Messages

1531

General Discussion / PTS? Post Tour Syndrome?

« on: November 11, 2008, 06:05:35 am »

I never had that experience.  Most of my friends, coworkers and acquaintances were interested and quite a few said they were jealous.  I never crammed it down their throats but a lot bring up the xc trip and ask about it.

1532

General Discussion / PTS? Post Tour Syndrome?

« on: November 08, 2008, 11:46:35 am »

Yes a cross country tour leaves it's mark on you.  I doubt most people are the same person after something like the TA or the NT.

In my experience the hardest thing about a tour like that is going home after.  Real life becomes a bit more acceptable after a few months, but...  It takes a year or so before you really get back into the swing of things and as I said it is never quite the same again.

1533

General Discussion / Northern Tier -- Start Late May 2009

« on: October 27, 2008, 06:34:31 am »

Always better to allow extra time.  Most of the folks we met who had planned on 100 mile days wound up averaging less.  We did the TA and spent 73 days and only took two days off one to go rafting and one when one of us was injured.  We actually rode a little both of those days.  Personally I prefer taking a half day once in a while rather than full days off.  50 days is possible but allowing extra is a good idea.  60 days is still fairly good mileage.  If you are moteling it, high mileage might be easier, but it is less fun IMO.

Having a hard deadline makes the trip less pleasant in my mind.  Better to be able to take long or easy days as you feel like it rather than have to constantly be monitoring progress against a self imposed deadline.

Remember that in places the towns and potential stops are pretty far apart so you will not always have the choice of doing the amount of mileage you choose.

You will certainly meet lots of other cyclists and will have opportunities to camp or ride with them if you choose.  You will also have the opportunity to meet a lot of nice local folks.  I advise taking time to interact with the people you meet if it is a choice between spending a while chatting and making really great mileage.

1534

General Discussion / Just Wondering

« on: October 23, 2008, 04:46:11 am »

Just normal cold feet.

Have a great trip!

1535

General Discussion / TransAmerica Bike route breakdown

« on: October 23, 2008, 05:02:48 am »

Actually Fred, it looks like he did.  The subject says "TransAmerica Bike route breakdown".  That would usually mean the Adventure Cycling Trans America route.

With that in mind...
Lots of folks have recorded their TA experiences in journals.  Tons of them are on the Crazy Guy on a Bike site.  You can start with ours at:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/staehling2007

Cost is WIDELY variable.  If you camp and cook most of the time you can go pretty cheaply.

We averaged under $5 per night for campsites and motel rooms, but we very seldom got a room and stayed in city parks, churches, and other free places whenever possible.  The AC maps were a great help in finding these places, but we also seeked out others on our own.  We got some invites from generous hosts, which also helped a lot.

I don't have an exact accounting, but spent around $2k including airfare (one way only since we were picked up by family at the end)and everything I spent during the trip.  This included shopping stops at the Patagonia outlet and the Pearl Izumi outlet. It also included quite a few restaurant meals and things like a rafting trip on the Salmon river.

I actually think I would have spent more if I were at home.

While we were on the frugal side, a true cheapskate could get by cheaper and some who want to stay in motels and eat in more expensive places will spent several times that much.

1536

General Discussion / What gear?

« on: October 27, 2008, 06:41:02 am »

Westinghouse,

Thanks for the comment about our journal.  We really had a wonderful trip.  To do a trip like that is great, but to share it with my daughter was priceless.  The other young woman on the trip is now a very good friend and like family too.  I think the trip will be something special to all of us for the rest of our lives.

1537

General Discussion / What gear?

« on: October 22, 2008, 05:32:01 am »

What I took on the Trans America is in my journal at:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/staehling2007

There are lots of other journals in the crazy guy site that have lists.  It is a good idea to read a bunch.

If you have experience in other forms of self supported camping (backpack, canoe, kayak) skills and gear choices carry over well.

1538

General Discussion / Cycling Goggles

« on: October 20, 2008, 11:41:07 am »

Why not just wear sunglasses instead of goggles.  Bicycle specific ones may be better than non bike specific ones in that they tend to hug the face and protect a bit better.

Goggles would be a pain, but if you insist try well ventilated off road motorcycle racing or downhill ski goggles.  I will say that I have never seen anyone wear goggles on a bike even when I raced XC mountain bike races.

Lots of people wear sunglasses with contacts for riding.  My two companions on the Trans America did exactly that last year and we rode in some very dusty and windy conditions.

1539

General Discussion / Bicycle Trip form Arizona to Alaska

« on: October 15, 2008, 04:16:16 am »

"I'm assuming the trip from Arizona to Alaska would involve getting over to the coast quickly and then going up the coast."
Given that assumption you would be correct and winds would be a really big negative factor.

