Sunday, 23 December 2012
Hints & Tips...
So you’ve
decided you want to ride across America, your wife / girlfriend has given you
permission and for odd reason you’d prefer to spend weeks on the saddle on
scorching tarmac instead of lying on a beach in South East Asia. Well it would
be only fair and generous of me to offer a few small pieces of advice. Some of
this advice will only be relevant to riding across America, other bits might be
helpful where ever you are riding. Nothing is more annoying than someone
telling you how to plan your trip, so I’m sure you’ll make some mistakes like I
did; take them on the nose, improve and write them in the recommendations
section at the end of your blog!
Maps
I didn’t buy one
until the second day, well at least for Washington State. I would strongly not
recommend that approach. One thing I must stress is that in at least the
Western part of the states all roads that go anywhere will appear on a state
map, so that’s all you really need. Any ‘county’ roads not on the map are
likely to be gravel and not going anywhere important. I was always trying to
plan around 2 to 3 days ahead with my ride. In terms of a particular type of
map I’d recommend Rand McNally it was quite a bit clearer than some of the
others. Its always worth asking in bike shops for specific bicycling maps, a
couple of states had these and these tend to show how busy each road are and
the gradients.
Of course you
might have moved into the 21st Century and got yourself a GPS. In
fact I now have one too, although there was something a little more rewarding
by navigating by paper and pen. One thing I did have however was an application
on my Android phone called ‘MapDroyd’ which lets you download maps offline
(unlike google maps). The GPS on my phone would plot me on the map for moments
when my map reading skills masked my glorious history in the Scouts.
Phones & Communications
If you read
through the earlier section of my blog, in fact right at the beginning you’ll
see the setup of keyboard, phone, batteries and chargers that I bought for the
trip. It worked well until I smashed my phone in Nebraska. I then got a tablet
and an LG phone, but technology has already moved on.. I brought my unlocked
phone over from the UK and put an ATT sim. You’ll be limited to either T-Mobile
or ATT if you want to use a European phone as the other networks use a
different mobile phone system from GSM. ATT do a good deal of unlimited calls
for $2/day and I think I got 500MB of data for $25. Most campgrounds / motels
had wifi so I didn’t ever run out of data.
My best advice
is if you are traveling overseas and need to stay in contact is to buy a Skype
phone number and then have this forward to the ATT phone. This means for $2/day
(the ATT fee) and 1p / minute (the skype charge) you can chat to people in the
UK. The only catch is they will need to call you to get routed through. It’s a
good way to spend a few hours on a quiet back road chatting to one of your good
friends whilst burning down the miles. By the way pay-as-you-go ATT wasn’t
setup in Wyoming or Idaho when I was there, so you might be on your own there.
Air Mat
Lets face it,
once you have been on the bike for hours on end one of the most important
things is being able to have a good nights sleep. I did quite a bit of research
before making my purchase. I started my camping career with a thin foam mat
before upgrading to a therm-a-rest in my teens. I have to be honest both of
these really felt like sleeping on the floor with tiny bit of padding, a big
stone would easily disturb your sleep. I found a company called Alpkit, they
make a range of sleeping mats, quite a few are like the therm-a-rest but the
make one model called the Numo:
This folds down
to a tiny size to attach to the bike and is incredibly comfortable. I cannot
recommend enough. You need to realize that you do have to blow it up (normally
takes 3 or 4 minutes).
Rims & Panniers
I learnt this
the hard way, strong wheels are good, especially when you are loading them with
lots of weight. The Jamis Bosanova I bought came with standard 32 spoke wheels,
you’ll find more expensive touring bikes come with 36 spokes per wheel, the
standard road bike will come with 32 spokes. You can cycle with 1,2, or maybe 3
spokes loose anymore then you are on the downslope towards wheel collapse. A
spoke tuner to try and keep them tight is a good idea. Anyway if you are going to
load a bike make sure you have 36 spokes where the weight is.
This brings me
on nicely to panniers. After extensive research I settled on some rear Ortlieb
panniers. Ortlieb are the gold standard of panniers from my understanding, they
are tough and very waterproof. Nobody wants their belongings getting wet. The
top of the panniers kind of roll close, I was surprised how simple the closing
system was. In addition the material is fairly tough and can take being
scratched or dropped on. The only
thing I will say is that you can’t stick stickers to them, they seem to come
straight off. I selected only rear panniers as I could get all my stuff in
them, I’m a bit intrigued when people have front and rear panniers, maybe if
you are cycling across Siberia or Africa but I’m not sure why you’d need them
across the United States. I was a bit suspicious of steering with front
panniers, I’d imagine it makes the bike less responsive – but I’m only
speculating.
