Hi Velocinators!
Just thought i'd introduce myself and blog. I'm Terra Roam (they/her/sir), my bike is Eva Jean and we have a blog.
https://roam4eva.wordpress.com/
Between 2013 and 2018 i walked solo and unsupported around Australia, 17,200kms. This is when i heard about Warm Showers, i used couchsurfing, helpx and wwoofing for accommodation and met cyclists touring across and around Australia who used WS.
In 2018 i bought a Surly disc trucker and panniers and took off on my first serious tour of 1,000kms along the South Australian coast and around Kangaroo Island. It was a steep learning curve, not so much the wild camping and survival stuff, more the bike, saddle, fitness, swooping birds, traffic. I had PTSD from an attempted murder on a remote dirt outback highway when a truck driver tried running me down so bike touring was frightening. I had to stop for a year until my confidence returned.
On the last day of 2019 i started a 600km tour from my parent's to see my brother and sister, Port Macquarie to Ballina. Riding in the new year holiday traffic was no problem, i was ready to tour again. Then the pandemic happened...
During a 2 month ease in restrictions in 2020 i led a team of women across the Australian Alps, it was the longest winter snowshoe trek on record, over 600kms, and we found a new route to avoid National Park fire rehab closures. One of the team members was mentally unwell after leaving early and went on a cancel campaign which put me in hospital.
In May 2021 i had to decide to put my own mental and physical wellbeing first. I had put on 40kg with emotional eating and hiding from the outside world. It had been my plan, from halfway through the big walk, to ride around Australia. The ride back in 2018 was to be that adventure. So i pulled myself together, 3 years later, 40kg overweight and unfit, packed up the bike, caught the train to Queensland and began finding myself again.
In 6 months of riding 4,000kms i lost more than 20kg! Met lots of WS hosts and caught up with friends met during the big walk. I found my mojo!
This ride is in seasonal sections and will take as long as it takes. Last year we went into the outback, the middle of Queensland across the Tropic of Capricorn, to see the big dinosaur museum and up the coast to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef before wet season/summer was too hot and humid. Now we're slowly touring to Hobart in Tasmania, chasing a cooler summer, and house sitting on the way. In May we'll return to Central Queensland and attempt to reach the top of Cape York before my 73yo mum goes in for surgery. That's when i take a break to look after her.
I also do public speaking and recently had a adventure story published in an anthology of women's mountaineering and climbing stories.
I hope to meet more of you out there.
Happy Riding!
Terra and Eva