permanentjaun

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've posted in the touring forum. Around this time last year I was planning my cross country tour, and receiving a lot of great help from a lot of you. This year I'd like to do the route again so as to make a yearly pilgrimage to see my friends at the shore we grew up spending our summers at. This time, I'm hopefully going to be doing it on a motorcycle. It's a new hobby I'm getting in to, and now that I have a real job I won't have the time to take 2 months off for a bicycle tour.

I live in Phoenix, AZ and drove to California to visit family over the holidays. For the first 200-300 miles ,from Phoenix into Palm Springs, I was on the same route of my bike tour. Recounting my experience, for the first time after nearly 8 months, sure made the drive through the desert a lot quicker. Even the simple 200 miles of I-10 through barren desert was chock full of memories, images, experiences, thoughts, feelings, and stories to tell. If the desert can revoke so much, I wonder what the other, less barren, sections of my tour can do.

My question for all of you now is, if you've retraced a tour you once rode, what was it like the second time for you? Did you remember something you never thought you'd remember? Were you ever overcome with emotion? Were you disappointed something wasn't as grand the second time around; perhaps because you came through that certain section at a different time of day? Do you have any favorites that you would like to share here?

Look forward to hearing some good stories. Matt

arctos

Over the last 35 years of bike touring, I have made a point of retracing former bike tour routes whenever I have the opportunity. Riding a route in reverse or duplicating the original route via bike is the same yet so different due to weather conditions, my age and physical condition since the original trip.

Even driving an old tour route evokes visceral memories of steep climbs in thin air, cloudbursts at a summit, violent headwinds and crosswinds on descents forcing hard pedaling just to advance down hill, trail angels helping in a moment of trial or desperation and meeting other bike tourists in unlikely places for an exchange of information. Your vehicle down shifting reminds you that you really did expend a lot of energy ascending that pass on your own leg power.

Lots of emotional imprints of people places and events stored away from each trip can be revisited on a return even more so than from photos in my experience.

raybo

I try to ride from SF to LA every year to visit family and friends and to bike on the California Coast, which is so lovely to do. I follow the same route but often stop at different places for the night.

I've been doing this for about 5 years and over that time I have seen communities change, fields become subdivisions, business come and go, and looked forward to the same sections year after year. It is a nice contrast to the tours I take where I have no idea what is around the next bend.

What can happen if you do this: I was in Lompoc (town/stopping place about 45 miles north of Santa Barbara) eating at my favorite Chinese Buffet there. I hadn't been there for a year. Up walks my waiter who asks "Where have you been, we haven't seen you lately?"

Ray

Bekologist

Since I'm a proletariat worker bee, I ride a lot of shortish, week or less, tours from the doorstep. In the Northwest along Puget Sound we have unique topography allowing expansive views of the surrounding area. By reriding routes I acheive a 'sense of place' and connect to my regional environment.

I can look around the skyline at the mountains 360 around Seattle and pick out mountain passes I've ridden across, routes across the Cascades and Olympics.

Becomming familiar with tens of thousands of square miles around greater Pugetopolis. I recommed this approach to anyone. Become more intimate with the world around where you live using trips from the doorstep.

I really enjoy re-riding routes as it allows you to find sweet spots, great bakeries, choice campgrounds, great farmers' stands, secret hidden glens, etc. I've found some of my favorite must-stop places while on my bike. And am eager to return.

staehpj1

I haven't been back on the TA, but am overcome regularly thinking about the trip, or seeing picture, or hearing about someone else's trip.

Machka 

I "retrace" my route through the Rocky Mountains all the time. I try to cycle there as much as possible ... up and down the Icefield Parkway and out to Radium, etc. It's always wonderful.

permanentjaun

Anyone ever avoid the tough parts of a previous tour cause you're too whimpy? Hehe.

mtnroads

I also motorcycle tour occasionally and rarely retrace routes as I like to see new places, people and things. There can be no better way to get the "big picture" view of a place than from the seat of a motorcycle if you have limited time, but you definitely do not get the same feeling for a landscape that you do on a bicycle. Too much of the attention is required to pilot the machine, hence the views are fleeting snapshots.

