Change of Plans

The tour from Seattle to Tulsa didn’t work this summer for a number of reasons, but what I am doing this summer is mobile bike repair. I figured that since I already have a bicycle, a trailer, a portable repair stand, and tools, that I would start offering human-powered mobile bike repair in Tulsa. If you live here, check it out: ON THE GO

After a hiatus…

It looks like I will be going on another tour this summer. Some friends of mine in Tulsa have been talking about riding from Seattle to Tulsa via Portland and San Francisco, and I will (probably) be joining them. The exact route, dates, and participants are still up in the air, so stay tuned for more. There will probably be some shorter tours around Oklahoma (Talamina parkway anyone?) as run-ups for that.

I also have a new touring bike. It is a Raleigh Sojourn, purchased from Recycled Cycles in Seattle. I ended up not using the Rohloff, largely for cost reasons (it would have cost more than my entire bicycle). I do, however have mechanical disc brakes, which are attached to the chainstay instead of the seatstay, making it possible to attach racks without bending over backwards. It wasn’t possible to have both a lowrider rack and a front fender using the normal eyelets, but judicious use of duct tape solved that problem. The Sojourn comes stock with a Brooks saddle, which is awesome, and the drivetrain components are comparable to what I had on the Rockhopper. The only weak point in the setup are the wheels, so I also had some A719 rims laced to 36h XT hubs, and I will put those wheels on (possibly with wider tires) before any long tours. The stock wheels have held up fine for normal commuting use, so I have no particular urgency in switching them out. One of the things I really like about the Raleigh is its aesthetic. The frame is a flat beige, which when combined with the brown leather saddle and bar tape, as well as a little bit of chrome (fenders, etc.) gives the bike a distinctly retro look. It also isn’t flashy, which is a very good thing in my book.

Pictures

I have uploaded all my pictures on photobucket now. The link is:

http://s601.photobucket.com/albums/tt95/bikeamerica/

There are almost 900 pictures up there, including a number of photocollages which mostly turned out pretty well.

If I built a new touring bike…

1. It would actually fit me. The Rockhopper frame is about the right size, but it stretched me out too much for a touring bike. It will also not be designed for a suspension fork, so that I won’t have to deal with a suspension-corrected fork. I might even spend the extra money for a custom frame.

2. The frame will either be steel or titanium. The latter would only make sense if I got a custom frame.

3. The wheelbase and chainstays will be longer.

4. The fork will have braze-ons for racks. I don’t like the clamps that I use now.

5. There will be a braze-on to hold the fuel bottle for a camp stove.

6. It would have mechanical disk brakes.

7. The wheels would have 36 or 40 spokes and I would probably use Rhinolite rims.

8. I would use 700c wheels, but the disk brakes would make it possible to switch them for 26 inch if I needed to.

9. I would probably get a Brooks leather saddle.

10. I would use dirt drop handlebars and forearm pads.

11. I would use a Rohloff Speedhub. If I didn’t, I would stick with the bar end shifters.

By the Numbers

5223 miles
54 riding days
9 rest days
17 states + Washington DC
127 counties
4 time zones
15 named passes
9 crossings of the continental divide
7 national parks + 2 parkways
10800 feet highest elevation
13 miles longest continuous climb
148 miles longest day
45 miles shortest day
12 flat tires
1 broken spoke
3 broken tent poles

Lessons Learned

1. Sleeping bags are overrated – just take a flannel bag liner and some warm clothes unless you expect really cold weather.

2. Smaller is better aka. volume is at least important as weight. If I could have fit all my stuff inside the panniers, waterproofing would have been obviated and I wouldn’t have had to deal with the trash bags. This means (1) either no sleeping bag or a small 60 degree bag, (2) a pad that folds smaller, and (3) put the tent and rain fly in the panniers, and just keep the poles outside.

3. Handlebar bags should be waterproof. They should also not be used without the front panniers, as they can cause strange handling characteristics.

4. When touring in very humid areas, don’t alternate pairs of bike shorts – they stay wet even when aired out for an entire day. Better to wear one pair for 2-3 days before switching to a new pair.

5. Even if you don’t ordinarily wear gloves when you ride, take a pair with you on touring. A month of 100-mile days can cause hand problems that would not show up in a normal month.

6. Tours on the East Coast should be planned carefully. Highways are often terrible routes, so bicycle route maps are a must-have. In the Western half of the country, state maps are generally sufficient.

7. If a motorist tells you the hills aren’t too bad, that means nothing. If he says the hills are difficult, that means the hills are ridiculous. Also, non-cyclists usually exaggerate the danger from traffic.

8. It gets easier to stealth camp the farther you are from an interstate.

9. Ibuprofen and stretching can treat minor stress injuries quite well.

10. A bicycle is a great way to see Yellowstone if you are there at a low-traffic time

11. No one east of the Mississippi knows what hiker-biker campsites are.

12. Rain gear is highly overrated – it is useful only in cold rains.

13. Your feet are the hardest part of your body to keep clean. They are also the most vulnerable to mosquitoes.

14. Reliability is the most important attribute of your equipment.

15. Interstates are not bad bike routes in rural areas. The traffic speed isn’t that much faster than other highways, and there is always a wide shoulder. The only tricky part are exit and entrance ramps.

16. Carry more water than you think you need.

17. Fiber is your friend.

Day 54: Woodside to Philadelphia

I’m done!

