Messages

76

General Discussion / Re: Shorts recommendation?

« on: May 26, 2009, 03:59:57 am »

i'd check out 'performance bike'....not sure if you'd have one of them near your place of residence...if not they got website with some pretty nice discounts on gear...i've gotten multiple pairs of cycling shorts thru them....they weren't a fancy name brand pair...but they lasted a xc bike trip and 4 other smaller bike trips, normal training routine, etc....and i still have em and they're going strong. 

michael

77

Routes / Re: Great Parks - Glacier Bay to Jackson

« on: May 13, 2009, 03:52:43 pm »

i think an issue bigger than the nice, long climbs is that you'll be drowning in RV traffic in the national parks.   i would rather have several days built into trip designated for each park.  there's a lot these parks have to offer which hardly anyone sees.  if you are pedaling through, might as well set up camp for a few days and march out on foot... out and away from the crowds.

78

General Discussion / Re: Furthest Distance

« on: May 08, 2009, 09:48:58 pm »

i got164 miles in while fighting a stiff headwind all day while doing the TransAm....though headwinds seemed to be story of my life on that trip.

79

Routes / Re: Chose my next bike route!!!!

« on: May 07, 2009, 11:43:54 am »

how 'bout natchez trace parkway....you could follow southern tier to natchez, mi and head north til you reach nashville, then head due east til you reach atlantic and then south on atlantic coast route to wherever home is....kansas is always a safe bet

80

Routes / Re: Starting the TransAmerica

« on: April 22, 2009, 05:32:49 pm »

hey there
i highly recommend shipping your bike via Amtrak.  I just discovered this and had great success using them to ship my bike multiple times.  Basically, bring your bike boxed up and any other boxes and they'll ship it for darn cheap.  I shipped my bike plus b.o.b trailer box from VA to San Diego and total cost for everything was $120.00.  The receiving train station will hold your boxes for up to three days free of charge.  Everything after that it's a minimal 'holding fee'.  they also have various sized boxes for shipping if you find extra things to be boxed up last minute. good luck.

michael

81

Routes / dinosaur diamond route

« on: April 06, 2009, 09:20:08 am »

hey folks
was hoping to do a trip of the dinosaur diamond (straddles utah/colorado).
wondering if anyone has done a bike tour of it before and how they thought road conditions were for biking on, distances between reliable food/H2O sources were....i'm on a travel nurse assignment out in rock springs, wy and trying to find some nice loops in the areas for days off, so any other good loops folks could recommend would be great too.  thanks.

michael

82

General Discussion / Re: A Few Questions About the TransAm

« on: February 28, 2009, 07:42:07 am »

staehpj1 (sp?)
ok...i figured it out by comparing our two blogs.
on july 7th ya'll were caught in a storm near earthquake lake area....i was caught in same storm but in town called cameron and ended up sleeping behind the post office there seeing it got extremely windy post-storm...so not too, too far behind ya'll. next day i had biked and then ended day at grant village in yellowstone park.  you folks camped somewhere else in yellowstone and looks like took a more extensive tour of the park, which i regret not doing...and the rest they say, is history.

83

General Discussion / Re: A Few Questions About the TransAm

« on: February 28, 2009, 06:58:20 am »

yeh yeh..2007..i had just graduated college and was heading eastbound back home to virginia with time constraint of starting job in august.
i'm not sure i recall meeting ya'll on the road....as i recall there weren't too, too many folks heading eastbound that i ran into, esp compared to the amount heading westbound....i had biked from grant village, wy (in yellowstone) to dubois, wy on july 9th....so i must have passed you folks somewhere along the way between oregon and there but you all might have been resting out of plain sight? or other way around.  once in colororado i took detour off TA and went through rocky mtn national park down to boulder and then hooked up with route again....i dont' really recognize ya'll from blog pics...nice blog though!!
here's my blog if care to skim through

www.dubobikingxc.blogspot.com

84

General Discussion / Re: A Few Questions About the TransAm

« on: February 27, 2009, 03:38:49 pm »

that runner guy is incredible...when i biked the TA i "biked" into him halfway up togwettoo pass (sp?) climb and on way to dubois.  incredible guy...looks like he's still busy...running

as far as dog topic....i'll assume you've equipped yourself with knowledge and know how of being a vet incase something happens? esp in remote places...

