I only recently found Rolling Existence although they have been making films for years. It’s a fairly common story, at least in the bike touring world. Sold belongings, went on the road, make films from the road, and hope to stay on the road as long as possible. Traveling by bicycle is the best. It really is. Cycling speed is the perfect speed. Far more advantageous than walking, and easier on the body, but slower than motorcycle travel and requiring far less in terms of resources. Car travel isn’t even close.
I think their films are great. Simple yet sharp and with good sound. I also like their setup which rings closer to the classic tour setup meaning tour bike with panniers. Many folks these days are trading the classic setup for the bikepacking rig, which is far cooler but also a real hassle in many ways, at least when it comes to the simplicity, storage and ease of classic panniers. The risk is carrying to much, but by the looks of their kit they have done it right. (I see a lot of bikepacking bikes that have at least a half dozen small bags and bottle holders, plus frame packs and fork mounted odds and ends. I think many of these folks would be better off with a set of small panniers.)
I was joking with some friends that I see a least two or three things a day that make me say to myself “I should quit everything and go do that.”
Rolling Existence is just the latest in a long line of “post-work” lives that I would love to emulate. I’ve said this many times on this channel that bikes are the future, or at least a part of the future. And the beauty is we don’t need to invent them. Bikes are here. We need to invent a new mindset and an infrastructure that provides safety. (In August, Jay Petervary was attempting the FKT on the Tour Divide when he was hit a 1000 miles from the finish.)
Some of my friends think that touring the world on bike is a rare and impossible dream. It’s not. People have been traveling by bike since the invention of the machine itself. It’s easy to let society or your peer group dictate your thoughts and actions, and we all probably fall prey to that at one time or another, but watch one of these films and realize it’s all entirely possible.
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Oh man. These sort of people always lit a little spark in my Dutch cycling blood. And I haven’t even done a short cycling trip (which I’m wanting to do for years now). I’ve got the proper bike for it -as a real Dutchmen I’ve even got two suitable bikes- but, yeah. But what?
Oh, btw. How’s the new motorcycle? Instant love affair?
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I’m in Peru, so moto is at home. But it’s great. Only 400 miles so far, but all fun.
If that’s them having a good time, heaven forfend they ever get to experience bad times. Obviously, Bergman fans.
Vietnam is a vibe, and it’s really hard to illustrate it well in video, or much to my consternation, photography. Few places on earth make me as happy, sometimes in spite of itself. It’s really hard to explain, but it’s really the wild, wild, west…..the frontier. A delicate balance though between the insane growth and industrialisation and the old ways of a poor agricultural society. Despite communist “minders” to be wary of, it also feels like “anything goes” for it’s best and worst.
And the people. What wildly generous and wonderful people.
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I could say the exact same for Peru, where i am now. People are fantastic and the growth is considerable.
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Yep, challenging at times but man does it look fun.
Bicycle touring in all his forms and shapes ( no better or best here because it’s like colours, so a very personal taste imho) is what’s the earth needs. Comes in on 1. in my personal travel hitparade. Traveling by campervan lately with the Misses, and while doing so, I miss the spinning of the wheels of my heavy loaded pannier bike every day. We do local rides on the spot we land with the van every other 3 or 4 days but it’s not the same, this coming back in circles to the spaceship every eve compared to A to B to C rides and setting up camp and tent for the night. Great link Dan, Thx!
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The bike is a perfect blend of speed and exposure.
I hope people appreciate how much effort goes into making even 10 minutes of video like this. Keeping in mind that any shot that involves the rider filming himself mean he rode somewhere, set up the camera, rode back to the start, rode ‘through’ the shot, then rode back to get the camera. And any video where you can hear people speaking means they put some effort in capturing good audio, which is more than 50% of the mission. Hats off to people who make bike (or motorcycle or paddling) travelogues.
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It’s Hell and it never ends.The amount of footage needed even for something my bird film required me to use every single piece of footage I had.