Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: San Juan Islands - what's to like?

« on: September 16, 2018, 10:09:55 am »

Everything.... The San Juans are one the most beautiful place in the country in my opinion. A friend owns a home on Vashon (not part of the San Juans but a short distance away) and have spent a lot of time cycling up there.

PNWRider92, could you explain why you think it's beautiful and why you like cycling there?  Is the cycling beautiful, or is it the friend's home that makes you like the area?  (IOW, would you like it so much without a landing pad there?)

My friend doesn’t live in the San Juan’s, she lives on Vashon. I thought made that clear in my reply, sorry. So thats irrelevant to how much I like it.

The scenery is great and the roads are quiet. Hard to get both in one. Seeing the orcas and the sunsets are some of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s relaxing to me.

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Routes / Re: new to touring; in Colorado; off route or not?

« on: September 14, 2018, 04:41:09 pm »

HI would suggest you get to the bike path that parallels I-70 from Golden to Grand Junction.

I agree with what John says except I'd start in Boulder instead of Golden... The ride (using the US-36 Bikeway) from Boulder to Golden is beautiful. That path itself ends in Westminster but from there you can pick up a series of trails (Greenway, Cherry Creek, Clear Creek, Lakewood Gulch etc) to get to Golden. I've added some links below to help you out.

City & County of Denver Bicycle Paths ---> https://www.denver.org/things-to-do/sports-recreation/bike-trails/

US 36 Bikeway ---> https://commutingsolutions.org/bike/us-36-bikeway/

State of Colorado Bicycle Paths/Routes ----> https://www.bicyclecolorado.org/ride-colorado/colorado-bike-maps/

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General Discussion / Re: San Juan Islands - what's to like?

« on: September 14, 2018, 04:33:10 pm »

Everything.... The San Juans are one the most beautiful place in the country in my opinion. A friend owns a home on Vashon (not part of the San Juans but a short distance away) and have spent a lot of time cycling up there.

Therefore why opinions are great, everyone is entitled to his/her own.

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Routes / Re: Surprise present

« on: September 12, 2018, 09:38:26 pm »

-

As for bicycles - I always like my own bike best - it fits me and I know its ride.
Yes, its expensive to ship them.
If you rent - rent in Portland - and plan to fly into and out of PDX.
When you finish in SFO, take Amtrak overnight back to Portland - $10.
(Or fly back to Portland or ship bikes bike shop to bike shop.)

Have fun.  Jama

Unless things have changed it'd be a bus from San Fransisco to Emeryville and a train from there to Portland. In order to bring your bike onto the bus portion you'd have to box it. The Coast Starlight from Emeryville to Portland does offer roll-on service.

Tickets are between $70-$100 with an additional cost of $20 per bicycle.

Otherwise.... Barbs; His dates are really accurate. I lived in the PNW for a few years and lately summers have been starting earlier it seems every year. It can also rain well into July. Great place to visit in the summer and nice place to live if you can survive not seeing the sun and nearly constant rain for 8 months straight 

5

General Discussion / Re: Free Ranging Dogs and the Cyclist

« on: August 29, 2018, 12:10:21 pm »

To me the worst dog is the one who is quiet, doesn't breathe heavy, and all you here is the clicking of the toe nails as you look down and see a big dog only a few feet behind you.  Usually scares the bejeebees out of me.

Agreed! Getting caught off guard is no fun. Those non-barkers give me a quick moment of panic almost every time. 

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General Discussion / Re: Free Ranging Dogs and the Cyclist

« on: August 29, 2018, 12:02:42 pm »

Usually a quick "STOP GO HOME" works and they retreat.

A friend of mine thinks a loud angry "GET OFF THE DAMN COUCH" works pretty well since that is what the master may yell at the dog.  Funny thing is that it seems to work fairly often.

haha Maybe I'll have to give that one a shot.

