Let me say up front that this will be a bit of a personal rant, instigated by an unsolicited opinion recently shared with me by a volunteer at warmshowers.org. The purpose isn't to get anyone to change their mind about the decision that has been made, it is just my way of blowing off some steam in the regard that anyone would think that we are not touring cyclists. I want to say up front that I value the work done by volunteers, so I don't mean for this in anyway to suggest otherwise.
What is warmshowers.org? Their website can give you far more detail than I will, but in a nutshell it is a community that offers free worldwide hospitality exchange for touring cyclists. That sounds like it is right up our alley, but we realized when we signed up for the service that we were a bit of an odd duck, and there might be some push back. There was: our account was deleted without notice, and without being advised of the reason that this occurred. That led to an e-mail exchange with JT, who seemed somewhat indignant that we would even question such an action. It is the last such e-mail on May 21st that is the subject of this blog post.
Before getting into the details, I'd like to point out that today is the 31st anniversary of the start of a 17,365 mile (if my memory is correct) solo, fully self-supported bicycle tour that I undertook across North America and Europe (that means I started in 1985, if anyone is math-challenged). It's a significant date in my life, and it is a date that I remember without fail. If I had joined warmshowers back in 1985 (or in 1983 when I enjoyed my first bicycle tour), there would be no question that I qualify for membership then (and I really wonder if they would be bouncing me out on my ear now, based upon the changes that we've made to our style of bicycle touring in order to continue to enjoy this form of travel). Yeah, I humped 70-85 pounds of gear and food (I traveled much lighter than people do nowadays) over all kinds of mountains, vast plains, through some exceptionally dangerous traffic, along some really crappy roads, through snow, a hurricane, and just about any sort of weather you can imagine. But most of the time it was nice and sunny (even if the wind was blowing the wrong way), and I had a blast. Ergo, the reason why we are doing what we currently are doing.
So in JT's reply to me, he offered the following direct quote of Rule #2 (you can go to the WS website for the full list of rules):
"The WSL [sic: WSC] is for hospitality for private individuals (or couples or very small groups) touring on bicycles."
The full quote includes the following: "Please don't use it for other types of hospitality - for your large group of teenagers doing a cross-country ride, or for your large-group fund-raising event (even though it's for AIDS or cancer or some other fine cause). Please don't use it for non-bicycle travel."
He then editorialized by stating "You obviously have a different interpretation than our 75,000 members [sic: when I checked today the number was 84,814]. In the eyes of our hosts [of which there were 34,984] you are touring by car and riding a [sic] unloaded bicycle for fun." Clearly, he feels that what we are doing is non-bicycle travel.
Clearly (to us), we are a couple touring on bicycles. That is the crux of the problem. Every mile of the roughly 6,500 miles that we have traveled along Adventure Cycling routes since August 1st, 2015 has included one of us riding a bicycle. The fact that we choose to bring our primary residence along with us is the obvious wrinkle. But that only means that there isn't too much that we would expect from a potential host: a place to park and access to a toilet (unless they WANT us to pee in the bushes - we'd be OK with that, too). A shower would be nice, but we can (and have) gotten by without showers before. The main benefit we would derive from such an interaction would be the chance to talk with a local (and likely a passionate cyclist, like us), who might have some great information to share about the region (you rarely get that at a campground). There is a bit of a hassle factor in securing these sorts of accommodations, so cost savings isn't much of a motivation for seeking to join (except in a few particularly expensive regions of the country).
I rather resent that he asserts that 100% of warmshowers members and hosts share his opinion of us. Out here in the wild, I can assure you that many people that we have met have encouraged us to also become members of warmshowers, probably because we have given them the same sort of hospitality that they have experienced from warmshowers hosts (probably better, as they didn't have to ride out of there way to find us, and we can and do help in some pretty unique ways).
The implication is that since we are towing our own facilities, we have no need to use a free warmshowers host (JT actually wrote that, but I'm paraphrasing). But let's see, what are the two things that we need regularly that we don't have? A toilet and a shower (a warm one of both would be preferable). Sounds like a "warmshowers" service would be a pretty darn good fit for us!
So we are just like the fully self-supported touring cyclists in that regard, and in most other regards. We have cooking gear (which we've shared with bicycle tourists that we've met), they have cooking gear. They have a place to sleep, we have a place to sleep (sorry, we don't share - the dog is a bed hog). Like them, we carry stuff to fix a flat or make a temporary repair (we offer the use of our floor pump to cyclists that we meet). In a nutshell, we have the same needs. The only difference is that after at least 25,000 miles of fully self-contained bicycle touring, I no longer feel the desire to sleep on the ground. And I am wise enough to know that my marriage would not last long if I were foolish enough to ever again ask my wife to do so.
So, yes, we don't ride bikes that are loaded down with stuff - we've done more of that than most people that we've ever met. But then we also don't ride with a tiny "tree climbing" gear to get those loads up steep hills. The only real difference is that we can cover more distance in less time, leaving us plenty of energy to offer hospitality to any fellow cyclists that we might meet along the way.
So, JT, I hear where you are coming from. But we are just not like the other folks whose memberships you (or a coworker) has vetoed. We DO need a warm shower on occasion, and we would appreciate that hospitatily just as much as any other tourist cyclists that have the same need.
No comments:
Post a Comment