Messages

16

Routes / Re: Route Through Vancouver, BC

« on: May 07, 2010, 09:04:52 pm »

One place to start might be Cascade Bicycle Club.  (www.cascade.org).  They run the RSVP ride from Seattle to Vancouver every year and so cover at least part of the route you are interested in.

Bob

17

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Transamerica E-W but ending in Seattle

« on: May 07, 2010, 03:27:08 pm »

BTW, if you haven't already heard of them, go to warmshowers.org and sign up.  This is a group of people who are available to host touring cyclists all around the US (actually it is worldwide, now).

And when you get to western WA, my cell phone is 425 330 6154.

Bob

18

General Discussion / Re: What to wear in the rain?

« on: May 07, 2010, 02:57:31 pm »

As a point of reference, it partly depends on your travel dates as to the weather you'll get.  Tavelling between July 15 and Sept 15, the chance of getting much in the way of rain is really quite small.  Fog, on the other hand is quite common.  (for reference, Seattle during that span of time gets less rain than Phoenix does).  Earlier in the year, and the chance of rain is much higher, but the incidence of fog is lower.  After Sept 15, it really becomes a crap shoot.  Some years the weather is perfect into Oct and the fog incidence is low.  Others it rains like hell, and is foggy all the rest of the time.  The thing to remember is that the rain forest occurs on the west side of the Olympic Mountains.  By the time you reach Gray's Harbor, you are out of the heavy rain belt and into much more moderate weather.

Bob

19

General Discussion / Re: Bike Fit for Person with Bad Shoulders/Knees?

« on: May 07, 2010, 02:48:50 pm »

A little off topic, but if riding in traffic is an issue, get the Dinotte taillight and headlight.  These make you VERY visible (last week I forgot to turn mine off on the trail, and a guy who passed me while I was making a rest break said he spotted me from 2 miles away).  I now ride a recumbent trike in an urban environement--I use mirrors on both sides, Dinotte lights, and a flag.  I ride defensively, and in five years have not had anyone who failed to see me (after all,, you see a squirrel on the road, it's hard to miss a guy on a Barcalounger with his butt a couple of inches off the road.  The "what the f--- is that?" factor gets their attention, and they give me 10 times the room that they ever gave me while riding a regular bike).  There is a perennial debate in the recumbent community about the advantages/disadvantages of short cranks, but most of the people with bad knees come down on the positive side since you have to spin on a recumbent--you can't weight shift or stand on the pedals.  There are a lot of people riding recumbents with 140 and shorter cranks with bad knees who say that the short cranks keep them pain free.

Bob

20

Pacific Northwest / Re: Cycling from Olymipic peninsula south on 101

« on: May 05, 2010, 01:44:02 pm »

For some ideas for routes, see if you can access some of the old Cycle Oregon routes.  They have pretty much criss-crossed Oregon with bike friendly routes.  The state of Washington has bike maps online at dot.wa.gov.  the STP route from Seattle to Portland is about as level as you can get between those two cities.  On the eastside in WA, highway 97 has a significant amount of traffic, but generally decent shoulders. 

Bob

21

Connecting ACA Routes / Re: Transamerica E-W but ending in Seattle

« on: May 05, 2010, 01:33:50 pm »

If you connect up to the Northern Tier, you will come across WA on Highway 20.  If you want to go to Seattle instead of Anacotes where the NT ends, here are some directions that keep you off most of the major roads.  After crossing the Cascades, following the NT will get you on the Rockport-Cascades road.  At Highway 530, instead of turning right to Rockport, turn left to Darrington.  Follow hy 530 to Arlington.  At Arlington, turn left andget on the Centennial Trail.  The trail through Arlington is mostly a wide sidewalk on the east side of the street, whose name changes several times as you head South (but is mostly 67th Ave NE) At 172nd, the trail ends for a bit, and you have to ride on a road with no shoulders for about 20 blocks.  Just short of 152nd, there is a trailhead for the trail again on the left; get on the trail and head south to Snohomish.  In Snohomish, the trail ends, and you till be paralleling Maple St.  Follow Maple Ave to 1st St and make a right turn.   Ride through downtown Snohomish (Fred's Alehouse has lots of good brews) and head to Ave D.  Turn left on Ave D and cross the river--this will put you on Airport Road.  Follow this aeound the bend till you come to a major intersection.  Bear left onto Springhetti Rd.  Follow this up the hill, and around the bend until you reach Broadway.  Turn left on Broadway.  You will ride for several miles on Broadway till you come to the town of Maltby,  Just past the community park, Take a left onto Yew Way and cross under the freeway.  Take a right on Bostian Rd and parallel the freeway.  Bostian becomes 224th and then bends to the left and becomes 75th Ave SE, which then becomes 156th Ave NE as you cross the county line.  Turn right onto Woodinville-Duvall rd and go down the hill to Woodinville (note that Woodinville-Duvall Rd bears left shortly after you get on it)  W-D road becomes NE 175th St in Woodinville, and continue on it.  Just W of 131st, there is an entrance to the Samammish River trail on your left.  Go on the trail and turn right.  The Samammish River Trail becomes the Burke Gilman Trail, and runs on into the north end of Seattle, past the Univ of Washington, and eventually out into the part of town called Ballard, and Puget Sound.  MOst Seattle buses have bike racks, and there is light rail (sound Transit) from downtown to Sea-Tac airport.

