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How to bike across the country

brooks.team

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Re: How to bike across the country

#71

Post by contingencies »

googlryas wrote: post #50
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.

Ooh never heard of that. That's awesome! As mentioned in the last point in the document, often if you get repeat punctures it's because the causative element is still embedded in the outer tire. Once this happens you learn the real value of fixing a tire is not in the patching, which is a different challenge, but the analysis: 1. Locate the puncture. 2. Match the inner tube back to the rim using the air valve location. 3. Translate the puncture location from the inner tube to the tread. 4. Search like hell for the cause.

Re: How to bike across the country

#73

Post by contingencies »

benjbrooks wrote: post #46
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.

Route wise, did you deviate at all from the suggested route? Never felt the call of a fork in the road? I find value in small roads (less traffic) where feasible. Basically riding with wildlife rather than cars.

Rhythm wise, super surprised you did the whole thing without stopping! I used to do a half day (pre-dawn to late morning) then chillax at a place and explore. This gave time to recover, take in the area, balance cycling with walking, and time to maybe wash some clothes which means carrying less. Rest days can be best days. That's totally nuts you did the whole thing without stopping!

I'd be sketchy on those Utah areas too - no shade! Probably would have camped out at the lookout there, etc. Of course, not feasible if you're running out of water.

I'm getting old now (43) but have to mention one thing I never properly appreciated in my earlier travels and regret missing was the biology. iNaturalist is friggin' awesome. It has never been easier to get in to biology, and it adds a deeply fascinating dimension to travel. Looking at those instant pot meals, foraging would be one application!

Re. Diet, I was veg when I did most of my cycle trips too. Used to acquire bags of raw husked peanuts as easy protein. On later trips (Romania) deeply appreciated eating a steak!

So... any ideas for next trip? Europe? New Zealand? Around Australia? Back across Canada from "Europe"? https://maps.app.goo.gl/URwtvz9wxWHWYEb18

Good luck, don't be afraid to slow down, and keep it up. Once you have kids it becomes difficult to continue.

Re: How to bike across the country

#74

Post by dkarl »

potato3732842 wrote: post #39
throwway120385 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME drivers are by far the biggest danger on the road.

The author engaged in a cross country road trip, not a daily bicycle commute in NYC. While I would be very surprised if your assertion wasn't statistically true it likely unwise to take what is typical and blindly apply it into a situation that is a massive outlier without specific reason to do so.

It's true everywhere. If you're a cyclist you would have to engage in creatively suicidal behavior to elevate any of the other risks of cycling to the same magnitude as getting randomly taken out by a driver.

Re: How to bike across the country

#75

Post by em-bee »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #41
cynicalpeace wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

keeping that in mind is almost a life philosophy. but also, reducing your fears comes from experience. the more you travel, the longer you live, the more you discover things that you didn't need, if you pay attention to it.

Re: How to bike across the country

#76

Post by cynicalpeace »

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #44
cynicalpeace wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

just because you read it in the news doesn't mean it's common

Re: How to bike across the country

#77

Post by devilbunny »

em-bee wrote: post #75
JKCalhoun wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

keeping that in mind is almost a life philosophy. but also, reducing your fears comes from experience. the more you travel, the longer you live, the more you discover things that you didn't need, if you pay attention to it.

> the more you travel, the longer you live, the more you discover things that you didn't need

Thing is, you don’t know what you need until you’ve done this. I have taken a two-week trip out of a carry-on suitcase. You will need laundry service at some point if you want to be presentable in public, but there are companies selling clothes that are designed to wash and dry quickly even with hand soap and a sink, but you have to know they exist and be able to afford a not-cheap new set of clothing.

But I have done this because I started minimalism with trips to places where I knew I could buy whatever I needed within an hour if I forgot something. Do several of those and notice what you don’t use, pulling it off the list unless it’s a rarely-used-and-important-but-not-replaceable-quickly item. Like my contact lenses, which are always a special order. I keep a few in every item of luggage I own. I carry a spare phone, because if my phone dies outside the US or Canada (as my Nexus 6P did) it’s not trivial to get a replacement with US frequencies, and with eSIMs not trivial to swap into something new while still being on my US number (needed for work). I would have to find WiFi first.

And yes, my backup phone has the apps for my service and my wife’s. As soon as I have WiFi, I can be going in ten minutes. It’s currently running a backup of my phone that I update before every trip, but I back hers up too, and while it might take an hour or two to restore and get working again, it can be done easily.

Re: How to bike across the country

#78

Post by mauvehaus »

zhivota wrote: post #61
blindstitch wrote: post #22

I think that finding free camping outside when you are in some shit nothing town is probably the most important skill to have, which is easy with satellite maps. Once you get the hang of it you realize that every town has at least one site where you can definitely get away with pitching a tent for one night. I think I have camped this way about 80 times and have never even been asked what I'm doing. That said, state…

I did it this way back in 2007 when I didn't even have a smartphone, you can develop an eye for it at the ground level as well. I camped 8 nights without paying once and never had an issue. The only time I had to resort to help was in suburban Cleveland area, it got dark and it was too built up to stealth camp anywhere, so I ended up stopping at the fire station and they let me camp in their yard. They are there all…

Were you heading east through Cleveland and did some rando try to give you directions to a spot in Shaker Lakes metro park that involved jumping a guardrail near a bridge? If so, that was me; sorry I didn't offer up a couch at my place; my roommates wouldn't have been cool with it.

Re: How to bike across the country

#79

Post by mauvehaus »

blindstitch wrote: post #22

I think that finding free camping outside when you are in some shit nothing town is probably the most important skill to have, which is easy with satellite maps. Once you get the hang of it you realize that every town has at least one site where you can definitely get away with pitching a tent for one night. I think I have camped this way about 80 times and have never even been asked what I'm doing. That said, state…

Counterpoint on RV centered "campgrounds": they have sweet amenities like a grill, a pool, laundry, and often a building with some air conditioning and some books previous guests have left behind.

Not an every night kind of thing, and you're unlikely to find much in the way of grass to put a tent on, but I stayed at one with another guy who was bike touring and we get like kings for the night.

When you're digging holes in the national forest to shit in, it doesn't take much!

Re: How to bike across the country

#80

Post by em-bee »

devilbunny wrote: post #77
em-bee wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

keeping that in mind is almost a life philosophy. but also, reducing your fears comes from experience. the more you travel, the longer you live, the more you discover things that you didn't need, if you pay attention to it.

> the more you travel, the longer you live, the more you discover things that you didn't need Thing is, you don’t know what you need until you’ve done this. I have taken a two-week trip out of a carry-on suitcase. You will need laundry service at some point if you want to be presentable in public, but there are companies selling clothes that are designed to wash and dry quickly even with hand soap and a sink, but you…

you don’t know what you need until you’ve done this

well yes of course. that's the other part. you learn what you need that you didn't prepare for too. sometimes through failure.

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