Messages

1

Routes / Re: Too old to solo the Southern Tier? . . .

« on: May 03, 2021, 04:07:20 pm »

Hey, no problem. Glad i could help! I also have added a very ultralight Gossamer gear Foam Pad 1/4" to my cot. I have cut the pad down to my short size. It weighs about .3 lbs (172 grams). It is only needed for the chillier nights, below 45 degrees. I am a side-sleeper also and it helps to insulate my side in the sleeping bag that compresses when I lie on the cot.  My buddy and I completed our self-contained  ride from his place in Fort Davis to Austin, a little over 500 miles for the trip. Our longest day on the trip was an 89 miler, with limited services in between. At 74 years old, he is still an animal on the climbs. We had one night on the trip get down to 34 degrees. The pad definitely made a difference. I did better this year, coming into the ride in a little better riding shape.  We took our time, took breaks as needed, and had very enjoyable ride. That is the key to doing long trips self-contained. Keep the ride enjoyable. I have one more section yet to do to complete my entire Southern Tier, Safford, Arizona to Fort Davis. We're hoping to do that in March next year. We'll both be another year older, but also another year wiser! Then it's time to start either the Atlantic Coast or Northern Tier.

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General Discussion / Re: Cooking on a van supported tour

« on: February 27, 2021, 04:34:02 pm »

I have done an ACA self-supported tour (64 days), and recently the ACA Pacific Coast Van-supported tour (41 days). On the Pacific Coast, the cooks met the van-driver at a grocery location at some point on the route each day, to buy the needed groceries for that day, and anything else which was needed to stock up the cooler for drinks, milk, etc. We usually cooked evening meals, and had stuff set out for breakfast for the others to assemble for breakfast and lunch.  We had cooked Old Fashioned Oatmeal, which goes over very well with the others, for several breakfasts. I believe I had to cook 4 times on that trip. On the self-supported trip, the entire group sometimes met the leader at a grocery store to assist carry the groceries, again at some point on the trip each day, depending on how far from the end the last grocery location was. If the grocery location was near the end, sometimes we all rode to camp, and then the cooks rode back to the store with the leader.  At other times the cooks would meet him at the store during the ride if it was near the end. Suppers were usually at 6:00 each evening, but were also flexible compared to the mileage rode. I didn't mind cooking for the group. I retired from a Fire Department, and would cook often for 8-10 people. During the ACA tours, we usually changed partners after each rotation of the group. Depending on the budget, we ate occasionally at restaurants. Usually the cooks were the last to shower each day.

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Routes / Re: Too old to solo the Southern Tier? . . .

« on: February 03, 2021, 11:00:22 am »

I am 67 and have done several parts of the Southern Tier, as well as the entire Pacific Coast. My buddy that I ride with is 74, and he is an animal on the climbs. He has done the complete Southern Tier and Pacific Coast twice, Northern Tier, Trans-Am  as well as many other extended, long mileage tours. We are doing a month of riding in another section of the Southern Tier in Texas beginning in the middle of March. The only goal at our is age is enjoying the ride, getting from Point A to Point B every day that we ride, and being flexible enough to adjust our mileage and route to fit our needs for that day. If we feel like doing a slow, short mileage day, we do it. And we usually tent camp, with an occasional motel or cabin. One adaptation we have made to our camping & sleeping on the ground is that we now use Helinox cots. They are very comfortable & gets us off the ground. Not flimsy, very sturdy and only weigh about 1.5 pounds more than our blow-up air mattresses. 

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General Discussion / Re: Warm tour ideas (US)

« on: January 28, 2021, 03:12:34 pm »

Having rode  most of the southern Tier in sections, I am very partial to the Southern Tier western area for starting late February to the 2nd week in March. I live in Iowa and hate the Iowa winters. It is my "go to" area to do early season riding with my buddy Hal, who lives in Fort Davis, TX. The last time we time we rode it was pre-Covid era, 2019. I have only from Safford, AZ to Austin to have completed the entire route. In 2019, I drove down to his place, picked him up and drove over to Mesa, AZ. We parked at the long-term parking near the small airport there, and took off for the Southern Tier, which wasn't very far from our parking spot. While it was city riding, the roads weren't overly busy for us to get to the route, plus had plenty of room for bikes and cars to share when needed. We only made it to Globe that year, when weather turned nasty for us and we pulled the plug. While we camped most nights and only stayed in motels as needed, I would suggest checking into doing this route if the OP is limited on time and mileage that he could do. While our plan was to get over to Fort Davis, where Hal resides, the route has changed a bit, and doesn't go through Fort Davis any longer. I believe there are less places without services on the new route.  Good if planning to motel it, or need to bail. But I would still suggest anyone riding it to carry at least a bivy, sleeping bag and sleeping pad in case they get stuck in between rooms due to weather, or anything else unforeseen. This year Hal and I are leaving Fort Davis the 2nd week of March, catching the route in Alpine, TX, and heading over to Austin. This will hopefully complete another section for me, leaving only about 500 miles yet to do. I am semi-retired, but have recently had both doses of the Moderna vaccine, as I work as a Paramedic on an ambulance part-time. But Hal is still waiting for his 1st dose of a vaccine.  We're hoping his vaccinations start soon, as he is in the 1B group.

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Routes / Re: Oldest Self-Supported Cyclist on the Transam ?

« on: January 11, 2021, 10:18:37 am »

In 2014, when I joined the ACA Southern Tier self-contained ride, we had some in their seventies do the entire ride . I know it isn't the TransAm, but still coast to coast.

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General Discussion / Re: Alernate bicycle seat to a racing bike. More comfortable.

