Touring - Interstate bike move?

I am exploring the idea of moving from Oregon to Colorado by bike. I have no sense of how crazy this idea may be, so I thought I’d ask here first.

By normal standards I have very little that I’d need to move. The entirety of the load would fit into a 2.5’ x 6’ x 3’ closet, and I am sure I could pare it down a bit more.

I am sure that it would require at least one trailer or an xtracycle and a friend.

The time for this will not come until the summer of ’07, so I have a lot of time to figure out the details.

However, before I move on to those, I’d like opinions on the idea in general.

:)

Okay, no one seems keen to respond, I'll add a little more information.

I've never ridden this distance before but I am sure I can do it. I have all of the camping gear that would be required to avoid hotel stays, and heavy use of restaurants.

I am imagining two touring bikes with panniers and trailers, or maybe with an xtracycle.

The problem I see is weight. I know from backpacking, and from reading about touring, that keeping weight down is often the key to comfort. I am not ignorant about bikes and would spend time and money to create as much mechanic advantage as possible. With this in mind how much weight can a fit person tow on a bike across 1,200 miles in a handful of weeks or so?

Why not just mail your stuff to your destination and then just enjoy the ride? To feel better about "moving" it, take and pickup the items to and from the shipping company on your bike.

Post this over at the "car free" forum. Those people know their stuff when it comes to this type of thing. Not that they don't here, but it might be more appropriate there and you'd get more responses.

Your question is basically answered here:

http://www.bikesatwork.com/hauling-cargo-by-bike/hpv-cargo-capacity.html

You need to do some experiments to see where you fit in the calculator at the bottom of the page. Also I have no idea what kind of grades you will encounter on your route and that is major consideration. If I was doing that trip I think the max weight I would carry is 150lbs, I hope this helps.

Why not just mail your stuff to your destination and then just enjoy the ride? To feel better about "moving" it, take and pickup the items to and from the shipping company on your bike.

+1


I would add a recumbent with a trailer ya know.

When one goes touring with the bike and gear weighing whatever it does for a given individual, I would say the amount of that stuff that constitutes the stuff I have at my home adress is pretty mush zero. I mean obviously the stuff lives at my house, but it's touting or camping gear, not household goods. Maybe a homeless person could do what you suggest, but even many of them have more stuff than one would want to carry surplus basic gear, on a tour.