My assumption (perhaps a bad one?) was that the route would be between Utah and Colorado and then across Wyoming, and Montana.  In that case the winds would be a help.

So this raises the big question what route were you (the OP) considering?

1540

General Discussion / Bicycle Trip form Arizona to Alaska

« on: October 15, 2008, 04:02:05 am »

"A group of us rode from Fairbanks to Vancouver in 2005.  Hate to tell all of you this - the "prevailing westerlies" concept does not apply to the route."

That is generally the case for pretty muc ALL routes in the US.  Surface winds do not follow that prevailing westerlies pattern at all.

He is another attempt to show a chart of the prevailing winds for July:

Note that this is for July, in January they are almost the opposite pattern.  Any other time they are in some transitional stage in between.

So looking at this graphic I would have to say that winds might be a pretty major positive factor given that your proposed direction of travel.  This is true since the winds when crossing the most open part of the country are with you. This would be likely to be true unless you veer farther west sooner.

I have no clue what the prevailing winds are for Canada though

OTOH for the more typical E-W or W-E trip on a route like the Trans America it is more of a mixed bag, with the edge going to E-W on the TA.

1541

General Discussion / Bicycle Trip form Arizona to Alaska

« on: October 11, 2008, 12:33:14 pm »

I agree that buying from a local dealer is a good idea especially if you are not proficient at maintenance and repair.

On the Bikes Direct issue...  Don't take their hype or "compare at" prices to seriously.  On the other hand they treated us fine and between the three of us we have purchased 4 bikes from them.

Both the crank we removed and the one we put on were adequate quality, but not high end stuff.  We swapped the crank because the cost was about the same as swapping all three chain rings.

A bit of clarification on the tires.  I have edited my tire comments on the web page a bit.  I have recently been running the 32 mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires and have been unhappy with the weight and ride quality.

We ran the original tires until they wore out and replaced them with like sized ones.  Actually my daughter opted for a bit narrower replacements for hers since then (28mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus, the size Schwalbe recommended for her weight). I might consider the same 28 mm size next time because I am kind of partial to the continental ultra gatorskins that come in nothing larger than 28 mm.

1542

General Discussion / Bicycle Trip form Arizona to Alaska

« on: October 11, 2008, 05:50:26 am »

The Globe Sport looks like it could work.  Personally I don't like flat bars though.  Would you be ordering it from a local dealer?

If ordering on line any way, I would consider the Windsor Touring for $599 including shipping.  We rode 4244 miles on the Trans America on three of them and were pretty happy with them.  We did swap out the crank ($80) to get lower gearing.  There is some more information in our journal especially in the "what worked and what didn't" section.

See our journal at:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/staehling2007

1543

General Discussion / Bicycle Trip form Arizona to Alaska

« on: October 10, 2008, 04:41:23 pm »

Yeah.  It showed up from work, but I can't see it from home.  Maybe because work in on the .edu domain.

It basically showed the whole middle of the country north to south with prevailing winds out of the SSE for July.  It would seem to favor heading north toward Alaska during July if you were on the east side of the rockies.  It didn't show what to expect in Canada.

1544

General Discussion / Bicycle Trip form Arizona to Alaska

« on: October 10, 2008, 08:13:28 am »

When you say, "It is highly recommended that you go the other direction, because of the prevailing winds" what are you basing that on?

If it is just the prevailing westerlies, I would question the advice.  Surface winds don't generally follow that pattern at all.  If you have specific advice based on that particular route and actual surface wind conditions that would trump my comments.

I am convinced that for a coast to coast trip on the TA for example the places where the wind matters most (Kansas and Eastern Colorado) are likely to have winds out of the SE in mid Summer.  Places like Wyoming and Montana are tougher to call.  In Canada I have no idea.

Bottom line... I really don't know what is better for this route, but do know that it is probably not wise to count on the prevailing westerlies as a general rule.

Edit: Check this map out


This message was edited by staehpj1 on 10-10-08 @ 8:27 AM

1545

General Discussion / Camping on bike routes

« on: October 11, 2008, 06:00:20 am »

Yeah, magic usually does happen; it always did for us on my only transcontinental tour.

I never knocked on doors though.  Much better if you find folks already outside or use the phone.  We limited our asking to towns, but never found one where we couldn't find a place to camp with permission.  In most cases it seemed like we got good leads from one of the following:

• Pure chance meeting of a local person.
• Asking a clerk or wait staff.
• Calling the local sheriff or police dept.
• Asking at the local firehouse.
• Asking at a local church.
• Calling the local mayor, pastor, or whoever on the phone.

This message was edited by staehpj1 on 10-11-08 @ 6:01 AM