Tour or Solo that is the question!

[Supertramp]

Ok, this is tame compared to most on here but ..... I would like to tour Morocco, do I use an organised tour or go solo?
I have 09 Varadeo xl1000 fitted a scottoiler, today purchased hard luggage (ebay) bike is serviced new tyres ready to ride I am self employed so can pick when to go, have £3000 saved so far.
BUT the dilema...... I had a heart attack 6 years ago losing 32% of heart muscle, also have stable angina so I take medication
Whilst a solo ride will let me go at my own pace but with no support from anyone an organized tour may push too hard ......
Comments please

[Lonesome George]

This is going to be a lame answer I'm afraid but only you can answer this. really, only you know what would be best. I have travelled solo and then my wife has flown out to join me. Both experiences were excellent but in very different ways. All I would say is -don't misread "solo" for "alone". Wherever you travel you won' t be alone. There are always other people around.
As far as you health is concerned that's not easy to answer for anyone but you. But either way it"s great to hear that you're planning a trip. I 'm sure you won't regret it.

[Magnon]

I would suggest that 2 bikes would be good. This would would give you the freedom to go to places you may hesitate to go on your own.

We travelled 2 up through Africa to Cape Town but (almost) always on our own, being young and foolish we embarked on some 'adventures' that we would, no doubt, have second thoughts about now but even then we were cautious about certain things simply because we had no back up.

Organised tour is the fall back if you can't find anyone to travel with. Having met a lot of tour trucks in Africa (not quite the same thing) the big brother house element would scare me off.

[Wildman]

What Magnon said. Find someone you're comfortable with and is comfortable with you.

[Supertramp]

Thanks for comments, it probably would be best to find someone else to go with atleast wife will feel better if I have company

[Wildman]

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...t-2012-a-64540 ?

[Peter Bodtke]

Super Tramp,

I admire your courage and spirit, and prefer to travel solo myself. Given you're at risk health wise, I think you have already answered the questions yourself. An organized tour might be too fast paced or not. Contact a few tour operators and ask for their opinion. It would be foolish not to share your condition with whom ever you end up riding with.

My advice for you, don't ride alone and if something happens you'll live to ride another day.

Happy trails.

[Matt Cartney]

First - its good to hear you aren't letting your condition get in the way of your dreams.

Secondly - Don't write off the solo adventure.

As previously stated, the answer ultimately lies with you and your knowledge of the realities of your condition. I'd like to pitch in with my experience, however, in case it helps you come to a decision.

At 17 years old I was diagnosed with epilepsy. A very mild form, the incidence of seizures was initially around once every year or two. Now, having discovered my triggers, I haven't had one for over 12 years. Those triggers were a lack of sleep and altitude. Altitude is easy to control, lack of sleep, less so, especially when travelling. (I find a small supply of Temazepam helps deal with occasional sleeplessness.)

I decided at 17 that I wasn't going to let the epilepsy stop me doing the things I wanted to do. I just figured the risks in with all the others. It soon became apparent that due to my condition, it was easier for me to plan solo trips than make my friends adapt their plans to suit my needs (although I still did plenty of trips with them, when they were appropriate).

Since then I have climbed ice solo, mountaineered solo, snowboarded solo on extreme descents and in the backcountry, ski-toured solo, canoed solo, ridden my motorcycle on long trips solo and I'm off to the interior of iceland on a solo cycle tour in August. The fact is, since discovering the peculiar pleasures of solo adventures, I can't get enough of them!

There is, of course, a very small chance that I'll have a seizure at an inopportune moment one of the these days and it will be, as they say, curtains for Mr Cartney. However, this is just one risk among many and I mitigate for it by reducing risks in other ways. I am cautious in the mountains and ride my motorbike like an elderly vicar, and I don't do anything risky after a bad night's sleep. I reckon the risks of me coming a cropper are probably less than someone who, say, razzes their bike like a loon or is sloppy in their navigation.

Adventure is not adventure without some element of risk. You simply have to ask - am I prepared to accept the risks presented by this situation? If those risks are acceptable then go do it and don't let anyone else make that decision for you.

Just use your experience and judgement lead you to the correct decision.

