Touring - Touring goals or dreams for 2005?

Mine is to go from South Carolina to Maryland via the Blue Ridge Parkway / Skyline Drive / C&O canal this year and return via US bike route 1.

This year I did a 7-day tour on a very flat rails-to-trails.

In 2005 I'd like to shoot for a 10-14 day tour that incorporates some more challenging terrain. Possible locations are points north and west of St. Louis. Probabably Illinois.

I'm thinking of doing the West Coast of the U.S. in the early fall.

Additionally there are several 2-5 day short tours I'm thinking of doing in the late spring early summer.

My goal this year (2005) is to do my 20th MS 150.

More riding overseas. Sadly, a few days before the tsumani hit Indonesia, I was dreaming about going back to Sumatra, which I always thought was a beautiful place. That's out of the question now. :(

Koffee

New Zealand -- South Island. Sometime around November. I'm also planning a hit and run visit to Hobart on the way back to ride the Ash Dash -- but that's an organised 200km day ride.

Koffee, I've had a few thoughts about touring in S.E. Asia at some point in the future myself. Thinking I might send a bit of a donation that way to help them rebuild for now, then in a few years, who knows?

Well, you can still go to Singapore and head into Thailand, avoiding the coast and go straight up into Chaing Mai (dang, my spelling is waaaaaay off!). And you can still do other parts of South East Asia- try countries like Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

I would chew off my foot for the chance to see Ankor Wat.

Koffee

Two 1200km randonnees in the US, a 1000km randonnee here in Australia (starts tomorrow evening). And a short jaunt to Bruny Island south of Hobart with my best mate because we haven't done something like that together for ages.

2006 might see me either (a) Ride Cape York to Cockle Creek (Australia's north/south limits) over ~4500km... it will be about the ride, not the destinations along the way; or (b) I'll be fruit picking in yet another life sea change and riding between jobs; or (c) both!

Eh. Unfortunately, I only get a week here and a week there off so I can only go so far. The SO is supposed to be planning this year's trip so I don't know where/when that one is (usually at end of August) and it will probably only be a week.

I'll probably try to squeeze in one trip at the end of June that is a week long and probably about 800-1000KM (not sure on distance yet because I haven't figured out the whole route) but I was thinking of biking to Algonquin Park, then to the Kingston area and back to Toronto.

My biggest goal (after my unplanned non-touring 2004 (http://denise2004crash.crazyguyonabike.com) is to work towards returning to what I consider good shape for touring by early spring, and then to wander off on a couple of short trips on my bike. While I'd love to take an extended trip this year, I'm limited to 3 weeks of vacation. Right now I'm thinking of 2 to 3 1-week trips (to spread out my vacation time). It's very possible that I'll use some of my unused 2004 plans - a short trip to Nova Scotia, and a week in the Canadian Rockies, riding from Jasper to Banff and then on to Calgary to catch a flight home - but it's also possible that I'll dream up something very different over the winter.

This year I did a 7-day tour on a very flat rails-to-trails.

In 2005 I'd like to shoot for a 10-14 day tour that incorporates some more challenging terrain. Possible locations are points north and west of St. Louis. Probabably Illinois.

Bradw,

If you haven't already given this ride some thought, look into the Grand Illinois Trail ride (not entirely on "trails").

Regards,

msm
Northern IL

..a short trip to Nova Scotia,

I have some suggestions for touring in Nova Scotia if you're interested. Just PM me. :)

Actually, if you could post them here, that would be great.

I am also thinking of doing a 10-day or so NS tour, and would love to hear about good areas to bike (I'm getting the www.atlanticcanadacycling.com book, but would appreciate all the info I can get).

My wife agreed to let me do the Blue Ridge parkway from NC to DC as a reward for weight loss. I promptly gained half the weight back :-(. Nonetheless, this is the plan for some time in the June'ish timeframe.

Also, last year I rode about 1700 miles. This year, now that I'm bike-commuting, I'd like to end up somewhere between 2500 and 3000 miles.

I have some suggestions for touring in Nova Scotia if you're interested. Just PM me. :)

MsMittens -
I'm definitely interested in hearing your suggestions.

My current thoughts are to use Nova Scotia as a long weekend (and early season) escape from the Boston area. I know, I know, it deserves more than a couple of days, and my plans could always change... I don't like the idea of a 12 hour boat ride, so I'll probably drive from my home in the Boston area to Bar Harbor so I can take the high speed cat. I won't be taking my car with me to Nova Scotia; instead I'll plan on touring the eastern end of the island - with a quick day trip around Acadia National Park when the ferry returns me to to Maine.
--- Denise

Mine is to go from South Carolina to Maryland via the Blue Ridge Parkway / Skyline Drive / C&O canal this year and return via US bike route 1.

that sounds absofreakinlutely awesome man. I think that would be so freakin baddass. I love riding on the blue-ridge, I've hiked (along th AT there...but the road is more scenic) and driven on skyline drive, and hiked on the c&o canal...that would be really awesome.

