stayfed

Hey everyone.

I am new to the Touring portion of this forum.

I am in a pickle. I picked up the Flu on Saturday. It's Tuesday night and I still feel weak. I am not throwing up, no fever, just low energy.

I was planning on leaving Thursday to bike from Portland Oregon to San Francisco California. At this point I am already gonna push it to Friday but I don't even know if that will be enough time to get back to health.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers.

Machka 

This is one of the reasons why we build flexibility into our schedules to allow for short days of cycling and days off.

Get lots of rest now, drink fluids, consume chicken soup, etc. etc. ...

Then when you depart on Friday, can you do a short day ... maybe only 20 or 30 km? Saturday might also need to be a short day, but depending on how you feel, you might ride a little bit longer on Sunday. Then take the 4th day off (Monday) -- get lots of rest that day and assess how you feel about continuing.


I have been sick during tours, and fortunately we had enough flexibility in our schedule for us to stop entirely for 2 or 3 days so I could recover, and then we did light/short days for a few days after.

stayfed

I will have 11 days to get to Santa Cruz which is a little over 800 miles from Portland. 12 if I leave on Thursday like I had planned. Unfortunately the first day would be somewhat long 80 miles or so with a bit of climbing. I could go easy on the days after that since there are a lot of places to camp once i get to the coast.

Machka 

Are you used to riding 67+ miles a day, many days in a row?

If you regularly do that, then this might be easier for you.

If you rarely do that, or have never done that, then you might want to rethink your starting point or destination.


You might also want to look into alternate methods of transportation. For example, if you got halfway through that 80 mile day and just couldn't continue, is there a place where you could catch a bus, train, or rent a car to get yourself further down the road?

hueyhoolihan

do you turn back into a pumpkin or something if you don't make it to Santa Cruz?

azira

Machka! You are right. I agree with you. If stayfed is not feeling well so he should take any other transport. Tour on a cycle is thrilling but if you are not good in it so you should not move on it. But I’m going from boston to washington dc bus tours for fishing with my friends.

SparkyGA

OP: Welcome to touring! Sometimes you get sick, it happens time to time. Short days or rest days are really the only two options once your underway.

If you end up a few days behind schedule before you leave, just jump on a bus from your home for a few hundred km and ride off from there. Not a big deal.

indyfabz

What's worst that could happen? You realize you can't hack it after day 1 or 2 and you turn around and ride home or find some other mode of transportation home.

alan s 

Riding while sick can really stress your body. Be careful and rest up. Maybe you want to start a little closer to your destination. The worst experience I ever had was from riding 15 miles while sick. I paid the price and nearly ended up in the hospital.

staehpj1

It seems to me that getting sick with the flu on a Saturday and starting a tour on a Thursday leaves plenty of time to bounce back. I'd plan on going and bail at the last minute if I felt awful.

mdilthey

Sleep does wonders. Just keep sleeping. Your body will heal.

Remember to eat!

andrewclaus

I've cycled through bad colds before, and a one-day bout of fever. I took it easy, rolled with the punches--it happens. Mainly I've found I normally don't get sick where it really matters. Starting out weak is a different thing--good luck with that one. You may really improve in the next day or two, and now you're immune to that flu strain.

fietsbob

Shorter Loop? fly Return ticket to PDX, Bus to Astoria*, ride coast to Florence /Reedsport . head inland to Eugene , Bus-Amtrak back to Portland.
* https://www.northwest-point.com/schedule.aspx


caught a cold Mid-Tour in Ireland .. excess Phlegm went outside the tent without getting up, due to well placed Zipper.

stayfed

Thanks everyone for the advice.

The reason I have 11 days to be in Santa Cruz is because I start a two month contract there on the 2nd of September. So I need to be there by the 1st to settle into my sublet and rest.

I ride 6 days a week so physically my legs will be able to handle these 60 - 100 days no problem. My other concern is getting through the tour to only get sick again afterwards.

This morning I definitely feel much better but am noticeably weak. If I feel goo tomorrow morning I will probably give it a go on Friday. Otherwise I guess I will have to just cancel the trip and fly down there.

I'll have plenty of opportunities in Santa Cruz to do overnighters but was really looking forward to this trip down the coast.

fietsbob

Avoiding TSA Hassles .

NB: once in Eugene , Amtrak will take you south .. the route crosses the Cascades, next, so is on the back side south of there .
Its about 24 hours to Emeryille/Oakland in the SF Bay .
BART gets you under the Bay, to SF .. Cal Train will get you closer on the peninsula to go over the top of the Coast Range to Santa Cruz ..

B. Carfree

I think there's a bus from Portland that can take you to the coast if you need another day before getting in the saddle.

Aside from that, I strongly recommend not starting a tour from Portland on a Friday unless you really like having more traffic with you than is necessary. I find that early Saturday is much less driven than Fridays and the motorists tend to be less stressed/hurried.

You could also take the train from Portland down to Eugene and then head out to the coast at Reedsport via the Smith River. Along that route we're talking extremely light traffic. You'll miss the northern portion of the Oregon coast this way, but the Smith River is a nice consolation prize. Actually, I prefer it to the coast.

stayfed

Thanks guys. I am definitely going to look into the bus and train. My other alternative right now would be to fly to SF on Monday. Pedal to Santa Cruz where I have a sublet already and just do a smaller trip around Monterey and Big Sur.

Tourist in MSN

Until you posted this, I was going to suggest an easy first day, perhaps stop at the hostel in Seaside. But, 11 days for this route is more miles per day than I would want to do when I am feeling healthy. I think I did it in 20 days of travel with a couple more rest days. We usually were the first bikers in the hiker biker sites, we are both retired so we prefer our days a bit shorter than many others.

I posted some of my general observations on Astoria to SF from May and June this year at this link:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/95...l#post16933424

If you go for it, good luck.

jamawani 

Take the bus to Tillamook and give yourself an off day then an easy day.
There is inter-county bus service on the southern Oregon coast.
Then there is bus service connecting Eureka with the Bay Area.
But there is no longer any thru bus service from Oregon to Calif.
Still, the local services would let you cover some extra miles if needed.
Most accept bikes, but you would have to break everything down.

Machka 

That sounds like it might be the better option.

Doug64

Check out the Amtrak bus from the Portland train station to Astoria, or as others have said, take the train south to Albany or Eugene and then head west to the coast.

I am not saying that you can't make your projected daily mileage, but the coast is not flat and 80- 100 miles/ day is a little ambitious.

stayfed

After thinking things through I've decided to withdraw from my tour down the coast. Instead I will fly into San Francisco and do a much shorter tour down to Big Sur.

Thanks for all the info! It really helped me make my decision!

Cheers.

MichaelW

I rode after a similar illness . I felt fine after a rest day and tackled a big mountain. I was shattered a the top and could barely move for 3 days. Lucky I had a sag wagon.

stayfed

Thats what I am afraid of.

Nick94804

I left Astoria on June 12th feeling like hell, I couldn't hold anything down. My goal was Tillamook. I pulled off in Cannon Beach in pouring rain with a 103f fever. I checked into a soft warm bed, hydrated like hell, ate a bit, and slept like the dead. The next morning I rode to Garibaldi...another short day, and repeated. The morning after I was golden.

Get lots of rest, hydrate, eat sensibly. Then go.

Btw, its anything but flat. You have to learn to love rolling hills.