Messages

406

Gear Talk / Re: Packs and pack weight for long tours

« on: October 26, 2015, 05:31:17 pm »

12lb bike with 15-20lbs of gear

I only carry enough food to get me through the day (or however many days until I expect to come across a store again)

I travel pretty minimalist. I'll even go as far as tossing out the pages of my book as I read them.

407

Gear Talk / Re: Recommended Temperature Rating for Sleeping Bag on TransAm

« on: October 26, 2015, 05:26:57 pm »

Sounds good, thanks again for the information.

408

General Discussion / Re: Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 21, 2015, 06:11:52 pm »

The most expensive camping I found was private campgrounds in New England during the peak season (especially Maine). The woods in these areas are often so dense that I don't even know how you'd walk through them, let alone push your bike through them to set up camp. Public campgrounds are usually cheaper than private campgrounds, but you can't always find one. Occasionally you find a private campground with a discounted rate for cyclists.

The cheapest camping is city parks. On the TransAm, there are many city parks that are listed as okay to camp in. I sometimes also camp in city parks that are not listed for camping, and I've never been chased away. City parks often have showers (associated with the swimming pool), and bathrooms that they'll leave open overnight if you ask them too. They will also usually turn off the sprinklers for you if you can find somebody to ask. If I can't find somebody to ask, I often pitch under the pavilion as that's usually safe from sprinklers.

Hiker/biker sites are wonderful, but they exist in a limited number of places. They are plentiful along the west coast, and some (but not all) national parks have them. Of course I'd like to see more of them.

Thanks for the information. I'll only be in Maine and the New England area for about a week as my final destination is Portland. Unless you count New York as New England as well. In which case I will be there much longer. I'm from Germany so forgive my lack of east coast knowledge! I'm not taking the TransAm but instead designed my own route as noted above but it's good to know you can camp in most city parks without issue along it. I've done the same without an issue as well. I have taken the liberty of emailing all of the towns I plan to stay in along my route asking of their policy. Yes, it took hours but everyone that says "yes" is money saved. Even ones who charge I don't mind just because of convenience.

409

General Discussion / Re: Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 21, 2015, 05:53:23 pm »

$50 for camping is crazy. I've paid less for a hotel room before and it wasn't a bad hotel.

Me too, but the places with $50 camping don't have $30 motels. Of course I'd take a $30 motel over a $50 camping spot, but you don't usually have that choice.

And no, my $50 camping spot wasn't all that nice.

Do you remember where you ran into these places? I was expecting the hiker/biker camp in places like Yellowstone to be expensive but to my surprise they're only $5/night.

410

General Discussion / Re: Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 21, 2015, 03:40:47 pm »

John: $50 for camping is crazy. I've paid less for a hotel room before and it wasn't a bad hotel. It better be a luxury campground lol I'll be hammock camping so all I need is a few stationary objets to tie it down to and I'm good. Did this a lot on a previous ride. Swing sets at playgrounds work well. If you roll in after dark and leave before daylight no one bothers you I've found out or I've been lucky. I plan to cook all of my own food and eating simply. On my Seattle to San Diego ride I ate mostly oatmeal and Cup O Noodles. Always carried apples in my panniers so I could grab one as I was riding.

Pat: I live in Portland and this area seems to be crawling with urban farmers and farmers markets. Anyone who has been to Portland knows what I'm talking about. We're a bunch of tree hugging hippies pretty much 

Staehpj1: I've only been to Maryland twice; College Place and Baltimore; but feel like my experiences there were the same in terms of being quite a few farmers markets. I was in the city on the weekend though so that could be why and College Place has (or had) a little area near the train station that was a farmers market all the time. 

411

Gear Talk / Re: Recommended Temperature Rating for Sleeping Bag on TransAm

« on: October 21, 2015, 03:28:48 pm »

It's @ hammockforums.net and you'll learn more than you ever needed to know about hammocking its also accessible with the tapatalk app, just like this one is

Sent from my SGP561 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. If you're interested in meeting up as I pass through Albany send me a private message on here.

412

General Discussion / Re: Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 20, 2015, 12:21:55 pm »

Pat: I feel like it's the opposite here in terms of farmers sticking to the rural areas as opposed to going to the city. They do for the Saturday Market but a majority of the farmers markets here are open 5/6/7 days a week. We also have a lot of you-pick farms. Murphy's law is always against bicyclist 

John: $33/day seems a bit much. The most I've ever paid for camping was $15/night but a majority of them were $5/night and occasionally $10/night. Were you eating a lot or what were you buying for you to spend that much in food per day?

