jtaylor

Bring extra chain links and a chain tool!

Brilly

1. Taking that wrong turn was not a mistake, but an opportunity to see someting more or different than you had planned.

2. You can tell you have become a touring cyclist, when are prepared to stop whilst going DOWN the hill to take in the view.

3. Stangers are, more often than not, pleased to offer help. So don't be afraid to ask.

CPW

1) Be ready for psychological doldrums if you ride alone.
2) Contact bike shops/clubs in the areas you'll be riding through to get the best advice on routes. This only works if you are anal enough to prepare well in advance. Bad roads suck.
3) I think cold beer is the single best motivator at the end of a day. I like to organize everything else around it! Warm beer sucks. I've often ridden the last few miles to camp w/ a cold 6 pack and a big, heavy bag of ice. The extra weight sucks but it sure makes the evening more enjoyable.

As to the extra tire: never carried one and never needed one but my touring has been limited to two big (for me) trips.
CPW

frenzyplant

Any advice for a female touring with a child (an 11 yr old), in New England? In particular, is it unwise to choose to stealth camp if the need arises, when it's just you & the kid? Is it legal to camp on state land/parks that aren't designated campgrounds? I worry about being caught between campsites with a tired boy.

Machka 

One of the biggest things I wish I'd known ... and something I still struggle with a bit on my tours ...

Everything takes much, much longer than you would have ever imagined.

For example:

----- packing up the campsite -- I would allot about 1 hour from when my eyes first opened in the morning till when I was on my bicycle riding out of the campground -- in reality, it would take me close to 2 hours. I'm not sure why, but everything just seems to take so long!

----- covering the daily distance -- I would look at the map and see that we had about 100 kms to cover for the day. Great, 100 kms normally takes me somewhere between 4 and 5 hours to ride, depending on terrain and weather. 9 or 10 hours later, I would roll into the campsite at the end of the day. I never cycle so slowly as when I am touring. I have no idea if it is because of the weight of the panniers, or the fact that I stop a lot to take photos, or the fact that I'm on vacation mode and so I'm looking at everything and lingering in cafes along the way or what!

----- getting groceries -- Even little tasks like picking up the daily groceries seemed to take twice as long. Normally, I can whip into my local store and have a week's worth of groceries bought and paid for in about 20 minutes ... but for some reason trying to pick out supper that night and breakfast for the morning seemed to be a long and arduous task. Sometimes it was because the foods I had in mind weren't available. Other times it was because I was horrified by the prices and maybe subconsciously hoped they would miraculously drop while I was staring at them. Other times I had been cycling so long I just didn't want to make decisions.

So ... if you have in mind that you'll wake up at 7 am, be on the road by 8 am, cycle 100 kms by no later than 2 pm, spend about an hour getting groceries and setting up camp ... and then spend the late afternoon and evening seeing the local sites or relaxing ... maybe you will, but chances are you'll do something more along the lines of waking at 8 am (with good intentions of getting up at 7 am), on the road by 10 am, cycle till about 6 or 7 pm, and spend closer to two hours getting groceries and getting things set up for the night (and/or trying to find a place to camp for the night), and after you've spent another hour cooking supper, you'll collapse into bed exhausted without any sight-seeing or relaxing.

gregw

You summed it up perfectly! That is my touring experience and I would have it no other way! If you are in a hurry, drive.
Greg

kesroberts

That it isn't as hard as I thought it would be.

That I didn't need a radio.

That fresh vegetables would be so hard to find in the heartland.

That I wouldn't be able to finish a single book in 80+ days on the road.

That a bike jersey is useless.

That 2 pair of underwear are enough, or maybe one too many.

That's about it.

One more - that Kentucky has so many dry counties.

kesroberts

And that bike gloves are useless - double wrap the bars instead.

HelenHeart

That how many miles a day I will cycle has more to do with where the wind is coming from, than how many hills there are.

That the tires on my bike are fabulous, but the tires on my Burley Nomad get punctures just by them looking at a piece of glass. So I bought tire liners. That seems to have done the trick.

That I should buy powered gatorade in small containers, cos you get tired of the same flavor quickly!!

That it is better to bring ALL synthetic clothing, even evening wear. They clean up like a dream, so long as you don't let them get too dirty, and they dry in a heartbeat.

That there is nothing better than when it is just you, the bike and trailer.