. Remember while riding your bike, you’re invisible. Be safe my friend. Peace and love, Bill Poindexter Please support my writing! About the author: Bill Poindexter is an American writer, based out of Kansas City, MO, USA. Bill has traveled over 100,000 miles over the last 24 years, commuting and traveling. For more info and some of his writing go to wholeearthguide.blogspot.com more useful information coming soon!

Thursday, February 15, 2024

10 Things I do to distract myself on long bike trips

 



Bootleg Bikepacking Diary-Top 10 things I do to distract myself on a long bike ride

I am usually in a state of situational awareness, almost “trace like state of being” while riding my bike long distance, but sometimes I need distractions so I don’t fall asleep on boring stretches. 

Here are my top 10

  • Sing songs

I think singing songs is what I primarily do when I’m on bike tours, even when I’m commuting. It tends to free up the mind and allows you to be expressive as you’re riding your bicycle. And it’s especially fun when you’re in remote places you can just sing to the top of your lungs and just let it rip. Some of my favorite artist and songs are Hang me Oh, Hang Me by Dave van Ronk, and some of his other songs, Bob Dylan, fare thee well, many songs from the Eagles, but a particular favorite is dueling daltons, Neil Young – old man, James Taylor, Imagine-John Lennon, Pink Floyd. So many more.

  • Tell stories

I love telling stories and creating them sometimes I’ll just do it based on a subject I see, maybe an animal on the side of the road, maybe a bird in flight may be a story I’ve been working on. And I always love starting off like this, “far away, long ago,  there was a…“ I particularly like to anthropomorphize a story… As I’m a big proponent of nature and see everything is being alive, rather than inert because we’re all created all the same things in the universe. I know it’s deep, but that’s me.

  • Listen to something

I don’t listen to anything while I’m traveling. I go with my own internal dialogue. Also, especially if I’m in the wilderness areas I don’t want to be distracted and I want to give all my time to whatever nature I’m seeing and hearing and feeling and tasting and touching. But that being said, I know a lot of people who listen to podcasts, audiobooks, and music. And there have been instances where, like last year I was on a trip and I was somewhere on the transamerica trail just getting ready to come out of Illinois, and I camped in the middle of a thunderstorm at 11 o’clock at night by a river the Ohio river, put my tent up in a torrential downpour, completely soaked and woke up in the morning to find that there was a shelter only 50 yards away, but I couldn’t see it at night, and that morning I rode out of the wilderness area I was in, and there was a long climb, and I wanted to listen to Creedence Clearwater revival, “have you ever seen the rain…”

  • Workout mathematical problems

I’ve never been good at math. Probably because I’m just not that interested in it. I understand the basics of addition and subtraction, multiplication and division but you start going to algebra and sister. I’m running out the door. That being said, there are times when I’ve used up my brain cells in other categories that I want to sharpen my mind a little bit and distract myself and I will start doing math, but basic math.

  • Contemplating meaning of life

Now we’re talking. Philosophy, my favorite subject. As a philosopher, I'm constantly thinking about all things regarding philosophy: the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. And lately I’ve been focused on natural philosophy, which is really about natural science, especially physical science, and also natural biological systems and how everything’s related. I could go on for days about this, and most likely will another time. Suggest Alan Watts if you want practical, life affirming, well thought out philosophical meditations. I think about Time…a lot.

  • Play a game

Games are always fun. I remember when I was a little boy we would drive from Kansas City Missouri and my parents station wagon with my sisters and we were play games along the road or sing songs…”found a peanut, found a peanut”… but I remember the games one of the favorite games was look for a certain kind of car or, an inanimate object, and that was always fun. On my bike trips, I do the same thing looking for something unique, counting something, doing word games in my mind, again, anything to distract myself from the effort.

  • Replay a movie, song, story, memory, and your minds eye

So there’s actually two parts here; one is simply reliving a movie or perhaps a story or a play or maybe a book read. But then one can also go into a deeper realm of the mind, and perhaps go into the past, and think about past experiences, and how they relate to one’s life now, and that’s where you start getting into more like the vision quest, and you start growing in philosophy and different things like that as well. The place one can go doing this though can be positive but also negative and scary as well.

  • Do yoga exercises while you’re riding- cat cow, breathe, seated twist, calf stretch, lions breath

I learned a long time ago as a yoga instructor, that Yoga is not meant for just sitting in a room on a mat, you can do yoga from almost anywhere, E.G.shower, work, the bathroom, in the kitchen, as well as from a top a bicycle, just a few modifications, kind of a hybrid form of chair yoga, per se, anything to loosen up the body and get oxygen flowing… At the very least focus on your breathing.

  • Listen to somebody else’s story

I mostly travel solo, but when I do have a traveling companion, I like hearing their stories, on one of my last trips on the great divide mountain bike route between Polebridge, Montana, and Eureka, Montana. I was regaled by a friend of mine who I was traveling with for a few days, Kyle T. Randall, who is now an artist out of Portland, Maine, shared stories of his experience playing Dungeons and Dragons, and I found it fascinating, and it made the time go by very quickly.