The one that baffles me is the people who live on known ACA routes and still let their aggressive dogs run wild. They see thousands (or at least hundreds) of cyclist a year and you'd think they'd be more concerned for their dogs safety. On that section of Route 66 noted above I saw more dead dogs than I'd seen on any other section. I couldn't help but think how many of them were hit after chasing after a cyclist. On one occasion I was sure I was going to get caught but an oncoming car laid on their horn and the dogs retreated.

Otherwise.... I've also had dogs run up to me on tour and follow me for a distance. On one stretch this year a big dog followed me from one town nearly 5 miles to the next town despite me stopping several times and trying to make it go home. At the next town the cashier at the Family Dollar said "Oh I see (dogs name) followed you here!" I guess it often follows ACA cyclist on the route. Those friendly dogs make me happy

7

General Discussion / Re: Free Ranging Dogs and the Cyclist

« on: August 29, 2018, 11:49:36 am »

I haven't had too many issues with dogs in all of the miles I've ridden. There's a set outside Big Hole Battlefield in Montana that chased me two years ago and also chased my friend last year. He let his bear spray out on them. There was also a stretch on Route 66 for about 40 miles in Missouri where I was chased aggressively by at least 20 different dogs. That section of the route isn't on 66/40 but well off the beaten path into rural farmland. I believe the ACA routes cyclist that way due to a lack of a shoulder on 66/40. It's by far the worse day I've ever had. The number of dogs that day was more than the rest of the days on the route combined.

Otherwise only the occasional dog has ever come after me. In certain areas I expect to be chased and then it's a relief when they don't chase me. I've discovered if I'm expecting it then it doesn't bother me as much when it happens. Usually a quick "STOP GO HOME" works and they retreat.

People seem to worry more about a little 100lb dog than they do about the 2,000lb chunk of steel constantly passing them.

I'll focus on the later.

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General Discussion / Re: Idaho hiker/biker campsites

« on: August 21, 2018, 01:06:38 am »

Planning a trip from Estacada Or to Whitefish MT. Oregon has a lot of Hiker/Biker campsites. How about Idaho and Montana??

What's your route?

I never rely on H/B campsites but consider them a bonus when I come upon them.

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General Discussion / Re: How to contact Adventure Cycling???

« on: August 18, 2018, 05:25:22 pm »

Maybe it's me but I cannot find an email address after searching the website. Trying to ask some questions about my membership. Going to be outside the country so trying to do via email.
Suggestions??
Thanks!

Hey Tom, I sent you the membership directors email in a private message. She's a friend of mine and gave me permission to pass it along.

10

General Discussion / Re: First Tour: Portland Maine to NYC

« on: August 18, 2018, 05:19:59 pm »

Due to the heavy congestion of the area you are talking about, I would seriously consider just using ACA's Atlantic Coast Route and/or the last section of the Chicago to NYC Route.  They have done all the research so it makes your ride a lot easier.  Hope you have a great tour!  John

Mission accomplished! Quite a challenge, but worth it.

I did use the ACA iPhone maps for about 2/3rds of the ride, from Portland to Millerton NY, and then took the easy way to the city, mostly on Route 22 and county trails.

This was a real learning experience as I encountered much more hilly terrain than my usual rides and rode for a day and a half in rain. That builds character...

Can't wait for tour #2.

Congrats. The hills out east tend to be steeper but not as long as the ones out west in my opinion. The route I took in 2016 to reach Portland went through all the states you went through and also Vermont although via a different route...

I went north in New York (from Pennsylvania) into the Adirondacks over into Vermont's Green Mountains then south into Massachusetts, south into Connecticut, east into Rhode Island, back north into Massachusetts, and then up the eastern seaboard into New Hampshire and Maine.

https://www.travellerspoint.com/member_map.cfm#/tripid/893835

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Bicycle Route 66 / Re: 66 in Tulsa is dangerous

« on: August 05, 2018, 11:11:02 am »

Thanks for the additional information PNWRider. What device do you use to measure wind speed?

I have a DAM100B Anemometer that I keep in my gas tank bag. It’s not the best (they can get pretty expensive) but I took some meteorology courses in college so the data I kept is fairly accurate. I tried to pull out the anemometer anytime I stopped to measure wind speed, humidity, air mass and temperature mainly.