teamcompi

I did what was to become the trans-am in 73 with a good looking tough young lady, got married a few years later. About 30 years after being married I did more or less the same trip with our twin daughters, I was amazed how much it was the same, I swear we even ate in some of the same places. This time around the beer was not as good for some reason, and surprisingly the hills seemed smaller. Many times I got weird deja vu and filled with emotions. There is a heck of a lot more sealcoat now than before. If only I knew how to write I am sure there is a book in the memories and the comparisons of then and now. Jackson Montana, is the home of hot water toilets the kids did not believe! Retracing routes is great, but so are new roads....so much pavement so little time.:}

permanentjaun

Still, I'm kind of excited to go back on Rte 6 in PA. For miles all I could think about, besides how pretty it was, was how fun it would be to leaning around the winding roads in the country side. Sometimes, I found myself not able to take in the scenery on the bicycle because I had to work so hard at times. For example, if there was a stiff headwind, or if I was on a 7%+ grade, or if the traffic situation was tense and I had to focus on my line. I'm sure there are some benefits to experiencing the land on a motorcycle beyond not having to work so hard.

acantor

Three years after riding from Quebec City through Charlevoix to Tadoussac, I did a motor holiday with my family, following almost the same route.

Experiencing Charlevoix for the second time left me incredulous. I had trouble believing that I had climbed such long and steep hills, day after day after day. Our rental car struggled on one particularly brutal 18% grade... How had I done it on my own power in the 32 Celsius/90 Fahrenheit heat? (I actually do remember how: I zigzagged my way up; stopped to rest every minute or two; and guzzled litres of water during the difficult ascent.)




(La Grande Côte - Les Éboulement - in winter)

My return trip made me realize that I had really achieved something special on my bicycle trip through Charlevoix.

Machka 

I've been revisiting some of the areas I covered on my 2004 Australian tour, and my 2008 Australian tour.

It's interesting seeing these areas again ... and even more interesting seeing them by motorized vehicle. When you're on a bicycle, you tend to be more choosy about where you want to go ... you pick this place because it's in line with the route you're travelling, and you don't travel off in other directions to see other sights and places because you don't have the time to do all that.

On my 2004 tour, we went through Bairnsdale, for example, but we didn't take a side trip to Lakes Entrance about 20 km off to the side because it was out of the way. But just a few weeks ago, Rowan and I headed for Bairnsdale, and decided to go all the way to Lakes Entrance because 20 km in a vehicle is nothing. And Lakes Entrance is beautiful!! So I'm seeing some of the areas where I was, plus some of the areas around.


If all goes well (if they let me out of the hospital) Rowan and I are planning to head to Tasmania later in the week. That will be interesting because we will revisit many of the areas I visited when I was there in 2004. I'm looking forward to it.

wheel

All of my routes leave my front door so far. I love riding during the full moon, the desert is so gorgeous in the moonshine. I tend to get faster when I do them over.

acantor

I returned yesterday from a tour I first did four years ago -- the Waterfront Trail from Toronto to Kingston.

It is a fantastic route, about 90% on quiet backroads with little or no traffic. The trip was more enjoyable the second time, as I was familiar with the idiosyncrasies of the route. For example, I already knew that finding food and accommodations in certain towns and cities meant leaving the Trail and traveling relatively far. I appreciated not having to spend time figuring things out a second time.

Also, there were plenty of attractions that I had not noticed, did not have time to check out, or did not exist my first time through. On this trip, I "discovered" an organic farm that grows over 150 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and stopped for a chat with the farmer. (I also grow heirloom tomatoes in my garden.)

Although I enjoy exploring new regions by bicycle, I would not hesitate to do the same route a third time.

BigBlueToe

I rode the Oregon coast in 1992 as part of a whole west coast tour. I rode it again in 2004. It was wonderful the 2nd time around. I remembered much of it, but not so vividly that it wasn't exciting and almost brand new. I met wonderful other riders both times, which was a big part of the reason the trips were so enjoyable.

I'd ride it 2 or 3 more times without hesitation. I think it would be best with a few years separation between trips.

I guess it's a little like reading a book a 2nd or 3rd time. I really like to do that, but prefer to wait a couple of years at least between readings to make it seem a bit more "fresh".

I'd like to repeat some of my other tours too - hopefully with a family member who wasn't there the first time.