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.ZhangyuHaidao
12-19-11, 08:58 PM
Hello all! New to both posting here and distance cycling (runs in the family though, most of my relatives have crossed either the US or Europe on bikes).
Having moved to China, I've been cycling a lot more, and recently a colleague floated the idea of biking up to Xiamen (about ~360 km) from our current location, before flying back to the US.
Has anyone else ever tried touring (even short legs) with vacation gear, as opposed to touring gear? When I was biking in the Rockies, usually anything unnecessary stayed behind, but in our case, we'd be bringing a month of clothes, laptops, and other goodies on the road, in bags meant for airports (i.e. potentially carrying stuff on our backs).
I've been hitting local roads for about ~20-40km after work, with a loaded backpack (~19 kilos), and my back does not feel good afterward, despite being in otherwise good shape (24 year old ex-Coloradoan). My colleague, being Chinese and completely inexperienced in camping/long-distance hiking/biking, seems to think it won't be a big issue.
So, I'm looking for input- has anyone ever tried biking a few days, then taking a plane? Is there any way to take a month of stuff without unnecessarily burdening oneself? I am leaning towards having our stuff sent ahead, and the bringing only the necessities for the cycling portion. Given the unreliability of Chinese shipping around here, and goodies like expensive laptops, this is option #2, if at all possible. Based on my experiences, I doubt it, but I promised her I'd ask.
I'd also like to ask another question about the cycles: both of us are using off-road bikes, with much thicker tires than are preferable for on-road cycling. This trip is about 80% paved and 20% dirt; should we look for skinnier tires than the standard mountain bike-styles (we are using Giant's Talon 770D bikes).
Thanks!
(And if this goes well, would anyone want to join us for Chengdu-Lhasa in the summer? ^_^)
Having moved to China, I've been cycling a lot more, and recently a colleague floated the idea of biking up to Xiamen (about ~360 km) from our current location, before flying back to the US.
Has anyone else ever tried touring (even short legs) with vacation gear, as opposed to touring gear? When I was biking in the Rockies, usually anything unnecessary stayed behind, but in our case, we'd be bringing a month of clothes, laptops, and other goodies on the road, in bags meant for airports (i.e. potentially carrying stuff on our backs).
I've been hitting local roads for about ~20-40km after work, with a loaded backpack (~19 kilos), and my back does not feel good afterward, despite being in otherwise good shape (24 year old ex-Coloradoan). My colleague, being Chinese and completely inexperienced in camping/long-distance hiking/biking, seems to think it won't be a big issue.
So, I'm looking for input- has anyone ever tried biking a few days, then taking a plane? Is there any way to take a month of stuff without unnecessarily burdening oneself? I am leaning towards having our stuff sent ahead, and the bringing only the necessities for the cycling portion. Given the unreliability of Chinese shipping around here, and goodies like expensive laptops, this is option #2, if at all possible. Based on my experiences, I doubt it, but I promised her I'd ask.
I'd also like to ask another question about the cycles: both of us are using off-road bikes, with much thicker tires than are preferable for on-road cycling. This trip is about 80% paved and 20% dirt; should we look for skinnier tires than the standard mountain bike-styles (we are using Giant's Talon 770D bikes).
Thanks!
(And if this goes well, would anyone want to join us for Chengdu-Lhasa in the summer? ^_^)