Eating and spending on a two month biking spree

[bobbirob22]

hi stephanie, i read your post today while browsing adventure cyclings archives and am curious, did you make the trip? please let us know. i am planning a very low budget tour from kentucky to los angeles  california and am considering taking route 66. any tips or pointers you could pass along would be much appreciated. thanks...

ROBERT

This message was edited by bobbirob22 on 12-24-08 @ 2:47 PM

[scott.laughlin]

Staphanie,

Memories are made from beating the odds.  Do it.

[centrider]

I too am curious how your cross country (ChiTown-LA) went.

But I have a question for bobbirob22 (the one from Ky).  I'm considering riding the UGRR from Owensboro, Ky thru Ky, Indiana, Oh, Pa, NY and finally into Owen Sound, On., Canada.

So, what's it like riding in Ky?  In May.

This message was edited by centrider on 12-24-08 @ 3:29 PM

[bobbirob22]

centrider,, kentucky has poor riding conditions due to lack of sidewalks  and bike paths. going down ky highways can be downright dangerous because of careless drivers and many semi trucks not to mention pot holes and other obstacles you might encounter.  while riding in kentucky, i usually take the grassy area beside the road rather than the road itself due to high traffic but i prefer to be out of the way of motorists. in the years ive ridden in kentucky, drivers can get very aggressive towards a bicyclist if they are "slowing traffic" and start yelling, cursing and throwing things at you especially if they feel like you are "in their way" which is why i ride the grassy areas instead of the road. however, in recent years kentucky has began to improve with installations of sidewalks and bike paths. im not  real familliar  with owensboro or any of northern kentucky, maybe they have better and safer riding conditions than we do here in bowling green kentucky, wish I could help you more. good luck and may the wind be at your back...

ps, in may the weather is always changing from storm systems to partly cloudy to clear and calm, but other than that, it is a beatifull time of year to ride through kentucky.

ROBERT

This message was edited by bobbirob22 on 12-24-08 @ 4:34 PM

[staehpj1]

I think this trip was supposed to be in the Spring of 2007, so it is likely she isn't following this anymore.  I also am curious if anyone knows whether she went and how it worked out.  

[Westinghouse]

I was wondering the same thing. Whatever happened? I have always tried to keep my touring expences down by stealth camping, and using less expensive motels, but I have never taken to going through supermarket dumpsters for food. My only sources of food have always been food stores and restaurants. I would never sleep along the side of the road. However, they can do their tour any way they want.

[bobbirob22]

i just checked her profile and it says that her email is disabled... so we may never hear from her, oh well..

ROBERT

[Westinghouse]

Oh well. Sleeping alonside the road and eating out of supermarket dumpsters is, in my opinion, not the way to get things done. I camp in the woods, stay in motels, and eat from food stores, front door entry, and restaurants. However, I hear they throw away perfectly good food from supermarkets. Be that as it may, if I had to rely on that for touring, I would just stay home.

[staehpj1]

Robert,

I am really puzzled by your comments about Kentucky.  That was definitely not my experience.  The conditions are better than my area in Maryland and I consider that a good place for riding.  The roads were fine except for the visibility being short due to trees and twisty roads in some of the rural areas.  The drivers were generally quite courteous.  We enjoyed our ride through there when doing the Trans America.  And another time that I visited I did a good bit of riding and thought both the roads and the drivers were fine.  I didn't find the roads all that much different than many other places we rode, but since most of the state is fairly rural traffic was typically very light, at least compared to more developed areas.

The drivers were more timid about passing us than many other places and since there weren't shoulders on the rural roads we were on we sometimes had to pull over when people refused to pass after we tried to wave them around a couple times.

There were a lot of dogs loose and we were chased multiple times every day.  That was the biggest drawback, but it wasn't a huge deal.

