Messages

16

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: February 14, 2013, 07:57:09 pm »

Great advice, well noted.  I planned out some of the end towns based on services, or lack thereof.

Not having a plan of some sort makes me anxious... I joined a friend for a few days of his trans am ride.  One night up by Conifer we were both shelled and could not find a single place to camp.  We ended up sneaking behind a church and camping there.  I want to avoid the stress of not knowing as much as possible.  That said, I know plans will change and I'm ok with that.

17

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: February 14, 2013, 01:31:53 pm »

jamawani, how is 138 from Fort Morgan to Julesburg?

I initially thought about going from Fort Morgan to Julesburg reservoir (83 miles) on day 3, but now that I look at the elevation profile (or lack of it), it's 104 miles from Fort Morgan to Julesburg on 138.  It would only be 373 ft of climbing for the entire day!

Given the ghost towns along the route that day it may be nice just to get in to Julesburg that night instead.  Possible wind and lack of places to eat or get food to cook along the way make me cautious though...

I've done 150 miles in a day before, and I've done 115 miles over 3 mountain passes in the Triple Bypass, neither of those were fully loaded or self-supported though...

If I adjust day 3 to get to Julesburg, then day 4 only has 32 miles and I could do the additional 48 up to Arthur.  Or I could leave day 4 as is to sort of rest for day 5, which is a big one as it stands.

http://www.motate.org/riders/scottdeleeuw/trip/trip.php

I could also skip Lewellen and stay in Lake McConaughy....

18

Gear Talk / Re: 2 people, 6 panniers for a cross country tour. Bad idea?

« on: February 13, 2013, 09:07:00 pm »

Thanks for that link.  If that review is correct it looks like REI still has the old bags.

19

Gear Talk / Re: 2 people, 6 panniers for a cross country tour. Bad idea?

« on: February 13, 2013, 09:00:43 am »

Thanks staehpj1, I had never heard of the Sawyer Squeeze.  REI reviews point to a lot of bag ruptures, have you had any problems with that?

20

Gear Talk / Re: 2 people, 6 panniers for a cross country tour. Bad idea?

« on: February 12, 2013, 03:42:04 pm »

Is a steripen a useable idea when doing long shots between water?

http://www.rei.com/product/799003/steripen-adventurer-opti-water-purifier

My route I'm planning for June hits a lot of "interstate ghost towns" on the first couple days and it looks like I might be 60-80 miles between water and food at some point.

21

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: February 10, 2013, 09:31:42 pm »

jamawani and others,

Going through the towns now looking at grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants.  I'm looking at several of the towns from Julesburg to Sargent and many are either ghost towns or around 100 people.  Google Street View is nice because you can pick out business names and look them up to see if they are still around.


What do you do about food and water on a route like this?  In many cases I'm not seeing cafes or even grocery stores or gas stations in most of these towns.  I guess I need to figure out how much water to bring and how to carry a bunch of extra food in case I can't find a place for food or water for days.

I've done weeklong 500+ mile trips before, but they were across Iowa where each town has a gas station, cafe and other things.  I'm not used to the near ghost town experience.  I think it will be neat to see, but I want to be prepared.

22

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: February 05, 2013, 08:47:02 pm »

any thoughts?

23

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: February 03, 2013, 09:51:32 pm »

Thanks for everyone's help so far.  Since last post I ordered all paper bicycle maps from Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.  I then went through the paper maps, with suggestions from everyone, and loaded my tentative map based on traffic volumes and shoulders up in to the Tyre software, which I then pushed the GPX to Google Maps.

My resulting route is here:

http://www.motate.org/scottdeleeuw/trip/trip.php

It encompasses most of the suggestions given in this post, however I'm unsure about some sections.  Please take a look and give me feedback if you have a moment or two.

24

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: January 10, 2013, 09:56:11 am »

Thanks, I ordered the paper maps from Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.   I tried printing what they had on their site, but it was awful tiny and I was constantly scrolling on my screen trying to look at it online.

