Originally Posted by
texbiker
Thanks for all of the feedback. I bought a Coleman 2 man tent for my Adventure Cycling Association Big Bend National Park bike tour. It was the wrong tent. Because of the wind and rocky terrain it took 2 or more people to set the tent up and take down. The tent was like a sail on a ship catching the wind at every breeze and gust. I expended too much energy setting up and taking down this tent. I should've bought a free-standing tent that was easier to use. This was my first (maybe last) bike tour and I did not know what I was doing. The route was extremely mountainous and I ride where it is flat. I made most of the 365 miles on the bike but rode in the van several times over some climbs.
Bummer.
I did that trip with ACA, van supported camping in 2018. Agree on the rocky hard ground, but apparently we had better weather regarding wind, I never had trouble setting up my non-self supporting tent. The wind was so bad one morning that a few brave souls tried biking, the rest of us rode in the van. And a few miles after the start we picked up the riders that tried to ride into the headwind, then everyone rode in the van that day.
I do not have a photo of my tent on that trip, but here are some of the others, this was hard ground.
Photo below, this morning was below freezing. I left my water bottles on the bike overnight, there was ice in them in the morning.