This message was edited by staehpj1 on 1-1-09 @ 11:16 AM

[bobbirob22]

staehpj1  our experiences differ a lot, i guess its just a matter of when and where you ride in kentucky as to the experience you will have. im not trying to scare or mislead anyone from riding in kentucky. kentucky has beautifull scenery and is a wonderfull place to bike through but at times it can get downright mean on the highways of kentucky. just my experience. im not saying its like that all the time, most of the time ive had rather pleasant rides on these streets but on occasion i come across that one pissed off motorist in a hurry to get 5 miles down the road and when they get behind you they start honking, yelling, and yes even cursing at you before you have a chance to move off the road to let them by and every once in a while i have had drivers toss beer bottles, cups full of liquid, and even food at me when they pass. you may have a pleasant trip one time and the next a not so pleasant trip. just depends on when and where, sort of like being in the wrong place in the wrong time like i always seem to be. ive lived in kentucky all of my life and it has always been like this, at least where i live (bowling green). just letting others know that it is a possibility while riding in kentucky or anywhere else for that matter to be hassled by motorists.

ROBERT

[centrider]

Well, all comments and insights are welcomed.  Twisty roads with short sight lines are a problem, as are blind right curves.  That's why I ride without my iPod. Even with my attenuated hearing, I can usually hear something coming if I can't see them.

I've ridden in Maryland - a lot, usually the E. Shore and I think no finer roads anywhere on the continent.

Dogs can be a problem because they generate the fight or flight response:  Lots of adrenalin pumped leaving me feeling like a dishrag.

I've only had one item thrown at me - an orange (what else, this is Calif.).

Anyone else with info riding in Ky?  

[staehpj1]

Robert,

Yes our experiences are quite different.  It makes me wonder if Bowling Green is that much different from the parts of Kentucky where I have ridden.  Given that it isn't a major metropolitan area and that we rode not all that far from there I am guessing that the difference is probably mostly in our respective expectations.

My experiences there indicates that Kentucky is a very nice state to ride in, better than some and worse than others.  Strangely the closest we had to a problem with drivers was that some of the drivers were excessively timid about passing.  We rode across the state (5 days) and it was not substantially different from Missouri before it or Virginia after.

You commented that "kentucky has poor riding conditions due to lack of sidewalks and bike paths".  For what it is worth I never ride on sidewalks and mostly avoid bike paths where possible when on tour.  There are a few exceptions on the bike paths (there was a great one near Breckenridge Colorado for example).  I have to say that if you consider Kentucky a poor place to ride for the reasons you stated that you might feel the same about every state we rode in as we crossed the US.  I advise that you either get used to riding on roads with no shoulder or pick your touring routes very carefully.

For other riders who read this I would say don't worry much about Kentucky beyond being ready to deal with loose dogs.

[sanuk]

Much of the above aside, I'm also trying to estimate the costs of a possible couple of months on the road in the Western USA - WA, OR and maybe CA too.  I don't live in the US so don't really have a feel for daily costs of living.  I'm not an idealist, a purist, or a hobo - well, my niece thinks I am but what does a Paris Hilton wannabe know?   However, as it happens I am a vegetarian - well, sort of as I do eat fish.  On this subject it might be worth checking out the website and/or book by the Scotsman cyclist Mark Beaumont - The Man Who Cycled the World.  He holds the world record for that and was a vegetarian until he hit the Middle East.  He was on a 6,000 calorie per day diet so had to adapt.  He also more recently did the Alaska to the bottom of South America route.  Not many vegetarians in S.America I'd guess, but he survived and even slept in bus shelters and by the side of the road too when he had to.
But I'm not trying to emulate him.  Don't have the muscles or sponsors anyway, so it's all self financed.  However, after the costs of my flight and buying the gear I'll need I'd like to keep my travelling expenses below $50 a day.  Does that sound do-able including perhaps a camp site with showers?  On that topic, how much do US campsites cost on average for cyclists.

[JHamelman]

However, after the costs of my flight and buying the gear I'll need I'd like to keep my travelling expenses below $50 a day.  Does that sound do-able including perhaps a camp site with showers?  On that topic, how much do US campsites cost on average for cyclists.

Sounds doable. You might want to read the Bike Touring 101 article on our How To page (http://www.adventurecycling.org/features/howto.cfm) for other tips and thoughts on cost.

.Jennifer.

[bicyclerider]

Just go and have fun. I'm out here looking for work and on the road pedaling across the USA. Currently in Phoenix trying to contact Habitat for humanity to volunteer at location's across the usa.
If anyone has any email contacts please post it here.
Jean Andre Vallery