Well, thanks for reading my writing. Tell me some of the things that you do to distract yourself on a long bike ride or running errands or out for a few months?

Peace and love from the road Bill Poindexter



Thursday, February 1, 2024

3 AM when it all comes out



 Stream of consciousness at 3 AM  January 27, 2024


3 AM, again, I came home after having met with an old friend of mine. The weather’s been weird, cloudy high 30s lotta moisture in the air -tends to wrap itself around the body, it’s one of the reasons why I like ride my bike for transportation because I feel everything, and I got home and walked into the entrance of my apartment building and I saw the disconnection notice stuck in my door. Crap -I didn’t think they were gonna turn off the electricity until the spring. Power companies, I hate the fact we need them . It’s just another false reality. We have getting energy without consequences, when I go on long-distance expeditions invariably you, or I will go on roads that are parallel to railroads you see the trains passing loaded with coal or just crap we don’t need. It’s so funny that one of our false reality is is to get an electric car or electric bike we’re really making a difference and yet we’re not it’s just greenwashing it’s crap. These are things I think of at 3 AM, but these are things that we don’t talk about, there’s a lot of things in life we don’t talk about eg going to the bathroom, picking your nose, masturbation, Farting, lusting after some body else’s wife, or husband, but we all do it right? Do you know you do? Sometimes I think I’m mad, in the crazy sense of being mad, I live life backwards like a  native American Heyoke not in the sense of walking backwards, or riding a horse backwards no it’s just living life outside the ordinary bounds of what is considered proper etiquette, proper traditional living, you know what I’m talking about, there’s just things I never really understood and I guess I see things differently, well like for instance what I’m writing right now there’s not too many people that write like this. It’s probably probably making you a little bit uncomfortable, And I don’t care- do you know why -because it’s authentic, and you know you’re drawn in because it’s interesting I mean who wakes up at 3 o’clock and talks about masturbation, well, probably a lot of people but they just don’t talk about it. I’ve been on a journey for a while a mental journey to become a better writer and I’ve been studying writers and different ways to write everything from Hemingway, to Bukowski, Steinbeck, John Buchan, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky,   Kerouac, and a bunch of others that chances are, you’ve never read, and the only reason why read them or know of them is because I like listening to audio books from a website called Librivox, it’s a place where you can listen to volunteer recordings of books that are out of print most of them are from the early 1900s, and books that without that site, I don’t think I’ve ever would’ve known. It’s almost like going into a librarian instead of going to the card index just walking down the isles of books and looking for titles that seem interesting. One that comes to mind is Diary of a Dead Officer by Arthur Graham West, the story of a man who was a soldier in World War I and the story of maturing with war, and changing his views about life. For example, he stopped believing in God, he started smoking and drinking when he didn’t before, he also realize the absurdity of war, and the book is great because it’s also a biography, talks about him growing up and then going to war because that’s what you did doing your duty and all, and he was a writer and started really writing, pretty intense poetry and overtime that poetry evolved and that’s basically what the book is about is his poetry and descriptions of war in the trenches of World War One and one day he was coming out of a trench and a snipers bullet found him. I talk of war because these days war is loosely, threaded into the media, irresponsibly, and most of you don’t understand what war is and most of you have never even been in a war or have ever had to be in any kind of situation where you had to defend yourself physically -i’ve never been in war in a war, I went to military school from the time I was 14 to 17 and I heard a lot of stories from the military instructors about their experiences in war, I joined the Marine Corps during the first Gulf War but luckily, didn’t make it through Boot Camp primarily because I decided I couldn’t kill anybody and being in my mid-20s. I wasn’t the type of recruit that the Marines wanted I asked too many questions invariably “why“ not a question somebody wants you to ask when they want you to blindly go kill people. 

We all have journeys in our life. One of my journey started when I was a little boy, I come from a big family myself, six older sisters, and two parents, who, drank and smoke too much which caused an early death, were good people, and interesting. World War II Americans caught up in the false reality of the 50s, but that’s another story. 


When I was a little boy, I would wake up in the middle of the night and going to my parents sitting room where my dad was usually -would’ve been at like two or three in the morning, and he would be smoking cigarettes and reading or writing he told me later on in life that he liked that time because it was his time and it was quiet time, and I would ask him innocently as a seven year old boy to read to me, and he instructed me to go out to the bookcase and find a book that I wanted to read And I remember vividly the books that I chose were books of adventure, some non-fiction some fiction books like Little House on the Prairie series, Wizard of Oz series, stories of the great explorers well, mostly the explorers of the Americas, like Cortez. My dad was a good reader, with a great voice. I wish I had had a tape of it. It’s one of the reasons why I like the audiobooks from Librivox and if you find a person who is a good reader, it really makes you enjoy the book better. although I read quite a bit, I’ve never been “a reader“ I always prefer somebody else to read to me. Well, I’m starting to fade, I just wanted to write this for you. I’m gonna be writing a lot more, and I’m glad of this place to be able to publish my writing. Being authentic is very important. I’ve had many experiences my life that I think you’ll find interesting and I plan to share them all as I tell you stories of my travels and adventures. Please subscribe and leave me a comment so I know you’re reading this. I don’t care if you’re paid subscriber or not if nobody pays for it I’ll figure out a way to make money to live. I did manage to get my electricity turned back on. Let’s just hope that the gas company doesn’t do the same thing I don’t really care I’m not gonna die. Thanks again for reading my writing peace and love from the road Bill Poindexter.


