Touring - Prospective Touring Newbie Looking for Advice

Hi there!

Well the story is, I've been biking the summer months here in Wisconsin for the last three years recreationally, and last summer was averaging around 20-50 miles a day until i completely burned out.

This summer, I have plans to spend four months backpacking in Glacier National Park, Banff, etc. and will certainly be taking my road bike. Additionally, I want to do a few extremely long rides (500+ miles), and am loosely planning to bike across America.

I certainly hope I'm not asking incredibly common questions, but here i go!

My first is: How exactly should I go about planning the actual routes? Are there inexpensive, comprehensive books with maps and routes already layed out? A Website, perhaps? How do I know which roads are high-traffic, or provide shoulders? I would definately prefer not to go with a tour group, as money is an important factor.

Second: Are there any particularly common, beautiful tours that i might be interested in? (Southern Canada, Anywhere US, Possibly Central America are all fair game).

Third (most important): I will begin my 3 months of indoor-training within the next week, and am about to purchase a set of Kreitler Challenger Rollers w/o a resistance unit. My plan is simply ride about an hour or two a day, 6 days of week, keeping my heartrate under 80% MAX the whole time. Am I on the right track? Is this essentially all i need to do to prepare or is there more? Should I vary my training with different intensities of riding? I assume it is important for touring to use largely aerobic energy, how can I avoid burning out after just a week or so on my bike?

If these topics have been discussed a thousand times before, I apologize and ask that you please point me in the right direction.

Thank you so much for any help you might offer!

Ted

Hi there!

Well the story is, I've been biking the summer months here in Wisconsin for the last three years recreationally, and last summer was averaging around 20-50 miles a day until i completely burned out.

This summer, I have plans to spend four months backpacking in Glacier National Park, Banff, etc. and will certainly be taking my road bike. Additionally, I want to do a few extremely long rides (500+ miles), and am loosely planning to bike across America.

I certainly hope I'm not asking incredibly common questions, but here i go!

My first is: How exactly should I go about planning the actual routes? Are there inexpensive, comprehensive books with maps and routes already layed out? A Website, perhaps? How do I know which roads are high-traffic, or provide shoulders? I would definately prefer not to go with a tour group, as money is an important factor.

Second: Are there any particularly common, beautiful tours that i might be interested in? (Southern Canada, Anywhere US, Possibly Central America are all fair game).

Third (most important): I will begin my 3 months of indoor-training within the next week, and am about to purchase a set of Kreitler Challenger Rollers w/o a resistance unit. My plan is simply ride about an hour or two a day, 6 days of week, keeping my heartrate under 80% MAX the whole time. Am I on the right track? Is this essentially all i need to do to prepare or is there more? Should I vary my training with different intensities of riding? I assume it is important for touring to use largely aerobic energy, how can I avoid burning out after just a week or so on my bike?

If these topics have been discussed a thousand times before, I apologize and ask that you please point me in the right direction.

Thank you so much for any help you might offer!

TedAdventure Cycling (http://www.adventurecycling.org/features/howto.cfm) is a great site for answering all your touring questions.

Hi-

You may also want to read other folks travelogues from their tours to get ideas for gear, bikes, routes, etc...

Here's a great place to do just that...

CLICK HERE (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/?pics=small)

:)

These are both great! Thank you very much.

Ted

Hi there!

Well the story is, I've been biking the summer months here in Wisconsin for the last three years recreationally, and last summer was averaging around 20-50 miles a day until i completely burned out.

This summer, I have plans to spend four months backpacking in Glacier National Park, Banff, etc. and will certainly be taking my road bike. Additionally, I want to do a few extremely long rides (500+ miles), and am loosely planning to bike across America.

I certainly hope I'm not asking incredibly common questions, but here i go!

My first is: How exactly should I go about planning the actual routes? Are there inexpensive, comprehensive books with maps and routes already layed out? A Website, perhaps? How do I know which roads are high-traffic, or provide shoulders? I would definately prefer not to go with a tour group, as money is an important factor.

Second: Are there any particularly common, beautiful tours that i might be interested in? (Southern Canada, Anywhere US, Possibly Central America are all fair game).

Third (most important): I will begin my 3 months of indoor-training within the next week, and am about to purchase a set of Kreitler Challenger Rollers w/o a resistance unit. My plan is simply ride about an hour or two a day, 6 days of week, keeping my heartrate under 80% MAX the whole time. Am I on the right track? Is this essentially all i need to do to prepare or is there more? Should I vary my training with different intensities of riding? I assume it is important for touring to use largely aerobic energy, how can I avoid burning out after just a week or so on my bike?

If these topics have been discussed a thousand times before, I apologize and ask that you please point me in the right direction.

Thank you so much for any help you might offer!

Ted


Other have given good advice. Here is some more:

If you go on the internet and search through the departments of transportation or tourism for most states you will find a bicycle area that will offer paper maps and/or pdf files online with route info you want: road width, shoulders, vehicle traffic, etc. I know this is true of Iowa, Minnesota (where I live) Wisconsin, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Colorado. Some states have suggested cross-state routes for bikes; some states have pdf files of bike maps by county (WI does).

If you want to ride WY, ND, Iowa, or MN, I can give info--I can cover just about every road in Minnesota. rspreng at hickorytech dot net.