One more thing
to add – Kevlar tyres. They are great – less punctures, harder wearing, worth
the money.
Blinkey
If there is only
one thing you take away as a cyclist reading this blog, I hope its this piece
of advice. Buy a blinking rear light and use it all the time, regardless if it is
dark or not. I’d recommend a specific kind of blinkey which magnifies the
flash. My favourite is now the Raleigh Astrum ( I didn’t have this during the
ride). The red flash is so bright that even the most day dreaming driver would
see you. Pam confirmed this sometime afterwards driving behind me, saying she
could see the flashing a quarter of a mile away. It must be said someone
crashing into the back of you is unlikely but I’m going to do everything to
minimize it. The fact that more people don’t have them on during the daytime
(especially when you can disappear in a dark shadow of trees) amazes me. I have
to say I felt safer on my ride when I had it turned on, this might just be a
placebo effect, it would be good to have some empirical evidence to back it up.
Anyway I suggest you ride with one.
Hotels, Camping, Coupons
Somewhere to
sleep is obviously quite important when you have been on the bike all day long.
Whilst I did have a few nights being a lone ranger engaging in wild camping;
lets be honest its nice to have a shower at the end of the day. Roughly I did 60%
in the tent, 30% in motels and then 10% at friends’ houses. One website I must
mention before going on is warmshowers, sadly I only found out about this
towards the end of my ride but basically it’s a couch surfing website for
touring cyclists. I didn’t use it but apparently its rated.
I’d recommend
when staying in hotels or campsites that you negotiate, with my key bargaining
point was that I was riding for charity. The average motel was around $40-$50
and camping was $15 a night. I was generally getting a discount of around $5
when camping and $10 in motels. Occasionally I’d be allowed to camp for free or
asked to donate the fee to charity. With hotels I had two other tactics: the
first was to find coupons in coupon magazines from gas stations usually for
motel 6 or super 8. If I was looking for something up market then I’d go for
priceline, ‘name your own price’. You select a city, a hotel rating and make an
offer at a given price. You can typically stay in a 4* hotel for half price
(you just don’t know exactly where although you can specify an area).
Be aware that
not all campsites have moved into the digital era. Some of them don’t have
websites or aren’t on google maps. There are a couple of good RV park review
websites floating about which have a pretty comprehensive listing. I also had a
few stays at KOA (kamp grounds of America), these were a mixed bag as they
could be expensive for what they were. That said my favourite camp ground was a
KOA in Wyoming.
Friday, 29 June 2012
Too good... too bad...
Great things
about cycling across America:
45th Parallel - it never occurred to me at any point
that I’d be crossing this line so when the sign appeared out of no where it was
a great surprise. It kind of made me feel like I was on an intercontinental
journey. The 45th parallel is in between the North Pole and Equator.
Interestingly my parents house in the Pyrenees is right next to the 45th.
Continental Divide – if
you are going West to East the continental divide is great, it means you are
halfway but yet you have only cycled a third of the way. The climb to the continental divide was epic but from this point
onwards I knew generally it was downhill towards the east coast.
State parks – and to be
fair Federal Parks are one of America’s greatest treasures. A camp spot, a
clean toilet, running water and a socket all for $5 a night with amazing
scenery and polite neighbours. Most of the state parks I stayed in were
beautiful places; Lake Perry in Mississippi was one of my favourites.
Swimming Lakes – after a
long hard day in the saddle nothing is better than a swim, and if it’s a wild
open water swim all the better. I only got to do this on a couple of occasions (Lake
Perry was sadly filed with gators).
Cove Lake at the foot of Mount Magazine was amazing and I nearly had it
to myself. In fact whilst I’m at it I’ll add in the whole of the Ozarks to my
highs!
Bike Shops – one thing
about being a cyclist (and a touring cyclist especially) is a sense of
community and looking after one another. Whether it be a free inner tube, a
cycling map or some sage piece of advice cycling shops felt like a safe refuge
of calm. Also an excellent place to accessorize and make repairs.
Oklahoma Car Drivers – the
cyclist / motorist debate needs to stay closed, I hear so many lies and
misunderstanding on either side. BUT I will stand up for Oklahoma Drivers who
on many an occasion checked to see if I was alright. I remember three different
drivers stopping when I had a flat on the way to Tulsa and had run out of inner
tubes.
Wildlife – now I have to
admit I am no biologist and not a great animal lover but I did see some cool
things, deer, zebra, turtles, bison. Loved seeing them in their natural
environment even if they refused to be filmed. Sadly missed out Yellowstone,
but next time.
