Touring - Adventure Cycling... Does anyone subscribe?

I had just received a sample copy of their magazine. It looks pretty down-to-earth. A lot less hype than other bicycle rags I've read. But its $40/year for only 8 issues. Is there more to this than I am seeing?

If you're an ACA member, you get a discount on their route maps. With the Southern Tier map set (for example), I think you wind up getting about $20 off the non-member price. If you're going to do a lot of touring in a year, you could come out ahead. Even if not, you could look at it as supporting a worthwhile organization.

I think of the magazine as a membership perq, rather than a thing unto itself.

I don't look at it as a magazine subscription, I look at it as membership in a worthwhile bicycle advocacy organization. The magazine is a nice perk you get with your membership, and the content is generally higher quality than the endlessly repetitive beginner articles, the pop-psychology "biking improves your sex life" nonsense and the frothy, breathless bike/equipment "reviews" which only feature companies that advertise in the magazine that you get in commercial publications.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/holidaygift

Does anyone subscribe? Well, nobody subscribes because they don't sell subscriptions, but 44,500 members receive the magazine.

+1 for dorkypants. the ACA doesnt tell me I gotta shave my legs and get a 3K bike

I have been a member for several years now and have used their route maps on several different occasions and they are great. I have also purchased a few items from their on-line store and have been extremely happy with them. I really enjoy their magazine, I get it and read it within a day or two, it is one of those you just have a hard time putting down. Join and enjoy.

I have been a member since about 1980 when the magazine was printed on newspaper type paper. I still wish they would do it that way but you didn't get color. The dues also support the route development.

I had just received a sample copy of their magazine. It looks pretty down-to-earth. A lot less hype than other bicycle rags I've read. But its $40/year for only 8 issues. Is there more to this than I am seeing?

Well, after reading their magazine, I literally cannot stand to read any other bike mags like Bicycling. :-) The Adventure Cycling articles are almost invariably interesting, practical, and relavent, as opposed to the ad-laden pap in the other ones.

That being said - most of the point of the ACA is to be an advocacy and support organization for touring cyclists. They do a very good job at it. So even if I didn't like their magazine, I'd still happily be a member.

Another happy subscriber.

Just could not take all the ads and hype for 6K racing bikes in Bicycling magazine any more. It has become a sales brochure, plain and simple.

I am an Adventure Cyclist

I am an Adventure Cyclist

+1 thats all that needs said.

Adventure Cycling is a great organization, that I am happy to support.

Been an ACA member for 6 years because of the work they do in supporting bicycling. The great magazine is just a bonus for being a member, a great benefit it is. My only issue with the ACA magazine is that I wish it came more often :-)

This magazine along with Bicycle Quarterly are the journals I enjoy reading the most, along with a couple of blogs. Having limited time, I appreciate the high content per hour reading ratios. The forums are wonderful for the social aspect, but for sheer information journals still have their place.

Adventure Cycling (well, Bikecentennial!) member since 1975.

There's been many a cold, wet winter's night I walked over to the bookshelves and pulled out a 7 or 18 year old copy of Adventure Cyclist (or BikeReport!) and vicariously relived a tour with one of the old contributors.

My biggest complaint with the magazines is that they're too short! I get my new copy and have it read in an hour. I think it's the best bicycling magazine. I think Bicycling is trash. Road Bike Action is better, but for the type of riding I do, Adventure Cyclist is the best. I also like supporting the organization for what they do, and I like getting a discount on their maps. Incidentally, if you like reading about bike touring, you may like buying a set of ACA maps for a route you're considering. I have a couple of sets for routes I have yet to take, and they're fun to pore over and dream.

I am an Adventure Cyclist

Damn straight... ACA supports and encourages "travel by bicycle," whether you're going to work or the corner store, across the country, or pedaling around the world. It's worth the annual dues just to get the magazine.

This magazine along with Bicycle Quarterly are the journals I enjoy reading the most, along with a couple of blogs. Having limited time, I appreciate the high content per hour reading ratios. The forums are wonderful for the social aspect, but for sheer information journals still have their place.

I also recently discovered Bicycle Quarterly. It is first rate. I have been a member of Adventure Cycling for 16 or 17 years. I have gotten a bunch of maps from them and really enjoy the magazine. The other magazine that I find useful for camping articles and equipment reviews for bicycle camping is Backpacking. They have great articles on light camping gear.

Adventure Cycling (well, Bikecentennial!) member since 1975.
There's been many a cold, wet winter's night I walked over to the bookshelves and pulled out a 7 or 18 year old copy of Adventure Cyclist (or BikeReport!) and vicariously relived a tour with one of the old contributors.

