Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.trappermark
07-16-03, 01:22 PM
Thought I'd share my experience of the first attempt of my wife and self at touring.
First, some background. My wife is 44, in excellent shape. I'm 46, excellent health, about 10 lbs. over ideal weight (but that's disappearing fast due to cycling!). We've been off-and-on casual cyclists over the years, but never more than 10 miles at one time, and never with any load.
This year we decided to take our bikes along on our trip to Nova Scotia. We wanted to use them for short excursions at our various stops (and to ride Acadia Nat. Park's excellent carriage trails on the way home), but also wanted to include one mini-touring type ride. My wife has a brand new Heron touring frame with custom fit components and Rivendell bags. I have a Trek 4300 MTB. I exchanged the standard 1.95" knobby tires for 1.5" semi-slicks for this trip. I have a Trek rear rack, rear panniers, rear "trunk," and handlebar bag. I would also be hauling a bike trailer.
Our plan was to ride from Digby, Nova Scotia, along Digby Neck, then cross by ferry to Long Island, ending at a B&B in Freeport on the far end of Long Island...total of about 40 miles.
Digby is a small town on a bay off the Bay of Fundy; it's self-proclaimed scallop capitol of the world. We spent a night at a downtown B&B, which graciously allowed us to leave our car parked behind their home until we returned.
After some mechanical struggles with the bike trailer, we set off about 9 a.m., an hour later than planned. The touring guide we used had very little info about the elevations of the route. It only mentioned a big hill going out of town. Now Digby Neck on a map looks something like the barrier islands of Virginia and North Carolina near where we live. Our experience with those is that they are relatively flat. Digby Neck was anything but! Turns out that it is the top of an ancient mountain chain sticking out of the Bay of Fundy.
The trip down the length of the Neck was challenging for us unseasoned cyclists. Combine continuous hills (many of them quite long & steep) with a 30-40 mph wind right in our faces. You'd sigh with relief to see the top of a long hill, only to have that wind hit you, so it was like never being off the hill.
On the encouraging side were two things: the gorgeous views of St. Mary's Bay (the side of the Neck towards the "mainland" of Nova Scotia...and the thougth that we were actually pulling this off!
There's very little commercial development along this road, so the gas station convenience store at the midway point looked like an oasis to us. Wonderfully friendly lady behind the counter treated us like family as we raided her counters for an impromptu lunch.
At 3 p.m. we arrived at the ferry crossing to find that the ferry had just broken down. We were told it would be about a 3-1/2 hour wait for another ferry to arrive from the far end of Long Island. A local struck up a conversation with us and ended up offering us a ride across Long Island in his pickup once the ferry resumed. After he told us that we would be taking our lives in our hands because the islanders drive like New Yorkers at rush hour when the ferry has made them late, we decided to take him up on it. It was time to give pride (and our legs) a rest.
We ended up having such a wonderful time in the little village of Freeport (and the unspoiled beauty of nearby Brier Island) that we extended our stay and extra night. Saw whales and seals and rode down dirt roads to many secluded rocky points, each with its own requisite picturesque light house.
Our return trip day was predicted to be rainy, cold, and a reversed wind -- meaning in our face again- no fair!! Turned out to be sunny, mild temperature, mild breeze off our left shoulders. Love it when the weatherman is wrong that way!
This was our great day of personal triumph (all you double-century riders stop snickering). This time, we knew what we were in for with the hills...this time no pickup trucks. When lugging that bike trailer up those long hills, I so wanted to give up several times...but I didn't. I don't think I've ever experienced a feeling of accomplishment as great as that when we pedaled up to our parked car back in Digby.
I know that was a wimpy ride compared to many of the tours I've read about on this forum, but it was an important milestone for us. We proved to ourselves that these mid-40's grand parents (we started young ;) ) could do something like this. And more importantly, the bike touring bug bit hard and infected us good. We'll be doing more, for sure.
