I never wanted to blog.

I was surprised by the number of people who asked, even before we left home, “Do you have a website?”

I never wanted to blog, because….

“IT´S ALL ABOUT ME”

Somehow to blog seems so incredibly self-indulgent, as though we think our story is important enough and interesting enough for someone out there to want to read. It isn’t. We aren’t special and we aren’t doing anything amazing, we are just riding our bikes. Clearly this view is inconsistent with the fact that I do enjoy reading several other people’s blogs, without considering them to be egotistical or self-aggrandizing. Yet many of you who choose to blog, or choose not to, may identify with this dilemma.

REST DAYS ARE FOR RESTING

Then, I’m just plain lazy. I do not particularly like computers and I frankly loathe internet cafes. When I bike toured the UK with Bridgette and Pete in 2007, they kept a beautiful blog (link) and I didn’t. I did NOT envy them the hours of work and internet time involved in the process. I prefer to spend my rest days doing just that: resting! I want to wander the streets eating icecream, or lie under a tree reading a book, not sit all day in some horrid crowded noisy windowless internet cafe tap tap tapping on an ancient sticky keyboard.

PERFECTIONIST?

Perhaps if I’m honest, I don’t blog because I would care too much. My family would tell you I have always been something of a perfectionist. Were I to blog, I would want it to be a GOOD blog! And there are already so many great blogs out there, so….. With the faulty logic of the perfectionist, rather than doing something badly, I choose not to do it at all.

OFF THE HOOK!

Just before we left home, I found out that Tom, on the other hand, DID want to blog! He had already set up a journal page on the “Crazy Guy” website and was just waiting for my permission to action it. Permission granted. Good stuff. I get to direct my friends and family to a place where they can view trip photos and read stories, with absolutely no effort on my part. I get to enjoy reading amusing stories about myself without any danger of accusations of self-glorification. If it’s a crappy blog, I can deny ownership.

BUT…

OK. I’ll let you in on a secret, or maybe just state the obvious. Riding a bike for 6 or 7 hours a day, day after day for months on end can be pretty mind-numbingly boring! Such that now, riding with Tom and lately with Joe, I find myself envying them the creative process of telling the story as they go. I wander the streets aimlessly, while they make something artistic and tangible. I find that I, too, would like to be part of this; I too, would like to have some project on the go other than just pedalling. I could fill shelves with the nonsense I’ve scribbled in diaries that no-one will ever read…. Perhaps it is time I had a go at writing with a sense of audience.

USING MY VOICE

So here I am.

I don’t intend to re-tell the story that Tom’s already doing such a good job of. Rather I have in mind to write a random series of short vignettes, hoping that my musings might be complimentary to his journals. Descriptions of incidents that amuse or capture my attention. Reflections of life on the road. The girl’s perspective (with no bike nerd talk!) If it is too wordy, skip over it and flip back to the pictures….. but maybe some of you will appreciate a little more fleshing out of the story from another angle (thanks for reading, Mum and Joe!).

So I write. After 15 months of silence and letting Tom do the talking, I write. Not because I have anything particularly worth saying but simply because I have the desire to use my own voice.