I am also thinking of doing a 10-day or so NS tour, and would love to hear about good areas to bike (I'm getting the www.atlanticcanadacycling.com book, but would appreciate all the info I can get

I got that book. It was a good reference but was kinda useless for me since there were no trips that went from Shediac, NB to Halifax (primarily via Highway 2). I would recommend a provincial map. Visit http://www.novascotia.com/ and order the various books and maps (all free last time I checked). I also got a map book and photocopied the pages I need (map books I find tend to be more detailed). There aren't too many back roads and you might need to share with the logging trucks but otherwise it's pretty decent cycling.

The book did help for the other portion of my trip (Halifax to Digby). It was supposed to be Yarmouth but a busted rack stopped that. That said, however, Highway 1 is the best to take from Yarmouth to go from east to west via the north-east side of the province if you want a direct route. You can also take the 3 on the south-east side as that will take you through all the fishing villages but can be a bit tougher from what I heard. (I haven't done this one as I never had enough time).

A bit of warning about the 1 however. It does merge on occassion with the 101, which is the main highway. There is a rough gravel (stone? rock?) shoulder (it's the bumping and jarring from the shoulder that caused the break on my rack I suspect). I would recommend going to Digby and the Digby Neck for whale watching (lots on the Neck itself). Digby is famous for it's scallops and there are a couple of places I can recommend:

Food
Royal Fundy Seafood Market (they cook scallops freshly caught)

Shoreline (I think this is the one -- it has a lighthouse -- spaghetti and meatballs is HUGE! I think they give you about a pound of pasta -- and they were rather surprised when I ate it all)

Chez Christophe (http://www.yarmouthvillages.com/clare/grosses_coques/) (we never got to it but it was on the list -- this is traditional Acadian food. I recommend, if you are going to try it, rappie pie or toutiere. Being an acadian, this is comfort food to me but may be new for you)


Accommodation
Bayside B&B (http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bayside/) (very nice and great view -- I recommend the room at the top and they are bike friendly -- bikes, however, stay in the enclosed back area).

Digby Campground (http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/DigbyCamping/) (not fancy and tad rustic but is within 5 min walk of downtown Digby and has a view of the Bay. Good for those on a budget).

stay at private campgrounds rather than provincial ones as the private ones tend to be closer to services (avoid Yogi Bear's campground -- $32CDN a night for a tent!!!)


I hope this helps. If you have more direct questions, perhaps we could start a new thread in the touring section. If you are able to go longer, I can highly recommend the Cabot Trail. I recently found some old photos when the SO and I did it in '98 and I'd like to go back to do it again -- properly (I wasn't prepared back then -- then again, I don't think I'm ever prepared). It is considered to be one of the most challenging tours in Canada and it lives up the name. Food is good and the views are amazing.

I have a few plans for this year. First I am going to get over to Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand on January 16, 2005, and tour from there back to Bangkok sort of going along the Cambodian border and maybe into Cambodia for a while. It will be a 10-12 day trip or so.

Then I will do several 2-3 day trips into the Los Padres here in So Cal in which I will ride on fire trails and camp out on the tops of peaks. Because I will camp on the top of peaks I might have to carry my bike up parts of really big hills. Doing that is preperation for my next plan...

I will go back to Thailand make my way up to Nong Khai, across from Vientiene, Laos. The I will warm up with a five day ride across NE Thailand, enter Laos at Mukdahan take Highway 9 towards the Vietnam border but somewhere between Phin and Xepon will cut south and follow remnanats of the Ho Chi Minh trail to Attapeu. From there work west to at least Ubon Ratchtani if not further. This will be in November.

And you my fellow dreamer are invited to join me, send me a PM if you have an interest.

I started off New Year's Day with a pedal to the Toronto International Lester B. Pearson) Airport, a 84 kim round trip run.. Just as a matter of interest the airport is EXTREMELY non bike friendly.

That was just a warm up for my October tour of Southern England (Reading to Gloucester). I'll be planning that for some months but will be taking weekend trips such as Toronto to Paris (Ontario) and Toronto to Niagara early this spring.

I would chew off my foot for the chance to see Ankor Wat.

