Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Logistics of shipping equipment for touring

« on: April 17, 2014, 10:41:23 am »

Thanks to all for taking time to give me some advice on this. It has been very helpful.

I think I've got a plan now. I'll box up some of the gear (with stove and empty bottles) and send via UPS to my first night hotel.

For the bike, I'll fly Southwest and box it up myself in cardboard. I think I probably can get a box that will fit the bike and racks well enough to work with the Southwest size/weight limits. And, I don't think I have to disassemble the bike too much for this. I'm hoping I can leave the fork alone, and just turn the handlebars to fit in the box.

Again, thanks to all who helped out.

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General Discussion / Logistics of shipping equipment for touring

« on: April 15, 2014, 02:22:21 pm »

My wife and I are planning to do some touring in the midwest (from California), and need to fly there with our bikes and equipment.

Here are a few logistical questions I'm curious about to those who have travelled with bikes.

1) Our bikes have fenders and Tubus racks on them (Tubus Carry on back, and Tubus Nova on the front). It doesn't look like the hard shell cases that I have seen are big enough to carry the bikes and the fenders/racks. What's the best carrying method for bikes with these accessories?

2) Our camping equipment includes a small whitegas stove (MSR Firefly) and a couple of white gas containers (empty of course). Can I just put these in my checked panniers?

Thanks.

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Great Lakes / Re: Advice for a short wisconsin/michigan bike tour

« on: April 08, 2014, 08:00:29 pm »

Your route seems great! I lead a bicycle tour every summer around Lake Michigan and can say first hand that staying next to the lake is an awesome experience.

Where in Milwaukee do you plan on beginning?
Door County is a beautiful place. If you like ice cream, make sure you stop at Wilson's in Ephraim.
Instead of riding back down to Manitowoc, I would suggest taking a ferry charted by Shoreline Charters across to Fayette, MI. The Upper Peninsula is a fantastic place for peaceful riding, one of my favorite places. If this isn't feasible, then the Ludington ferry would be your best option.

As for routes, going north from Milwaukee you should take Lakeshore Drive to Lakeshore Road. They offer pretty great views of the lake with a pretty light amount of traffic.

The Wisconsin Bike Fed also offers tons of resources and suggestions, so make sure to check them out!

Thanks, Kazzy. I'm not sure where in Milwaukee we are leaving from, as my cousin is moving out and hasn't yet gotten his new pad, so we'll figure it out when the time comes close. I looked at Shoreline Charters, but they don't seem to do regular routes to Michigan, as far as I could tell. Were you able to take one?

Any particularly nice camping spots in Door county we should look for? Or nice B&B type places?

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Great Lakes / Advice for a short wisconsin/michigan bike tour

« on: March 31, 2014, 04:37:42 pm »

My wife and I are thinking about a 400 mile or so self supported bike tour in late August/early September. We're from California, but for some reason I got a bee in my bonnet to tour a bit in the upper midwest, and this area looks appealing to me because it's near water, and there can be boat trips involved! We'll be both camping and staying in motels. We're in our 60s, so we don't move very fast either. We're giving ourselves 2 weeks.

So, we're thinking of starting in Milwaukee and going north by something like the following:
1) Start in Milwaukee.
2) Ride north by some route to Door county. We don't know whether staying close to the lake is best, or going inland a bit.
3) Ride back to Manitowoc and then take the ferry to Ludington MI.
4) Ride by some route south to Muskegon. Again, should we stay nearer the lake or go inland?
5) Ferry back to Milwaukee.

So, for you Wisconsin and Michigan road riders out there, what do you think? Any particular routes we should take to make this as enjoyable as possible? Any specific places we should not miss?

5

Routes / Re: Best direction for portion of Northern Tier between Anacortes and Glacier

« on: March 31, 2012, 11:03:35 am »

Yes, I realize that the map is only for "now", but I just thought it was really a good graphic.  Thanks for pointing out the short term historical maps in the Gallery -- I hadn't noticed that.  It does demonstrate how variant the winds are everywhere on a day to day basis.  Even in North Dakota, you got the wind in your face on March 21, and then it's pushing you along on the 22nd.