Bio: i’ve been a writer, my entire life, everything from poetry to fiction to non-fiction. I prefer stream of consciousness just like I was sitting down with you, and having a cup of coffee and talking about life. I live a very simple life I don’t own a car, so I bike in a walk for transportation and travel. Much of my riding is telling stories about my adventures on the road. These days I primarily travel by bicycle, and over the last 20 years, I’ve had some great adventures; riding my bike from New Mexico, up into Canada, and Los Angeles down through Baja Mexico, Kansas City, to Yorktown, Virginia, all over Colorado, Montana, Idaho, British Columbia, Kansas, Missouri, New England, some of my journeys are just overnight, bike rides, and others or multi week rides, and I carry my own camping gear, so just think of backpacking, but on a bicycle a.k.a. bikepacking, and I wrote a book called Bikepacking School and a second edition is coming out soon. And I work very hard on writing, authentically and interweaving my life experiences within my travel stories as well. And I haven’t owned a car for many years. So I live completely car free. 

And I follow my heart and live life on my own terms, as I’m sure most of you do.


Find me on https://open.substack.com/pub/bpoindexter?r=3axrjg&utm_medium=ios for more writings and podcast


Monday, December 18, 2023

Bicycle Safety Classes

Safety 101


"Bill is a patient, thoughtful teacher and bike professional.  He helped me level up- get more knowledgeable and comfortable with my bike.  The investment was completely worth it, you invested in your bike- now invest in you and your abilities to use this bike safely, skillfully and more often." Andrea
--

Duration 2 hours

Location TBD

Objective: This course is to teach 

children and/or adults 

how to travel by bicycle safely. 


Structure:

Part 1:

Bike check

Proper fit

Suggestions to make your ride better

Care and maintenance of bicycle

Proper riding technique

Riding at night

How to be visible even though you should 

assume no one sees you


Part 2:

I will take you out on a short bike ride and teach you how to stay safe in an urban environment

Common mistakes

Best routes

Riding through congested areas

Riding with others

Bad weather riding

Commuting strategies to:work, school, store, etc.



Cost: 2 hour course $150.00pp


Open to group rates but note time frame may be different. 


About Bill Poindexter


I have been commuting full time 

and traveling by bicycle for over 

23 years and have never had an accident.

I have not owned a car for 13 years. 

I travel by bike as well. I have ridden 

my bike all over MO and KS, 

across MO, IL, KY, VA on the 

Trans America Trail, 

also from Sante, NM 

over to the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route 

and then north to Banff, Alberta, Canada. 

I have ridden from Missoula to Banff 

as well and back. I 

have also gone from LA south

through Baja, Mexico as well 

and many trips in CO as well. 

I commute in KC about 4000-6000 miles per 

year as well. 

All of my travel trips are “self contained” 

meaning I bring my camping gear, tools, 

and food and water and camp out majority 

of the time. It is called Bikepacking.

I wrote the book, Bikepacking School 

which you can see on Amazon. I 

also teach bikepacking and guide too.

If you’re interested in traveling by bicycle

Please reach out as well. I know my stuff.


Contact Bill at: poindexterrecruiting@gmail.com 

or call/txt (913)220-1213










Thursday, August 31, 2023

Nature story

 



A nature story for you 


the seedling

By Bill Poindexter


 A story inspired by Iohan, (Yo-Han), the bike wanderer and a man with kind dark eyes.

 

“Far away, long ago, there was a man who traveled the Earth on his bicycle and his name was, Iohan. He was of average height, had dark hair and dark eyes that looked very kind. All he wanted to do was explore the Earth and see what it was like from atop a bike.

 To earn a living he took odd jobs, one of the jobs was planting trees in an area where old trees had been cut down.  He said he enjoyed planting trees in the summer. He would walk all over Canada planting seedlings to fund his bicycling adventures. One of the seedlings grew into a fine very tall tree.


 The young tree grew and…”


Go to the site for the full story,

It is a 8 minute read 

Or listen to the audio by Aimee Hughes 

Read:

https://wholeearthguide.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-seedling-by-bill-poindexter.html?m=1


Audio:


https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/william-poindexter/episodes/The-Seedling-e28p83g


Thanks for reading my story. If you like my writing please subscribe to the site. If you’re interested in supporting my writing and journalism you can find me on Venmo. 


Peace and love 

Bill