Angkor Wat is magnificent! I went there in spring 2000 with a couple of friends. No cycling, sadly, but a great trip in all. More experienced sightseeing tourists place Angkor right on a par with the Pyramids in Egypt. I have not seen those, so I cannot compare, but the entire temple area is quite simply unbelieveable. Lots of reasonably priced accommodation, good food etc, and the terrain around Phnom Penh - Siem Reap looked quite bikeable. The roads were not in great condition, but I imagine most of the potholes would be easily avoidable with a bike. The heat would be a problem for me, but probably you guys have more experience with that. Also already back in 2000 Cambodia had its share of western hippie-type people "relaxing" around (i.e. using every narcotic substance available to stay absolutely stoned) and I would expect that has not got any better during these years. So the sooner you go the better, IMHO.

Personally, I plan a domestic kayak-bike combo tour. Maybe 10 days of biking with kayak on tow, and a 2 week paddling tour somewhere in the middle. I have done enough short trips with the bike-trailer combination to gain experience on its manouverability (sp?) and drag. Methinks I'm ready to increase the mileage.

--J

That looks good. If I could find a way to make it from St. Louis to some point along the loop, that would be great. I like to start and finish at home.

I have the State of Illinois' bike maps for the entire state, so I should be able to find some route. Probably the Great River route from Alton heading north.

Now if I can actually cram all of those miles into 14 days :eek:



Bradw,

If you haven't already given this ride some thought, look into the Grand Illinois Trail ride (not entirely on "trails").

Regards,

msm
Northern IL

I'm also interested in any additional information that you have on touring Nova Scotia. I'm thinking of either a solo summer trip from Montreal to Halifax or joining a group to go from Vancouver to San Francisco in the fall

What I"m going to say isn't impressive but it is a start for me. Just got my first road bike (usually just mtb only) a Redline Conquest Tour and all I want to do is 1000 miles this year. Won't be much compared to most of you, but that is alot more time in the saddle than I usually spend. Also just got my wife a specialized crossroads to turn her onto biking and she loves it. So that is one more for our cause.

I'll be planning that for some months but will be taking weekend trips such as Toronto to Paris (Ontario) and Toronto to Niagara early this spring.

The Toronto-Niagara. Is that part of the TBN?

And I'm not surprised that the airport is not bike friendly. I don't think it's car friendly either. :( Toronto is just too damn big sometimes.



I'm also interested in any additional information that you have on touring Nova Scotia. I'm thinking of either a solo summer trip from Montreal to Halifax or joining a group to go from Vancouver to San Francisco in the fall

Perhaps we need to start a thread for ideas on touring through the East Coast of Canada or specific provincial threads (touring in Ontario, touring in Quebec, etc.). The CCA had published a great book but haven't updated it on bicycling in Canada. It's unfortunate but it seems, to me, the bicycle touring has waned somewhat. When I went past Five Islands, NS (nice, HILLY area) they told me that the number of cyclists was drastically less than previous years.

My summer bike trip is just starting to come together. I hope to do a 10 to 14 day cycling trip in Quebec.

My itinerary may be something like this: Take a train to Quebec City, cross to the south shore, travel east along the St. Lawrence River, head inland across the Gaspé Peninsula (passing over the Notre Dame mountains), and then follow the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence -- east and north to Gaspé.

The blue line on the map attached, going counter-clockwise, beginning in Montreal (lower left corner). The green part is by train and the red, alternate route if I decide to shorten the train ride. I might just not take the train at all. I should be gone for about three weeks in late september/early october, hoping to catch the fall colors. Planning to do some hiking on several occasions, and maybe some canoeing in Mauricie Nat'l park.

In response to the requests for additional info regarding touring in Nova Scotia:

I toured there about 15 years ago. What I recall is that I really enjoyed Cape Breton Island, not just the Cabot Trail and the national park, but also the area around Bras d'Or lake.

I was disappointed with the Annapolis Valley region, though wet weather there didn't help matters. I also had mixed feelings about the south coast between Halifax (a pleasant city) & Yarmouth. The roads along the coves are lovely, but the main road has far too much traffic to be enjoyable. The problem is that at a minimum, you must take the main road to get from cove to cove. The area north of Yarmouth was OK, but nothing special, I thought. If you're lucky, you'll get to see water seemingly flow up creeks when the enormous tide comes in. At some point, I biked across the mostly empty interior from Annapolis Valley to Halifax. It was interesting simply because the landscape was quite different from everywhere else I had been.

