Neil_B

It's useless to argue with someone who equates being a minor to being a slave.

Niles H.

Well said.

saddlesores

or for his 'charity' tour.

Machka 

Of course he should allow more time if he is going to go ahead with this ride.


I'm really hoping he takes the advice to ride back-to-back 100 mile rides ... or even better, back-to-back-to-back days of 100+ mile rides in the next weekend or two. Isn't there a Memorial Day long weekend coming up soon in the US? That would be a good weekend to try a back-to-back-to-back 100+ mile rides.

As znomit suggest, he could camp out in his back yard, or a nearby campground. He doesn't have to go far away from home. But it would be good for him to get some real experience with riding the distances he thinks he wants to do in a familiar environment.

It would be even better if he were able to do those rides with the load he plans to carry.

LeeG

You have a curious disconnect in your reasoning that doing something once means you can do it repeatedly days on end. You've got enough feedback on that so it sounds like your own experience and not others will be the teacher here.

Bike shorts, hygiene and general health care on and off the bicycle become more important as you ride and recover. Eat before you get hungry, drink before you get thirsty, rest before you get tired all give you the opportunity to push a little more. Once you run down the reserves you stop.

3. yes

staehpj1

Yes agreed, but if he can back off of the rigid schedule that becomes somewhat less of an issue. Memorial day (May 28th) is coming up and would be a good chance for him to try a mini tour.

Going without much training can work, and doing crazy long mileage can work too. The two together probably won't work well at all. Worst likely scenario is that he will have to bail and figure out how to skulk home with his tail between his legs. Best case he'll harden up quickly due to his youth and have a successful tour. Neither outcome would surprise me much. Either way it will be a learning experience for him.

indyfabz

More and more, for several reasons, I am thinking troll.

staehpj1

Maybe, but I recall a couple other similar cases that I know were for real and that I know finished their coast to coast adventure.

shelbyfv

You guys need to leave this kid alone and stop responding to his posts. If not a troll, he is admittedly 16 years old, not very resourceful, and his mother has forbidden this "tour." It is wrong for you to be egging him on. Next you'll be offering him a place to stay....

jimmuller 

There has been a lot of good discussion about routing and GoogleMaps and biking shorts and distances, etc. (I don't agree with everything said here, but that's neither here nor there except a statement as to how we are all different.) But bikexcountry, one key element hasn't been addressed and it will either make or break you:

Your own psychology can be your worst enemy or your best friend. Even on just day-trips and especially over unknown routes, biking long distances will present you with many unexpected challenges. Roads will have unexpected hills or construction or dead ends. Maps will be wrong or out of date. They may lead you into areas that are very bike-unfriendly. Campgrounds will be closed. People you meet will be nice or not nice. Bilke parts will function properly or not. I didn't say these things may happen, I said they will happen. The only way to deal with them is to deal with them, to improvise as necessary, smile and enjoy the ride. If you allow yourself to get angry when things don't go right you will become very frustrated. That will cause you to make mistakes, to be inefficient. You will not enjoy the trip and will most likely quit long before quitting is forced by time or health or other obstacles which really aren't insurmountable.

It's somethig to keep in mind.

Good luck on your trip! Keep preparing and experimenting. Be safe. Make smart decisions.

Neil_B

Yeah, but he could be legit. Young people aren't very sensible.

chasm54

Not just young people, by the looks of this thread...

Neil_B

Indeed. Had this been a backpacking forum and available in 1992 there would be a cheering section for Alexander Supertramp.... "Nah forget the compass and map! Just do it! You can always find a bus if things go wrong."

staehpj1

What this young man is proposing doing is not especially dangerous. Probably thousands of folks of various ages and backgrounds have ridden across the US. Quite a few of them had little idea of what they were doing when they started. A very few maybe did come to harm, but I suspect that by far the most significant risks are traffic risks and in most cases no worse that they would face riding in their home towns.

BTW, I am not proposing that he not work this out with his Mom first, but that is his (and her) problem and he has not asked for advice on that so I am offering none.

indyfabz

My feeling has nothing to do with his age. However, his alleged age has something to do with my feeling. The posts cover many of the hot button topics that seems to elicit strong opions. Age. Raising money/awareness for chartities, including using donations to fund the trip. High daily mileage despite little or no experience. Doing it on the cheap. Which panniers? The "free rider" issue--the ethics of getting advice from a LBS with the intent of buying on line. Things like that. And the writing doesn't seem like that which would come from someone his age. It seems too polished. (No offense to the younger generation intended.) Also, there are the requests to check out his other posts.

I cannot prove a thing, but I thought I would toss out the possibility.

njkayaker

I doubt he's a troll.

There's also sprintfree (in the "fundraising problems" thread), who's the same sort of idealist.

njkayaker

No one is necessarily expecting him to "come to harm".

Probably, quite a large percentage fail to complete the trip (weighted heavily, one might suppose, with people with little experience and preparation).

It doesn't look like he's doing enough to put him in the "likely to succeed" group.

The following indicates that only 10% of hikers planning to hike the AT succeed. I suspect that the success rate for cross-country is higher but I don't think anybody has compiled the numbers.

https://www.atlasomega.com/2011/03/ap...-hiking-guide/

dengidog

+1 to this and Machka´s posts.

It´s great to be ambitious, but I can tell you from personal experience that there is no way you´re going to have a perfect trip, much less travel 100 mpd, without running into occasional difficulties. You can be the best planner in the world, but things happen...most of them strange.

If your post is genuine and you really want to make this tour, don´t be arrogant and think you know everything there is to know simply because you took one successful trip (not saying you are, just saying...). There is a lot of great advice being offered, be smart and take it.

Good luck!

stephenjubb

I think the guy in the photo above died in Alaska, either from lack of food/water or eaten by the wildlife. It was tragic.

stephenjubb

yes was correct, he died of starvation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_McCandless

Neil_B

Yeah, and he's been idealized and sainted as a 'searcher' when he was just a kid who thought a lot of himself. So much of himself, he went into the Alaskan brush without compass or map. (The boots he is wearing in the photo were given to him by the driver he hitched a ride from.) While I doubt the youthful idealists posting here will starve to death, there's no doubt at least one of them is as unprepared as McCandless was. BTW, last year we had a poster setting herself up for a McCandless ending on her bike tour when she said she was going to forage for wild edible plants to fuel her ride....

BigAura

+1

mev

Along lines of idealists doing stupid things - there is Robert Bogucki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bogucki or https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/428505.stm) who was on a bicycle trip around Oz with his girlfriend in 1999. At some point she returned back to US and he continued ahead with bright idea of cycling overland through part of the Great Sandy Desert leaving the main road near Sandfire roadhouse. Just a few km along the track, he abandoned the bike and continued on foot. He was very fortunate to have been found 43 days into his trek. That was still somewhat recent news when I circled Oz two years later and his parents ended up donating to local search and rescue teams who spent a lot looking for him.

Not suggesting that same level of danger comes if one stays on sealed roads - but there is something to be said for creating backup plans if you idealistically go out inadequately prepared and overly ambitious.

Bacciagalupe

Uh, hello? He's 16. He's a minor, and as such he faces numerous legal restrictions until he turns 18.

An "emancipated minor" is a legal term; it refers to a minor who is released from parental authority before they turn 18. It has nothing to do with slavery, the conflation is patently absurd.

Bacciagalupe

He probably won't. Some things you just have to learn by doing and failing.