Tom the Pom Does Africa

Frequently Asked Questions

Why? Why in the name of Allah are you doing this?

Because I'm not dead yet. Really, this question is getting harder to answer as I go along. 'To learn about the world and how the people in it live' if you want the right-on platitudinous answer, 'To impress the girls at parties' for a politically incorrect one. 'Because I can't think of anything better to do', 'Because it's there'. Others have offered their own explanations, my favourites being 'Because you're an irresponsible bum' and 'Because he's got a bug up his arse'.
All of which may be true to a degree but none touch on the truth, they are evasions not explanations. This is just what I do, something I've always wanted to do. Curiously, when I meet people who have done or are doing similar things this question is rarely asked.

But why on a bicycle. Why not by plane, or a car, or even a motorbike?

This would take a whole website in itself to answer. Which is probably a good idea - for now suffice to say that it's the way I've always travelled, and for me absolutely the best way to see, and really experience a country.

So what's so special about the bike?

Betsy is the humvee of bikes, or perhaps more like a 1980's Series III long wheelbase Land Rover. She's an 'expedition' or 'heavy' tourer, designed to carry a full load of camping and other equipment over very long distances. The frame and wheels are made immensely strong and she's fitted with racks on the back and over the front wheel for carrying panniers.
She looks similar to a mountain bike with a compact frame, 26 inch wheels and mountain gears, but has a longer wheelbase, drop handlebars and no shocks.
And she's a rather lovely two tone green and cream.

Why 'Betsy'

Her full name is Betsy II, the Somerset Beast. I don't usually name bikes, but this one's going to be my sole companion for a while, and she is rather pretty. I initiallly wanted to name her after the ex, who was enthusiastic at first but then cooled on the idea when I said something about the bike being a beautiful, high maintenance pain in the bum. So she ended up as Betsy after my first touring bike, which came to a sticky end in the side of a black taxi on Oxford street. Don't actually remember where the name first came from (I think there's a Harold Robbins novel called 'The Betsy' about a racing car), but probably the name just popped up into my head one day and it stuck.

And how much did Betsy cost?

More than a little, but less than a small car. Check out the website at www.sjscycles.com if you want to do the sums.

How are you funding this / are you being sponsored? (Another variant of this question is 'Are you rich?')

The trip is entirely self funded thanks to a few years of being grossly overpaid and underworked as a contracting 'Senior Technical Consultant' (between you and me, a computer programmer). If everything goes according to plan, and nothing ever does, I should reach Tierra del Fuego before the money runs out.
I was considering looking for sponsorship for charity, but after a bit of research I decided not to for now. There are a lot of people doing the round the world thing in various unorthodox ways and looking to be sponsored. Fabrice and Sylvain wrote to a couple of dozen firms and ended up with the sum total of, I think, two T shirts.
After I've done the first leg (London to Cape Town) I'll review the situation.

Are you going to work along the way?

As mentioned above the trip should, just about, be funded the whole way so I shouldn't need to. However on something like this it's neccesary to stop maybe once a year and take a month or two off to take a breather and give the brain and backside a break. If I'm going to be somewhere for more than a few weeks then I'll probaby go find something useful to do.

How far do you ride a day?

So far I'm averaging about 75 km per riding day, and the trip record is a bum shattering 169 km.

Are you taking lots of food/what do you eat?

When camping, a lot of bread and milk, together with whatever fruit and vegetables I can find locally. I try to start the day with a cereal and fruit, and for lunch and dinner live off imaginative bread based recipes - it was this way that I discovered the joys of banana sandwiches. This is mixed with whatever cheeses and dried or canned fish and meat I can find. I don't carry a stove in Europe or the tropics - too much complication and weight just to be able to boil pasta and stock cubes. (That said I've come across some travelleling chefs who can cook up something amazing on a tiny stove).

In towns and cities there's often cheap and tasty street food available, and occasionally I'll splurge on a restaurant - especially if there's a Pizza Hut in town. Many travellers hostels have a kitchen where you can cook your own food and then I'll whip up one of my pasta specials.

I carry salt and pepper, olive oil and vineger to improvise a vinaigrette for vegies. Other stock items include sweetened condensed milk - available almost everywhere and also good with bread, canned fish and teabags for a quick brew.

In some areas it's useful to take concentrated syrup flavouring to take the edge off the nastier tasting water.

Water is a subject of some controversy. If you're travellng in an area with dodgy water for only a couple of weeks then it's possible to stick to bottled water, but if you're going to there for months then worrying about washed vegetables and ice cubes and what not is just not tenable, you're going to be exposed to the local stuff sooner or later. I carry a small filter and iodine for emergencies, but usually just drink whatever the locals drink; if I get a bad belly for a couple of days then so be it, afterwards I'll be immune to the local bugs and won't have to worry any more. So far I've never had any probem with this. Other travellers who's opinions I respect say this is a kamikaze philosophy and I'm asking for serious trouble, they carry heavy duty filters and treat everything. We'll see.

Where do you sleep?

It varies but generally I'll spend 5 days a week wild camping and the rest in youth or travellers hostels. I look for campsites out of sight of the road, in a wood or behind bushes or rocks, or up a hill above the road.

Wild camping gives you a much freer pace and schedule, and sometimes you can find some wonderful sites. There's a pragmatic reason too, even staying in hostels accomodation is expensive relative to other running costs and I can't afford to pay for a bed every day.

Wild camping alone, isn't that risky?

No. If no-one knows you're there then there's no risk, and even if someone comes across you the chances that they'll have bad intentions is negligible. It's simple statistics, the more people around the more chance that some of them will be bad guys, who anyway tend to concentrate in towns. I've lost things staying in hostels but I've never had any problems wild camping. Bad stuff only happens in cities.

Are you Australian?

No. Don't know why I keep getting asked this; must be the hat (which is in fact Canadian - go figure).

Ah, hence Tom the 'Pom'

About ten years ago I worked at a sugar refinery in Malawi, and that was one of the nicknames that the Zimbabwean contractors gave me.

What's all this pinko hippie Euro-commie kilometres stuff? Thought you Brits were Imperial.

Not exactly, we went metric several generations ago, it's just taking a bit of time to sink in. Deal with it. It's 1.6 km a mile, 2 and a bit pounds to the kilo and 14 (or is it 16?) pounds in a stone.
Most of the places I'm going through are metric so instead of confusing my brain converting furlongs to cubits I'll keep it simple and stick to metric for everything....
...except for height - 6 foot 2 just sounds better than a hundred and eighty whatever centimetres.

(For future reference, there are 2.2 pounds in a kilogramme, 14 pounds in a stone and 440 cubits in a furlong. And 6' 2" is 189 cm. Ed.)

You must be really brave/foolhardy to do this.

Definitely not either, bravery and foolhardiness both get you into trouble. I'm no thrill seeker and danger doesn't turn me on, and will avoid risk whenver possible. And on the rare occasion that bad things do happen I usually rely on one part dumb luck and nine parts intrinsic cowardice to get me through the situation

There's something wrong with your website, why are the pictures dark?

Don't have much control over the pictures, on some computers they look fine, on others they look dark. Try fiddling with the brightness and contrast controls on your monitor until they look better.

I can't believe that you still smoke. You're not a typical cyclist are you.

Yeh, and I don't wear lycra either. What's your point?

I read somewhere that bicycle saddles make you impotent. Is this true?

No.