I haven't been a steady member over that period but I too will review old issues of both magazine versions when I'm on a stationary trainer in the winter....and dream. It is the one magazine I keep and try to read in little chunks and savor during the long wait unil the next one comes in the mail. A good organization and part of the $40 is tax deductable I believe.

+1 on ClemY's suggestion of Backpacker magazine - especially their annual gear guide.

My biggest complaint with the magazines is that they're too short! I get my new copy and have it read in an hour. I think it's the best bicycling magazine. I think Bicycling is trash.

+1
+1
+1

Just got a free issue of "Bicycling," glanced through it for a minute or two and put it in the reycling bin. They could at least bring back Style Guy. He was the only consistently enjoyable part of the publication.

And what everyone else said, too. I joined in '99 when I did their NT tour. Have been a member since and am happy to support the organization.

If you consider yourself even slightly in the adventure cyclist catagory they are the only thing out there that I know of working as an advocacy group for our lifestyle. The membership helps to support the organization, the routes they develop and the spread of our culture. The magazine is just a bonus to the membership. As a member I have been getting the magazine for a while. Yes it lags the web in content and time, but it is the best in your hand tool for getting friends, coworkers, etc. to see and possibly test the waters.

I, too am a member. Thanks to a gift membership from one of their long-time volunteers.:thumb: And if I can afford it, I'll do the same for another cyclist after I get (and pay) my renewal notice.:hug:

This magazine along with Bicycle Quarterly are the journals I enjoy reading the most, along with a couple of blogs. Having limited time, I appreciate the high content per hour reading ratios. The forums are wonderful for the social aspect, but for sheer information journals still have their place.Agree. These are the only two cycling magazines I get and they are well worth it.

Thanks for the replies. I've been a subscriber of Bicycling for a few years but it came up for renewal about a month back.... haven't paid for it yet although they keep mailing me notices.

After reading the above I just may drop Bicycling and go with ACA.

I've been an ACA member since 2002. Got back into cycling in 2000 and started reading Bicycling which I thought was just "OK" until I got a sample issue of Adventure Cycling. Then everything started to change. I found out about Rivendell and have most of the Riv Readers, Bicycle Quarterly (VBQ when I first subscribed), Velo Vision and A to B. AC and BQ are my two favorites since they speak to the type of bike riding I prefer to do. I haven't done a long tour yet but I take one everytime a new issue of AC arrives. BQ is great on technical issues, Jan does contribute to AC, and is more on what I view as the high end of bicycling products much in the vein of Just Jazz Guitar magazine and the early days of The Absolute Sound magazine, only without the attitude found in The Absolute Sound. Still, Adventure Cycling is my #1 bike magazine with the added bonus of bicycle advocacy thrown in. PG.

I've been a member for a long time and in 2006, I bought a life membership. For me, it has been about supporting a worthwhile organization, though I also enjoy the magazine and discounts on maps. During my long tours, I changed my address with Adventure Cycling so the magazine came to my parents. While not cycle tourists, they also enjoyed reading the magazine.

As a life member, I've been able to give out a few complementary memberships. I've done those to members of my local cycling club with a bias towards those who would continue membership on their own after the complementary period.

+1 I am a Adventure Cyclist

It's about the cause and the organization growing XC cycling, plus great discounts on their maps and you can post companion wanted ads for tours. Though in addition to ACA I recomend checking out Aaron Teasdale's blog, he took/takes a lot of pics for ACA and has writes as well. His last trip angers me b/c it's so awesome!

http://aaronteasdale.blogspot.com/

i guess i'll go against the common opinion here. i joined in 2005 or so for the map discounts. i find the maps to be overpriced and limited as maps. you will want other maps if you plan to deviate much from their routes. i did find the gdmbr maps that i used (whitefish to rawlins) to be helpful, but i'd rather find my own routes if i'm gonna travel on regular highways. their magazine is ok - it doesn't advertise as much as other magazines, but i don't find it very informative or entertaining either. i felt that i got poor value for my membership until i went to their office in missoula in 2006 and ate all their ice cream. i do agree that it is an organization worthy of financial support, but i am too poor to give them any money.

I just got an ACA membership because I spend way to much money on panniers. So far I haven't gotten a magazine or any other benefit out of being a member. I was looking at ACA even before and never could justify joining. I don't see their bicycling/touring advocacy anywhere. Their route development involves printing a couple maps and nothing else. The likelihood that I ride their route isn't to high and if I do it probably has variants in it that requires to deviate off the route.

