Messages

616

Routes / Re: Connect Northern Tier to RAGBRAI?

« on: April 05, 2010, 11:35:39 am »

Another option through ND:

Stay on the NT to New Town.
Rte. 23 east to Rte. 41
Rte. 41 south to Turtle Lake (don't miss Rusty the Turtle!)
Rte. 200 east to 14 south to Wing
Rte. 36 east to Tuttle
Rte. 3 south to Steele
I-94 to Dawson
Rte. 3 south through Napolean to where to joins with Rte. 13, then to Wishek
Stay on Rte 13 to U.S. 281

I did some of this during CANDISC a few years ago.  Mostly an empty area dotted with relatively tiny towns.  Zero traffic.  Even I-94 wasn't bad when we rode it early in the morning.  Established camping might be tough, but it seemed like an area where locals would let you camp in city parks, etc.  McClusky, Steele, Napolean and Wishek are the larger towns that have services, and I am almost certain that Steele allows camping at the Lone Steer Motel.  In Wishek we stayed at some sort of fairgrounds on the western edge of town. The Wishek area is home to descendants of Germans who came over from Russia back in the day.  Good local sausage.  Most of the towns also have a cafe for eats.

If you want real kitche, create a route that goes through Stasburg, ND.  Brave the milesor so of somewhat rocky dirt road off of U.S. 83 and visit the nicely preserved Lawrence Welk homestead.

617

Gear Talk / Re: Anyone think this tent would be too big to haul cross country?

« on: April 05, 2010, 07:44:33 am »

Check out the Kelty Gunnison 2.1 at REI.  With the current 20% off coupon if you are an REI member, comes out to $157 + tax; free shipping to REI members.  Has gotten great reviews, is reasonably light (5 pounds), can be set up in two minutes, and has sitting headroom for those days when you are stuck in the tent because of weather.

Bob

Was just going to post the same.

618

Gear Talk / Re: Help Pulling the Trigger

« on: April 05, 2010, 07:31:41 am »

Whittierider,

Thank you for your response! I am mostly concerned with the LHT component use. the Alex Adventurer rims are reported to be low quality as are the aluminum cranks. Does anyone have any recent experience with these components or the 2006 and newer LHT that can speak to the quality of the stock bike?

Thanks,
Aaron

My LHT is post-2006 (2007 or 2008) and has the Alex Adventure rims (700c).  I am 6'2", about 215 lbs., carry a lot of weight and am less of a spinner than I should be.  I have never had a problem with the rims.  Here's a little story.  One winter I bent my deraileur hanger and put off getting it fixed.  Spring rolled around and I started training for a western trip.  Going up a steep hill I decided to try the granny gear just see what it was like.  That decision was followed by the sound of deraileur shifting into the spokes, being twisted around and they bursting into many pieces.  The wheel suffered only the slightest tweek.  The truing was only its second ever, and I have never broken a spoke.

619

General Discussion / Re: Monument Valley in July

« on: April 05, 2010, 07:16:37 am »

Photo doesn't seem to be showing.

Here is the Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_State_Route_261

620

General Discussion / Re: Monument Valley in July

« on: April 05, 2010, 07:14:55 am »

I drove through some of that area at the end of July '00 and it was like being in an oven.

Here is a shot of 261.  Very steep in places (up to 15% I think) but looked doable.

621

General Discussion / Re: Bike Cover

« on: March 26, 2010, 08:09:51 am »

6'x8' waterproof tarp with gromets=4 oz.

622

General Discussion / Re: Camping in NP

« on: March 26, 2010, 07:58:00 am »

It is correct that it depends on the park.  When I was in Yellowstone the policy was that hikers and bikers were always given spots.  In fact, in W. Yellowstone I tried to make a reservations with the company then running the campsites and they wouldn't even let me.  But that was 10 years ago, so things may have changed.  It's good to see, however, that hiker/biker sites are still only $5.

623

General Discussion / Re: Bike Cover

« on: March 25, 2010, 07:40:23 am »

And I don't see any reason to cover your saddle unless it is real leather.

So you don't have to set out a dry day on a saddle that is saturated with cold water from the rain the might before?

624

Routes / Re: cross-country WITHOUT ACA Maps

« on: March 25, 2010, 07:36:09 am »

The weirdest thing I have found over and over is that locals usually know ver little about the geography and especially the topography of their own area.  I have received bogus info over and over from locals and, often, an "I don't know" in response to very basic queries about the local area.  Anyone else have this same experience?

Absolutely.  Probably the weirdest experience came on the third day of my first ever tour.  (AC's Nothern Tier '99)  Through a SNAFU, we ended up at Bayview State Park with no groceries.  Our map showed a relatively large town off-route near a major highway that we thought would have a store.  Looked to be 8 miles away.  Before a few of us headed out, we stopped at the park office to confirm.  The ranger swore up and down that it was 8 miles round trip and refused to budge even when we told him what the map suggested.  It was, in fact, 8 miles each way.  And it was hiller than he indicated.