What I planned to do was get a general route from the suggestions.  Look at it on the printed maps and then put it in to Tyre.  Tyre is like Google Maps in that it let's you drag and change routes, etc.  It also will export a GPX file which I could upload as a route to my Garmin Edge.  It also lets me share the GPX file in case I want to send it to anyone for a sanity check.

Oh, planned date is probably end of June.

25

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: January 09, 2013, 12:16:14 pm »

Thanks John, I suspected that.   I was going to go over the route with the printed state maps and refine it out... I was using Google mostly just for the general outline.  Do you use a better program that would allow me to map it out nicely using the suggestions in this thread?  I'd found one at one time, but can't think of what it was for the life of me now...

EDIT: The program I'd found was "Tyre", but I don't know if that is a great one or not, it's just one I found.

26

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: January 09, 2013, 10:48:21 am »

Thank you Jamawani!  That is excellent feedback!

Take a look at this map:

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=8900+E+Girard+Ave,+Denver,+CO&daddr=Yuma,+CO+to:Arthur,+NE+to:Broken+Bow,+NE+to:Sargent,+NE+to:Yankton,+SD+to:Hull,+IA&hl=en&ll=41.418015,-100.50293&spn=7.32261,14.27124&sll=41.885921,-98.85498&sspn=7.269751,14.27124&geocode=FagRXQId86K_-Slh_yPNmYdshzG7B4rgoiEcxw%3BFWA3ZAIdpong-Snj828ueaJzhzGedW1sgr5nMA%3BFUZVegIdU0_w-Sl5_0A_7hV3hzHr-QA6Wh1Wwg%3BFbu9dwIdeJgP-inzdT8zhluchzFx1IYQKbKzuw%3BFXJiewIdMLcT-ikX0HxNYY-chzFruqYqDMRy2Q%3BFUUpjgId39Ux-ilRw2-uCKGPhzETxHG087Mx7g%3BFXABkwId_x1F-inTYHCXlTmMhzFB5sy2sP4p-g&dirflg=b&mra=ls&t=m&z=7&lci=bike


What if I head out of Denver on the mentioned county roads towards Yuma, CO?  An alternative might be US 36 to Bennett and Last Chance.  I've been on that road before and it's very sparse traffic, although that puts me a little south....

Frum Yuma, go up towards Arthur, NE and do the Broken Bow, NE sand hills route you mentioned.

Connect that to Sargent, NE and Yankton, SD because otherwise it's trying to send me through Sioux City (no way).  Once to Iowa I know the roads there and that looks ok...

The only unknown here is if any of the roads mentioned are gravel, don't really want that...  The jump up to the sandhills adds some mileage, but it seems worth it.

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Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: January 08, 2013, 09:23:30 am »

That's a great link Jennifer, thank you!

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Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: January 07, 2013, 02:41:30 pm »

After reading up some more, looks like the Cowboy Trail is terrible and poorly maintained.  Looking at other options still.

29

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Denver, CO to NW Iowa, two alternatives?

« on: January 07, 2013, 01:55:21 pm »

Thanks John,

I'm looking at this again today... Avoid Highways with Google Maps puts me on what look to possibly be some very busy roads, such as Hwy 30 across Nebraska, Hwy 75 in Iowa (which I know is a 4 lane 65mph road).  I wonder if they've change avoid highways to just mean avoiding interstates?

I went back to their bike routes, it suggests the "Cowboy Trail"... It looks like it could be promising as I've heard that mentioned elsewhere, but I also see it going on what I know are gravel roads, which I'd like to avoid.

I think I'm thinking way too much about my possible route...

30

Gear Talk / Re: MTB tires

« on: November 09, 2012, 02:38:44 pm »

Schwable Racing Ralph could do dual-duty as light mountain bike tire and somewhat smooth rolling road tire.