Messages

16

General Discussion / Re: Phoenix to Tucson tour in January

« on: November 14, 2022, 05:04:19 pm »

Recently I bicycled 320 MI from Tucson Arizona to El Paso Texas. It was a good ride because the wind was behind me most all the way, and it was a fairly strong wind. I was flying. It was not a good ride because I used the interstate highway. The shoulders of interstates are debris fields. I had to keep my eyes glued to the road directly in front of me to thread my way in and out and around pieces of rubber containing small metal wires. The wires got my front tire and back tire. After that I put in tuffy tire liners. No problem after that, up until now anyway. After that I bicycle from New Orleans Louisiana to northwestern Florida where I am now. I'm heading out in the morning for the Southeast coast of Florida.

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General Discussion / Re: Camping in Churches

« on: November 14, 2022, 05:00:14 pm »

Just this past October I slept in a tent one night behind a church in the state of Washington. I was cycling. Of all my international bicycle touring, I cannot remember a time when I asked someone if I could sleep inside a church. Somebody did approach me one time and told me it was all right to sleep inside a nearby Church. And that I did. I had also slept behind that same church on another bicycling tour. When it comes to setting up a tent for the night a church ground, depending on where it is of course, is probably a good option.

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General Discussion / Highway 20 on East-West axis across North Florida.

« on: November 14, 2022, 04:30:07 pm »

There are three main east west or west east roads across North Florida. They are highway 90, highway 20 and highway 98. I just now finished doing highway 20. Highway 90 is the one designated for adventure recycling association. It is the one farthest north in the state. It can be quite hilly. It has its advantages. There are cafes and restaurants and food stores. There are designated campgrounds, hotels and motels and b&bs. You can visit areas and sites of local historical interest. South of 90 is highway 20 I just cycled it. It has a nice wide shoulder most all of the way except that some of it is chewed up for the laying in of asphalt which forces you out into the main roadway. It is much less hilly than 90. Motels are few and far between for a very long distance. Most all of the stores had nothing but junk food. Their is no designated campground anywhere for a very long distance. Occasionally a store sold bananas, maybe an apple, or slices of hot pizza. Aside from that it was all junk food. South of 20 South of highway 20 is highway 98. I'm sure that is 99% flat. It follows the contour of the coastline and is there for 55 or 60 miles farther from point a to point b then if you were to take highway 90 or highway 20.. if you do not mind cycling the hills and if you value your health, 90 is your road.. if you want to stealth camp all the time, and you don't mind surviving on junk food for a few days, 20 is your road. If you don't mind doing 50 or 60 extra miles to get from point a to point b, 98 is your road. 98 goes through several small towns with places where you can eat what is actually real food. I'm just getting back into Florida from West the West. I chose 20 because it is much easier going than 90, and much shorter than 98. I had taken it before and I had forgotten about the availability of almost nothing except junk food.

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General Discussion / Re: Bicycle pump that works as advertised.

« on: November 14, 2022, 04:10:42 pm »

When these pump manufacturers and sellers conceal the number of strokes it takes to reach a certain pounds per square inch in different sized tires, it means they don't want you to know. Why else would they conceal it? The fact is most are selling overpriced junk. I had the cheapest little Walmart pump, a stand-up pump. I could get 90 PSI absolute Max in 28 to 35 pumps. The last 8 or 10 would be very short as in lifting the plunger three or four inches and pressing in. The gauge said 160 PSI. It took absolutely every bit of my body weight and strength to get to 90 PSI. That is with a 700x32 tire tube. It used to be easy to get a portable hand pump that would go to 90 PSI in 30 or 35 strokes. They were cheap and lightweight and durable. I wonder why they took those off the market and replace them with junk.

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General Discussion / Re: Bicycle pump that works as advertised.

« on: November 10, 2022, 06:20:13 pm »

I looked at advertisements on various pumps and frame pumps. One thing almost all advertisements had in common was this. There was no specific information on how many pumps to produce how much pressure in any kind or size of tire. One said it would do 100 PSI without argument. I do not accept without argument. If I have a 700 by 32 tire I want to know almost exactly how many pumps it takes to get to 90 PSI. Comments like it does the job well, to so many psi without argument, outperforms the others is all bs as far as I'm concerned. If they have a product that can produce a result and so many pushes of the plunger, that's all that matters, and that's all that's missing in the advertisements. Questionable, it's questionable.

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General Discussion / Re: Bicycle pump that works as advertised.

« on: November 10, 2022, 04:07:47 pm »

With the Crank Brothers Sterling pump doing everything it was advertised it would do, what exactly was it advertised to do? As for the answer from froze, I pumped up my 27 by 1 and 1/4 in tires so many times with that pump up to 90 PSI, I can hardly count the number of times. The fact is they're just turning out a bunch of junkie bicycle pumps for the general public. You have to go somewhere special to get a decent piece of equipment. Those pumps that would go to 90 PSI were easy to get and very expensive in the old days.

