Touring - new to touring - some questions.

i'm posting this here to get advice from experienced touring cyclists as well.

I'm seriously considering attempting this with a friend of mine in May. Do any of you who've done such a thing have any advice you can lend? I'm thinking of setting up my Kilo frame as a singlespeed and taking it from there. Are there specific components that would be better to have than others? Anything in particular I should consider a necessity? Any advice on training, etc. TIA for any help or advice.

edit for a link to the site. http://www.tosrv.org/08/index.htm

i realize now (after skimming through various threads) that my definition of touring and your definitions of touring may be a little different, haha.

you guys and girls have been on some amazing adventures and your stories and pictures are truly inspirational!! for one, i'm going to commit to this 'tour' and have fun with it. but i think i may plan an actual 'tour' at some point and ride a long distance, camp out, meet people; have an adventure of my own!

keep riding! keep posting your stories and pictures, i've been enjoying them. if you have any advice for a first time 'tourer' please share. in the meantime, i'll keep reading this subforum. :)

i realize now (after skimming through various threads) that my definition of touring and your definitions of touring may be a little different, haha.

you guys and girls have been on some amazing adventures and your stories and pictures are truly inspirational!! for one, i'm going to commit to this 'tour' and have fun with it. but i think i may plan an actual 'tour' at some point and ride a long distance, camp out, meet people; have an adventure of my own!

keep riding! keep posting your stories and pictures, i've been enjoying them. if you have any advice for a first time 'tourer' please share. in the meantime, i'll keep reading this subforum. :)
Keep reading here but also try the Long Distance Cycling forum.
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=231

I'm seriously considering attempting this with a friend of mine in May. Do any of you who've done such a thing have any advice you can lend? I'm thinking of setting up my Kilo frame as a singlespeed and taking it from there. Are there specific components that would be better to have than others? Anything in particular I should consider a necessity? Any advice on training, etc. TIA for any help or advice.

edit for a link to the site. http://www.tosrv.org/08/index.htm
According to the information on the site, the course is mostly flat but with a few short steep hills. That's going to be a lot easier than doing the same distances in hilly country, as long as you're not dealing with wind. However, you're still going to do two back-to-back centuries. Make sure you're prepared. The distances are significant. To prepare, ride lots. Make sure you can do a century without feeling completely wiped the next day.

Why are you looking at setting up your bike as a single speed? You may need additional gearing for the hills and if you're pushing a headwind.

As for components, you don't need to go fancy as long as you've got a reliable bike.

I think his kilo bike might be a track bike that is a little more difficult to set up with gears than a single speed. If your knees are good, and you can handle the geometry of a track-style bike (assuming that's what it is) for such long distances, then give it a try.

But definitely try at least one long ride beforehand and give it a good, hard critique on points that worked and those that didn't -- especially the comfort and contact points of saddle, pedals and handlebars. You won't need to worry too much about baggage, obviously, but have a roadside toolkit and puncture repair kit/spare tubes, plus somewhere to carry food and an extra bidon cage for drink.

thanks for the advice, guys! :)

yeah, i have 2 fixed gear bikes, my older schwinn which i just setup (i had the frame only and built it from there) and haven't even got to ride yet and my kilo which has 'track geometry' and track dropouts. i plan on setting up the kilo for this ride and going with a single speed on it. that will definitely be easier than fixed, haha.

We've been doing 10 - 15 milers (riding hills in cincinnati) on the FGs and once it warms up we'll be upping those to a few ~30 mile rides throughout the week. And i plan on taking the kilo out (solo) on long rides, maybe starting at 50 miles and work my way up from there to make sure I'm prepared for it. I think that will be good training for this event although those guys don't want to do this one. So I found some other people who want to do this event on single speeds but I won't really be able to train with them as we live a good distance from each other.

It's just two days, 2 days, train and have fun. A single speed bike just makes you cooler and the ride longer.:D

Sorry, that sounds mean, not meant to be, slower on a long ride can be good, but usually just leaves you with a sore bottom. I have just never understood the attraction to fixed gear bikes, just does not compute in my little pea brain.

Oh yea, advice, you were asking for advice not peanut gallery comments like mine, train, eat well for a couple days before the ride and stay hydrated on the ride days, especially at the end of the first day and wear a sleeveless shirt that shows off your tattoos.:eek:

Just go go crazy with your gearing. Start with a gear you think you can push all day, and have a cog about two teeth bigger on the other side of your flip flop for a bail out gear. If you haven't done any long rides your body will really start to protest about mile 80 (at least that's where mine does and I've heard others say the same). Have fun, and remember it's not a race.