Topics

1

General Discussion / Travel Insurance

« on: January 06, 2015, 09:31:05 am »

Does anyone have experience with purchasing travel insurance as suggested by ACA?
I booked a self contained trip for 2015.
My medical insurance should provide normal health care issues.
The cost of the trip and airfare are at risk if I can't go for some reason.

The reason I ask, is my past experiences with insurance has been poor.
The sales literature shows all the benefits when you are purchasing, but when it comes time to make a claim they are full of weasel fine print.

2

Routes / Idaho - Trans Am

« on: July 10, 2014, 10:23:50 pm »

We are riding the Trans AM east to west, and have just entered Mountana.

I have visited  with several east bound cyclist and they report that Idaho is terrible.

Bad roads, commercial traffic and angry drivers.

What strategies have others used to work through Idaho safely.
I thought Yellowstone was bad enough.

3

Routes / Virginia

« on: May 22, 2014, 07:22:56 pm »

We are starting the TransAm, west to east.  Have done about half of Virginia.
1.  Beautiful state.
2.  There are dogs here, 4 vicious chases so far.  But three of us blew whistles hard and loud and it stopped them in their tracks.  Even a pit bull.
3. Mechanicsville Va. Shows a cycling only camp site.  It's there in the middle of town and the guy is great, but it's rough ground and a tarp and bucket for your pot.   We went to a hotel.
4.  Williamsburg to Mechanicsville, don't expect many services.  Only found one or two C stores.
5.  We went from Charlottesville and into the Blue Ridge Parkway.  gorgeous.  Virtually no service on route in the park.  Visitor center has water.  Pack some food for the 26 miles.  We were lucky to stumble onto a resort at Love Va.  1/4 mile past the Love sign.  Camped for $25 and has a deli.  11 more miles to get out of the park but we were bushed so we stayed.  adventure cycling has this placed marked but it's hard to see from the road.  Look for a white church,

4

Routes / TransAm Problems

« on: October 30, 2013, 09:19:18 am »

Three of us (from Iowa) are planning a east to west TransAm journey starting next mid-May.  As I research and plan I'm reading in many journals about the problems of coal trucks (VA and KY) , dogs (KY), agressive/angry drivers (MO) and high winds (KS).   I also reading about the many kind people in rural America and riding in the West doesn't seem to have the same issues, except longer distances between services.  We are experienced riders and can ignore cars honking and typically out run dogs, but with the loaded weight slowing us down the probelms my increase. 

Several thoughts come to mind.  In addition to the ACA maps, to buy state maps and talk to locals about the best roads.  Do we avoid riding during high traffic times for the coal trucks?  For dogs, if I can't out run them, I stop and get off the bike to stop appearing as a moving chew toy and turn the tables to master vs. dog.

So my question is how do some of you vetrans handle these issues?   

5

Routes / Route Ideas

« on: July 12, 2013, 04:35:19 pm »

My Son and I want to ride across the US in 2014.
Bucket list for me (age 54) and his last free summer before his career starts.
We have cycled a lot but nothing this big so we have a lot of planning to do.
60-70 miles a day with rest days seems accomplishable but we will build in some cushion for unknown advirsities.
His time constraints are 3rd week in May until the Middle of August.

So are in the very early stages of planning but have some confusion on which route we would take.
Seems natural to go West to East due to prevailing winds being out of the West.
Northern route seems nice except for the Mountains could be very cold.
Southern route would probably cook us in June and July.
We see a route coming out of San Franciso, but don't hear much discussion about this.  Probably goes through the heart of the Rockies and is tougher.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.