Messages

16

Routes / Re: Tucson to Grand Canyon

« on: January 30, 2024, 09:19:42 am »

I've driven Tucson to Apache Junction.  As far as Pikacho Peak, you're always close to I-10 on the frontage road; the scenery is boring (look up, you're now a quarter mile closer to Pikacho!) and the road noise is loud.  Services are pretty limited from   Casa Grande was a nice 30 minute diversion.  I didn't zoom in on your route around Phoenix, but there are some fairly decent bike paths and canal roads on your way north.

Getting up to Oracle is a tedious ride with traffic and stop lights every 1/4-1/2 mile, and no bike path or shoulder when I drove it.  OTOH, it's a multi-lane road, so if you leave Tucson after a leisurely breakfast, traffic shouldn't be a problem.  Either way, there's approximately zero services from the outskirts of Oracle Junction to either Florence (missing Pikacho) or Globe, so take plenty of water.

Scenery is much more varied going to Glove, there's a serious climb going up to Globe, and the Gila River makes a nice change in desert vegetation and scenery half-way there.  No shoulders and traffic is close to none, so it doesn't matter.  Maybe one of the pickup trucks will stop to offer you some water?

17

Gear Talk / Re: Anybody run Redshift Shockstop suspension stem and seatpost?

« on: January 16, 2024, 09:07:41 am »

You may come to appreciate the "suspension" aspects of the RS (and perhaps the Thudbuster) as you cross miles of roads with expansion joints from Missouri, through Kansas, to eastern Colorado.  Rough roads everywhere else are just bad pavement.  :/

18

General Discussion / Re: Documenting my maiden TransAm voyage - Suggestions?

« on: January 16, 2024, 09:03:41 am »

O.P., you're setting yourself a high bar.  I'm going to suggest backing off a step for daily updates; as John and John note, it took me about an hour a day to maintain a journal with (usually) daily updates.

If you plan to meet your high professional standards, I'm guessing it'll take four hours a day with overnights in B&Bs or motels.  You might try an S24O (sub-24 hour overnight) trip with all the bells and whistles to see how close my guess comes to your experience.

Please, please, please, do not post 24 pictures and 3 videos per day with zero text!  Nobody but the poster knows why you took most of those, and you'll forget in a few years.  A good journal/blog needs at least a couple sentences, preferably a paragraph, to set the context for each picture.

IMHO, a trip journal is about the traveler's experience.  If you normally observe things from 25-100 off the ground, take a drone.

To limit your load, I'd suggest one reasonably good camera and maybe one video device (like a GoPro).  Some people do much more, like the people 30 years ago who took two 35 mm SLRs and five lenses.  Have you thought where to put all your clothes, rain gear, spare parts, food, and cooking gear?

If you want to make more of a production, perhaps you might consider keeping a simple journal while on tour; where you went, a two minute highlight with half a dozen pictures and a video with captions and explanatory paragraphs every day, for instance.  Go ahead and take lots more pictures and videos, archive and index them, and spend a few weeks when you get home making that professional production.

And for the sake of your own sanity, accept that you're going to miss some highlights.  I didn't take my camera to the city water park in eastern Colorado where we scampered about for 15 minutes at the end of a scorcher (the camera wasn't waterproof!).  Nor did I catch the bald eagle which came out of nowhere and dived into the river beside the road, flying off with a fish before I could even stop my bike to grab a camera.  Those are just etched into my soft tissue memory -- and I'm happy to have experienced them.

19

General Discussion / Re: Average Weight Loss/Gain on Cross Country Tour

« on: December 21, 2023, 08:50:59 am »

Me, in a convenience store, looking at a Hostess fruit pie:
At home:  300 calories! I can't eat this!
On the road: hmmm... 300 calories.  I wonder if I can get a dozen of these in my bags?

Yup.  Near the end of my longest tour I looked at the nutrition information on a snack outside the convenience store and blurted, "This is 1,050 calories I'm eating!"  My daughter swallowed and replied, "You're going to burn it off." 
The tough part is to stop eating like that when the tour is over.

20

Routes / Re: Ride with GPS elevation errors

« on: December 14, 2023, 08:53:41 am »

Not unique to rwgps.  You know the saying, "All generalities are false?"  That goes double for elevation on digital maps.  It's all too easy for a digital mapping tool to shortcut over a ridge, especially if the map database doesn't account for a narrow railroad cut.  Whatever you're using, treat the elevation gains with a grain of salt.

And if you have a good granny gear, you'll appreciate it at more points than you might expect on a cross-country ride.

21

General Discussion / Re: Advice on likely my last bike

« on: November 15, 2023, 09:41:56 am »

A few random thoughts (since I can't make your decision for you!):

Don't sell the Coda until you're sure the new bike is The One for you.  It's possible you'll spend the next few months reading all about bikes, and riding, and pick the absolute best bike on paper, and find you like the Coda better.

I wouldn't write off drop bars until you've tried some that have the bars about the same height as the saddle (like a touring bike).  If you like cycling and keep at it until you're doing some longer rides, it's possible you'll want the drops when you face a stiff headwind coming home.

Some people have found that the typical drop bar position is more comfortable than a straight/mountain bike bar.  If your torso is around 45 degrees, there's some flex at your hips you don't have if you're sitting upright.  Any bump that makes it past your tires and bike suspension (if your bike has it) goes straight into your lower back if you're upright.

