Messages

1

Routes / Re: Willamette Valley short cut on old TA route?

« on: September 05, 2024, 05:03:01 pm »

Sorry for the late reply but I rode Peoria Rd often when I lived in Portland and it was never an issue. My first tours were the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway. A lot of lessons learned on those roads.

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Routes / Re: Boston to Portland - Route / general touring advice?

« on: September 05, 2024, 04:59:34 pm »

I would highly recommend buying the ACA’s Atlantic Coast Route Section 1 from Bar Harbor, ME to Windsor Locks, CT. This map passes through Portland and has a Boston spur section on it.

When to ride? April into May would be my choice. I would ride in the spring. Summer to fall is Atlantic hurricane season. The storms can get nasty.

I ride 60-80 a day but I’ve ridden all over the USA so that’s not much for me.

I mostly camp with the occasional WarmShower or hotel. I prefer to be alone after a long day of riding though. I also cook most of my own food. If I eat out it’s fast food for lunch. Again it’s part of being alone at the end of a long day.

Happy touring!

3

Routes / Review of OTET (Ohio to Erie Trail)

« on: May 29, 2024, 03:00:23 pm »

I recently completed the Ohio to Erie Trail NoBo from Cincinnati to Cleveland and wanted to provide some feedback on the route.

On day 1 I rode from Cincinnati across the currently closed Purple People Bridge into Newport, KY and then across the 4th St Bridge to Covington where I crossed the Roebling back into Cincinnati. OTET starts at the base of the Roebling. The trail is well marked with Ohio Bicycle Route 1 signs as you leave the city and head north. Slight confusion near Lunken Airport where the trail splits. The sign before the split indicates you should stay straight but you actually need to take the slight left at the split. I stayed at a campground in Morrow called Morgan’s Riverside Resort. The owner let me set up camp under the pavilion as overnight rains were forecasted and indeed it poured most of the night.

On day 2 I took the Little Miami Trail to Yellow Springs and did some hiking at Glen Helen before taking the highway a short distance to Clifton to visit the historical Clifton Mill. From there it was a short ride on country roads to Cedarville to rejoin OTET. The folks in Clifton are working on a grant right now to build a MUP between Yellow Springs and Clifton. Camped at an AirBnB/Hipcamp called Little Darby Outdoors in Galloway.

Day 3 took me through Columbus where it poured allllllllll morning. It was a torrential downpour for hours on end. You have two choices here. The official OTET route is on the Alum Creek Trail which goes east of town or the route I took, the Olentangy Trail, which goes west of town through Ohio States campus. If you choose the Olentangy Trail you’ll rejoin OTET in Westerville. The midpoint of OTET will be just north of Columbus in Centerburg. I grabbed a hotel in Mount Vernon this day to dry out and refresh.

On day 4 I got into the middle of Amish Country in Holmes and Wayne Counties. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of trail in this section so most of the day was spent on the roads. The stretch between Glenmont and Killbuck on Highway 520 wasn’t fun. It’s a narrow two-lane highway with a lot of blind curves and high speed traffic. Outside of that it was rural country roads with more horse and buggy than automobiles. So many hills today but they were fun. Absolutely beautiful part of the country. I camped at a campground in Canal Fulton, one of my favorite towns on the route. It was my longest day at 92 miles.

On day 5 I had a short day to Peninsula so I could do some hiking at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The route skirts Akron on this stretch. I camped at Valley Overlook Campground which just opened in 2023. They don’t take cash normally but the owner made an exception for me since I don’t travel with plastic. After setting up camp I headed into the NP to do some hiking to Brandywine Falls. I left my bike at the Stafford House in the barn with the rangers permission. They do have a bike rack but I do not carry a lock when I travel.

On my last day I rode the trail to Brecksville where the trail is closed M-F until mid June but I wanted to see the bridge. From here it’s a short backtrack to the Bike & Hike Trail ran by Summit County to get around the detour. I spent some time riding in/around Cleveland went to Edgewater Park where OTET ends. I ended my ride with a trip out to my WarmShowers host in Cleveland Heights. Same folks I stayed with on my 2016 cross country ride.

I ended up riding 406 miles due to all the extra riding I did.

Some other info:

Maps: I didn’t find them useful. The trails are well marked and I never used them. Furthermore they’re just paper and not waterproof so beware if trying to use them in the rain

Food/Water: Plentiful. A few remote sections but never was without either. A lot of places are closed on Monday/Tuesday in small towns but most trailheads have water available at least.

Skeeters: Pretty early but they were miserable in Peninsula. I imagine they just get worse as the season goes on.

Ohio has some of my favorite bicycling in the USA so kudos to them.

If anyone has any questions etc feel free to ask. I’m sure I left out a ton of relevant information.

4

Gear Talk / Re: My cooking gear

« on: March 02, 2024, 04:50:32 pm »

Well all ride our own rides.

For me, like I said, I usually am able to resupply every day and can do without milk on those days I do not.  And usually when I resupply it is less than twenty miles from there to where I plan to camp for the night.

Sad experience has taught me that ziploc bags containing stuff like powdered milk (or powdered drink mix, or hot chocolate) inevitably fail at inconvenient times and places.  So I always double ziploc bags containing stuff that would make a horrid mess.  Also, the "zipper" on the lightest-weight bags that pack the best also tend to fail sooner.  Freezer bags tend to be bit more durable.

I try to reuse such bags as long as I can, and have recently started experimenting with the fancy ones that are designed to be reused and washed.

If you like creamer, I’ve always had luck stopping at the closest gas station to camp and grabbing some of the single serve creamers for the morning. I usually buy a soda or something and sometimes they charge me 5-10 cents each for them but more so than not they give them to me at no charge.

