What Is Your Definition of an 'Adventure'?

Depends on what your definition of "is " is.

It's not a job, it's an adventure!

So is a challenge also an adventure?
 
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amorley said:
Adventures are often thought to be synonymous with "Fun"

IMHO I agree with many that believe that there are three types of "Fun"

Type 1 Fun: Fun when you are experiencing it, and fun share later
Type 2 Fun: Not fun at all when it is happening, but fun to share later
Type 3 Fun: Not fun at all when it is happening, and not fun to share later.

Many do not survive Type 3 Fun...
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Attitude is all that differentiates an ordeal from an adventure.
 
SMSW said:
If the trip does not test your mettle, then I'd say it was probably not an adventure
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The comment above, whether intentional or not, implies that a trip has to have some level of adversity to be overcome in order to be considered an "adventure". For me an adventure is when I go on a trip (3 hours or 3 months) where I experience a sense of exploration, perhaps deal with unexpected setbacks, but come out the other end on balance having enjoyed my trip while learning something new and feeling better for it.

I suspect that if someone were planning to go on a trip knowing beforehand that they were going to encounter foul weather, mechanical issues, perhaps a crash or two they would not move forward just so they could say they had an adventure. Then again, they might move forward knowing those possibilities exist if they felt the end result would be to see, visit or ride something new and unique that made all the adversities worth it, but I think that would be a personal decision.

I have spent a lot of my riding in the mountains, where I have often encountered cold, fog, snow, occasional ice (where it is difficult to keep the bike from sliding out from under you), all-day rain and sometimes roads torn up in unexpected places due to construction, flood washouts, etc. At the end of the day, on balance, I still find a way to enjoy the ride (low overhanging clouds on mountain tops during rainy days can still be quite beautiful).

Based on my experience I expect that I will have to deal with the types of challenges mentioned above, they are par for the course. If they happen on a route that I have ridden before then it was simply a good ride for me. On the other hand, there are riders who come with me that deal with these challenges for the first time and it is an adventure for them. Same for me - if they happen on a route where I am exploring and find some unique new road, a glorious new pass, or a great new hotel/restaurant to enjoy, then the trip was an adventure. It's all personal.
 
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amorley said:
Adventures are often thought to be synonymous with "Fun"

IMHO I agree with many that believe that there are three types of "Fun"

Type 1 Fun: Fun when you are experiencing it, and fun share later
Type 2 Fun: Not fun at all when it is happening, but fun to share later
Type 3 Fun: Not fun at all when it is happening, and not fun to share later.

Many do not survive Type 3 Fun...
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Type 4 Fun involves search and rescue, medevac, and other emergency services. Not really all that fun, after all, and the principal may not even be aware it's happening.
 
Here's a definition for you: an adventure is a trip/experience where the outcome is uncertain. When you have a plan and ride the plan it's a ride. When weather, mechanics, etc. cause your plan to go off the rails, then you're headed into adventure territory. Then we can talk about LEVELS of adventure. I would also say that the adventure ends when the medics arrive since your involvement in decision making will decrease markedly.
 
Currently, my adventure is getting out of bed, to grab a bite to eat in between motorcycle adventure movies on YouTube, I break that up watching pimple pops and ingrown hairs being plucked out on Reels on FB
I’m plagued with Bronchial Pneumonia….it’s not fun!
In a mere 5 months I leave for an adventure ride that will take me to Tuktoyaktuk, Vancouver Island, Newfoundland and Point Pelee Ontario. This has been in the planning for a year and a half. Practicing a new skill in riding is an adventure for me. I’ve discovered a lot of fun gravel roads in my region that has opened up a whole new world of riding.
If I get to experience something new on a ride, that always adds to the adventure.
Given I have MS, everyday I wake up and my body functions is an adventure!

Thanks for all the great stories and experiences that this community brings to life on this platform…I’m enjoying it.
 