All in all, I wish I had spent more time biking on Cape Breton Island, and less time on the mainland.
-------------------------------------------------
This past September I was biking on Prince Edward Island and the Iles de la Madeleine (Quebec) in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (and accessible by 5 hour ferry from Souris, PEI). Biking was challenging on the Madeleines because of the constant strong winds, but the islands are absolutely lovely and very much worth visiting. PEI had better biking, if only because of the weaker winds, but simply wasn't as interesting as the Madeleines, we thought. Still a nice place to visit, though.

Circumvent Lake Erie in early summer.
750 miles 8 days. If you are near the shore come join me for a mile or two.

Northern Cresent, South Carolina (http://www.sctrails.net/Trails/ALLTRAILS/bikeguide/ncrescent.html)

We've put money on plane tickets to Bordeaux the beginning of September. We'll spend a week there working to improve our meager French (staying at a B&B east of Bordeaux), then take off for 3 1/2 weeks of riding in the Pyrenees. My wife really wants to climb the Tourmalet (Uh, OK honey) among other famous Tour de France Pyreneean cols and mountain top finishes (we did a couple in 2003).

Mike
Juneau Alaska

Overnight ferry from Rosyth in Scotland to Zeebrugge,Belguim and then working along the coast to France. Down the West coast of France to Brittany then making a loop around Brittany before continuing South. At just above La Rochelle (Vandee) turn East following the Loire across to the top of Burgundy and then South to spend a few days at a friend's in Roanne.Heading West again and, if time allows, head for the area around the Gironde before turning North back to Zeebrugge and catching the ferry back to my home in Fife. This to be done using lightweight camping gear and riding my new (yet to arrive) Thorn Raven with Rholloff hub. Distance probably around 2500-3000 miles using minor roads (white on map) and the time-scale would be 2 months--I'm retired. I'm familiar with most if not all of the area involved but I can't resist France in the summer (trip beginning July to end of August). I make a point of using the smaller,cheaper, one star campsites as they are more suited to travellers rather than tourists. Just can't wait. Hope all your dreams come true, George.

Assuming all goes well, this year I'll finally get off my butt and cycle across Canada. I've told everyone I know, so I guess I better do it eh?

Leaving June 4th, hope to be done around August 7th. Tofino BC to St John's NFLD.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?handle=canada2005
www.roosmachine.com

Ah, a post I can finally answer! I'm off in a month to spend 6-8 months cycling across Europe by a nicely meandering route - hopefully skirting anything too tall! Should be an eye-opener; 50km is about my record for weekly distance travelled so far.

I plan on doing some weekend tours in spring, maybe Hamilton - Peterborough area, then possibly a Hamilton - Truro, Nova Scotia then Cape Breton and back for 2-3 weeks in July (is that enough time??)

Riding the atalntic coast in may/june. . NJ to . . ? Florida?

~Steve

Amherst to Amherst tour - specifically, Amherst, Massachusetts to Amherst, Novia Scotia. That's the working title for Project X, in any case. The start and end points will likely change, but the plan is a coastal tour up through Maine and into Novia Scotia. Stops at Cape Elizabeth/Portland, Belfast, Mt. Desert Island, Calais, St. John, etc. About 670 miles each way. We (my buddy and I) are new to touring, and so we are giving ourselves about a month to do it. I'm very excited!

Wow, these all sound great!

My husband & I will be doing our very first tour, from late May to early June - since it's our first we'll keep it relatively simple, credit-card style and go from inn to inn.

The plan is to start off in Port Townsend, WA, cycle to Port Angeles and O/N at some motel near the ferry dock, take the ferry to Victoria the next morning, and stay at some yet-to-be-determined* inn or B&B or small vacation rental house for 3 nights while we explore the Saanich Penninsula and thereabouts. Then we'll cycle up to Sydney and take the ferry to the San Juan Islands where we're staying for 3 more nights at a B&B on Orcas Island, which will be our base from which to day-trip to the various islands (of course we'll ride up Mt. Constitution). Then we'll take the ferry to Anacortes, cycle down Whidbey Island and ferry back to Pt. Townsend.

We're certainly taking our time here, staying as much as 3 nights in various locations, but that's to allow us a base to do some sightseeing without having to carry our stuff and worrying about getting to the next inn, and to give us a bit of leeway for the inevitable rainy days.

Some of our inspiration is from this excellent journal: ;)
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?o=as&doc_id=545&v=3k

Regards, - jobob

*Can anyone recommend a bike-friendly inn, B&B, or short-term (3 night) vacation rental on the outskirts of Victoria? Ideally we'd like to stay somewhere along the eastern shore near Oak Bay or Cadboro Bay or thereabouts. Thanks!