Food – I loved using my
micro stove, I felt like a real pioneer when I did this (even if I was cooking
beans). I loved being cooked for, fresh fish out of the lake was amazing and
also dining in random restaurants and finding strange food in gas stations. But
yes I drank too much mountain dew – sorry.
Coastline – getting to
Florida was a weight off my shoulders, seeing the sea meant I wasn’t too far
away from completion. Riding next to the sand, smelling the sea air and cycling
next to the tourist resorts made the cycling easier.
Meeting Friends – after
miles and miles, many chats to strange people staying in unknown campgrounds in
new states, a friendly face was one of the most welcoming sites. My stays with
the Hansons, the Gillums and the Leachs were amazing and homely – I had great
stays with all of them and I want to thank them again.
Bars and Beer – when
friends aren’t around there is nothing like a beer to help you find new
friends. A wander into a new bar would always result in a great chat with
someone, a game of pool or even some karoke. Thank goodness prohibition is
over. Be warned however once you venture onto the spirits or wine you are bound
to be limiting the next day’s cycling.
Military Hardware – you
can’t question America’s military might unless of course you are a member of
the North Korean Government. Once you have a military that big you’ll have a
lot of old tanks and missiles to dispose of and what better way to get rid of
them then put them in a park or on a podium – brilliant.
KOA Douglas – this
campsite wins my award for best campsite of the trip. Firstly they only charged
my $5, secondly they had a great swimming pool and thirdly the campground was
absolutely immaculate. Douglas, Wyoming really is in the middle of no where so
this campsite is a gem in the wilderness.
Cars which go on Train Tracks
– I thought this was just Back to the Future, but no it actually exists in real
life, even if the flex capacitor doesn’t!
Bad things about
cycling across America:
Route over cascades –
don’t follow google bicycle maps
Rear wheel – how many
spokes can one person break?
Losing things - ( 4 pairs
of sunglasses, helmets, rear lights, tshirts) - where is that white helmet now? surely its been removed from the vending machine where I left it! I always wonder looking at this photo how I got anywhere, why is my sleeping bag on the outside?!!
Gatorade offer – the offer
of 2 bottles for $3, when I could only ever carry 1 at a time, ever so
annoying..
Wind in NOK – blowing for
days on end in my face, not as planned..
Chucked out of mcds – this
was a low point of Oklahoma..
Miles in Florida – this
state is really wide, and a lot of the middle of it is really boring
Poverty in Mississippi –
well I didn’t get mugged, but some of the scenes were third world and pretty
sad
Man-flu – cycling with
man-flu is not fun, and no amount of ibuprofen is going to make this 60 miles
any shorter
Dogs - more than enough has been said about my
opinions on wild dogs, I didn’t use the bear mase so I guess that’s good
Cateye sensor – that
bloody cateye computer not working.. grrrr…see video!
Gaps in shoulder NE –
never got a letter back from Governor Heineman – booo!
White bicycles – no one
likes a dead cyclist
Mileage slippage – I’m
sure some engineer out there is having a laugh over that cheeky extra mile he
popped on a sign (you’ll need to find the relevant post in Arkansas for those
of you who have no idea what I’m talking about)
Phone smash – try not to
cry, it happens!
A Time for Thanks! (Take 2)
** Updated - sadly it seems I missed some people out of my thank you list, and they obviously failed to read my second pps... I can only blame this over sight on the Excel for Mac. Whilst being some what of a self certified Excel genius, the shortcuts which I have learnt over my many years excelling Microsoft seem to have totally abandoned on the Mac. This turned the whole process into a labourious track pad clicking mess during which various names were deleted from history. So I transferred the date to my PC and viola, hopefully all the names!**
What is this you may well be asking? Surely not another sea2jax post… Well my last entry on the road promised four more posts including a thank you list, highs and lows, recommendations and some wedding photos. Well it’s nearly a year later and I still haven’t written any of these posts! This task has been sitting at the bottom of my to-do list all this time. Something always seemed to be jumping in the ‘to-do’ list queue.
I’m on holiday
with my parents in South Korea and promised myself time to write this. So most
importantly I want to thank all the people who helped me be it sponsorship,
accommodation, food. I’m sure there will be people I have forgotten but I have
done my best to make the list as complete as possible.
So firstly I’d like to
thank my sponsors. What was interesting when I was compiling this list was that
a few of you tried to be sneaky and be anonymous, however I could see who you
were. One person however managed to remain truly anonymous – well done you! A
special note to Clare Hughes who actually sponsored me twice, once at the beginning
and once at the end.
