Wednesday 21 May 2008

Bike nomadics the Steve Roberts way

Steve Roberts on Winnebiko 2
Being a somewhat reserved Brit, I personally would not want to make eye contact with people by peering at them around a helmet-mounted head-up display, but Steve Roberts captured my imagination twenty years ago when I came across a magazine article on his futuristic trip around the USA on a recumbent bike with 105 gears, pneumatic retractable prop-stand, and a wireless Internet connection.

All ultimate über-geek stuff, but I was inspired at the time by the idea of working whilst traveling, and of sending emails from a bike trip - while riding along in fact. In the mid-1980's few other cyclists could take credit card payments at the roadside, or run a Sun server from solar panels - or operate a ham radio from their bike trailer, for that matter.

He's been pretty quiet lately but his website is still valuable for nomadic tips; he's branched out into boats rather than bikes, but still travels and apparently lives off writing and consulting on the technologies associated with his unusual lifestyle. Tonight I've been looking at his tips on how to prepare for living a nomadic lifestyle effectively on the road.

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