At my stage of life, 75 years old, with all the standard ailments that come with this age, riding a motorcycle in the Austrian / Bavarian Alps and sitting at a Gasthaus or Biestuba sipping on a good German Beer, watching the young Euro Ladies prancing by is my Idea of a great adventure. I have been thru the deserts and up and down the coast of the Western US, Over the US Rocky Mountain byways and unpaved mountain passes , Across the Great Plains of Kansas and beyond, to the Hill Country of Texas, Fought the crowded highways of the Eastern US seaboard, Crossed the Rio Grand to the Copper Canyons of Mexico, and rode the Alcan, Cassiar, and Dempster Highways north beyond the Artic Circle to Inuvik, Canada. But my Favorite Adventure Rides were and still are the European Alps. God willing I will be able to ride them one more time. My adventure of late is being the Care Provider for my wife as she battles her neurological disease of (PSP) Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
 
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I'm not adventurous by nature.

Most people that know me would find that statement ridiculous as I have enjoyed a lifetime of two great adventurous pastimes, motorcycle riding and bowhunting. Both are filled with the possibility of absolute fear and danger. I've ridden almost daily for 59 years, by my estimation about 850,000 miles, ridden to all of the lower 48 states, 2 provinces of Canada, and 5 countries in Europe. Too, I have bowhunted all over the lower 48, Canada and Alaska and have harvested over 50 big game animals of 10 different species, many with wooden bows and arrows that I hand crafted myself. Yet, I am most comfortable just being at home. Leaving the sanctity of my home terrifies me every single time. By nature, I am one that is sure something is going to go horribly wrong nearly every time I leave the house (even though it rarely does). So, every time I leave the house .... to ride someplace, or to hunt someplace, qualifies as an adventure in my mind.
 
ChucksKLRST said:
But my Favorite Adventures Rides were and still are the European Alps. God willing I will be able to ride them one more time. My adventure of late is being the Care Taker for my wife as she battles her neurological disease of (PSP) Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
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There is nothing on this side of the pond (and I've been a few places over here) that compares to riding in the Alps.


And good on you for tending to your wife!
 
Moto-Charlie said:
The comment above, whether intentional or not, implies that a trip has to have some level of adversity to be overcome in order to be considered an "adventure".
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I did not mean "If the trip does not test your mettle, then I'd say it was probably not an adventure" to imply that. I'd consider technical bouldering or rock climbing an adventure even without any drama (for me, elevating my posterior above say 18 to 20' on a ladder constitutes drama). And from my pov, climbing using little nubbins and smears of sticky shoes certainly 'tests your mettle'. It was however, easy to think of adverse conditions e.g. the sinking of the Titanic, that would turn a pleasure cruise into an adventure - though I don't mean to suggest that a fight for survival is the only adventure out there.

Just for giggles, I googled a definition: Mettle: 1. The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve. 2. Substance or quality of temperament; spirit, esp. as regards honor, courage, fortitude, ardor, etc.; disposition; -- usually in a good sense.
Merriam-Webster: a. vigor and strength of spirit or temperament. b. staying quality :stamina. Cambridge Dictionary: ability and determination when competing or doing something difficult.

All of those definitions fit my statement for me.
 
Uncle Phil said:
There is nothing on this side of the pond (and I've been a few places over here) that compares to riding in the Alps.
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I made the trip from Switzerland over the Alps to Italy many years ago by bus. I will second your observation, our mountains pale by comparison.
 
kiltman said:
Currently, my adventure is getting out of bed, to grab a bite to eat in between motorcycle adventure movies on YouTube, I break that up watching pimple pops and ingrown hairs being plucked out on Reels on FB
I’m plagued with Bronchial Pneumonia….it’s not fun!
In a mere 5 months I leave for an adventure ride that will take me to Tuktoyaktuk, Vancouver Island, Newfoundland and Point Pelee Ontario. This has been in the planning for a year and a half. Practicing a new skill in riding is an adventure for me. I’ve discovered a lot of fun gravel roads in my region that has opened up a whole new world of riding.
If I get to experience something new on a ride, that always adds to the adventure.
Given I have MS, everyday I wake up and my body functions is an adventure!

Thanks for all the great stories and experiences that this community brings to life on this platform…I’m enjoying it.
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Kiltman, when your going to Vancouver Island,drop by Delta Heritage Air Park . I'm fifteen minutes from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, a meal is on me.
 
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