[chinotex]

Hey folks,
I'm no long-distance rider, but I have some friends in Boulder, CO that I would like to visit this spring, and I'm toying with the inkling of the idea of riding from here (Houston, TX) to Boulder, Colorado. On a whim, I did a google map direction search and it's 1,080 miles using their "Avoid Highways" feature. What would it take to do this for someone like me? Houston does have a Randonneur club, so I was thinking joining that would be a good start... but what about equipment, logistics, training? How long would it take?

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[supcom]

First of all, what you are planning to do is not randonneuring, it's touring. However, joining the Houston Randonneurs would certainly help you with conditioning for touring. They're a good group.

The touring forum will give you better response to your questions. But, as a general rule, you might plan to average about 60 miles per day if you are fully loaded. Don't forget to allow for rest days. Be conservative since it would be your first tour.

[valygrl]

Yep, go to the touring forum. I do about 350 miles/week on tour, one day off a week, carrying full camping/cooking gear. Go check out www.crazyguyonabike.com for journals of people's bike tours, that will give you an idea of what it's all about. You might even be able to find someone who has done a similar route, and has info on it.

You can camp or stay in motels, cook or buy food in restaurants or eat cold food, use panniers or a trailer to carry your gear, ride a road bike, mountain bike or touring bike, take paper maps or a gps, ride 20 miles a day or 120... etc. etc....

There are lots of ways to do it. They are all good! Have fun!

[Toddorado]

Why avoid highways? Once you hit Dallas, take 385 to Decatur and join 287 - the bike lane is wider than a car lane, and you can get to Denver never leaving 287 (but you might want to if you want to see the views :)

Commute to work - the best training. You do it five days a week an there's your training. Weekends, take longer rides when you have more time. I rode to work for nine months (30 mi. round trip) and then took off from Colorado Springs to Dallas (~750 miles). The riding was the easy part - squeezing every last ounce of each day into the available vacation I spent was the hard part.

Time is your most precious commodity.

And how would it not be randonneuring if the cyclist did 60+ miles a day?

[StephenH]

Going up 287 is a good car route. It might be a good bike route but you could also wind up with a good stiff headwind for 400 miles, too. It goes through a lot of open country.

[Toddorado]

In early October 2005, the headwind came from the south. Brutal. The ride up the hill would be nice!