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Bicycle Route 66 / Re: 66 in Tulsa is dangerous

« on: August 05, 2018, 04:07:59 am »

I’ll second pnwrider - I rode East to West last year (springtime) headwinds were brutal in the southwest in particular 20- 30 mph headwinds day after day - New Mexico especially ! By no means would I recommend east to west and the daily headwind

It seemed to get worse (for the most part) for us the further west we got with Arizona being by far  the worst. New Mexico second worst. Texas 3rd. Oklahoma 4th. California 5th. Kansas 6th (although with only 13 miles of 66 the data I collected from my single night there is very incomplete), Illinois 7th and Missouri the least windy at 8th.

Absolutely demoralizing day after day. Even days with no wind forecasted it was 10-20 sustained randomly. My Italian friend whom I finished the ride with from Tucumcari kept saying “Why must life be so hard?” as the wind blew.

We rarely ever got a break.

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Bicycle Route 66 / Re: 66 in Tulsa is dangerous

« on: August 05, 2018, 04:01:33 am »

The wind were terrible going E-->W. I'd never recommend someone go that way and I never will again. They were sustained at 25, 30, 35 mph on days.

Prevailing wind in any location depends on the time of the year. Even then, it can vary substantially from one day to the next. When I did Route 66 westbound, I did encounter slightly more headwinds than tailwinds, but it wasn't an overwhelming difference. In fact, more days than not had no significant wind either way.

Cycling is virtually impossible for most riders (certainly for me) against a sustained 35 MPH headwind, if by "sustained" you mean for hours on end without any breaks. When I have a particularly bad headwind on one day, I typically cut that day short and hope for more favorable winds the next day.

Sustained as in most of the day. The winds peaked in Arizona at 31-35mph sustained with gust in the upper 40s. We still managed to make our destination every day though. It was just slow going especially on days with a lot of uphill. Another day we had sustained winds of 28-32mph but it was mostly downhill. It was downright brutal at times. Demoralizing.

We had consistent headwinds of 10-15mph an average of 4 days a week, and then 0, 0-5 and 15+ all an average of 1 day a week. In my journals I keep track of the daily weather fairly detailed.

I heard/read somewhere that Arizona had the windiest May in over a century. I can’t comfirm that though. May have just been a fellow traveler saying so with no proof.

Thermal density/wind is a factor too.

Sadly those aren’t even the worst headwinds I’ve seen. That belongs to the stretch between Keystone and Rapid City, SD in 2016. I’ll never forget it and hope to never see sustained winds that bad again 🤦🏼‍♂️

14

Bicycle Route 66 / Re: 66 in Tulsa is dangerous

« on: August 04, 2018, 04:12:06 pm »

Yep, sorry.  I meant to say the westbound riders complain so you should head eastbound from the Pacific.  Let me clarify.  Due to the strong winds during the riding season, the winds are either from the W, SW, or S for most of the route depending on where you are on the route.  Therefore, if you leave the Pacific and head toward Chicago, you have a much greater chance of direct or at least slight tailwinds as opposed to direct or slight headwinds.  The further east you get the more the winds come from the south so right about when you you start angling to the NE near Oklahoma City, the winds are typically out of the SSW.  As you near Chicago, the winds are more variable but at least it is flatter and you should be strong by then.

Thanks for catching the contradiction!  John

The wind were terrible going E-->W. I'd never recommend someone go that way and I never will again. They were sustained at 25, 30, 35 mph on days.

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Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Re: Route 66, Section 5, maps 82-83, road construction - June 2018

« on: August 04, 2018, 04:07:33 pm »

I-40 on both sides of Williams is undergoing construction. All traffic is being diverted to one side of the highway that has been temporarily divided and has one lane going each direction. Because of this, the shoulder is extremely narrow, about a foot at most places. It is expected to be finished by fall 2018.

When we came through it was a Sunday and they weren't working so we rode on the closed section of Interstate 40. I feel lucky because the shoulder looked pretty dim on the open sections.