Think of this as your next bike, not necessarily as your last bike.  That gives you some mental agility down the road.  If you need some exercise and perhaps a way to take off some weight, that's a lifetime goal.  Even if you find and buy that perfect bike this year, in 10 years things may change so you need something else to keep on riding.  A recumbent trike may be big, heavy, and unwieldy this year; but in 10 years your balance may decline, and that's just what you'll need then.

Final recommendation (for now): start planning ahead.  Touring bikes and frames are usually made in a small batch every year.  They'll likely hit the stores around March, and be gone by June.  So contact bike shops in your area, see if they're willing to order something in your size, and you can test ride them next spring.

22

General Discussion / Re: start tour operator business

« on: November 03, 2023, 09:12:22 am »

What's with the habitual digging up of old threads?

Nothing else to talk about at the end of the "season" I guess.  It's either dig up old threads (for some of these, you need a degree in archaeology) or start swapping old jokes.

What's brown and sounds like a bell?

(Pretty sure, this joke goes better with a British accent.)
Strikes me that a couple of the motorcycle fora I keep track of have joke threads that get some action this time of year.
(Be the life of the party: check out hundreds more funny jokes like this one!  )

Dung! Dung! 

Yuck, that joke stinks!

23

General Discussion / Re: Pedals and Shoes for the TransAmerica

« on: October 31, 2023, 11:37:33 am »

I am considering the Crank Brothers Candy 7 when mine go bad, but the guy at the bike shop didn't know if the float has a spring return or is it a free float like the Frogs, and the Crank Bros website doesn't say either.  Do you know?

I don't know if the Crank Bros. are completely free float -- there may be a slight residual from spring pressure on those transverse bars.  However, I do know that my Eggbeaters are much, much lower than the lowest spring pressure I ever felt on the SPD pedals I used briefly before I found Frogs.

24

General Discussion / Re: start tour operator business

« on: October 30, 2023, 10:09:27 am »

What's with the habitual digging up of old threads?

Nothing else to talk about at the end of the "season" I guess.  It's either dig up old threads (for some of these, you need a degree in archaeology) or start swapping old jokes.

25

General Discussion / Re: Pedals and Shoes for the TransAmerica

« on: October 30, 2023, 10:08:03 am »

Two more sets of cleats to wear out here...

FWIW, as I noted up-thread, I've got Crank Brothers Eggbeaters, now on two bikes.  IME they're not as easy to clip in or out as the Frogs, but they're better than SPDs for a bit of float.  I've read, in another forum, that Time ATAC are even better for float.

26

General Discussion / Re: Barge and Bike in the USA?

« on: September 20, 2023, 10:49:30 am »

Thanks, that's the very thing I was looking for.  Unfortunately, the McCready tours look great but I think my family would balk at $5,000 per head.

They'd probably balk at the price of a Santana, too!

27

Routes / Re: 3-4 month USA 2024

« on: September 15, 2023, 08:55:39 am »

First comment: Switching from roads (say, Kentucky or Ohio to Colorado) to the Great Divide means you're either overbiked (mountain bike with twice the drag) on the roads, or underbiked on the Great Divide (hope you brought good walking shoes).  Although if you start out on the C&O in April, that might be a good thing.

Second comment: I'd strongly suggest planning on indoor housing in larger cities (hotels/motels or BnB) to secure your gear while you hit the clubs or whatever you want to see.  Budget accordingly; it floors me how much prices have gone up.

Next, airlines are easier in Seattle than most other places in the northwest.  You'd have to go to San Francisco or Salt Lake City to match overseas terminals without small town connections.

Your route choices seem to parallel much of the TransAm.  Are you trying to stay off that route, and if so, why?

Lastly, I'd suggest a couple days' layover in Yellowstone, if you hit it, and a day to see Glacier.  You won't really get to see it like you would in a week, but it's worth the time to scratch just a bit deeper, IMHO.

28

Gear Talk / Re: Endurance bike advice

« on: August 21, 2023, 08:35:06 am »

I'm still riding two 14 year old bikes and one that, depending on whether you count a warranty replacement frame as new, is either 25 or 17 years old.  Frames rarely wear out, and components can be replaced as needed.  (For instance, only the fork and brakes on that 25 year old bike are OEM; everything else has been replaced.  I'd probably be using the original bars if not for accidents.)

I think that 5-10 years is how long many (most?) people can stand to read Buycycling magazine before they succumb to the lure of new! shiny! upgraded! and buy a new bike.

29

General Discussion / Re: Excellent light-weight pump for bicycle touring.

« on: June 20, 2023, 11:08:24 am »

Westinghouse, what's with the bold, large font on your posts?  Are you having trouble reading on your device of choice?

30

General Discussion / Re: Picking up the Trans America from DC

« on: June 09, 2023, 04:50:03 pm »

I would suggest taking the W&OD rail trail to Purcellville, Virginia. From Purcellville it is about a thirty-five mile distance to Front Royal, VA, the northern end of the Skyline Drive. You would need to come up with your own route between Purcellville and Front Royal, but there are plenty of tracks on sights such as Ride With GPS where people have ridden between the two.

In Front Royal you can take the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, a distance of 105 miles. The southern end of the Skyline Drives is the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Trans-America trail intersects the Blue Ridge Parkway there at Afton, Va.

This is the route I would take, but it seems like O.P. is trying to avoid the Appalachians.  Having grown up as a young boy in southwest Virginia, I can't figure out why anyone would do that.