Staehpj1: You're probably right about the Kroger stores. I don't see myself mailing stuff ahead though. I'm a day-by-day person and mailing stuff ahead forces you to either a) stick to that route or b) abandon the package. I appreciate the input.

I'm putting a little extra money aside for tourist stuff as well.... Entrance into Yellowstone/Grand Teton and other parks I am seeing along the way.

413

General Discussion / Re: Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 19, 2015, 10:50:56 pm »

PS: I'm disappointed to hear you only saw a few farmers markets on the TA! They seem to be everywhere where I live but I guess this part of the country is also a little more environmentally friendly than the rest or at least they make that claim!

414

General Discussion / Re: Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 19, 2015, 10:42:13 pm »

$2000 is definitely doable.  I was well under that on the Trans America and also on the Southern Tier.

I read where folks say that they often use roadside stands and farmers markets.  I do too when I see them, but in my experience they are very infrequent on most routes.  I really only remember very few, like maybe 3 on the entire Trans America.

I can't imagine you will pass all that many Krogers stores and I don't know about you but I hate to carry a lot of food.  I try to buy food for individual meals as close to meal time as possible rather than carry a bunch of weight.  On the TA we were given a lot of food.  I carried a bunch of it and mailed forward three packages to myself care of general delivery.  Truth be told if I had it to do over I might just say thank you, but no thank you.  It was more trouble than it was worth to me.  That said maybe when you are at a Krogers you can make yourself care packages to mail ahead.  Sending stuff general delivery does work OK.  If you decide you are not ready for a package you can forward it further ahead for no extra charge.  You can do this from any post office.  It doesn't need to be the one the package was sent to.

I mapped my own route from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine traveling through 22 states with a total of 79 planned stops over roughly 100 days while passing through over 600 towns/cities. Taking my time and doing my own thing seeing the country. I hate carrying a lot of food with me. Enough to get me through a day or two (there is a three day stretch on my route that I wont pass a single store; even a gas station). It seems like mailing food ahead of yourself wouldn't be cost effective? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy food in that town?

The gift cards are good at all Kroger owned stores, not just Kroger themselves. Kroger owns Cala Foods, City Markets, Dillons, FoodsCo, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs, Food 4 Less, and Smith's Food and Drug.

415

General Discussion / Re: Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 19, 2015, 09:42:45 pm »

Costs vary widely depending on your choices.  I can't say what you will spend on food since that will depend on your choices.  You can go pretty cheap or pretty expensive.  On the TA campsites ran us less that $5 per person day on average since we camped for free most of the time.  None of that required stealth.  Some trips I got rooms more and spent more as a result.

On the food issue, I typically eat quite a few diner breakfasts and have lunch pretty often at a diner, Subway, or whatever.  I actually don't find that it typically is much more expensive than cooking nice meals.  It is nice to eat the regional foods and a good chance to rub elbows with the local folks.  I often find that the local food and the people are a big part of the trip.  I know that the Mexican food, barbecue, seafood, and Cajun food were one of the saving graces of the ST, the other was the people, many of whom I met at food stops.

I find that it is pretty easy to live on $20 per day, but I can get by on less or splurge more depending on the trip.

Thanks for the reply! I tend to eat pretty cheap and not very often on bike trips. More snacking than anything. I frequent farmers markets when I can on trips. They're great  and I end up talking to everyone so my "I want to ride 100 miles today" turns into "Oh crap I've been here 3 hours so I'll be lucky if I make 50 miles" which is totally worth it in the end.

I have $2000 saved up plus I'm being sponsored by a rather large grocery chain (Kroger) that will be supplying me with a nearly-$200 gift card once a month. I understand there will be long stretches where I wont run into a Kroger owned store but when I'm near one it'll come in handy!

416

General Discussion / Cost of a cross country USA trip?

« on: October 19, 2015, 06:17:41 pm »

For those of you who have ridden solo across the USA, can you give me a rough estimate on what the trip cost you?

My ride will be about 5,000 miles and I own all my gear so the cost should leave out any gear purchases

I plan to hammock camp and rarely, if ever, eat out. Out of 80-100 days I'll be on the road I have 7 houses that I'll be staying at but that may increase as I get closer to my April 2016 departure. Hotels will be considered only in the event of an emergency.

