gugie 

Looks like he did a Forest Gump, left his house in Northbend, WA and kept riding till he got to Colorado.



And here I thought me and a few friends were hard men riding up Hurricane Ridge last weekend.

northbend 

It's too much to try and express in this forum in addition to what I've already posted on Facebook and flickr but here's the link from flickr:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskZdrpSQ

I am formally out of media blackout now that I'm home. It was a great experience

Lascauxcaveman 

LOL, I sent him an invite to that ride a week or two ago, and he's like "Sorry, I'm touring Colorado, dude."

Living the life

Kobe 

I think we all dream of taking a trip like this, congratulations northbend for actually doing it.

I really enjoyed the pictures.

gomango

Great photos and adventures NB!

I follow his exploits on Flickr.

He definitely knows how to live life to its fullest.

delicious

Looks like a fantastic trip - loved the photos!

Last summer I rode Portland-SF along the coast. Maybe I should ride inland next time.

Chrome Molly

Looks like one of those times when we can safely use the word "epic". Thx for the photos. I'm envious of your trip and your capacity to do that.

CV-6 

Well stated.

SJX426 

Thanks for sharing your trip! Spent my college years in easter Washington, so many of the locations brought back memories.
Kinda looks like you lost some weight along the way!

Did you solo this and how did you plan ahead of time?

gugie 

I've ridden the first couple of days of @northbend's epic ride, but it took me longer to get there. I met northbend in person then, great guy.

francophile 

Admirable, congrats @northbend

FIL just finished riding over 1300 miles in the Great Cycle Challenge in under a month to raise money for Children's Cancer Research. I'll ask you the same thing I asked him and with absolute seriousness: How's your ass, any saddle sores, and if not, how'd you manage?

Other noteworthy trips: The guy I bought my recent Behringer from rode with his wife on their folding tandem from somewhere in Washington or Oregon all the way back to Atlanta. I think it took them 6 weeks? I wish I could find his blog, more details there.

obrentharris 

Looks like a great tour! Congratulations to you NB for getting out and doing it.
Brent

northbend 

Thanks guys, appreciate it. It was a great experience and though I am happy to be home, something about the day to day routine (except the morning teardown and pack..) and always being outside is something I am already missing. I was out riding today for the 1st time since I ended the tour on Sunday when I realized this. Being on the bike was what felt normal, not normal inside living.

good2Bhome by NBend, on Flickr

I rode out the middle fork road - a very quiet and peaceful place. I circled around the campground where the pavement ends and felt that I was already missing sleeping on the ground, the smell of a campfire.

To answer some questions:

I lost 13 LBs

This was ridden solo

No Saddle Sores. I took care of my 'taint and my 'taint took care of me: packed 2 pairs of shorts, daily washing the pair I had just ridden in so I always started each day in dry, fresh shorts. Also used baby wipes to keep clean and applied antibacterial ointment each night before sleeping.

Did not do extensive route planning. I know washington well enough so I picked my way through the state without any pre-planning (just a recreation map) and I bought some of the ACA Transcontenental Maps that covered Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. I connected with the ACA route in Idaho at Kooskia and followed the ACA route into Colorado before veering off route. I orignially planned to cross over the high rockies in the rocky Mtn N.P. but when I was at Hot Sulphur Springs for a few days, I rode up to the park. It was crazy busy (being the week of july 4) to the point of being hazardous so I made a change of plans and decided to go over Loveland Pass after consulting with my son. Some folks I talked to said there is no bike route once you get over that pass but they were wrong! It was one of the highlights of my trip to follow the Colorado Bikeway to Idaho Springs. Going over the Central City Pkwy and Peak to Peak I confirmed by looking at google maps with a satellite view (looked at shoulders and traffic in those views). I wanted to avoid going into Denver. I consider not knowing for certain the whole route in advance to be an exciting thing..part of the adventure.

I had no idea how much time to plan for..I've heard folks say plan on under 50mi per day but all I did was just guess then once I said 5 weeks, my son and my wife made their plans which in the end, complicated things because my wife ended up having to cancel her flight out to meet me 3 days from the end of the trip (we were going to rent a car and drive home but I ended up flying back).

I'm not much of a planner anyways - I'm too lazy and i don't like being constrained so it worked out anyways. your result may vary.

