Messages

31

Routes / Re: Transamerica general questions

« on: January 15, 2010, 08:04:42 am »

I don't include rest days in my average. I always have some food or snacks with me just in case there are none available. Overall the maps are great but you will get a few surprises: some places out of business, some new businesses not yet listed, and some that are for some reason closed on the day you pass by. There are several stretches on the Transam in the west with limited services so you just need to be aware of what is ahead of you. I sometimes carried extra water and/or gatorade with me.

It may be more mental than physical but since I average 55-60 miles/day on tour I like to have trained sufficiently to ride that far at home before I start. With the amount of riding you do and your ability to do long days you should be fine but you don't have much margin for error.

32

Routes / Re: Newport, Oregon to Portland, Maine via Northern Iowa

« on: January 09, 2010, 06:54:29 pm »

One possibility would be to take the Lewis and Clark from Astoria, OR to Sioux City, IA. Then use the free bicycling maps from the Iowa DOT to get to your home town and then to the eastern part of the state where you could pick up the Northern Tier to Bar Harbor, Maine. Someone here might be able to help you with a connector from the NT to Portland.

In case you don't want go as far south as Sioux City or tire of the L & C here is a link to a map from the South Dakota DOT that has shoulder info. I used it this past summer and found it quite useful. There is a bicycle and pedestrian section on the website.

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

I hope some part of this might help and have a great trip.

33

General Discussion / Re: Trans Am Advice Needed

« on: December 28, 2009, 09:41:52 am »

There is a shuttle at Seatac but it primarily goes north, it does go to Anacortes. If you wanted to start out on the Northern Tier you could ship your bikes to a motel in Anacortes and you're basically at the start. You could  ride the NT to Montana and then figure out how to connect with the Trans Am in Missoula. I imagine some here have connected the two routes.  I used the shuttle last summer for the Northern Tier and it was quite a bargain. Here is the link:

http://www.airporter.com/

I think that a lot of people who ride the Trans Am W to E fly into Portland. Some ride from Portland to Astoria. Reading bicycling journals can be very helpful, here's a very popular site.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/?o=RrzKj

Just do a journal search for the route you would like to ride. It can give you insight into what others have done at the beginning as well as along the route. Plus it will keep you excited while the snow is still flying in N.Y.

34

Routes / Re: TransAm + Western Express in Summer

« on: December 05, 2009, 07:52:15 am »

Your time frame would work well with the Northern Tier and connecting to it would be easier from CT. From what I have read here, if you needed to get to San Francisco it would be fairly easy by train.

35

Midwest / Re: Midwest Icebreaker

« on: November 04, 2009, 05:58:26 pm »

My name is Dick and I live in Central Iowa. I enjoy solo self-contained touring. I rode the Transam in 2006 and this past summer traveled from Burlington, WA to home. I hope to ride from Maine to Iowa on the Northern Tier next summer.

I've done 2 ACA self-contained 2 week tours, one in Vermont (2004) and the Great Parks North (2005). Both were very good experiences and well organized yet not hurried, a lot of very nice people. It was a great way to see how other cyclist go about touring. There was a wide range of experience, from first timers to ACA tours cross-country tourists. I did these to see if I wanted to do the Transam with ACA and decided that solo touring would work better for me, particularly on a tour of that length.

36

Gear Talk / Re: Tire Question

« on: November 04, 2009, 05:23:36 pm »

I used to ride Conti Top Touring 2000's before they were discontinued. I switched to Marathon Supremes 700x35 this year and have 3500 miles and counting with no flats, 2200 of those miles were loaded touring. Very good on wet roads and ride real smooth. I'll replace them with the same tire. I tried a pair of XR's but thought the ride was pretty harsh, but that might just be me.

37

Gear Talk / Re: panniers

« on: August 12, 2009, 05:25:52 pm »

I've had Arkels (GT-54's and T-18's) for 5 years and over 150 days on the road and have had no problems with them at all. I like having all the the pockets rather than digging through a big sack every time I want something. This makes it very easy to keep your stuff organized. The zippers on the main compartments are on the sides of the bags allowing for access when you have gear on the top of the rear rack. 

That being said, I agree with valygrl about the weight. I would certainly consider weight when buying another set of panniers. The panniers she referenced look pretty good to me but they do lack the drybag that the Arkel's have. I would probably consider the Lone Peaks with the rain covers but sadly I don't think my Arkel's are going to wear out any time soon.

38

General Discussion / Re: biking across america with diabetes

« on: March 30, 2009, 07:22:05 am »

Diabetes has been a known disease for over 2000 years, not a whole lot of food adultering going on back then. 

39

Routes / Re: need northern short cut

« on: March 28, 2009, 07:34:58 am »

Here is a link to the N.Y. state bike routes, hopefully it will help.

https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/operating/opdm/local-programs-bureau/biking

40

Routes / Re: Wanting to ride from Portland,Or to Des Moines,iowa - good route?

« on: March 18, 2009, 09:45:59 am »

Here's a link to help you find campgrounds in Iowa.

http://www.campiowa.com/index.cfm

41

Routes / Re: Wanting to ride from Portland,Or to Des Moines,iowa - good route?

« on: March 18, 2009, 09:29:48 am »

If you wanted to use Adventure Cycling maps you could take the Lewis and Clark Route to Sioux City, Ia. Then use Iowa Transportation Maps for bicyclists, which are free from the Ia. DOT, to get to Jefferson, Ia and the trail Russ spoke about.

42

Routes / Re: East to West

« on: March 02, 2009, 07:21:30 am »

You are going to have to get your bike and yourself to one coast or the other no matter which direction you choose. You can ship your bike to a bike shop or a hotel. The wind shouldn't be that much of an issue, so go with whatever you want to do. Check out some journals and forums on crazyguyonabike to see what other people have done.

Here is a very good journal about 3 guys riding e-w from N.Y.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3Tzut&doc_id=1890&v=1Bq

43

Gear Talk / Re: Four gears in hub.

« on: February 28, 2009, 07:37:54 am »

The tandem wheels I have are dishless due to the spacing of the rear dropouts being 145mm. Co-Motion builds their touring bikes with this spacing so they will have dishless rear wheels. I don't have a Co-Motion but my touring bike has this spacing and I have never had a spoke issue.

44

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Michigan Hiway 23 to Mackinac bridge

« on: February 19, 2009, 09:10:11 am »

I rode hwy 23 south from Mackinaw City to Alpena last summer as part of a loop. For the most part the road had nice shoulders, traffic got heavier the closer I got to Alpena. Not bad but it had been very light before that. I was riding on a Sunday morning. There are 2 campgrounds outside of Mackinaw City on hwy 23 and a KOA in town. I used Michigan State Bicycle Maps which can be purchased from the Michigan DOT. They were very useful and had more info than a road map. Good Luck.

45

General Discussion / Re: ‘Camping’: Is it really necessary?

« on: February 05, 2009, 12:17:25 pm »

I think if you were able to ride long days when needed it would be possible. I ran into a British couple in Kansas on the transam in 2006 E-W and they were staying at motels. They had a journal on CGOAB but I can't find it now, I know they made it to Oregon. They always made reservations for the next day upon arriving in a town. Being willing to stay off route would be helpful also.