I don't think their routes are that great. Two weekends ago I did a day trip along the southern part of the Pacific ACA route. I was out there for a business trip and wanted to do something fun. I just grabbed the ACA GPS data file and did not do much research on the route or on nicer alternatives. I thought I give their highly acclaimed? routes a try. I went from San Diego up to Oceanside and back (~45 miles). You can read more about it on my blog http://adventurelaus.blogspot.com/2010/11/san-diego-southern-most-72-miles-of.html . In short I didn't appreciated the route as much as others that I put together myself in Iowa. It was mostly along a very busy street and you constantly ride through urban / residential areas. The only nice parts where the one time I pushed the bike along the beach (not part of the ACA route) and the stretch to the Mexican border on my second day's ride. There is just no good ways to travel in that region along the pacific. I doubt the route would have gotten any better till past LA. In any case you pretty much can plan the same route yourself without buying the maps.

I don't see their bicycling/touring advocacy anywhere. Their route development involves printing a couple maps and nothing else. The likelihood that I ride their route isn't to high and if I do it probably has variants in it that requires to deviate off the route.

Checkout http://blog.adventurecycling.org/search/label/Building%20the%20U.S.%20Bicycle%20Route%20System , not saying they are causing this but advocacy doesn't always mean starting, but spreading.

To answer your question: YES, of course; if there was ever a publication that was written exactly for the people who peruse these threads, this is it! Why wouldn’t you?

I don't think their routes are that great.

You did two parts of one route, and those parts were in relatively developed areas, and then compared it to routes you have done in Iowa, which is not exactly San Diego in terms of development and population, in order to reach the conclusion that their routes (plural) are not that great. Not sure I get that, especially after you opine that there is no "good" way to travel in that region.

The goal of a route is not always to avoid all major population centers. The goal is sometimes to get to a place so as to allow people to experience travelling there by bicycle. If you think that "great" routes are only those that are totally or mostly rural then of course you are going to think that a 45 mile out and back from San Diego isn't going to be a great one. But that is a judgment based on personal preference for certain riding conditions, not an assessment of the soundness of the route chosen to accomplish the goal. The Northern Tier goes through many rural places with little or no traffic. It also goes through Cleveland, OH. You can't visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame anywhere else. We had no problem getting into, through and out of Cleveland. In fact, the optional route, which took us through City's Emerald Neckless and Littlle Italy, and past Case Western's campus and amazing houses of Shaker and Cleveland Heights, was quite nice.

In this particular case, the goal is to get to San Diego. I think to fairly crticize a route, or any portion thereof, you need to take the goal as a given. If you have a better option (keeping the goal in mind), I would submit it to AC for their consideration. I recently did that with a portion of their Atlantic Coast route. Our club routinely rides between two points that are part of that route, and I thought AC's existing route was a little outdated due to suburban sprawl. I gave them our club's route. They looked at it, liked it and it's now part of AC's route.

What other AC routes, or portions thereof, have you done?

In any case you pretty much can plan the same route yourself without buying the maps.

And not everyone thinks that spending endless hours researching an area and the roads is a worthwhile expenditure of ones time and energy when an organization has already done it. I've ordered many of their maps and it sure is easier to have a starting reference of potential roads to ride in a new area.

And not everyone thinks that spending endless hours researching an area and the roads is a worthwhile expenditure of ones time and energy when an organization has already done it. I've ordered many of their maps and it sure is easier to have a starting reference of potential roads to ride in a new area.

Absolutely. My nine-year-old-son and I have been riding across New York, using the PTNY maps, because it's pretty much guaranteed that they'll choose routes with the widest shoulders and lowest traffic, which is kind of important when you have a young kid in tow. Beats the heck out of trying to use Google Street View to find decent roads. ;-)

The true power of the association comes to light when somebody in Washington decides to threaten us. There is power in groups, whether we like it or not. That's why anarchists never get anywhere. If we want respect, we have to be heard. For that alone, and more, they are a worthwhile group. I think people who criticize them without doing something instead, like forming an organization to be an alternative, are the same people who never show up to vote.

I'm an adventure cyclist member. If you tour, it supports your sport. Bicycle Times is another good magazine.

I've considered and decided against joining ACA for the immediate future.

I didn't find the sample issue I have read very useful, didn't care for the style of writing and have been able to obtain/examine (partial) sets of some of their maps at "used" costs on eBay/from other riders. I read their forums daily and find little that isn't available elsewhere except for specific information/discussion about their routes/maps. Their online store definitely is not the place to go for low prices. So, for me, for now at least, membership isn't worth the cost.

I definitely put ACA in the same category as LAB for me - it's "nice" that they think they are accomplishing something for bicyclists in general. If they are, I'll benefit from it. But realistically, if they didn't exist, I'm not sure I'd miss them.

If I were riding 3-4 tours a year on "their" routes,then I might look at things differently.

My curmudgeonly $.02

You are honest drmweaver2. Respect.