The thing I spent the most time with prior to going was figuring out which bike to use. I really didn't know if I'd even like loaded touring so I decided to just go with my most reliable and familiar bike. I did 2 very short trips with the Bruce Gordon fitted first with only a rear rack then when I realized how awful it handled, ponied up for the front rack and panniers and tried another short trip to see how that worked. The bike was clearly not ideal for loaded touring but I got by. I am pretty proud of the fact I was able to lug something like 45 LBs of gear over those high passes with a 47x32 double and a 14-32 5sp freewheel.


I had been buying camping gear a little at a time over the past year (not having done much camping for decades before this).

I learned that I like touring and I can see myself wanting a more appropriate bike for doing it. Aesthetics are pretty important to me and I would love something beautiful to ride but this trip convinced me that function and the ablity to easily replace failed components is important. That was the biggest risk I faced. My drivetrain is 40 years old and you can't just walk into any bike shop and pick up replacement parts. That could have cut my tour short if something would have happened.
@gugie Thank you, my friend.

Velocivixen

Gorgeous scenery. You looked like you were having a wonderful time. Approximately how far did you ride each day? Did you have specific places you wanted to be on specific days?

northbend 

Yep


Varied between 35 to 90+ per day

Only Longmont on July 10 (I arrived a day early but they didn't mind :-)

Drillium Dude 

So cool, Matt - I'm going to have to check out your FB and Flickr pics

You mentioned ability to replaced failed components. Did you have any mechanicals (other than flats, which I'm assuming you had at least one of in all those miles)? What was your final mileage?

Quite the adventure, and one for the books. Welcome back! Hope to see you at Bob's on the 22nd.

DD

gugie 

I'm convinced that this is a great setup:



The only reason the tent is sticking out the back are the poles. I've seen people take the rest of the tent and stick it in the pannier, then strap the poles onto the top of the pannier. With no extra load in the back, handling doesn't change much, as long as you've got a low trail geometry.

Not sure why I'm being thanked, but you're welcome.

Drillium Dude 

I really like that minimalist rear rack. I'm assuming that since it has no stays it's not designed to carry panniers?

Just picked up a tent from sloar for overnight hiking, but if I could find a similar rack and figure out how to mount it to the Medici I might try for a very limited tootle for a couple/three days. Just for the heck of it. I'd go the minimalist two pair of shorts/jerseys and a credit card in my one remaining handlebar bag.

Hopefully it would stay dry and hot

DD

Sir_Name 

What an awesome adventure - congrats and kudos on making it happen, sounds like a great approach to the trip as well.

Wonderful flickr pics, really neat to see a K-MAX mixed in - gots some professional and familial connections to that chopper, a really sweet machine.



Did you find yourself making some of those important minor fit adjustments along the trip, or were those sorted by the time you hit the road?

gugie 

I wouldn't put panniers on it. I made that rack in two parts so some of it is always on the bike.The extension slides in like a trombone and locks down with one screw.



When I credit card travel I get by with a good sized handlebar bag and a not so big saddle bag. That's enough for 3 days before needing to do laundry. I'm sure you'll recognize this location:



I met @northbend that evening, rode up to Cle Elum the next day and stuck around for Jan Heine's un-meeting festivities, then a buddy of mine met me there after he did a 100 mile ride from a hotel at SEATAC. He does the two sets of riding clothing only thing, and carries it all like this:


We shared cheap hotels on the way back to Portland. He always got the first shower, and would wash what he just rode in and himself, then putting on the next days riding clothes to go out to eat, walking around in his SIDIs. I like to look a bit more normal, an extra 5-6 lbs of clothing can be light and take up little room. That includes a wool sweater, rain jacket, and a pair of convertible nylon pants, three vented Next time I do a tour I'm switching to platform pedals and just bringing one pair of shoes.

Sir_Name 

Interesting thought - lately I've been trying to get rid of some toe numbness issues when using walkable SPD shoes. Not to say that can't be solved in SPD realm, but platforms allow moving pressure away from hot spots, and yours is one more argument for platforms in some situations. Works well enough for the MTB.

northbend 

you gave me the perfect lead in to post my story!

@Sir_Name I've been riding that bike for like 37 years; no need for fit adjustments

Wildwood 

Matt always does things in a big way.

bikemig 

Great pics and enjoyed the thread. I'm starting to think about a long tour. It's time.

Sir_Name 

Yeah, that should cover it...