Welcome to Saddle Life. This is the place where I will write my findings and musings about pretty much anything but mostly document my desire to travel the world by bike. So first, a little bit about me. My name is Ghandi and in recent years I have become more interested in cycling to new places, meeting new faces and seeing the world. I am passionate about riding bikes, spending time in nature, spending time with friends and making new friends and I believe that simplicity, finding your passion and happiness, and connecting with people and nature is the answer to life.
Conquering The Netherlands
My journey started a few years ago, on January 26, 2014, when an old friend of mine that I hadn’t really seen in years other than a few brief encounters, posted this message on Facebook.
Now, let’s take a step back. Since I was a teenager I have often been familiar with riding bikes but I would say more practically rather than recreationally, being too young to drive plays a big part of this. At one point in time I was doing multiple paper-rounds, in the afternoon as well as the morning, I was studying in sixth form college, taking an evening class in a different college, had a cleaning job ever weekday evening as well as a glass collecting job on Friday and Saturday nights; all the while cycling was my means of transport between all of these.
So taking to a bike has never been difficult for me, but for a couple of years leading up to this Facebook post, I had started to increase my interest and began to ride longer distances and was more interested in cycling as a hobby. Which brings us up to date with the above message. As soon as I saw it I instantly thought, “Yes!” I mean.. I had a few questions before committing to anything, mostly about sleeping arrangements, but this trip would be my first ever taste of Saddle Life. This was a game changer.
This was a game changer.
I had no idea what to expect, I was just “in it for the ride.”
What I found was there was no one thing about this trip that was in itself groundbreaking but combined was the perfect recipe to start a passion inside of me. Riding bikes, spending time with friends, camping in trees and nature, and of course.. beer. This passion has stayed with me to this day and is my main driver in life. Since then I have begun research into cycling to new and exciting places, have visited 10 new countries by bike and have started sleeping in my hammock almost every day, even if this is, in the most part, just inside my house.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Except, that it isn’t. It is my present and my future and my life.
Saddle Life x