Wow, these all sound great!

We're certainly taking our time here, staying as much as 3 nights in various locations, but that's to allow us a base to do some sightseeing without having to carry our stuff and worrying about getting to the next inn, and to give us a bit of leeway for the inevitable rainy days.

Some of our inspiration is from this excellent journal: ;)
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?o=as&doc_id=545&v=3k

Regards, - jobob

*Can anyone recommend a bike-friendly inn, B&B, or short-term (3 night) vacation rental on the outskirts of Victoria? Ideally we'd like to stay somewhere along the eastern shore near Oak Bay or Cadboro Bay or thereabouts. Thanks!

Hey thanks for reading my journal, glad you liked it. I have to say that after completing that tour in the manner that I did it, I think the base camp idea is probably the best way to do these islands. Even with camping like I did, I wish I'd set up at one camp ground, unloaded the bicycle and did the other islands. I'll do this next time, though I don't foresee doing the islands again for a while. As for looking for a places to stay near Victoria, I'd look for places that are near the Galloping Goose trail. A lot of those really capitalize on the bicycle traveler and thus are very cycle friendly. There is a hostel in Victoria, but it may be right in the town. This site has a lot of good lodging info: http://vancouverisland.kulshan.com/. I compiled a ton more info on the islands than I put in my journal (which I saw as more of a travelogue) so feel free to ask any questions.

it costs me a fortune to build the new bike so i can´t go too far away nor countries too expensive. i would really love to do tibet july-september or canada/states coast to coast, strangely the ticket to north america is actually cheaper than going to, say, mongolia or oz.

These all look very exciting.

While mine may not seem quite as ambitious, I just got back on the bike last year, so this will be my first full season since high school.

I plan on doing a 9 day tour on the Great Allegheny passage and the C&O Towpath round trip from Pittsburgh to Washington DC and back. I picked up the Linking Up book and it sounds like a nice ride. I will do this in late spring.

Also, just having moved to WV, I plan on a few multi-day trips, doing mostly stealth camping. There's some really nice country down here. If time allows, I may even sneak into Virginia for some touring.

mine---to get touring bike

Kilimanjaro in March/April
Spain and Portugal April/May
Italy but not Rome June
S.E France
Danube Bike bath the FULL distance to Budapest
Prague again this year and MUCH more time in the Czech rural areas

1. Short tours around Alberta, Canada ... now that I live here I figure I should take a better look at the place. :)

2. Longer tour in California, possibly into Arizona, possibly up the west coast ... I'll see when the time gets closer. I want to do it in conjunction with the Gold Rush Randonnee (1200K) in July in California.

That looks good. If I could find a way to make it from St. Louis to some point along the loop, that would be great. I like to start and finish at home.

I have the State of Illinois' bike maps for the entire state, so I should be able to find some route. Probably the Great River route from Alton heading north.

Now if I can actually cram all of those miles into 14 days :eek:

The limestone bluffs between Alton and Grafton are full of bald eagles. You can sit and watch them glide down from a tree and snag fish out of the river, it's fun. Also, there use to be an nice little cafe in Elsah, cute little burg halfway between Alton and Grafton. After Grafton we took the ferry across the Illinois River to Calhoon County, less traffic that way, but it depends on where you're going. Actually from St. Louis a nice tour is to go this way and then to Hannibal, MO. The Tom Sawyer history stuff is really cool, than you can loop back to St.Charles, then into St. Louis.

Doing a "short" trip in the West.
All summer - ending up in Alaska.
Still hoping to find some riding companions.

What I"m going to say isn't impressive but it is a start for me. Just got my first road bike (usually just mtb only) a Redline Conquest Tour and all I want to do is 1000 miles this year. Won't be much compared to most of you, but that is alot more time in the saddle than I usually spend. Also just got my wife a specialized crossroads to turn her onto biking and she loves it. So that is one more for our cause.

That's how much I did my first couple years of cycling. :)

Assuming all goes well, this year I'll finally get off my butt and cycle across Canada. I've told everyone I know, so I guess I better do it eh?

Leaving June 4th, hope to be done around August 7th. Tofino BC to St John's NFLD.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/?handle=canada2005
www.roosmachine.com


Have you seen this site?
http://www.cyclecanada.com/

Click on "The Crossing" link.

I believe I am being assigned to a 30-day Seattle to San Francisco and a 14-day Cape Cod for work.

I will probably also do some shorter solo tours, I am thinking right now a brewery tour of Southern WI and also a Mississippi river from MPLS to Iowa.