The same can be said for other groups such as AARP, AAA, etc. We all benefit, but we can't support them all. I am happy to pick a select few for my dollars, and ACA is one. As long as they are around, it's all good. But if they are ever in danger, I hope we all can rally and stick together. Paraphrasing Ben Franklin at the declaration of independence: "We all hang together now, or we'll all hang separately later". Wise old fox that Ben.

:)

You are honest drmweaver2. Respect.

The same can be said for other groups such as AARP, AAA, etc. We all benefit, but we can't support them all. I am happy to pick a select few for my dollars, and ACA is one. As long as they are around, it's all good. But if they are ever in danger, I hope we all can rally and stick together. Paraphrasing Ben Franklin at the declaration of independence: "We all hang together now, or we'll all hang separately later". Wise old fox that Ben.:)Actually, I'm of the mind that, as a taxpayer, I have the right and responsibility to expect my representatives to legislate FOR ALL EQUALLY. Throwing additional money to what are essentially lobbying groups is a waste/duplication and an abdication of my right to demand appropriate action(s) from the government. I expect legislators to pass appropriate laws and the executive branch to enforce the laws - both against cyclists and against motorists who "don't share the road" according to the law. If the law is already there and not being enforced, then what good does advocating for more laws do?

Where I see things failing is in the judicial branch.

Personally, I don't need wider shoulders - I much prefer the "lane", it's cleaner, 8 feet wide, and the law already says I am entitled to it.

Like I said, I'm a curmudgeon - a cheap one at that.

Actually, I'm of the mind that, as a taxpayer, I have the right and responsibility to expect my representatives to legislate FOR ALL EQUALLY. Throwing additional money to what are essentially lobbying groups is a waste/duplication and an abdication of my right to demand appropriate action(s) from the government. I expect legislators to pass appropriate laws and the executive branch to enforce the laws - both against cyclists and against motorists who "don't share the road" according to the law. If the law is already there and not being enforced, then what good does advocating for more laws do?

Personally, I don't need wider shoulders - I much prefer the "lane", it's cleaner, 8 feet wide, and the law already says I am entitled to it.

Like I said, I'm a curmudgeon - a cheap one at that.

When you wake up, we will all welcome you into the real world.

ACA member.

I just got an ACA membership because I spend way to much money on panniers.
While I like to support them, that is the last reason that I would join. The stuff in their store is definitely not at bargain prices. It also does not tend to be the stuff that I personally would choose.


I don't think their routes are that great.
It sounds like you haven't ridden one of their routes. Riding a short section of an 1800+ mile route is an unreasonable way to make that judgment, particularly since the section you rode was a part where they needed to route you through a very developed region.

That aside... In my opinion the route itself is only a portion of the value of the maps. The rest of the value is the other info on the maps and it sounds like you didn't actually use the maps. Having quick and easy access to the locations and phone numbers of points of interest, bike shops, stores, libraries, post offices, and other services is a big plus. Then there are the elevation profiles, listing of free places to stay and so on. Having that stuff is pretty useful when you are on a long trip through mostly undeveloped areas.

On the other hand... Yes you can definitely do your own thing and I do that sometimes either as a full tour or as an alternate to a portion of an AC route.

I've been a member for eight years and enjoy the magazine which I usually reread. I've used their Yellow Pages to plan trips in the US and Europe, and am pleased to have the organization lobbying for the kind of riding I like to do.

I ride, therefore I TransAm.

I love these folks. I do their tours and read all their stuff. The magazine is OK, but like others here, I'm a member, that's what I pay for . The magazine is a bonus.

Related: On their web site 11.19.2010 the lead photo is a photo of my wife I shot!
http://www.adventurecycling.org/

Actually we're all over their site. Here's a quick slide show of web pages featuring my photos!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccorlew/sets/72157625402399056/show/

I'm not a member right now, but will be again once we get back home and I can get the mag without it just piling up at my SIL's house. I do love the magazine - love hearing from other tourists out there. Plus - we're in it :)I will say that I don't particularly care for their maps. They are great maps and highly detailed and all that - if that's what you want. We find that every time we chance upon an AC route, our experience dramatically changes - all of a sudden we are just one of a bunch and don't meet the local people like we do on other routes. Plus, I find the unknown to be a lot of the fun of touring, and the AC takes that out of the equation - with them you know exactly what hills you'll face, where to find food and water, where to fix your bike, where to camp, etc... I find it too...predictable for my taste.Don't get me wrong - I think the maps are great for a lot of people, just not me so much.

for a route like the Tour Divide, AC really has it nailed.

Just bought a bunch of Arkel stuff so now I am a member for a year...it was included in the price of the bags. I have read the magazine and find it to be much better than most of the bike stuff out there.

I just joined. I haven't toured anywhere yet but hopefully I can get some short tours in this coming year. I think they are doing a great thing and don't mind supporting them as I get started.