An old cyclist's dream: take a 10 day to 2 week bicycle camping trip across Illinois and Iowa to Omaha. I expect I might get a few stares etc, a 64-65 year old grey- beard from La Grange Park Illinois riding up to the Olympia Cycle store at 40th and Hamilton in Omaha or anywhere along the way for that matter, with one of these trailers in-tow.
The seed of this rapidly growing idea came from clicking on an ad for these trailers on the right side of my facebook page.
Following the link to another YouTube video I found this set of ideas on how to make it an exercise in frugality. This guy has what seem to be some really great tips on how not to spend a ton of money on sustenance for bicycle camping trips.
I wonder just how possible this might actually be. Is it merely a fantasy of an aging would be cycle camper or a goal that's really possible for me to achieve?
2 comments:
Willy,
Like a lot of questions, the answer is 'it depends.' It depends on your conditioning. I rode Bikecentennial's Golden Spoke East tour back in 1976 (from Pueblo, CO to Yorktown, VA) and it was a bike-in tour with a set schedule. That is, no camping. I had so much fun that I decided then and there that I would do the whole shebang 4 years later when I graduated college. And I did. June 1980 to Sept 1980. We had a wonderful send-off from Portland, OR: Mt. St. Helens erupted for the 2nd time that year. Friday, the 13th of June. So, while I turned 18 and 22 on the 2 tours, I'd do it again, if I had the money. Also, I would certainly need to get back in shape for it.
Granted, a 2-week ride is not the same as 90 days, but you still need to plan for things, especially if you're doing it by yourself and not with anyone else. And nowadays, technology lets you keep in touch and reach out to people too.
So, get your bike all tuned up, plan your route so others know where you'll be, save up your money (if need be - I certainly had to back then), start riding (again, if you haven't been) and be sure you can do the mileage without hurting yourself. Be flexible with your daily distances. If you have to be somewhere at the end of the ride, then be sure you can ride a double-day's mileage if you need to catch up (on the 1980 ride, my bike's frame got mangled in Kansas and I had to do a century ride the next day to catch up with my group after I transferred all my equipment to a new frame - thank goodness there was a bike shop in town). The point of all this is to remember the 6 P's. Prior Planning Prevents **ss-Poor Performance.
BTW, I came across your blog while searching for battery-powered snow throwers. I am all for your idea of user-removable batteries. We here in NYC just got done with that Disney-named snow storm.
Good luck.
.Stephen
Willy,
I should add, that the 1980 trip was all camping, so we carried cooking equipment too, but it was shared. Some days you carried the cheese grater, other days you carried the fuel tank for the stove. Of course, now Bikecentennial is called Adventure Cycling Association.
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