Have a good trip, whatever you decide!

Matt


PS - A scottoiler is not necessarily a good idea in the desert as the oily chain picks up grit and increases wear, so I believe. I used a 'dry' wax type lube and it seemed to work well.

[davebetty]

Dude go for it, I am an insulin dependant diabetic, I have had a number of complications in the past and although fairly stalbe at the moment, I have just toured eastern europe by myself for a month. You know the risks, but the risks are just as likely to happen to you in this country, at least, abroad they take care of bikers who fall ill!

Think of the advantages of travelling alone, you make firends just like that, people approach you so much faster, you have no forced agenda, you really can take the road you want to. You have no one to please, go by yourself mate, the story will be so much richer and in life you only have a certain amount of pages!

Go for it, all by yourself, but post back helpful tips on medical problems, I did in concern with my own condition because people need to be set free from medical chains that stop them seeing the world.

all the best

Dave and Betty

[hoopoe]

Originally Posted by Lonesome George

This is going to be a lame answer I'm afraid but only you can answer this. really, only you know what would be best. I have travelled solo and then my wife has flown out to join me. Both experiences were excellent but in very different ways. All I would say is -don't misread "solo" for "alone". Wherever you travel you won' t be alone. There are always other people around.
As far as you health is concerned that's not easy to answer for anyone but you. But either way it"s great to hear that you're planning a trip. I 'm sure you won't regret it.

[jimosse]

Originally Posted by Supertramp

Ok, this is tame compared to most on here but ..... I would like to tour Morocco, do I use an organised tour or go solo?
I have 09 Varadeo xl1000 fitted a scottoiler, today purchased hard luggage (ebay) bike is serviced new tyres ready to ride I am self employed so can pick when to go, have £3000 saved so far.
BUT the dilema...... I had a heart attack 6 years ago losing 32% of heart muscle, also have stable angina so I take medication
Whilst a solo ride will let me go at my own pace but with no support from anyone an organized tour may push too hard ......
Comments please

Supertramp
2 things i can add
Morocco was easier than i thot, i fretted about it all, my wife and i on two bikes, not problems to speak of, fantastic riding, Chris Scotts book was good but our version was out of date, several gravel pistes are now paved, but the M7 still isn't and a must do. Great off road, easy ferry from Gonoa to the new port, no hassels. Mkesh over run, Fes and Meknes excellent.
2nd; got diagnosed with MS in 2005 and spent 1 or 3 years figuring it was all over. well it wasn't, and it was a waste of time to worry about the end that for me, fortunately didnt materialize. Luck. Karma points. red wine and moving to Italy and a diet change? Dunno. but GFI. I'm planning a 6 month here to cape town and looking for partners but these other replies are really encouraging me to go solo. It might even be better but i have never done it. Its a big leap. We only live once and times is running out. Carpe diem.
Ciao and see you on the road!

[estebangc]

Supertramp,

Congrats for deciding you'll embark on the trip, no matter if alone or on tour, you took the most important step.

Because of your question, I understand that you would prefer much more to go all by yourself instead of joining a tour. Tour option is based on reasonable health concerns (and peace of mind for those back at home), since there would be a back up in case something went wrong. By contrats, I therefore suspect that you'd prefer to go solo, as a way to prove to yourself that you can do it all by yourself (sorry for redundancy), that you can manage your limits and that you can take good care of you all alone (solo is not alone, I know, but YOU, not with sort of "nanny support"). Maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm right in my interpretation, solo would be much more rewarding for you, and that counts a lot.

As others said, you are the only one to know what's best for you, and both options may be equally right. But I'd raise a point regarding your health: I have never done any organized trip of any sort, nor a bike tour, but, as you said, it also seems to me that an organised tour may put much more stress and therefore risks/strains on you than a solo trip. Your health risks are not a lottery but, as Matt wisely exposed, a cause-effect scenario, so you probably know already how to deal with them. So, a tour maybe would put (too much?) physical pressure on you since you'll try to keep the pace of others -which may be not adapted to you- and that'd be a clear cause of risk for your health. Furthermore, if you decided to lower your rythm to remain within your limits, you might be under psychological pressure, since delays may cause a disturbance to your travel mates, so you may feel out of place or worse displaced in the group, so that'd cause you stress (as to any of us), which is another risk factor. So, one way or another, or both together, you might be between the devil and the deep blue sea. Even with all going great from a health point of view, this stress might also imply a bitter approach to your dream.

