Messages

16

Routes / Prevailing winds on Northern Tier route?

« on: March 08, 2012, 12:01:21 pm »

I'm considering going from Wisconsin to Seattle WA, where I live, or, perhaps the other direction this August and September. Which way does the wind blow in August and September in the northern part of the US? I'm definitely not into blasting into the wind the whole way I searched around and just couldn't find any info on prevailing winds there.

17

Routes / Re: Start date suggestions for Pacific Coast (north to south)

« on: March 08, 2012, 11:55:49 am »

Definitely lots of tail winds in September when I rode Tillimook OR to San Francisco in 2011. Don't ride northbound! I felt so sorry for everyone we met going in that direction mashing into constant headwinds!

Regarding traffic, it's actually pretty awful. I am not an experienced tour cyclist, only having done a few months in central Europe and this one coastal ride, but I gotta tell you, the constant traffic was a real downer and most of the towns along the way were just not all that interesting. Once you've seen a few dozen, you've seen them all. Same thing goes for the coastal views, too. Great the first week or so, after that... same 'ol thing, if you can even see the ocean through the fog. Again, comparing to touring nirvana in Denmark/Germany/Netherlands so perhaps the comparision is not fair - it's a completely different kind of tour. The only reason I continued this ride was the awesome people I ended up riding with every day, that made it all totally worthwhile, and the desire to not wuss out

The camping was great, too, a never ending string of pretty good state/county/etc. parks, but while I was riding many were in the process of closing in CA so be sure to check the respective websites re: park closures, the last thing you want to do is finish up a long hilly ride to... a closed park and be forced to continue on. I had great mobile connectivity so checking the websites for closures any time I wanted was easy.

If I was by myself I would have quit and gone somewhere else, the traffic was just no fun at all - it's not like you are meandering on lightly traveled back roads at all. I got on the road right after labor day and during a week or so afterwards the traffic was heavy but died down after that, so I'm not complaining about the holiday traffic, I expected that. Really if you can avoid labor day and even the week before and after when it's ramping up and slowing down... much better. It's just sucked with constant RVs, cars, and logging trucks zooming past you. I had very few safety fears with the RVs and tourists - they always gave us a wide berth. It seemed like it was the locals in their pickup trucks and the logging trucks that would blow by with inches to spare. I finally got less nervous about the logging trucks as time went by - they are pros and they know exactly how far away from you they are, but still - scary stuff when they pass so close, not to mention the wind blast. I also got less freaked out about taking the entire road when it was, in my expert judgement in road sharing, just too narrow for cars to pass us safely to stop idiot drivers from trying to squeeze past - you need to protect yourself and get right out there when it's not safe - people are insane so you're in effect protecting them from a head-on collision when they try to blow past. I saw one too many close call head-ons before I started taking control of the situation and only letting cars pass me when *I* judged it was safe insead of the other way around. Scary incidents decreased dramatically after that Ditto for the few narrow bridges you will be forced to cross in the road - I recommend earplugs or loud music to drown out the drivers screaming "get off the road!" like you have no right to be there blocking traffic on a super narrow lane (as if they expected you to swim across the river with your bike or fly across like superman or something, go figure).

In the end all the stress from the safety threats, close calls, careless driving, exhaust pollution and hassle of the traffic just wore me down after a while. Yah I'm probably spoiled by riding less traveled roads/paths, but there you go, one person's viewpoint.

Riding in San Francisco was pure joy. By then the hills in the city were nothing to me and it's such an uber awesome city (including the surrounding areas) to cycle in. We rode into town directly to Tour de Fat http://www.sfbike.org/?fat which blew my mind for sheer 2-wheel loving awesomeness. And the northbound train goes through SF so that was a convenient ending point for me The drivers are in total harmony with bikes on the road and knew exactly what to do. Never ever felt at risk or that I was in any driver's way in SF. If I was single I think I'd be seriously considering moving there, really, it's heaven

18

California / Bear issues in PCH campgrounds?

« on: August 31, 2011, 05:36:31 pm »

Should I be worried about bears in the various campgrounds along the PCH route? I've seen all the various links to *what* to do but I'm wondering if anyone has had any bear encouters at all while cycling down the CA coast - how real is the threat, should I make sure I pack some bear spray and hang my food every single night, or is it really rare that there are problems in those areas?