I have, what I think, is a substantial amount of money saved but would feel much better if I heard from other riders.

In your reply please provide: Rough route, length of trip, cost and any other details you feel may be relevant.

Thank you for your time!

417

Routes / Re: Route suggestions for apr-may-june 2016

« on: October 19, 2015, 06:10:01 pm »

@ PacificNorthWestRider92 thanks for the info on the weather forecast. I don't know how reliable they are but it's good to know that there's a high chance we won't encounter too much rain. Myself, I don't mind higher temperatures too much. I've been road cycling in the south of france in 100+ degree days several and I've found that usually i could cope with it the best out of my cycling group. Of course biketouring is different so I have to wait and see.

My philosophy has always been that when it's cold you can layer up as much as you can but when it's hot you can only take off so many clothes, legally  Glad you don't mind the heat. I get sick in the heat the same way people do in the colder months.

418

Gear Talk / Re: Recommended Temperature Rating for Sleeping Bag on TransAm

« on: October 17, 2015, 05:20:50 pm »

Wow that's some 40* bag! 45* bag is synthetic fill, 3.3 lbs; 0* bag is synthetic fill, 3.7 lbs. The 850 down hammock quilt-set I recently ordered from undergroundquilts.com will be about 3 lbs total.

I live near Albany NY.  When are you expecting to come through? Are you also a member of hammock forums?

I'm not familiar with the hammock forums. Where can I find those at?

I'm leaving Portland, Oregon in early April and looks like I'll be in New York in June. I first hit New York on Day 54 of my ride but between there and Albany (13 stops later) I'll be visiting family near the Adirondacks so I'm not sure how long it'll take me to reach Albany. I made my own route to see family and other stuff such as Niagara Falls etc and am really taking my time. Solo ride to do my own thing In addition, I've never met any of these family members so I plan to spend at least two days with each of them.

My New York itinerary in below.

Day/Depart City/Arrive City

Coming from Pennsylvania
54. Edinboro, PA - Fredonia, NY
55. Fredonia - Arcade
56. Arcade - Buffalo
57. Buffalo - Niagara Falls
58. Niagara Falls - Rochester
59. Rochester - Port Byron
60. Port Byron -  Pulaski
61. Pulaski - Watertown
62. Watertown - Ogdensburg
63. Ogdensburg - Pierrepont
64. Pierrepont - Parishville
65. Parishville - Long Lake
66. Long Lake - Diamond Point
67. Diamond Point - Albany
68. Albany - Lee, MA

Edited: 10/19/15 3:20pm to reflect added stop at newly discovered family I didn't know I had

419

Routes / Re: Route suggestions for apr-may-june 2016

« on: October 17, 2015, 03:50:13 pm »

I've seen many blogs about the Trans Am starting in april/may and pretty much all pictures you see are of rain, clouds and wind.


More feedback anyone?

I think this is the case in most years but 6 months out the weather maps are calling for a dry year. I am biking Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine leaving early April 2016. If it were going into 2017 I'd wait (weather maps are calling for a wet winter/spring that year). With that said, I hate the heat and anything above 80 is uncomfortable for me.

420

Gear Talk / Re: Recommended Temperature Rating for Sleeping Bag on TransAm

« on: October 17, 2015, 03:12:04 pm »

I live in upstate NY, and have been 3-season hammock camping for three years to -10*F temps.  My setup was multilayered:
45* bag
0* bag
Fleece liner
Reflectix used as a sleeping pad
Fleece pullover
Knit wool sweater
Hiking Pants
Heavy base layer

Obviously, I mix and match the above to make myself comfortable
For me, the 45* bag is only good to 50* which is when I switch to the 0* bag... Which for me was only good down to 25* or so, which is when I layer the reflectix, then the 45*, then the fleece liner, then clothes.  I don't think my bags were rated properly though...I could see the given ratings as "survivability" ratings but not "comfort" ratings
This year I'll be trying 4-season, but with a new setup that hopefully will keep me warm to -45*F if need be, without the layered bags, though it's been almost century since it's been that cold in this area.

Sent from my SGP561 using Tapatalk

The coldest I've hammock camped in, that I've recorded, was 7 degrees and was comfortable zipped up in my 40 degree bag. Do you have any idea of how much your bag weighs?

What part of Upstate NY are you in? My ride is taking me through that part of the state. Might have to hit you up if you're nearby my route!