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Routes / Re: Best direction for portion of Northern Tier between Anacortes and Glacier

« on: March 30, 2012, 05:07:12 pm »

To get back to my original question about winds, I just saw this incredible website showing current wind conditions everywhere in the country.

http://hint.fm/wind/

Definitely points to going west to east!

7

Routes / Re: Best direction for portion of Northern Tier between Anacortes and Glacier

« on: March 29, 2012, 02:12:09 pm »

Thank you to everyone for these incredibly informative responses.  They will be of great use to us in our trip.

I think we are convinced to do the trip west to east, in order to maximize the chance of getting to see Glacier Park at a time most likely to be open.  But we do like the suggestion of starting closer to Seattle to get our "legs" more up  to speed before Washington/Rainy pass.

We'll plan on staying at Colonial Creek and take that long 32 miler to the pass starting early the next day.  We might go to that nice looking B&B with a hot tub in Mazama (Mazama Country Inn) on our way down and take a rest day.  Anyone stay there?

One question.  My wife and I are not the speediest climbers and are a bit worried about having enough time to make it from Colonial campground to Washington pass in one day.  If we just poop out, is there anywhere on the way up to get water, or to bivouac for the night if need be?

8

Routes / Best direction for portion of Northern Tier between Anacortes and Glacier

« on: March 26, 2012, 10:35:10 pm »

My wife and I are planning on doing an unsupported bike tour starting in mid June, taking a portion of the Northern Tier.  We want to go from Anacortes to Montana, and end up either at Glacier park, Missoula or somewhere along the Amtrak a little farther east (Shelby maybe?).

Looking at the AC maps, we were thinking it might make more sense to take the Amtrak out to Montana and ride east to west, because it would allow us to avoid starting out and going up that 5500 Norther Cascades summit so early in our trip.  Also, east west is going from 4000 ft to sea level, which sounds good to us!

However, we're now thinking about wind direction and wonder if anyone has advice as to whether one direction would be significantly better in that respect.  That would probably trump it if it is clearly better one way or the other.

Thoughts?

9

Gear Talk / Re: Biking Stores for getting touring bike in SF Bay Area

« on: November 16, 2011, 07:54:06 pm »

Thanks for the good ideas responded to my post.   This is a followup in case anyone is looking in the future.

I ended up thinking that my budget was too low, so I did a search for more expensive bicycles.  I looked at the local guys putting together high end touring bikes, including Rivendell in Walnut Creek, Bruce Gordon in Petaluma, and even the custom bike builder Brent Steelman who makes fabulous bikes out of Redwood City.

I also found good help and information about touring from these shops:  City Cycles in San Francisco were helpful and knowledgeable on touring, and carried both Trek 520s as well as more semi-custom Seven Cycle bikes.  At the lower end, Box Dog Bikes in San Francisco were also helpful and knowledgeable, and carry the Surly LHT.

We ended up ordering Waterford frames from Tony at A Bicycle Odyssey in Sausalito, who will put together the bikes for us.  He is an experienced bike tourer from the past, and is extremely knowledgeable and very easy to work with, and has put together quite a few touring setups for people.  We don't have the bikes yet, but I'm fairly certain they'll be very nice when they come.  Maybe I'll put a followup post when all is done.

Again, thanks for the help.

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Gear Talk / Biking Stores for getting touring bike in SF Bay Area

« on: November 01, 2011, 06:57:37 pm »

I am planning a month long self supported bicycle touring trip with my wife for next summer -- our first one!

Right now I am riding a Trek hybrid bike for lots of urban riding, and realize that I probably need to get a new bike for this trip.  I assume a touring bike is what I want.

For me, I think it is best to work with someone at a good bike store to spec out the details of a bike.  Does anyone have recommendations as to which bike stores in the SF Bay Area would be best for doing this?  Maybe even a specific person you could recommend?

I'm probably going to be in the $1500-$2500 range for price.