19

General Discussion / Re: What about your Bike??????

« on: August 30, 2011, 03:30:24 pm »

Thanks for all the ideas.

You would think that one of these tent companies would make something for us cyclist. So that we could park our bikes inside the vestibule.   

http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Ghisallo-1/OU9469,default,pd.html

I took one of these for a 2 month tour of Europe and let me tell you, it was the best thing ever. 1) You don't need to lock your bike in camp, it's right in the tent with you. Out of sight, out of mind - people don't even know you have a bike (unless it's your camping neighbor that sees you stash your bike into the tent) 2) Dry as a bone in the worst weather. No need for saddle covers, etc. 3) Like people have said, keep your bike in sight at all times, there's something very very comforting knowing that it's in visible range even when you're zipped up tight in your tent Even when you need to run to the shower I felt fine with it stashed out of sight - I was more worried about my bags getting jacked than the bike.

It only weights 2.75 lbs, it's easy to set up and easy to clean out (pick it up and shake the dirt out). Vestible is big enough to stash all your bags no problem. It doesn't have a lot of room in there if you're a big guy or like a big tent. On the up side the ground cover doesn't need to be big.

Every morning I'd get my shammie out and wipe all the dew off the outside of the tent, wait a bit for it to dry out, and it breaks down in a few minutes and into the stuff sack.  I love that tent!

One more trick I used is to wrap a good strong velcro strip around the rear wheel and another around the brake, like a parking brake. This kept the bike from rolling in case you're on an incline and if someone did try to take the bike there's going to be at least a minute of confusion while they try to figure out why the bike won't move, get off, find the velcro and pull it off, etc. It's the cheap man's super lightweight stealth short-term lock

We had one bike stolen (out of two locked together) right outside our hotel room in London England at the tail end of our 2 month trip. We had a pretty substantial cable lock but they cut it clean through. Big cities need full lock protocol against professional thieves, as previously discussed, no doubt about it. By some miracle we didn't get our bikes jacked in Amsterdam, looking back at it.

20

Pacific Northwest / Re: Skip WA portion of the PNW route?

« on: August 03, 2011, 05:00:32 pm »

OK sounds good. My plans are shaping up. I'm launching from a bit south of Astoria, so NW OR coast, I'm figuring about... 1000 miles (Google says 988 miles along the highways along the coast... so maybe it's more like 1100 by sideroads, I dunno) which is 33-ish miles per day every day, give or take. So I'm thinking 30-40 miles per day, maybe a few longer days, throw in a few rest days, and that I can do with a full load and a few hills along the way. I'm sure after a week in the saddle I'll be able to survive the day without collapsing

Anyone have any experience with the Amtrack "Coast Starlight" train that runs from LA thru SLO thru San Francisco all the way up to Seattle? Tips for taking your bike on that train?

21

Pacific Northwest / Skip WA portion of the PNW route?

« on: July 15, 2011, 06:39:24 am »

I am very interested in doing parts of the west coast route this summer. I have about a month to be on the road, so I can't do the whole route. I live in Seattle, and I have relatives near San Luis Obispo, which would be really fun to visit, so I'm trying to decide... I can either:

1) Start the route in Bremerton, just west of Seattle, and try to get as far south as possible. Guestimating on how far I'd like to ride each day, I figure maybe I can get to San Francisco before my time runes out, and catch a train back home. Will miss the relatives though

2) Get a lift down to Astoria in NW Oregon and start the route right on the coast, skipping the WA part entirely. I figure I can get to see my relatives in San Luis Obispo before it's time to go home, which would be great.

I'm wondering if the WA part south of Seattle (past all the awesome islands that I've ridden on many times already) is all that great or not... if it's so-so, heck I'll just skip it and launch the trip right on the OR coast. What do you think?

How much I can do each day kinda depends, I'm not a gung-ho distance guy, I like to make some distance but mix it up with some easy riding or spend a rest day if I find an awesome place to hang out. But I figure... 1000-ish miles is very doable with the time I have, maybe 1200 if the darn hills don't kill me.