« on: January 05, 2021, 09:48:30 am »

I really like the Selle Anatomica X. I have one on each of my bikes (Road, They seem to have less break-in time than the B17.

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Routes / Re: St. Louis to Des Moines

« on: July 17, 2020, 10:25:08 pm »

I agree with Agee. I would take the Mississippi River Trail north to Keokuk or Fort Madison. Then jump onto one of the old RAGBRAI routes west that takes you to Des Moines. I live in Iowa also, between Keokuk and Fort Madison. On a side note, I will be up in the Des Moines area next week for a few days, riding out of Jester Park . Love the bike trails in Des Moines area.

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Gear Talk / Re: Lightweight stoves

« on: March 18, 2018, 11:19:38 am »

I agree, the propane cylinders are a tad heavy, even for the smaller ones. But we chose to cook and eat together each day. So we divided all the cooking stuff up, as evenly as  possible, spreading the weight among the 3 of us. I wouldn't even consider them if I was backpacking, as I like ultralight when doing that. But they were the only ones we could find without going lots out of our way to get to an REI or such that carried the small canisters. We also decided we could make do with 1 stove among the three of us on our next trip next year. I easily was able to carry a total of 54 pounds on my Surly during the trip. Food for our group and my water weren't figured into that total, as that varied daily. But like everyone else, we are always looking at ways to cut weight during our trips. If we weren't eating as a group, I definitely would be carrying a lighter cookset. Probably would go with my alcohol stove, as the fuel is easier to find. And the weight is pretty much nil.  But we like throwing together a nice group meal whenever possible in the evenings when camping.

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Gear Talk / Re: Overshoes or Goretex Socks?

« on: March 17, 2018, 10:10:36 pm »

I like to wear sandals when I ride. 2 years ago, my son and I were doing a portion of the Southern Tier out of San Diego. We left Pine Valley on a chilly 37 degree morning with a pretty good rain shower thrown in. I wore my cycling sandals, with sock liners , Neoprene socks over those, all covered by my Gore Bike Wear overshoes (I call them my "Bozo" shoes, as in the clown). My feet stayed dry and warm with this set-up through nearly 35 miles of these terrible conditions before the weather started to clear. That day the temps never got over 41 degrees until we came down into the desert later in the afternoon.

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Gear Talk / Re: Lightweight stoves

« on: March 17, 2018, 09:59:52 pm »

We 've had 2 or 3 of us do a couple plus weeks of touring on portions of the Southern Tier between San Diego and Phoenix in each of the last 2 years, and carried Kovea Spider Stoves for cooking. The Kovea uses a canister for fuel. I found it tough to find the canisters while touring these areas. But there is an adapter available from Kovea to allow connection to a propane fuel bottle, such as are used on larger Coleman stoves or a propane torch. We were able to easily find these fuel bottles in hardware stores. They worked great. We usually picked up 2 bottles for cooking, as we carried 2 stoves, one for a skillet to brown meat, and one for a pot for cooking pasta and such. Never ran out in the 2+ weeks we rode. I also own a MSR Pocket Rocket and a couple MSR Whisper Light Multi-Fuel stoves. I tried the adapter on the MSR's and they do not work with them. Only on the Kovea.

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Routes / Re: Southern Tier 2017 Thread

« on: January 15, 2017, 01:51:17 pm »

I know that going from Ajax to St. Augustine there are people that advertise shuttle service. You can probably Google one for the opposite way. But one of our guys rode it. Took one day. There is a bike shop close to the end that broke our bikes down and shipped them home. We stayed at the Pirate Hostel and only had to walk about a mile back from the bike shop. But don't remember the name. Sorry.

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Routes / Re: Southern Tier 2017 Thread

« on: December 11, 2016, 02:35:45 am »

In 2014, I signed up for the ACA Southern Tier Self-contained ride, along with 14 others. Second day out, 3 of us had issues with the heat. I actually passed out when I stopped to cool off under an yawning at a 7-11, coming to with my bike lying on top of me. Locals said it was because of the hurricane that went through Mexico a week earlier that messed with the weather patterns. They said it wasn't usually that humid when it was that hot.  I wasn't able to recuperate fast enough to continue the ride with the group, so flew back home. The other 2 did the same. Actually took me close to a week before I felt 100% again.  I did rejoin the ride, catching the group in Austin, and went the rest of the way to St. Augustine. Really had a good time. But I said at the time, I was going to come back out here and do it again. Worked out that February was a good time for me to do it this time. So shouldn't have the nasty heat like the last trip.

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Routes / Re: Southern Tier 2017 Thread

« on: December 11, 2016, 01:31:07 am »

We're trying to be realistic the first week or so since we'll be coming out from Iowa to start. Not usually many biking chances during December and January. But going to try and hit the gym and do some core workouts and stationary bike work. With that in mind, probably 40-50 miles is realistic, especially since we start climbing pretty quickly. But after that, we'll try to up the mileage to about 60-75 per day. The hope is to take a day off about every 7-10 days. But we're really in no big rush. If someone needs a little more time off, or wants a shorter day, we can do it. I am the "old guy of our little group at 63 years old. My son is 31, and our other buddy is mid-twenties. So I will probably be the one to need a shorter day here and there.

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Routes / Re: Southern Tier 2017 Thread

« on: December 03, 2016, 07:51:16 pm »

I'll be heading out from San Diego with 2 others on February 24th.

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Gear Talk / Re: Front pannier racks

« on: July 12, 2016, 10:05:49 pm »

My son just got an Axiom front rack that fit his 2004 Giant touring bike. It has disc brakes. It was new and I think he spent $29 on Ebay for it. Put it on his bike and seems to work OK.