Messages

1441

Routes / Southernn Tier December - January

« on: December 10, 2008, 04:13:30 pm »

I have cycled the S-tier more than once in the dead of winter. Here is what I brought for the cold. A 15 degree F Slumberjack sleeping bag. A closed cell foam pad for insulation from the ground. A 10 by 12 foot polyethylene tarp for rain, and to break wind chill while sleeping. Down jacket and appropriate clothing. A light windbreaker for not so cold days. Sweat pants.

I had no trouble with the cold, but it can get very cold. You might consider Interstate 10 for possibly warmer days and nights. Blizzards and snow storms happen.

When I did it I did not do any research at all. I just took what I thought I might need, and it worked.

1442

Routes / Atlantic Coast

« on: December 02, 2008, 02:58:48 pm »

Here I am again. Yes, I have done the barrier islands. You cannot go wrong with that route, and yes, there are plenty of ferries for transportation from island to island. Time is running out. I am on a library computer.

1443

Routes / Riding in all 48 states?

« on: November 29, 2008, 03:34:19 pm »

If you google ---bicycling the perimeter of the United States, you might find the information you are looking for along those lines. I have not googled that in years, but the last time I did I got all kinds of related details and information, including cycling all 48 states

1444

Routes / UTAH! and CA Sierra Nevada's

« on: December 28, 2008, 07:18:10 am »

I have no cycling experience in that area. These people seem to know what they are talking about.

1445

Routes / Nature Coast Trail

« on: November 17, 2008, 04:22:46 pm »

I was just looking at trails in Florida the other day on the internet. If you google bicycle and nature trails in Florida, you will come up with information, including maps and descriptions. They show where in the state they are located, and they give close-up details and maps of the trails themselves.

1446

Routes / southern tier weather

« on: November 24, 2008, 06:54:17 pm »

I am going to the middle east. I have worked there before.

Thanks for the positive comments about my advice and knowledge. I have done a considerable amount of bicycle touring at home and internationally, and while bicycle touring is not rocket science, I do have bits of knowledge which can be useful to the new long distance bicycle traveler. I have also read several books on the subject. My knowledge on the subject is limited, but also cogent and useful in its own category.

I would like to continue contributing to this forum if my advice and knowkedge can be of use to someone out there.

This message was edited by Westinghouse on 11-26-08 @ 10:39 AM

1447

Routes / southern tier weather

« on: November 22, 2008, 05:04:16 pm »

I was gearing up to the the S-tier myself this winter. However, a job opportunity I had been waiting to see about has come through, and I will be going half way around the world to do it. I will be traveling by jet, and not by bike. That's the way it goes sometimes.

1448

Routes / southern tier weather

« on: November 17, 2008, 04:31:15 pm »

I can give you general information for the eastern part of the route. In March and April it will be cool to warm. April is still warm in Florida, in the eighties and seventies, and you do not get into the nineties (usually)until July, possibly June.

You can trace the weather at different points by googling for weather and temperatures in various states at different times of the year. For example, if you google for past weather and temperatures in March in Arizona, you may get March weather information for  the past twenty years or so. That can give you a better idea of what you can expect to encounter.

1449

Routes / baja

« on: November 17, 2008, 04:32:34 pm »

Not me. I have never been to Baja.

1450

Routes / Cycling Around Lake Erie

« on: November 07, 2008, 10:40:01 am »

I do not know the area, but there is a canal tow path that has been converted into a bike path which runs along the Erie canal.

1451

Routes / Northern Tier next summer

« on: November 07, 2008, 11:05:44 am »

I did 2600 miles west to east on ACA's N-tier. I started around June if my memory is correct. In July there was no falling snow at all on that route in the Rockies, but of course it was cold at the higher elevations. There were still chunks of ice as big as  cars alongside the road at places, but weatherwise it was all right.

1452

Routes / western express, grand canyon

« on: November 08, 2008, 10:43:04 am »

I have only read about the western express route. I have read in summmer it is remote and desolate for cycling in places but can be done. I have lived most all my life in the flatlands. I am not sure about the elevations on the western express. It is only my guess, but I would imagine the mountain roads in January would be impassable.

1453

Routes / Europe North to South

« on: November 05, 2008, 04:41:07 pm »

On that tour in 1994 I cycled 660 miles from Brindisi, Italy to Milano along the east coast of Italy, and the west bank of the Adriatic sea.  Coastal Italy was very nice. It certainly was several rungs up the ladder of civilization than the former Soviet republics, Romania, and Bulgaria.

1454

Routes / Europe North to South

« on: November 03, 2008, 07:46:44 pm »

I did a tour similar to the one you mention, except that I started south nearer Calais. I went through France, Belgium, Germany to Munich, and then over the Alps by way of the Brenner pass, and down into Venice.
After that I trained to Lancashire, England from Venice. Then I (we) cycled to the English lake district, and over to Stranraer, Scotland. We got the ferry to Larne in northern Ireland. Then we cycled the coast and Antrim and around to Londonderry, northern Ireland. After several days in Derry we trained back to the ferry, took ship back to Stanraer, and cycled back to Preston, Lancashire. From there it was the train on to London, and a flight back to Florida in the United States.

Traffic was particularly heavy in Belgium. All in all it was a good trip. I crossed the Alps on a Schwinn Le Tour bike with only two chain rings on the front. In those days I was not aware they made triple chain sets. I wish I could remember more details about it, but that was one trip on which my notes were sparse.

I do have a detailed bicycle touring journal of over 108,000 words, most of which happened in Europe. One afternoon in Poland I got pinned down by artillery fire, hand grenades, automatic weapons, and exploding mines about 6 miles west of Bojanow. Strange but true. This was August 31, 1994 when the wars of ethnic extermination were being carried out in the former Yugoslavia, very near to where I was cycling. That particular bike trip was the singular example of a very bad set of experiences, but realities at that time, not long after the fall of communism, were just all wrong. However, it is the  tour on which I have the most exhaustive description of day to day life on the road by bicycle. I am a writer, not a professional writer, but a writer.

1455

Routes / Florida in February

« on: November 13, 2008, 01:36:17 pm »

I was just reading some directions that said to take highway 27. All I can say is that judging from my experiences with 27, it is one of the worst roads for cycling in the nation. The directions also said 27 has wide shoulders. It has in some places, but my experience taught me that the shoulders were so heaped and cluttered with debris as to make them useless for a bicycle. 27 may not be as I described it every inch of the way 24 and 7, but it was definitely the way I described it for a long distance until I could find a way off it. It could have sretches that are ok, and stretches that are pure hell and fury. I guess one might choose to take the bad with the good, but I will never cycle on 27 ever again.