Four days of continuous rain, six degrees Celsius, headwind - after perfect cycling weather that does not sound. Nevertheless, Anna Becke continues to drive, unpack her tent wet and back in, cooks in the rain, eats in the rain. She freezes when she stops, sweats under the rain gear when it's uphill.
"If nothing else dries and you sit alone in the dark in the dark in the tent in the dark and hope that it keeps tight, then you really do not feel like laughing anymore," says the 31-year-old and looks very cheerful at least in retrospect. You can not rely on the weather in Norway.
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By bike around the world: Three plates in one and a half yearsHer personal borderline experience was not the constant rain. A few months earlier, she did that in Mexico: tropical heat, toilets without toilet seats, parasites in the stomach. "In advance, I never thought that it would be something that brings me completely to my limits," says the blonde woman, who had previously slimmed down by the discomfort severely. "I constantly had to go to any doctors, was weak, no antibiotics helped." She was physically and mentally exhausted.
That was two years ago. Anna Becke had already been on the road for about a year. After quitting her job in 2016 ("Now or never!"), She started her bikepacking tour from Vancouver, heading south, always along the coast. She crossed the United States, traveling through Mexico, to Guatemala, and back to Mexico. Then the parasites and Becks reached their limits.
"I thought long and hard about what to do," she says. "Actually, I wanted to continue to South America, but my immune system was totally in the bucket." With a heavy heart, she decided to fly back to Europe to get well - and then continue the journey there.
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By @roll_toll :) so fun to browse through those "forgotten moments". Do you do that sometimes?
A post shared by Anna (@_radmaedchen_) on Mar 24, 2019 at 8:28 PDT
"I fell so in love with the way of traveling that I did not want to stop," she says. It was the great freedom, the opportunity to set up a tent everywhere, and to get to know country and people in a different way, much closer, than an ordinary backpacker. "Besides, it's cool to look at the map in retrospect and think: Wow, I did it on my own."
Take a shower first, then talk
On her blog "Radmädchen" you can follow Anna Becke's travels. Many points can be seen on the world map: the markings of their places of stay. "On the field" is there when she has just pitched her tent in the middle of nature. Often the waypoints are provided with names of the hosts, the Becke found on the platform "Warm Showers" - similar to the community "Couchsurfing" provide locals their apartments and houses as accommodations for cyclists available.
"Warm showers are great, people have always welcomed me with open arms," says Becke. "Most of them have their own cycling experience and know, for example, that you like to take a shower first if you arrive after a few days without a shower, and not necessarily sit down at the table and talk for hours."
She did not have any bad experiences during her entire journey. "In the beginning, I looked very much to the reviews of the hosts," says the 31-year-old. "But at some point I gained more confidence."
In Mexico, she was initially careful, "you can hear a lot about crime." She had been traveling with another woman at that time, the two were very careful about the choice of sleeping space. "But then we realized how hospitable people are and how the women have taken care of us," she says. "Maybe because loyalty among women is especially strong." Even in the US, she felt more insecure than in Mexico. But in general, she received a lot of help and support.
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A post shared by Anna (@_radmaedchen_) on Dec 19, 2016 at 7:27 PST
Because she is a woman traveling alone? Or maybe because you're more human on a bike, she says. "You do not have that much yourself and you're only on the bare minimum." But sometimes that's what made her feel weird: "We come from rich industrialized countries, we have enough money to travel, and then, with great difficulty, we ride a bicycle through the countryside - many can not understand that."
Four weeks on the transost
Back in Europe and cured, Anna Becke could not sit still for long. She decided to go to Scandinavia. The cold coast of Norway to the Lofoten, then over to Sweden and back to the south. About Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, through Poland and back to Dresden.
Becke's brother writes on her blog that she has always been the most structured and organized: "'Organizing costs time, not organizing costs a lot of time, that's her motto.'
The cyclist herself says about herself: "Above all, I plan to always have enough food with me, my worst fear is starving." But even before a trip, she likes to organize the important things: take out medical insurance, save money, sublet the apartment, plan the route roughly. Everything else then decide spontaneously.
Meanwhile, Anna Becke works again as an IT consultant. If she wants to travel longer, she has to take a holiday or a sabbatical. This summer she drove in four weeks the so-called Transost, a mountain bike tour through Eastern Europe and the Ukraine.
But she also realizes that she is calmer. "It does not push me so much after the very long and long journeys," she says. Whether it is on the Po, which has to hurt after so many miles driven? "Nah," says Becke and laughs. "Luckily, I never had any problems with my butt."
