Best and Worst Things in the World
Here is my ever-changing, ever-incomplete and subjective and very biased top-10 list of the best and worst the world has to offer from the seat of a bicycle.
Top 10 List of best bike rides in the world
- Pacific Coast from Vancouver to San Diego
- Avenue of the Giants. California, USA.
- The Friendship Highway. Tibet.
- The Outer Banks, North Carolina.
- Land’s End to John o’Groats. Great Britan.
- Almost any bike trail in Europe.
- Iron Mountain Highway. U.S. Route 16A. Black Hills, South Dakota.
- The Great Ocean Road. Australia.
- Ocean Road and Cape Point. South Africa.
- South Island, New Zealand
- Mikumi National Park, Tanzania (You can’t beat riding a bicycle next to wild elephants)
- RAGBRAI (organized ride across Iowa, a circus on wheels)
Here is a list of another 159 must-see destinations compiled by world cyclists.
Top 10 List of worst things about riding a bicycle
- Cars
- Cars
- And more cars.
- Pollution
- Headwinds
- Saddle sores
- Sunburn
- Malnutrition. (Eating more calories isn’t good enough.)
- Rain
- Endless hills
BEST COUNTRIES
- South Africa
- Ireland
- Greece
- USA
- Mexico
- Thailand
- New Zealand
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Argentina
- India
WORST COUNTRIES (at the time for bicycling)
- India (India wins the award for the most paradoxical country and so gets the best and worst awards in the same categories.)
- Zimbabwe
- Egypt
- North Vietnam
- El Salvador
CITIES
- San Francisco
- Cape Town
- Istanbul
- Buenos Aires
- London
- Bangkok
- Melbourne
- Hanoi
BEST FOOD
- Braais (South African barbecues)
- Asados (Argentinian barbecues)
- American food (of course)
- Saltenas (Bolivian Cornish pasties)
- Falafel sandwich (Egypt)
- Thai food
- India
- Rice and beans and Mexican food in general
WORST FOOD
- And the award goes to Zimbabwe because there was no food.
- Beef soup (East Africa. Cow hacked up with a machete, boiled in water. With a cup of salt.)
- Mealy Maize (East Africa)
- Beans on toast (England)
- Rice and beans (Nepal) (Due to an economic crisis there was hardly any food.)
- India (can be very dirty with few ingredients and lots of flies)
- Ecuador salmonella sandwich
- Intestine and tripe soup (Tanzania)
- Chicken fetus (Vietnam)
- Fried cockroaches and grasshoppers (Thailand)
- Flies (Australia)
ARCHITECTURE
- The Millennium Wheel and the Parliament Building (London)
- The Great Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)
- Machu Picchu (Peru)
- The cathedrals and castles of Europe
- New York City
- Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
NATURAL WONDERS
- Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA)
- Yosemite National Park (California, USA)
- Redwood Forests (California, USA
- Sedona (Arizona, USA)
- Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA)
- Table Mountain (South Africa)
- Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia)
- Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)
- Sani Pass (Lesotho)
- Franz Josef Glacier (New Zealand)
- Uluru (Ayers Rock, Australia)
- The cacti forests of Baja California (Mexico)
- The fynbos plant kingdom (South Africa)
- Mount Everest (Nepal, Tibet)
And because you keep asking… BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
- Mexico
- USA (there’s no place like home)
- Argentina
- Czech Republic (also wins the award for men who apparently don’t need to try to look good to attract a beautiful woman)
- Thailand
- Vietnam
- South Africa
- France
- Holland
- Italy
- Scandinavia
- Every country in part
And to be fair… HANDSOME MEN
- USA (of course and me in particular. Haha.)
- Kenya
- Italy
- Australia
- Argentina
- Every country in part