Misjudging terrain I can see when it's not mountainous and you only drive.  But how do you confuse 4 miles with 8 miles?

625

Routes / Re: Great Divide Start & Finish Logistics

« on: March 23, 2010, 07:02:49 am »

If you have the maps, local shops should be listed.  A quick Google search also shows a couple, but they are in Canmore.  If a shop has a service department it's likely they will be willing to receive a bike and assemble it for you (for a charge).  I recommend making a "reservation" because in popular areas shops can be very busy during the height of the season.  We shipped to Whitefish, MT last June and the shops strongly suggested that we reserve an "assemble by" date.

Agree that Amtrak is easier than flying, and the bike charge is much less.  If that doesn't work for you, a LBS will almost certainly box and ship your bike home via FedEx, UPS, etc.

626

General Discussion / Re: Bike Cover

« on: March 22, 2010, 12:50:15 pm »

I usually carry one of those blue, plastic tarps.  It weighs nothing in the overall scheme of things compared to the total load of my 6'2" body, my 61cm bike and my gear.  It can be used not only to cover the bike but also to proect your butt from wet and/or muddy ground that could be the only place there is to sit.  I have also strung it between trees with light weight twine to create a shelter.  Beats cooking in the rain or under your fly.  If you have a picnic table and plan to leave out cooking gear for the next morning, you can cover the gear in case it rains at night.  When riding, I fold it into a rectangle and place it between the bars of my rear rack and my tent.  (My rack is designed to carry geat parallel to the bike.)

627

General Discussion / Re: Weather on Lewis & Clark and TA

« on: March 19, 2010, 08:34:29 am »

It can definitely do anything at any time, especially on McKenzie Pass.  And make sure you stay hydrated east of Sisters.  I did the infamous 2002 Cycle Oregon that crossed the sate in 6 days of riding east to west.  Stayed in Mitchell, John Day and Sisters.  It was crispy critter hot during the day with no shade, and that was during the second week of September.  Coburg was pretty darn hot, too.  The nights weren't that bad, except for Ironside, about 70 miles east of Mitchell, where it got down to 30 degrees.  But since it sounds like you will be in that part of the country earlier it should be warmer at night.  As you will see from the abundant crop waterers and irrigation channels, it's typically very arid east of the Cascades.

As you move into September and into MT and CO, you will almost certainly get cool to cold nights.  Yellowstone was very cold at night even in late June.  I have to imagine that September will be frosty because of its altitude.

628

Routes / Re: Bicycle Tour

« on: March 17, 2010, 06:49:36 am »

For breakfast, split between eating at the local diner/cafe (even some of the smallest towns you will stay in have one) and buying something cold like a bagel.  It usually depends on how hard the day's riding will be.  Lunch is suaully a sandwich or other snack (I am a sucker for friend chicken when touring) from a deli or supermarket.  I almost always cook my own dinner.  That's the meal I use to fuel for the next day.  My "mobile kitchen" includes two pots, a liquid fuel stove, mini Santoku knife, cutting board, spices and olive oil.  I also carry coffee and a small, plastic French press mug from REI.  Very handy if you are a coffee drinker.

Since I tend to stay in towns when possible I usually don't have that mich trouble finding sufficient groceries to make dinner.  But there have been times when pickings were so slim that dinner consisted of pasta with canned of chili.  You may also find yourself having to carry groceries to the campground.

If you will be following Adventure Cycling's maps for some or all of your trip, they list the locations of grocery stores and restaraunts.  Some stores may carry "limitted" groceries.  Don't expect a wide selection at such places.  You should also not hesitate to ask locals.  There may be a town a few miles off route that has better food choices than those you will find along your planned route, making the few extra miles worth it.  On line searching can also be useful.  In preparation for my Montana-Canada tour last summer I searched the web site for areas and town we would be passing through to find information about food options.

629

General Discussion / Re: Raising money for TransAm trip, half donate to charity

« on: March 16, 2010, 01:03:52 pm »

One problem it sounds like you will face is that "donations" must be made to the charitable organization itself to be tax deductible.  Money given to you which you use to fund your trip will not be deductible by those giving.  That may discourage people.  Also wonder if  you could conceiveably be subject to tax liability if you were to hold an event that put money in your pocket to fund your trips, but I will leave that up to any accountants here.

That aside, I kow of people who have held "beef and beer" events to raise money for charity bike events.  You make a deal with a restaurant and charge attendees for, say, 3 hrs. of free draft beer and sandwiches.  But the ultimate "profit" goes towards the fundaising requirement of the ride, not into the organizers' pockets to fund personal expenses asscoiated with the ride.

630

General Discussion / Re: Gatoraid (sp?) v Water

« on: March 11, 2010, 07:40:54 am »

I know some who swear by V-8 juice for electrolytes.  Personally, I don't dig the laste and don;t want the acid in my sotmach.  Heed makes some good products, but if I were touring for a long time I don't think I would want to tote the stuff along.