Messages

1

Gear Talk / Re: How warm should your sleepingbag be?

« on: July 28, 2024, 04:38:35 pm »

Warm enough.
That might be warm enough to be comfortable every night, or, you might save some $$$ on the bag and be a little chilly on one night in 10 or 20.

2

Gear Talk / Re: What have you taken on tour and later wished you hadn't?

« on: July 28, 2024, 04:35:04 pm »

The thing I have occasionally taken along, and always regretted, is a schedule.
A loaded touring bike is ill suited to making up for lost time, and a due date tends to poison today with a reservation in a week.

3

General Discussion / Re: Newb advice

« on: July 12, 2024, 06:14:27 pm »

All good advice, and from knowledgeable riders.  But, they are not you.  The best way to decide what, in your eyes (and legs, and fanny) makes a good touring bike is to go on a tour.  Even a short one will inform you in ways we never could blur what you want in steering, geometry, tire size, color, etc.
I'm not trying to be facetious, or dodge your question, but there are so many aspects to a touring bike, and even more to a touring rider, that when you multiply the two together, you get N, where N is a very large number.  But don't worry, the process is fun.
Good luck.

4

General Discussion / Re: Maximum Tire With on Amtrak

« on: July 12, 2024, 06:02:13 pm »

I think that a part of the secret Amtrak Employee Oath requires that they must make it as difficult as possible for a mere passenger to find out anything about bicycle carriage.

5

General Discussion / Re: Advice on likely my last bike

« on: February 10, 2024, 04:10:36 pm »

I would hope that at less than 60 yo, this will not be your last bike.  I have two, a Bruce Gordon Rock and Road Tour, and a Tout Terrain Silk Road with a Pinion gearbox hub.  Either is a long distance worthy tourer and will last me, or likely, outlast me.  But, they offer two different riding experiences, depending on what I feel like.

6

General Discussion / Re: Trade offs

« on: February 10, 2024, 04:05:01 pm »

In my experience, the words schedule and bike should not be used in the same sentence, or even the same paragraph.

7

General Discussion / Re: Help for ideas wanted

« on: February 10, 2024, 04:02:56 pm »

Take the train to Albany, NY and follow the Erie Canal Towpath to Buffalo, NY.  From Buffalo, ride down the shore of Lake Erie to Erie PA, or into Ohio, then to Pittsburgh, PA where you can pick up the GAP/C&O trail to Washington DC.  AMTRAK up to NY City and then the NY Bike trail back to Albany.  That would be about 1800 km of riding with some interesting cities, DC has tons of free museums, NYC is pretty interesting as well.  There will be a little route planning to get from Erie PA to Pittsburgh.  Adventure Cycling has a route, the Pittsburgh Spur of the Underground Railroad, which I do not recommend. It is hilly and has stretches with few services and the entrance to Pittsburgh is on high traffic roads.  I have heard that there are better ways, however.   The GAP/C&O combination is the terrific opposite, car free, numerous services, lodging from stealth camping, to hiker biker dies to hotels, a great experience.
Good luck.

8

Gear Talk / Re: My cooking gear

« on: January 19, 2024, 07:36:37 pm »

Mostly I boil water for cooking, tea at breakfast, couscous for dinner.  There is a European deli in Burlington and I get air dried pork or beef there.  It lasts fine without refrigeration.  After a couple of weeks the outside may get a little slimy, but a wash with soap and water and thorough drying and putting it in a fresh plastic bag makes it good as new.  Much tastier than freeze-dried stuff.  I suppose a dehydrator to make your own jerky and dried veggies would work.

9

General Discussion / Re: POLL: What services are most important to you on a map?

« on: January 19, 2024, 07:14:12 pm »

Mileage
Libraries, repositories of knowledge, arcane and local, and typically staffed by helpful people.
Alternate routes. All too often, a bridge is out, or a road closed, but most route maps I have used do not include alternates.  the grades of alternates might be handy, or scary.

10

General Discussion / Re: Barge and Bike in the USA?

« on: September 20, 2023, 01:59:51 pm »

Right, Mr. 'gator, I should have been clearer, boat in the Potomac, bikes on the C&O trail, not in the stagnant, fetid, interrupted, remains of the canal.

11

General Discussion / Re: Barge and Bike in the USA?

« on: September 19, 2023, 08:30:06 pm »

The Erie Canal has boats for charter, coincidentally, it parallels a lot of the Erie Canal Towpath bike route.  I read a post, somewhere, about a guy who was planning on being the sag-wagon/boat for a group on the Erie Canal.  I don't know about the C&O, but it parallels the Potomac.
Alternatively, you might plan a river trip with day trip excursions on bikes out from the river.
All in all, it sounds like a cool idea.

12

General Discussion / Re: Learning a Foreign Language

« on: September 19, 2023, 08:23:25 pm »

While I don't know of any bicycle specific language courses, I'll bet there are plenty of bicycle oriented forums in what ever language interests you.  It'll be text, but you can get accent from nonbicycle stuff.

13

General Discussion / Re: Bicycles on Via Rail in Canada

« on: July 16, 2023, 07:34:27 pm »

Last year I took my bike on the train from Montreal to Chambord for the Veloroute des Bluets.  I had to go the the station to find out about taking the bike.  In the end it was easy, the bike and 4 panniers rode in the baggage car and the conductor helped hand them down in Chambord, the station was closed.  Coming back was essentially a reversal of that procedure.  Stations away from the central one seem to answer the phone better and Via Rail did send messages to my phone about the train being a few minutes behind schedule.  I don't remember the cost, but I think it was reasonable.  No special packing, either direction.

14

General Discussion / Re: Average Weight Loss/Gain on Cross Country Tour

« on: June 12, 2023, 07:59:59 pm »

Haven't done anything over about 3 weeks.  I consider tours to be a "hall pass" and eat anything and everything.  This year I'm planning on Prince Edward Island, largely because of the food.  I usually return within about a pound of my departure weight

15

General Discussion / Re: Empire State Trail to NY City

« on: June 12, 2023, 07:54:28 pm »

You might see how far up the MTA commuter trains run.  They will take bikes for free, off rush hour, and go right into Grand Central Terminal at 42 St in midtown.  That could avoid a night or two in motels.