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them.  I live a few miles from downtown Snohomish and am alway willing to put up touring cyclists

Bob

22

General Discussion / Re: Bike Fit for Person with Bad Shoulders/Knees?

« on: May 05, 2010, 12:39:37 pm »

Another source for short cranks is Mark Stonich of BikeSmith Designs.  He is set up to shorten some models of existing cranks (He takes 175 Ultegra to 153 for example) and sells other models that have been shortened.  He has some that go down to the 120 range as I recall (but I haven't looked at his website in a couple of years).  A good guy to deal with, BTW.

And I hate to say this given your statement, but the real cure for your problem is to get a recumbent.  I also have a bad back and bad knees.  After trying a recumbent, you literally could not pay me enough to go back to riding a diamond frame bike.  Agreed that they are "geek bikes" (as a friend calls them--and a recent poll on bentrideronline.com found that 2/3 of the respondents were in engineering, IT or hard science).  Agreed that they are somewhat slower uphill because you can't weight shift or stand on the pedals.  Agreed that the high bottom bracket types are more difficult to handle in traffic (the low bottom bracket types like the Tour Easy are easier than a DF).   But once you try one for a few miles and get past the initial learning curve, I predict that you will ask yourself why you delayed so long.  I did.

Bob

23

General Discussion / Re: Bears in the Pacific North West

« on: April 27, 2010, 10:49:42 pm »

I've lived in the PNW for about 55 years, and camped in many of the parks and forest service campgrounds, and have never seen a bear there.  That said, there was a bear that took up residence on the median of I-5 last winter, and a trail I ride on weekly has bear, cougar, and lynx sightings on a regular basis.   A 50' lenght of parachute cord if you are stealth camping, or using the available bear boxes in places where they are provided is all you need to do.  The other thing to remember is that for most of the trip, you aren't really that remote--not like northern BC or SE Alaska where it's easy to be literally 50 miles from the nearest person.

Bob

24

Gear Talk / Re: Transamerica Gear/Packing List

« on: April 15, 2010, 12:02:43 pm »

Go to crazyguyonabike.com and click on the forums tab.  There is a gear list there that was posted on the last three days that is exceedingly complete using an excel spreadsheet.  It allows you to enter weights and location of each item, so that you can plan your loading in advance.   There is also a section in CGOAB that has equipment lists that have been used by people who have been out there touring.  Another source is right here at ACA under the "how to" section--there is a good packing list there.

Bob

25

Gear Talk / Re: TIRES - 700c vs 26 inch for long tours AND S&S Couplers

« on: April 14, 2010, 10:59:26 pm »

I have S&S couplers on a tandem.  As long as you don't lose the special spanner for tightening/loosening them, you will have absolutely no problems with them.  On a long tour or somewhere out of the ordinary, I'd take an extra spanner.  Check the couplers each morning before you take off, and they will be completely trouble free.

Bob

26

Gear Talk / Re: Sleeping Bag for Northern Tier + Lake Erie Connector route

« on: April 14, 2010, 10:55:07 pm »

If you want to try down, go to online REI Outlet and look at their Downtime 20 degree bag.  Less than $120, free shipping to REI members.  I have one, and it seems well made.  I wouldn't really class it as a 20 bag; more like a 30-35.  It compresses very nicely to about half the size of my synthetic 30 degree bag, and is smaller and lighter than my 40 synthetic.  It is asymmetric--60% of the down is on top, 40% on the bottom, and it has a zipper that extends down essentially all of the left side of the bag.  The regular size is listed as fitting people to 6'--I'm 6' and got the long because the regular was just too short.  This is not a $500 bag, but has great bang for the buck.

Bob

27

Gear Talk / Re: Thorn Audax and Thorne Club Tour

« on: April 09, 2010, 12:14:37 pm »

Might post this on crazyguyonabike.  They have had a recent posting in the review section on Thorn bikes.

Bob

28

Gear Talk / Re: Axiom Panniers

« on: April 09, 2010, 12:12:52 pm »

The Champlains have compression straps so you can make them smaller if need be.  The extra volume is nice if you have something that is light but bulky--a synthetic bag, for instance, that won't compress much.  For the money, they are a great deal--I have a set and the quality is first rate.  They are basically a one big bag type, top opening, with a couple of smaller zippered pouches on the outside.  They are very water resistant--not waterproof like Ortliebs--but come with bright yellow waterproof covers that are easy to get on and off.  As long as you watch out for the temptation to fill the extra volume with "goodies" that you don't really need, they are a great choice for touring.

Bob

29

General Discussion / Re: Fly a bicycle Sweden-US-Sweden

« on: April 06, 2010, 12:19:34 pm »

JUst one minor point.  Be sure you have it in writing from KLM about the $50 return shipping charge.  KLM's US partner, Delta, has been known to charge over $200 each leg to ship a bike, even when the airline's written policy about bikes was shown to the check-in agent.

Bob 

30

Gear Talk / Re: Anyone think this tent would be too big to haul cross country?

« on: April 05, 2010, 10:35:10 am »

Check out the Kelty Gunnison 2.1 at REI.  With the current 20% off coupon if you are an REI member, comes out to $157 + tax; free shipping to REI members.  Has gotten great reviews, is reasonably light (5 pounds), can be set up in two minutes, and has sitting headroom for those days when you are stuck in the tent because of weather.

Bob