trailer pulling and old guys

[roadrunner]

Hi Geezer,
I'm 66 and have been touring about 12 years.  I started out riding 80-90 miles a day; now I plan for about 60, primarily because that gives me time to stop and take in things along the way.  I find it much more enjoyable to visit historic sites, Dairy Queens, and scenic detours than just watch my front tire.
I've used both panniers and a BoB trailer.  Both work fine and both have advantages and disadvantages. The BoB and it's waterproof bag are easy to drop for unloaded riding to a restaurant or to fix a flat, and the bag can stay outside the tent on a rainy night. The trailer also offers less resistance in headwinds. It's easier to locate and get to items in panniers (if one remembers where everything is).
On flat or rolling terrain, the trailer is almost unnoticed and doesn't make the bike as top-heavy as panniers.  On long climbs, the added weight of the trailer is certainly noticeable.  I'm planning a tour in the Rockies next summer and will probably use panniers because of the climbing involved.
A non-touring advantage of the trailer is for running errands around town.  Try carrying a 40-pound bag of dog food in panniers!

[bkrbll]

Haven't been on any long tours yet, but I use a trailer that I modified to do my grocery shopping.
Age 52.  I commute to work with a set of panniers case I can get everything inside. With the panniers loaded I had some handling issues, perhaps from the load not being balanced. With the trailer I have only noticed that is takes more effort to get going, but them I am carrying more weight, but once moving I have to look to make sure it is still there.

Have a Burley flat bead that I modified with a wood box and insulated compartment. The Burley is rated for 100lbs and I have had it to the max on several occasions. Pulls great once I get going. Not sure I could do a hill with it loaded. I have done an overpass with about 60lbs on her with no trouble just used a lower gear.

[psychling]

Though I find myself unwilling to refer to you as `geezer' just because you're 60 I guess that is what you want.  BUT ... more importantly you state that you have COPD.  COPD is a health condition, not an age condition.  Before you start pulling trailers or climbing Mt. Mitchell on the BRP I would consult with a good physician and plan a very gentle and patient exercise plan that, if successful, you could transition to a training plan.

"sleep is a crutch!"

This message was edited by psychling on 12-23-07 @ 7:26 AM

[Geezer]

It seems that my caling myself Geezer offends some people here. I would like to clear the air about that and let anyone that thinks I am looking for sympathy for my age understand that I am in no way invalidid by my age or my condition. When it comes to doing a days work or even a days ride, most people half my age can not hang with me. There are exceptions and they are mostly exceptional specimens!
That said I have found that I am not the man I was at forty six (when I feel I peaked)and I cannot spend the rest of my life trying to bull my way through every physical task. I am much more into enjoying now than I am pain.
As for my Copd, it is a condition that I earned throiugh stubborness and stupidity over the many years of amny packs of cigarettes. I find that is no where near the problem that rheumatic fever left me with as a four year old. I'm aware that it will slowly get worse as the years go by and that there are treatments and such to handle it. But all the treatments and such do not take away the fact that when I peddal up hill it is much harder than down or on the flat. Since I plan on this tour I'm undertaking lasting quite a long time I'd like to make it as easy and painless as possible and as long as I can make it last. Hense my questions about trailers and the ease of pulling one.
I hope that from now on when someone hears that I have chosen to call myself Geezer that it is not meant to be offensive and that I do this in jest. This Old Geezer is alive and well and still a force to be reconed with. There will be days when I will be seen on the rode and someone will think, "that old geezer should be," here or there, but many will not be able to be there when they get to my age. I feel it fitting, ironic and a proud name to wear.
 

Geezer..Ride till you can't no more.

[Geezer]

I want to thank everybody again for their input to my question. I have considered all I have heard and made my decision as to whether to use a trailer or not. Not. The reasoning is that I plan on being on the road for quite an extended period of time, how long exactly I can't say. The deciding factor is that I will have no place to store a trailer or a means to ship one anywhere should I decide I cannot enjoy pulling it. I see many use and conviences to them and only one major downer to them. Pulling one up hill could tend to be a added weight at that particular time that I may not want to deal with. I can push a loaded bike easier than pull that load the bike and the trailer up a hill when I can no longer peddal up it. Those days will come along, I am sure. The Blue Ridge Mountains are something I am very familiar with  and figure I will spend a good deal of time in. There I think I would be better of without the trailer. I like Mountains and plan to see a lot of them all over the country on this trip, so I feel the trailer has lost because of that fact.
At some time after I finish my touring around the country, I will most likely get a trailer for a whole host of good reasons. Also If I was thirty and still into the pain and proving I could, I'd probably pull one along just to prove I could, but I'm long since proving anything to anybody now and into doing it for the enjoyment. Getting lazy in my old age, I guess.
Thanks again all.

