Friday Photo - Bicycle Touring With Dogs

The Cycling Gypsies Fin & Zoa go bicycle touring with their dogs

While looking for this Friday's photo, I ran across a website called Cycling Gypsies:Bikes, Dogs and the Big Blue Beyond. I'm not sure where the photo above was taken, but it sure looks like Utah.

Fin and Zoa sold everything they couldn't carry on their bicycles and trailers in 2008, and have been cycling over 17,000 miles through 21 countries since then. Their two dogs, which are not small, travel with them. The larger one, known as Jack, weighs in at 90 pounds while Paco, the smaller one, looks like he is about half that size. Originally they looked for someone to take care of their dogs for a year while they went bicycle touring. Unable to find anyone and unwilling to give them away, they decided to take the dogs with them out on the road.

On their website, they list some of the pros & cons of touring with dogs, such as:

• The dogs, dog food and extra water add a lot of weight. It's not too noticeable on flat ground once you get up to speed, but you definitely feel it going uphill. This limits their daily mileage somewhat. They normally ride about 30 miles in winter and 40 in summer. Their longest day ever was 85 miles.
• The dogs make it very easy for them to make friends & talk to the locals.
• They limit where you can go. They originally planned to travel through Morocco and the Middle East but abandoned those plans because of problems they might have encountered because of the dogs.
• The dogs provide security for your bikes and belongings.
• They once had to wait three hours for Paco (the smaller dog) to return after chasing a rabbit.
• It's great to have your friends along on a bike tour.

When they are riding in areas away from traffic, they attach their dogs to their bikes with leashes and let them run alongside to get exercise.