Pam Mick
Carol and Vince Mick
Dennis Amari and Tony Mick
Stephen Fleming
David Terrace
Anupa Purewal
Pete Hartwell
Zoe Henshaw
Danny Anders
Mary and Jeremy Burtel
Clare Hughes
Chris Harragin
Lynne and Andy Marshall
Todd and Kathy Prough
Andy Pariser
Christie Meehan
Anonymous
Tim Nicholson
Deron Johnston
Oli Bliss
Angela
Brian Guinn and Emily Tan
Laura Jordan
Helen G
Nick Collinson
Jen Gillet
Amy Berrett
Tom Worvill
Andy Hardingham
Richard Gallagher
Jane & Michael Merman
Alex Thomas
Adam & Tanya Carter
Sara Jung
Ed Garner
Frixos Kaimakamis
The Zboril Family
Matt Barry & Marnie Dudek
Claire and Alex Brown
Brian & Liz Peers
Megan, Brett, and Tatum Mahle
John Iceton
Emma-Kate Nelson
Mark & Kathy Leach
Alan and Cheryl
Mark Lovatt
Tyler Flamank
Mike Murrell
Veronica Davies
Andy Broome
Paul Delfgou
Nick & Brittany Evans
Kathie Keizner
Mary Renneker
Patty Crysel
Matthew & Sarah Thomson
Rachel Stanley
Matt Pickard
Dominic Bliss
Rose and John Allkins
Mark Wheeler
Al and Alison Hollingsworth
Bill and Shannon Brady
Tom Smith
Joe Myers
Adrian Farrington
Tim Palmer & Sarah Wright
Mary and Gary Cane
Kevin and Rhonda Lurkins
Sharon McGeehan
Suze Stevens-Wood
Gill Evans
Violaine Ludwick
Amy Boehnert
The Dicksons
Mike & Sue Gallagher
Debbie Grelle
Clare Hughes
Karen O'Connor
Shant Oknayan
Damien Homer
Jason Knoy
John Hayden
Tim Jarrett
Starbucks La Grande
Deborah Rowley
Okatoma Resort
Next I’d like to thank
the following people for accommodation or food or general hospitality:
Steve Whipple &
Family – for accommodation in Seattle
Post Lady of Ravendale
– for the camping in her garden
Pizza Hut Lady in Kansas – for the now famous pizza coupons
Ontario Scouts – for feeding
me in Oregon
Cyclists of Boise –
for guiding me through their city
Jen Meehan – for acquiring
me a North Face Tent at cost price
Boise State University
– for letting me on their football field for a photoshoot
KOA Mountain Home – for
upgrading me to a tepee
Verdell & Lisa –
for blueberries and other food
Roger & Family -
for Fish at Gelncoe State Park
Melbeta Shop – for a
free can of insect spray
Everyone who clapped
on beach – and thanks to Pam and Christie for organizing
Gemma and Dan – for meeting
up for dinner on their world tour
Ethan and Katie – for giving
me a bed in Wichita, KS
John & Jim Gillum – for the huge amout of
hospitality in Little Rock
Cowie Wine Cellar nr
Paris – for wine tasting!
Casey and Dina - for
lunch cycling in to Little Rock
Saxon Tire Barn in
Mississippi – for repairing my rear wheel for free
Kim – the lady who
drove me to Saxon Tire Barn
Wisteria Inn – for a
huge discount and free beer
Gary (Jehovah’s
witness) - for cooking fuel
Patrick (Ironman) –
for cycling with me in Florida and inspiring me for my ironman!
Leach Family – looking
after me for a night in Florida
Carla and Patrick –
staying in an amazing house next to the sea + dinner
Wakulla Spring State
Park – very discounted accomodation
Dave and Dale – giving
me their gloves
I’d like to thank the
following bike shops for keeping me on the road and the various freebies that I
received. Special note for Travis who worked for free fixing my wheel, I hope
he has managed to re-plan his Transamerica ride..
Bikesport Seattle - Seattle, WA
Mountain Works Bike
Shop - La Grande, OR
Fitzgerald's Bicycles
- Jackson, WY
Patty Cyclesport -
NorthPlatte, NE
Travis Ragged Edge
Sports – Casper, WY
JR Sonnys Bikeshop -
Scottsbluff, NE
Coopers Cycle Centre -
Stillwater, OK
Hattisburg Bicycle -
Hattisburg, MS
Cyclesport Pensacola - Pensacola,
FL
Right I also promised
some wedding photos, so here are four of the best. After this I’ll be doing one
more post on the highs, lows and recommendations. By the way the photo at the
top is me cycling in South Korea – had to fit a cycling photo in somewhere,
sorry the narcissism of this blog will end soon…
p.s. a special thanks to my lovely wife Pam for letting me do this trip and being so understanding. I guess it will baby time soon :)
p.p.s. super sorry to anyone I forgot, compiling this list was a nightmare!
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