Messages

16

Routes / Re: Help across Wyoming

« on: August 22, 2010, 07:57:42 pm »

Here's a link from the Wyoming DOT website. Looks like it could be useful.

http://www.dot.state.wy.us/webdav/site/wydot/shared/Wyoming%20Bike%20Route%20Map.pdf

17

General Discussion / Re: Recovery drinks and Cytomax.

« on: July 15, 2010, 12:23:05 pm »

Westinghouse, this is interesting. Are you talking about Cytomax Recovery ? They make several different products, this appears to be the one that has protein.

18

Gear Talk / Re: Front rack for Arkel bag

« on: May 10, 2010, 05:45:51 am »

I've used the Tubus Duo rack with the Arkel GT18's for several years and it has worked great. The Tara is a very nice rack and should work as well. The clip attaches to the bottom of the rack with a screw. There are some photos here:

http://www.thetouringstore.com/TUBUS/Tara/TARA%20PAGE.htm

19

Gear Talk / Re: Will a racing saddle work for touring?

« on: May 08, 2010, 09:46:16 am »

If I were him and could do those kinds of rides comfortably, I would stick with the Arione. I think with saddles, whatever works is the right choice.

20

General Discussion / Re: General Question

« on: May 06, 2010, 02:56:04 pm »

I've done two ACA self contained tours and the Transam and part of the Northern Tier solo. It always seemed to me that ACA's number one concern was to keep riders out of heavy traffic if possible, sometimes to a fault. I don't like ride in heavy traffic, just too stressful. On the Transam the only places I noticed the traffic being real heavy was in Yellowstone, where most of the route did not have a shoulder, and a short stretch north of Richmond ,VA. I never had a problem with either, it was just heavier traffic than I like.

I really think that if you choose to tour with ACA, or use their maps, you will be very comfortable with the routes. If you want to plan your own route a lot of states have bike maps or routes which are usually color coded as to traffic density. Some also have shoulder maps which can be helpful. These can both be found on those states DOT website.

21

Routes / Re: Transamerica - First timers need help

« on: April 30, 2010, 09:07:11 pm »

You can get bicycle maps for Illinois from the Illinois DOT. Here's the link.

http://www.dot.state.il.us/bikemap/STATE.HTML

You would probably only have to buy 2 or 3 of the Illinois maps and then use them to connect with the Northern Tier section 8, which passes through Illinois and Indiana, and could get you to about 30-35 miles south of Plymouth.

22

General Discussion / Re: Please please check my math! 19.5" top tube 49.5cm bike right?

« on: April 26, 2010, 06:36:42 am »

The size of a bike frame is determined by length of the seat tube not the top tube. Companies usually do this in two different ways, one being center of crank to the top of top tube or seat lug, the other being center of crank to center of top tube. I'd find out how Cannondale measures theirs.

23

Gear Talk / Re: Touring Shoes, Cleat Selection and Toe Clip Survey

« on: April 08, 2010, 05:30:46 am »

I use Specialized mtn. bike shoes and Speedplay Frogs. I used spd's for years but switched to the frogs a couple of years ago and like them much better.

24

Routes / Re: Connect Northern Tier to RAGBRAI?

« on: April 05, 2010, 05:04:39 pm »

I had a couple reasons for suggesting hwy 2 to Minot. One is that hwy 1804 from Williston to New Town goes through a part of the Bakken Oil Field that is booming right now. I encountered quite a bit of construction traffic on a fairly hilly road with no services the last 50 miles. It's a badland area and scenic, I just didn't like the traffic.

The second reason is that Minot is on the NT anyway and hwy 2 has a shoulder and gentle grades, or at least it did in Montana and the small part I was on in N.D..

25

Routes / Re: Connect Northern Tier to RAGBRAI?

« on: April 04, 2010, 12:54:26 pm »

One way would be to follow the Lewis and Clark Route which goes through Sioux City. Last year I did a tour from Washington to Iowa intending on following the NT and L&C. I changed plans when I got into North Dakota and just used road maps to get to Iowa. I had started staying in motels at this point so it may not be of as much use if you are camping. I tried to describe the road surfaces and traffic and take photos of the roads. Here is a link to my journal.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/ttac

If I were to do it again I would have followed US 2 from Williston to Minot, North Dakota and then started south and east from there. You might check out US 52 which heads SE out of Minot and connect with US 281, which I rode on for a while. The part of 281 that I rode on had a nice shoulder.

South Dakota DOT has a bicycling section with a Roadway Characteristics Map, which I found very useful. Here is the link.

http://www.sddot.com/pe/projdev/docs/roadwaychar.pdf

Good luck with your ride.

26

Routes / Re: Katy Trail and Trans Am

« on: April 03, 2010, 07:17:25 am »

The Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation website might helpful. Here is a link to their map page.

http://mobikefed.org/momaps.php#statewide

27

General Discussion / Re: Money money money!

« on: March 27, 2010, 05:49:33 am »

I'm with you geeg, that is about exactly what it costs me.

28

Routes / Re: From Chicago to San Francisco

« on: March 23, 2010, 05:46:42 am »

From the Silverthorne area on the transam, which is about 70 miles west of Denver, it is a little over 1800 miles to Florence, Oregon where the transam reaches the Pacific Ocean if you ride straight to the ocean from Eugene, Oregon. A lot of west bound riders take this option. It would then be about another 650 miles south to San Francisco.

There is a lot of free camping in city parks on the transam. I believe you can camp anywhere on National Forest land but other could address this and stealth camping better than I can.

29

General Discussion / Re: Passing other tourist riders

« on: February 28, 2010, 06:03:02 am »

I had the same experiences as Staehpj1 on the TA. One or the other of us would stop and the other would cross the road to talk. After I started meeting riders going the opposite way I basically met riders daily and almost everyone stopped to talk.

30

Gear Talk / Re: Brooks saddle modification

« on: February 06, 2010, 07:56:15 am »

I just bought one as a result of this thread. I have had it for a couple of weeks and have it mounted on my touring bike that I am using on a trainer. I have been riding it for about an hour a day. I was having an issue with sit bone area pain that started at the end of a tour from the Seattle area to Iowa last summer using a Brooks B-17 saddle. I had a similar problem at the end of the Transam in 2006 using a Brooks Team Pro.

The saddle was more comfortable than the Brooks for me right away and I really liked the B-17 prior to the sit bone pain. It comes with some very detailed mounting instructions that were interesting and helpful, not only in mounting but in explaining the theory behind the saddle. The video on the website is what really sold me on the fact that this saddle might help in what I had going on. I called before buying to ask a couple of questions and the president of the company answered the phone.

Like all saddles the Selle An-Atomica probably won't work for everyone but it seems to be fine for me right now. We'll see how it holds up after I spend some real time on it outdoors. By the way, no taint pinching at all but I did trim the slot a little because the sides were overlapping.