But today was not entirely pleasant. I tried to follow the Delaware bike route, but was not able to find a New Castle County bike map, so I lost the trail and took US-13 north. That worked until 13 merged with I-95, which meant that I ended up on DE-7, which also merged with I-95 a few miles further north. Anyway, I got lost near a mall (never a good place to be on a bike), had to backtrack several miles, rode through a hair-raising highway interchange, and inadvertantly found myself back on the bike route. Then I lost the trail again in the hills west of Wilmington (south Delaware may be flat as a pancake, but the northern part of the state has some steep, if short, hills). I then meandered around the perimeter of Wilmington and eventually found myself in Pennsylvania, on US-1. This highway had a nice shoulder for a few miles, but this went away around Glen Mills. Traffic was horrendous, and I got a flat near Media, so at that point I called Justin for a ride for the last ten miles or so. I’m glad I did, because US-1 just got worse, and I have no idea if there are any good bike routes into Philadelphia from the west. I had been counting on the traffic being mostly out of the city in the evening, but I think there was actually more traffic going into Philly that out of it.

Anyway, I am now relaxing at Justin’s place, and I have three days before my train leaves, so I will be able to do some tourist stuff (Art Museum, Independence Hall, Liberty Bell) in addition to the cleaning and organizing that needs to be done before I get on the train. I should be back in Seattle the morning of the 26th, if Amtrak runs on time.

Thank you to all of you who supported me and read this blog – I hope to do more bike tours in the future. I will try to write about lessons learned that I will apply to future tours, but the journaling part is done for now.

Approximate Route:

Today: 82 miles
Total: 5223 miles

Day 53: Denton to Woodside

One nice thing about flat country is that the sky lights earlier and gets dark later. I was on the road before 7, and reached Georgetown around 9:30. Then, instead of continuing on 404 to Lewes, I turned south and hit the Atlantic Ocean at Bethany Beach. The reason for this was that I knew I couldn’t get to Philadelphia today, so I figured that an extra 20 scenic miles up the coast would be fun, and not cost me another day. I reached the coast around 11:30, took the requisite photo of the front wheel dip, and then spent the next 20 minutes cleaning sand off of the bike.

During that time, I met Tom and Candy, a couple from the Philadelphia area who have done some supported touring in California and Europe. I also met an older couple from Pittsburgh who suggested that I take the incline to the top of Mt. Washington if it is running during my layover there.

From Bethany Beach, I went north to Lewes, where I made lunch and got a map of Sussex county’s bike routes. Then I got to Delaware’s state bike route number 1. The route snakes around a bit, and there were a couple of construction detours, but I mostly stayed on it all the way to Woodside. I am camped behind the Methodist church here; I couldn’t get ahold of the pastor, but the neighbors didn’t think there would be a problem, and my tent is not visible from the road. It has started raining a bit, and there is a thunderstorm to the northeast, but I got the tent up before anything got wet, so I should be fine.

I’m glad that this will be my last night camping out. During the previous two months, I have spent 40 or more nights sleeping outside, and I am ready to be done with this. My tent smells really funky and needs to be cleaned out, and my bedding has that peculiar weird feeling like it hasn’t been completely dry in a long time.

Approximate Route:

Today: 113 miles
Total: 5140 miles

Day 52: Herndon to Denton

I got a sort-of late start today; I must have needed the extra sleep. Linn saw me off, and my first stop was at Giant to buy food – I now have yet another supermarket card. I used the same trail route into downtown as the previous two days, but then I kept going on Independence from the Mall. “DC’s finest neighborhoods” didn’t seem too bad, until I got past RFK Stadium. Even the parts in Maryland weren’t that bad, though I probably wouldn’t want to be there alone at night. I got a bunch of stares there, and I noticed a funny thing: I was the only white person in Prince George who wasn’t in a car. I also suspect that bicycle tourists don’t pass through the area very often.

I reached Annapolis about 3, and promptly got lost. Despite the presence of signs indicating bike routes, the streets I saw were very narrow, and bicycle safety in Annapolis depends heavily on driver patience. Eventually, I found my way to US-50, hitched a ride across the bridge, then headed across the peninsula. I made dinner in a park in Denton, then kept going a few miles past there until it got dark and camped behind the Denton Wayside Church of Christ in Christian Union.

Route Notes: MD-214 (the extension of Independence) isn’t too bad except for the highway interchanges. Once it gets out of the DC metro area, the shoulder is quite large and traffic (in the middle of the day) isn’t very heavy. MD-2 has a bike lane until it reaches Annapolis. MD-404 (across the peninsula) has a big wide shoulder, and is quite safe, but has really high traffic volume, so it is noisy and not a particularly enjoyable ride.

Approximate Route:

Today: 104 miles
Total: 5027 miles

Day 51: Herndon to Herndon

This morning, I did pretty much the same as yesterday, except that my main activity in the National Mall was to visit the Air and Space Museum. On the way, I stopped at a bike shop in Georgetown to get some ideas on bicycle routes through the east side of DC. It turns out that there aren’t any particularly good routes to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and in the words of the tech who helped me, “you’ll see some of Washington’s finest neighborhoods.”

The air and space museum was awesome – I spent around 6 hours there, and saw all but two of the exhibits. The best part was the Wright Brothers exhibit – I had not realized either (a) their relative lack of formal education or (b) the amount of quantitative wind tunnel data they took in the process of designing their gliders. I took a picture of some of their graphs and data tables that I intend to use as a teaching tool to explain that it is in fact possible to make good, precise graphs without a computer, something that high school students frequently don’t understand. The museum also had a Wright bicycle – apparently they started building their own frames at some point, and these frames are currently very valuable collectibles.

Today: 50 miles
Total: 4924 miles