Please, I'm not trying to say NO to the tour, but objectively, I think you have more chances to have health problems and the point is not to have back up, but to avoid health problems (I refer again to Matt's point of view).

So, if I were you (that means, ME in your place, but not saying/advising what YOU should do, that's your very own decision), considering you've got time, if possible I'd try to go with a good mate, or would try to catch up with other independent travellers/bikers there, or would just plainly go solo. I would take all the precautions as cool season and sealed roads, would read a lot before leaving, would go slowly and would enjoy it at my very own pace, would stay within my limits, maybe would consider it a 1st approach, a prelude to other more ambitious trips to come, would see it as a proof that I decide the good way for me, so I would go solo, which is not alone (I also love travelling solo). Furthermore, I'm sure that such an enriching experience, a quiet one on your own, thinking about everything quietly inside your helmet, taking your time, smelling the souks, sipping mint tea, etc may even have a healing effect on your very happy heart.

This all can be seen the other way around, like a tour as the best option, a good 1st approach, a safer/smarter way, so it's only you who knows what's best, but more than any other detail or one way or another, just GO, follow YOUR desires and enjoy YOUR trip.

Best wishes (if you still got reading that far!),

Esteban

[Pip and Mouse]

Hi
my wife and I are relative beginners at this, only just been to an HU meeting, just joined HU website, so maybe our perspective as purely road riders in Europe so far will be of use.
First off, good for you, go for it. Second, you've posed your question to a community who are naturally adventurous and independent and probably would prefer not to use 'organised' tours.
Jenny and I have toured together and camped without a tour company but also done a couple of organised tours and we ride with an active bikers club. We're off on Friday to Austria with an organised tour.
My perspective would be what have you got to lose by using a tour company first time round? You'll get a bit of reassurance that you're not on your own, usually great company (we've booked this next tour specifically to meet up with friends we made on the last tour!) and most tour companies, if you ask them, will give you a very accurate idea of the intensity/mileage etc of their tour; after all, its entirely in their interests to have happy tourers and ones that can do that tour and not find it too much for them.
If you do decide to cut your teeth on one of those in Morrocco it doesn't stop you going back on your own another time so if you can afford it, you can get the best of both worlds.
Just a thought or two.
Good luck, have fun (Morrocco is on me and Jenny's list together with Turkey as are possible first modest 'adventure' tour - looks great!)

[estebangc]

Originally Posted by Pip and Mouse

Hi
my wife and I are relative beginners at this, only just been to an HU meeting, just joined HU website, so maybe our perspective as purely road riders in Europe so far will be of use.
First off, good for you, go for it. Second, you've posed your question to a community who are naturally adventurous and independent and probably would prefer not to use 'organised' tours.
Jenny and I have toured together and camped without a tour company but also done a couple of organised tours and we ride with an active bikers club. We're off on Friday to Austria with an organised tour.
My perspective would be what have you got to lose by using a tour company first time round? You'll get a bit of reassurance that you're not on your own, usually great company (we've booked this next tour specifically to meet up with friends we made on the last tour!) and most tour companies, if you ask them, will give you a very accurate idea of the intensity/mileage etc of their tour; after all, its entirely in their interests to have happy tourers and ones that can do that tour and not find it too much for them.
If you do decide to cut your teeth on one of those in Morrocco it doesn't stop you going back on your own another time so if you can afford it, you can get the best of both worlds.
Just a thought or two.
Good luck, have fun (Morrocco is on me and Jenny's list together with Turkey as are possible first modest 'adventure' tour - looks great!)

You've showed very well the other side of the coin, and that was the point: to consider (objectively) both options. It adds a lot to the discussion, who knows if more than any other comment.

After I met Jens, the HU Germany Meeting organizer last month, and saw his presentation, I thought that going on tour with him leading the group (he's in Edelweiss) had actually to be great, great, great fun.

It's nice to read different while complementary opinions and see them coexist so well.