...if you do end up bringing dog maybe you should do the american discovery trail that way you are off busy roads more or less and still crossing the country.

pick up "walk across america" if you wanna read about peter jenkins dog he started his journey with. 

85

Routes / Natchez Trace to Blue Ridge Parkway

« on: February 22, 2009, 05:40:24 pm »

any folks out there with good roads to follow to connect northern terminous of natchez trace parkway (nashville, tn) to southern terminous of blue ridge parkway (cherokee, nc) 
thanks, thanks, thanks in advance

86

Routes / Re: Atlantic coast bycle route

« on: February 05, 2009, 07:57:14 am »

here's the phone number you can toss a ring towards:  757-331-2960......about 10 greenbacks for their services i reckon

87

General Discussion / Re: where to find white gas for first-timer from Europe

« on: January 25, 2009, 08:46:13 am »

if you are flying into denver I'm guessing there are some pretty decent outdoor stores....any of those should be able to get you the white gas for MSR stove..if there is an REI store in Denver I'd def check them out before departing Denver.  There are a few bigger sized towns that you'll go through if heading back towards Atlantic Ocean that should carry the white gas even if hardware store.  Their reliability is nothing to tap your foot to though.  Good luck.

88

Routes / food and water on the southern tier

« on: January 06, 2009, 08:19:53 am »

one thing i tend to do, regarding having enough H2O, is always keep at
least one litre in one of my panniers and pretend that it is not there.  that
way in case of emergency it is there.  
this has saved my butt several times, esp in summer when i planned on
resupplying for water at a town I saw on the ACA map and when i get
there it is nothing but a ghost town.  I know some folks don't like carrying
that extra weight, but if you just consider it to be an essential, which we
all know water is, then maybe that will ease the mind of the weight
conscience travelers.  

89

Routes / Suggestions about getting in and out the BlueRidge

« on: December 30, 2008, 10:35:22 am »

well, be sure to avoid 340...several trips i have done on skyline drive
used that road and there was a great deal of construction taking place
and the shoulder was about as wide as the white line they paint on the
side of the road....there were more trucker traffic than i had thought
would be, especially for a sunday morning, and a good bit of turkey
trucks.  
that was just my experience using THAT road.  you might find better
luck, though it won't be as direct.  not sure if that helps narrow
anythign down for you.  good luck and enjoy sklyline drive....if you are
biking the entire atlantic coast then it is def worth your while, and
effort, to continue on down the entire lenght of blue ridge parkway
until you get to cherokee, nc which is where southern terminous is.

michael

90

Routes / Southernn Tier December - January

« on: December 10, 2008, 07:52:45 am »

hey there
i plan on doing southern tier starting january 11th and have been
wondering the same thing...what i did was search folks' blogs on
crazyguyonabike website and sift through the ones that were close to
the time frame I'd be biking (though there were far less than i
thought).  also...i went to www.weather.com and typed in random
towns I knew i'd be biking through and went to an optino they have of
giving you the average high's/low's temps for the town you type in.  
also, the graphs on back of ACA maps give you a jist of weather
patterns in several major towns.  all and all, my thoughts are that
nights will be in the 30's and daytime high's won't be much more than
in the 60's, maybe low 70's.  again, i know it's hard to blanket statemet
for the whole U.S., but if it's warmer than what i expect then fine. and if
it's colder, well, then i'll still be prepared for that too.  hope that helps
some, though judging by your post you are possibly already on the
open road.  safe travels!

michael