Geezer..Ride till you can't no more.

[razor]

   Hey Geezer have fun with your tour . As someone who was looking into the subject this has helped alot . I am 51 and been on some longer tours . Please take some time out and check out links for ultralight touring and hiking it will give you some good ideas about what you really need to take . Also with the fancy wheels these days make sure the wheels can handle the load you want to carry . The wheels are being engineered with little or NO margin for extra weight designed in . Just watch out for the cool looking wheels that some salespeople might pawn off on you otherwise you will spend all your time replacing spokes . Been there, done that .

Razor

[wrightwheel]

Howdy--I am sixty two and have used both bags and trailers. I have a Burley cargo trailer (two wheels) and a Bob Yak. Overall I like trailers better. They just feel better.

[ragincajun]

You should really be commended for planning a long tour and not considering your age.  Look at it this way, cycle touring is a great equalizer.  I know for a fact that someone thirty years old who is not in "bike shape" will hit the wall much faster than someone 60+ who has been preparing physically. One advantage of a trailer is that it is easy to remove the load and ride around unladen when you get to areas that you want to linger in.

Cheers!

[Geezer]

You all have given me a lot to consider about the trailer vs Panniers thing, but in doing so I have been led to numerous other considerations about the bike I'm building, such as gears, peddals, handelbars, etc. This is turning into quite an education and I am glad this place is here to get the ideas and answers. I want to thank everyone for their input and support. One answer always seems to lead to another question here, even if only to see what others think.
Now if one of you could just point me in the direction of the pile of money for all of this......

Geezer..Ride till you can't no more.

[razor]

Hey geezer , you don't HAVE to have a pile of money . Sure it's nice to have the latest stuff and coolest gee-whiz gear .But the most important thing is to be willing to go . JUST DO IT . You can go on a fun tour where all your gear came from K Mart and/or yard sales . My first tour was on a ten speed that I put a rack on the back and bungeed a army duffel bag on with some cut-offs, tee shirts for clothes  ,a big piece of plastic for a tent and a jar of peanut-butter and loaf of beard and mess-kit from scouts . Is this the best way to go , NO. But , I did bike about 500 miles on that trip . Just because someone else needs something on their trip doesn't mean you will . I met an English couple touring around the world and they were carrying 150 lbs of stuff on each bike and they were staying in hotels and mailing anything they bought back home . It seemed like they were trapped by their stuff . Get stuff you think you will need to enjoy yourself ,not to impress me or your ridding buddies , then do it and have some fun and let us know how went "if you feel like it " .

Razor

[Geezer]

My tour is going to be my home for a couple of years. There isn't going to be a job or home to come back too or money to throw around on stuff that might not or might work. It is going to have to work as best it possibly can. I hope the tour turns out to be a lot of fun, but it will be a tour to live as much as a fun tour. Not a recreational tour, I'm planning.

I plan to explain all of this at another time in a different forum when I have more time.

Geezer..Ride till you can't no more.

[Geezer]

Razor, I've done the weekenders and the trips into the woods for days with nothing but a knife. I'll be doing a lot more of that stuff this summer on the bike I now have. But, what I am planing now is a long extended tour that I expect to last a couple of years at least. No back up from anywhere, but what money I'll have saved (not much) and what I can make here and there working at what ever I find when I need it. Takes a little more forethought or I'll find mysef broke down and real hungry real fast. Been there before too and getting too old to want to live that way anymore than I have too.

Geezer..Ride till you can't no more.

[razor]

Sounds like a fun challenge . I'm sure you've read the usual books on long tours and so forth , have you checked out the web site crazyguyonabike.com and WarmShowers.org . One for Ideas and inspiration the other for help .I'm sure there are many more .
  Smooth raods and clear minds , Ray

Razor

[Geezer]

Razor,
Been all over CGOAB great site. Haven't gotten to the other one yet. I've been doing a lot of planning, researching and thinking about this thing for a few months now. Here and CGOAB have been my main sources of information and both of them take you lots of places. Been thinking of writing up how this has all come about and asking a ton of questions to see how manyu others out there have doen anything of this type and get feed back. But, it has been hard to come u0p with the time and right way to put it out there so far. I'm leaning more toward putting it out on CGOAB since it seems like a more appropriate place for it. The support and feed back I have recieved here has been great, but the venue here seems to be a a bit different than what this is all about. Keep an eye out over there and yo might find a story thre soon though.
Thanks again for your thoughts and input.

Bill

Geezer..Ride till you can't no more.

[Cycleguy]

Hi Geezer... I'm 64 and tour with Panniers.. Really like having my gear on the bike, tryed a trailer B.O.B before getting panniers and found the panniers more to my liking.. Your only as old as you feel, take your time and enjoy your trip..   PAUL