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General Discussion / Re: Bicycle pump that works as advertised.

« on: November 05, 2022, 06:40:13 pm »

Who would have thought a question about bicycle pumps would produce so many detailed expert answers. The thing that gets me is this. In the 1980s I did a considerable amount of bicycle touring including transcontinental. I have this little pump about 18 in Long and 1 inch in diameter maybe a little larger. It had a handle that slid in and out and a plunger. There was a tube that screwed on to the end and another at the other end of this tube it's screwed onto the valve. I could easily get 90 PSI in 30 pumps. The thing cost $8 or $9. Why are these things no longer on the market? Why is it that so many of these pumps cannot get to 90 PSI? I was just wondering about it. Thank you for all these answers. I am on a long ride now. I was never able to get the ideal pump. I make do with what is available.

23

General Discussion / Re: extremely new to cycle touring

« on: September 12, 2022, 03:23:20 am »

Eastern Europe, the check Republic, Poland, and moldovia could be very interesting places to travel to and visit. I would stay clear of the border of Ukraine. I did a trip like that by bicycle in 1994. I cycled across France, Germany, the check Republic, Poland, Ukraine, moldovia, Romania, Bulgaria, Grease, the east coast of Italy from brindisi to Milano, and the east coast of the United States from New York City to Southeast Coastal Florida. The war in the former Yugoslavia was still in force. Things were tense all over. I cycled around England Scotland and Wales in 1984. In 86 I bicycled around England, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy. I did a lot more travel in that region by train at other times. I think it would be a little more adventurous going into Eastern Europe. Keep a Daily Journal on that. It would make interesting reading.

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General Discussion / Re: Pacific Coast from Vancouver, BC

« on: August 30, 2022, 08:49:25 pm »

There are hostels in seattle.

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General Discussion / Re: Out Of Shape and Wanting to ride the TransAm

« on: August 30, 2022, 08:33:21 pm »

You might want to consider the Great American rail trail. It extends 3,700 miles from Washington DC to Coastal state of washington. How about 2,000 miles are dedicated bike paths with no motor vehicle traffic whatsoever. Because it follows old railroad track right of ways it is comparatively level. If you were to start in Washington you could go about half way. that would be comparatively level. That would save you from these hellacious climbs. The Western end of the Great American rail trail is largely highways where the trail has not been built in yet.

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General Discussion / Re: Pacific Coast from Vancouver, BC

« on: August 20, 2022, 05:53:53 pm »

Staying in hotels is not something I do on arrivals. They are too expensive, especially on the Pacific coast route. I would just stealth Camp somewhere if I needed to sleep that night.

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General Discussion / Re: Where does the wind blow?

« on: August 16, 2022, 01:21:48 am »

I was cycling and camping from Florida to California. It was Highway 90 South of Van Horn Texas. It was a long ride. I would not say it was desolate. I started North on Highway 90 to Van Horn. When the wind blew up it came from the West to my left. Later on the wind was a quarter wind on the left front. After that it was a straight on headwind. After that it became a Northeast wind to my front quarter. Later it became an East Wind hitting me on the right. Later in the day it was a following wind and I think that was all the way to Van Horn. It went in a circle all around me throughout the day. It came from every direction and it went to every direction.

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General Discussion / Re: Where does the wind blow?

« on: August 16, 2022, 01:16:06 am »

Just now there was a video on YouTube. It was two young men who bicycled from the coast of Florida to San Diego California. It was their first ever experience like that. They went from the East toward the west. Beginning in the panhandle of Florida on Highway 90 they had the rain and the wind in their faces head on across Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona. They hit the trail at the wrong time. They were a lot tougher at the end of the journey then they were at the beginning. Wind, rain and temperatures take on more elevated meaning when we are out there vulnerable for long periods. The wind is all over the place coming and going at every direction on the compass. Having cycled the Southern Tier of states five times from Florida to California I can tell you this. You might get quite a bit of adverse wind from the side and head on. Whether or not there is a great deal more wind coming from the side and the front then there is from the back is another matter. You just have to go out there and deal with it. I suppose you would say that is part of the activity. All kinds of extreme weather can catch you unaware in short order. I was out there outside for a long time 33,000 miles through 19 countries and most of it stealth camping. I have been caught out right in the middle of extremely deadly weather events. In my opinion, bicycle touring long distance and camping teaches a new awareness of weather conditions that we have probably lost after living in houses for so long. You regain that sense of what the weather can do to you or for you. In any other touring, I would make an explicit point of getting weather forecasts frequently. That's just me but I've been caught out in some extreme deadly lethal storms.

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General Discussion / Re: Bicycle pump that works as advertised.

« on: August 16, 2022, 01:05:36 am »

When it comes to advertising, do not believe anything you hear, and half of what you read.

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General Discussion / Re: Bicycle pump that works as advertised.

« on: August 11, 2022, 03:27:55 pm »

I use a z e f a l pump from Walmart. I had to take it back. Same thing with Blackburn.