If you want to save money and still have some company I know of a couple charity rides that don't ask much of the rider and have very low overhead (under 4%) so the money you raise goes to the right place.

You may not beleive this but North Dakota has some wonderful places to ride, with lots of scenery, wildlife, and climbing. Wyoming is great, too. You have not lived until you've pedalled over the Snowy Range.

Ron -- 1,800 self-contained miles last summer, more in 2004!

Check out this web site for some info on Alberta.
http://www.canadianrockies.com/Maps/mapviewer.html
Also go to the local Parks Canada office in Banff or Jasper before riding the icefields parkway and ask if they have a brochure on the parkway. They used to have one that listed every campsite, rest stop, view point, trailhead etc. along the entire route. I have found it invaluable. Leave time to take a few days to hike along the route. Most trails can be done with a sturdy pair of trail shoes which can double as bike shoes unless you go clipless.
:beer:
Tom

You got good information on the "touristic" aspect. Here is some on the "training" aspect.

Unless you want to sprint through the Rockies, training on the trainer will do little to improve your touring capacity. Touring is as close as you can get from normal bike riding: you start in the morning, you stop when you are tired, when there is something you want to look at, etc. and continue when you're tired from looking at it. Still, you need to get used to touring. How ?

- Ride long distances. The key is not to ride fast, but to ride long hours. A 2-3 hour ride on one week nite and a 6-8-hour ride on the weekend will help train your rear end for the road. The key is to be able to stay a long time on the bike.
- Practice spinning under all circumstances. Do you spin your pedals at more than 60 rpm? Good. At 75-90 rpm? Great! But do you keep the same rythm (and downshift accordingly) when you have a headwind? Or when climbing a hill? And are your gears low enough (like a 18-20 gear-inch low) to allow you to spin when climbing with a loaded bike? And will you spin at the same rythm for the whole day?

- Ride a few times with the loaded bike? Make sure your gear fits (sturdy racks and panniers, etc.) and make sure you are aware -- especially when travelling in the mountains -- that climbing with a loaded bike is slower than climbing without.

- Ride outdoors under all conditions. If riding on snow or ice isn't your cup of tea, wait until the roads aren't frozen. But ride in cold weather, in cold rain, tepid rain, sun... Riding a full day in rain with a strong headwind may be hard on the moral, so you should get used to it.

You got good information on the "touristic" aspect. Here is some on the "training" aspect.

Unless you want to sprint through the Rockies, training on the trainer will do little to improve your touring capacity. Touring is as close as you can get from normal bike riding: you start in the morning, you stop when you are tired, when there is something you want to look at, etc. and continue when you're tired from looking at it. Still, you need to get used to touring. How ?

- Ride long distances. The key is not to ride fast, but to ride long hours. A 2-3 hour ride on one week nite and a 6-8-hour ride on the weekend will help train your rear end for the road. The key is to be able to stay a long time on the bike.

- Ride a few times with the loaded bike? Make sure your gear fits (sturdy racks and panniers, etc.) and make sure you are aware -- especially when travelling in the mountains -- that climbing with a loaded bike is slower than climbing without.

- Ride outdoors under all conditions. If riding on snow or ice isn't your cup of tea, wait until the roads aren't frozen. But ride in cold weather, in cold rain, tepid rain, sun... Riding a full day in rain with a strong headwind may be hard on the moral, so you should get used to it.

That is great advice. Man, I think I got burnt out just by reading your training plans! I agree with MGA, you want to try to simulate what you'll be doing on a tour. Unless you are on some serious time budget, you aren't going to need to be awesome shape before you start riding. Of course being in shape helps, but I get the sense from your current cycling activities you will have no problems. But practice with gear, under different conditions, and different terrains to figure out exactly where you want your weight (all panniers vs pannier and trailer combo vs trailer only), what kind of clothing you will be comfortable in (think about rain and wind and cold and heat), what kind of bike you want (mt vs touring vs somewhere in the middle), and what kind of gear you will be using (kinds of tires [thin or fat], camelbak or water bottles, etc).
Once you are out there you will either love it or hate it, probably the first. To me, touring, especially in natural settings, is unlike any kind of riding. I haven't done the rockies, but I've heard great things about Jasper to Banf. Natural beauty, wildlife, lots of tourism, lots of ups and downs. On the other hand, I have toured the west coast of Canada and give it huge props as being one of the best places I've been in N and Central America. The natural beauty is amazing, most of the tourism passes you by in cars and RVs, not taking the time to stop and check out the scenery or look for animals (like bears!) like you will be doing at your slow pace. Camping is easy anywhere you like. With just a little planning, you can sort out where to get your food and not have to carry too much.
The Pacific coast of the US is very nice as well, but you will be dealing with more population. Oh its just totally different, but also worthwhile.

Like someone else said, I too would reccomend sifting through some of the travelogues on this site (Joe has been cool enough to give us touring cyclists space to put pictures and stories), as well as other sites on the internet. I think you can get more information that you'll know what to do with.

Good luck planning out your route. I think keeping an open mind and flexible schedule is a must. And remember, you can't see it all, not the first time, and probably not ever. So just go with the flow and enjoy.

Peace

Dave