We just registered today for our first century, the Water-to-Water tour on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in late October. That'll be a nice goal to work toward these next few months.
mark
t
First, some background. My wife is 44, in excellent shape. I'm 46, excellent health, about 10 lbs. over ideal weight (but that's disappearing fast due to cycling!). We've been off-and-on casual cyclists over the years, but never more than 10 miles at one time, and never with any load.
This year we decided to take our bikes along on our trip to Nova Scotia. We wanted to use them for short excursions at our various stops (and to ride Acadia Nat. Park's excellent carriage trails on the way home), but also wanted to include one mini-touring type ride. My wife has a brand new Heron touring frame with custom fit components and Rivendell bags. I have a Trek 4300 MTB. I exchanged the standard 1.95" knobby tires for 1.5" semi-slicks for this trip. I have a Trek rear rack, rear panniers, rear "trunk," and handlebar bag. I would also be hauling a bike trailer.
Our plan was to ride from Digby, Nova Scotia, along Digby Neck, then cross by ferry to Long Island, ending at a B&B in Freeport on the far end of Long Island...total of about 40 miles.
Digby is a small town on a bay off the Bay of Fundy; it's self-proclaimed scallop capitol of the world. We spent a night at a downtown B&B, which graciously allowed us to leave our car parked behind their home until we returned.
After some mechanical struggles with the bike trailer, we set off about 9 a.m., an hour later than planned. The touring guide we used had very little info about the elevations of the route. It only mentioned a big hill going out of town. Now Digby Neck on a map looks something like the barrier islands of Virginia and North Carolina near where we live. Our experience with those is that they are relatively flat. Digby Neck was anything but! Turns out that it is the top of an ancient mountain chain sticking out of the Bay of Fundy.
The trip down the length of the Neck was challenging for us unseasoned cyclists. Combine continuous hills (many of them quite long & steep) with a 30-40 mph wind right in our faces. You'd sigh with relief to see the top of a long hill, only to have that wind hit you, so it was like never being off the hill.
On the encouraging side were two things: the gorgeous views of St. Mary's Bay (the side of the Neck towards the "mainland" of Nova Scotia...and the thougth that we were actually pulling this off!
There's very little commercial development along this road, so the gas station convenience store at the midway point looked like an oasis to us. Wonderfully friendly lady behind the counter treated us like family as we raided her counters for an impromptu lunch.
At 3 p.m. we arrived at the ferry crossing to find that the ferry had just broken down. We were told it would be about a 3-1/2 hour wait for another ferry to arrive from the far end of Long Island. A local struck up a conversation with us and ended up offering us a ride across Long Island in his pickup once the ferry resumed. After he told us that we would be taking our lives in our hands because the islanders drive like New Yorkers at rush hour when the ferry has made them late, we decided to take him up on it. It was time to give pride (and our legs) a rest.
We ended up having such a wonderful time in the little village of Freeport (and the unspoiled beauty of nearby Brier Island) that we extended our stay and extra night. Saw whales and seals and rode down dirt roads to many secluded rocky points, each with its own requisite picturesque light house.
Our return trip day was predicted to be rainy, cold, and a reversed wind -- meaning in our face again- no fair!! Turned out to be sunny, mild temperature, mild breeze off our left shoulders. Love it when the weatherman is wrong that way!
This was our great day of personal triumph (all you double-century riders stop snickering). This time, we knew what we were in for with the hills...this time no pickup trucks. When lugging that bike trailer up those long hills, I so wanted to give up several times...but I didn't. I don't think I've ever experienced a feeling of accomplishment as great as that when we pedaled up to our parked car back in Digby.
I know that was a wimpy ride compared to many of the tours I've read about on this forum, but it was an important milestone for us. We proved to ourselves that these mid-40's grand parents (we started young ;) ) could do something like this. And more importantly, the bike touring bug bit hard and infected us good. We'll be doing more, for sure.
We just registered today for our first century, the Water-to-Water tour on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in late October. That'll be a nice goal to work toward these next few months.
mark
t