Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to bike across the country

brooks.team

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 133 posts

Re: How to bike across the country

#41

Post by JKCalhoun »

cynicalpeace wrote: post #34
soared wrote: post #3

Props to the author for grinding through this, but I think a very strongly worded and formatted warning is needed at the top. Embarking on this trip with so little knowledge meant putting yourself far away from civilizations while criminally underprepared. I love the energy of Supertramps, but there is a reason they are controversial. It would be very easy to make a mistake and be in big trouble - underestimating wat…

nope, you really don't need so much prep to do this type of thing. I've done these types of things multiple times and whenever I prepped too much, the experience was actually worse- heavier bags, less spontaneity, etc

Yep, met a guy who was dragging a whole trailer behind his already loaded bike. Another biker, seeing the setup, whispered to me, "You pack your fears."

Re: How to bike across the country

#42

Post by beezlebroxxxxxx »

floriannn wrote: post #21

I have 2500 miles so far this year and could do a century any random day without preparation and I’m doubting whether or not I can do GDMBR, meanwhile this guy didn’t even own a bike, didn’t even do more than 30 miles once he did, and just set off across the country. I guess I should just do it.

At your fitness level, you're more than capable of doing a long bikepacking trail.

The hard part isn't really fitness (for any moderately experienced biker unless your trip has a specific time or FKT goal), it's the logistics of food + shelter, the mental grind, and dealing with possible repairs.

Re: How to bike across the country

#44

Post by AnotherGoodName »

cynicalpeace wrote: post #34
soared wrote: post #3

Props to the author for grinding through this, but I think a very strongly worded and formatted warning is needed at the top. Embarking on this trip with so little knowledge meant putting yourself far away from civilizations while criminally underprepared. I love the energy of Supertramps, but there is a reason they are controversial. It would be very easy to make a mistake and be in big trouble - underestimating wat…

nope, you really don't need so much prep to do this type of thing. I've done these types of things multiple times and whenever I prepped too much, the experience was actually worse- heavier bags, less spontaneity, etc

I'm from a part of the world where people regularly die by going for a walk unprepared (google 'tourist dies in outback' for a repeated history of such).

Having said that i cycled a fair way across Europe in my youth with nothing but a light bag, water bottle and wallet in my pocket.

So basically it depends. Yes you can get away with it in certain parts of the world but i would never argue for unpreparedness since it's way too common for people to die from lacking the basics of preparation.

Re: How to bike across the country

#45

Post by raffael_de »

jaxtracks wrote: post #2

One theme that pops out to me here is the reliance on other people being a positive experience for the author. In the software field, we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society. This can be alienating and warp worldview. When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my…

I made similar experiences - some also through hitch hiking. One major takeaway for me was how often my "flash judgements" are wrong or unfair. I'd also say that asking for help and trusting is more of a strength one has to develop and nurture than a sign of weakness, which is what I used to believe.

Re: How to bike across the country

#46

Post by benjbrooks »

sour-taste wrote: post #9

Congrats! It was super interesting to read about the western express, when I did this a few years ago I did the astoria route: https://blaise.bike/ Did you look into different tires? 8 flats seems like a lot. I got exactly one running schwalbe marathon plus tires. Overall what was your favorite part of the trip?

i didn't look into different tires. my hypothesis is that most of my flats can be attributed to all the weight being on the back tire.

favorite part was jumping into extended conversations with strangers. from a scenery perspective, coming down into Lake Tahoe from Eldorado was just absolutely stunning. same when I went past Bryce Canyon.

Re: How to bike across the country

#47

Post by benjbrooks »

rd wrote: post #17

I'd love to do this one day! Curious - after reading, the part about wildlife scares me. Did you ever run into genuinely worrying situations with wildlife? Hearing about Black widow spiders alone makes me want to only do this with a van following behind me to sleep in at night!

i was a little worried about bears for the night or two i was in bear country but my fear of cars and weather was far more top of mind

Re: How to bike across the country

#48

Post by shaftway »

I've done a much shorter route, but still long with a similar amount of preparation - Port Angeles, WA to San Francisco, CA

I can not recommend it highly enough. It took us 2 weeks which is a much more reasonable amount of time to take off. I wasn't really prepped and not in great physical shape, which made it more difficult, but it was so rewarding. That route is very popular and there are hiker / biker camp sites every 30 miles or so. About half the people you see each night are going the same direction as you, so you probably saw them last night.

I would strongly recommend the paper maps from ACA. They are fantastic, and you can get a holder that goes between your handlebars. It's really hard to use your phone as a GPS when you're out of power.

I also broke a spoke on my wheel and it wasn't a very common wheel type. The person I went with had to go 20 miles back to a bike shop and ended up buying me a whole new wheel. So getting bog-standard equipment is very helpful.

Re: How to bike across the country

#50

Post by googlryas »

sour-taste wrote: post #9

Congrats! It was super interesting to read about the western express, when I did this a few years ago I did the astoria route: https://blaise.bike/ Did you look into different tires? 8 flats seems like a lot. I got exactly one running schwalbe marathon plus tires. Overall what was your favorite part of the trip?

After getting 4 flats in 4 days on a bike trip, I had good luck with anti-puncture kevlar tire liner tape.
Post reply on HN