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Gear Talk / Re: My cooking gear

« on: March 01, 2024, 07:01:33 pm »

I’m not too picky on coffee. If it’s too strong I’ll just add more creamer. I’ll also just grind my coffee at home to a coarser grind so nothing gets through the filter.

Thanks for the suggestions though!

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Gear Talk / Re: My cooking gear

« on: February 29, 2024, 09:35:36 pm »

I picked it up today at REI. It fits nicely on my collapsible Sea to Summit cup that I use. Also fits into my JetBoil Flash so don’t have to worry about it getting damaged. Thanks for the suggestion!

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Gear Talk / Re: My cooking gear

« on: February 28, 2024, 08:55:25 pm »

I just use instant coffee.

Do you like instant coffee?  I don't happen to like it, Do you like pour over coffee? 

I used to take an AeroPress, but like you, it took up too much space in a pannier, so I bought a GSI Outdoor Ultralight Java Drip pour-over maker, and it makes much better coffee than instant, at least in my opinion.  It's easy to clean, just shake in reverse firmly and the grounds come flying out, then rinse under water to get the remaining residue out.  The GSI folds flat and will fit under a standard-size fuel canister, and it hardly weighs anything.  Now I can use whatever coffee I want.

Not particularly. I’m just lazy and I add enough creamer to make it tolerable.

My sister once asked me do you want some coffee with your creamer?

I’m going to Google what you have and check it out though. I’m riding OTET in May and would love some normal coffee.

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Routes / Re: Chicago to Wisconsin loop

« on: February 28, 2024, 04:56:21 pm »

This website may be of some assistance to you as well.

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/recreation/biking

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Gear Talk / Re: My cooking gear

« on: February 28, 2024, 04:02:38 pm »

Nice set up. I have a JetBoil Flash with a collapsible cup, bowl and UCO Switch Spork that I carry. I use to carry the French press attachment for my JetBoil but the clean up was more than I cared for so now I just use instant coffee. I only use my JetBoil to boil water so the small canister will last me 3 weeks easily doing a single boil a day with the occasional 2 boils.

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Routes / Re: Chicago to Wisconsin loop

« on: February 28, 2024, 03:45:02 pm »

I’m from Chippewa County, Wisconsin. It’s a great state to ride in. I haven’t done your specific route but did ride from Osceola—->Cumberland—->Rice Lake—->Menomonie—->Stoddard and then into Iowa where I crossed into Illinois and rode to Chicago eastward on a trip from Oregon to Maine.

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General Discussion / Re: Warmshowers: What's your recent experience hosting or guesting?

« on: February 21, 2024, 02:27:52 pm »

I absolutely LOVE WarmShowers. I don’t use it much anymore as I much prefer to be alone after a long day of riding but it’s so much more useful than just looking for a place to stay! I’ve messaged folks to get route information, recommendations on LBS’s, places to eat and a few times to catch a jump when highway construction or road closures made riding impossible. Once I used it for a jump to get ahead of an incoming hurricane. I’ve definitely been hosted more than I’ve hosted but only because I don’t live in an area where my tourist come through. Look at their reply rate and when they last logged in. Sometimes they have their cell phone number listed so I’ll text them instead of sending a message through the app.

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Routes / Re: Teton Pass from Jackson

« on: December 28, 2023, 09:41:23 pm »

Have ridden it twice on a fully loaded touring bike and didn’t have any issues with it and never needed to stop. The only pass I’ve ever had to stop and push my bike up was the Vail eastbound.

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Classifieds / Re: STOLEN: Heron touring bike

« on: December 22, 2023, 10:32:39 pm »

Hi John,
Immediately after the theft I notified all local authorities, all the local bike shops and various local cycling groups. No leads in close to three weeks, so I thought I'd post it here as well. The more eyes out there, the better!

Cheers,
Doug

I own a place in Denver and ride around fairly often. I’ll keep an eye out on local marketplaces etc in case in ventured down this way.

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Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Re: Northern Tier Section 1 maps 4&5. Highway 20 closed due to fire. Aug. 2023

« on: September 28, 2023, 04:28:43 pm »

Just an update that 20 has reopened and the campgrounds jamawani linked are also opened except Gorge Lake and Colonial Creek North and part of South but the walk-in sites at Colonial Creek South (64-73) are open on a FCFS basis.

15

Routes / Re: 3-4 month USA 2024

« on: September 28, 2023, 04:22:59 pm »

+1. And with 4 months, you could probably take some deviations, like the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway, which is one of my favorites.  Leave the TransAm after Badger Pass out of Dillon, Montana, ride the Byway, and hook back up with the Trans Am in Wisdom, Montana. Another possible detour would be to head north from Missoula up to Glacier National Park, ride up and pack down the west slope of Going to the Sun and then follow the Northern Tier route to Mount Vernon, Washington then south to end in Seattle for easy transportation home.

+1 for the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway. We did this in 2021 as a short loop from Darby over Gibbons Pass (before the fire luckily) to Wisdom, to Bannack State Park (creates a slight backtrack but not far) to Wise River to Anaconda to Phillipsburg back to Darby over Shalkaho Pass.

I will say that the skeeters in the Big Hole Valley, especially in Wisdom, and in Wise River, are rhe worst I’ve ever seen in the contiguous 48 states. They were so bad in Wise River we packed up and headed out to Anaconda. They were swarming all day and all night. It was gnarly.

As for the winds, I’ve ridden east to west twice and I’ll never do it again on a longer trip. Headwinds were miserable at times and definitely had more headwinds than tailwinds going east to west. That’s just been my experience though so take it for what it’s worth.

You could start as early as February if you wanted to hit something like the Southern Tier out of San Diego and ride east to St. Augustine. The passes of Arizona and New Mexico should be clear by the time you reach them. If you start in April and are determined to ride easy to west, I can’t say anymore than the recommendations already made above.