Solar Eclipse riding 2017
 

Monday, August 21, there will be a total solar eclipse. If you live in Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Missouri, Tennessee or South Carolina, or near there, you are in luck.

Do you have a bike ride planned for that day? Tell us about it!

I was thinking about joining a brevet starting in St Joseph MO and passing through a bit of Nebraska and Iowa, but it's just too far. But I suppose I could take a bus down to Columbia SC or somewhere near there, and ride...

I'm going to go for a ride and finish up at a eclipse festival near where I live. It's being held at the city's Environmental center, spread the blanket and wait for the family to show up.

Forgot: we are at 94% coverage, so they say

I'm going to ride from SW Portland south and west to Lafayette or McMinnville. The last 10-15 miles will be new to me but the first30 are my stomping grounds. That will get me ~55 secs of totality.

Ben

Don't forget Wyoming.

I'm saving myself for the one in April 2024, much, much closer. Heck, I'll only be 81. :p

I was thinking about running down to St. Claire, MO (just SW of St. Louis), and then doing a little riding around Babler Park afterwards.


Steve in Peoria (but lived in St. Louis for a while)

My wife and I will be visiting Missouri that day, and our hosts and we might take a ride, but I'm not sure yet.

Be aware the areas in the path of the eclipse south of St Louis are likely to be major zoos. Get there early. I am working that day but plan to be on the roof. Unfortunately my location will experience less than a minute of totality.

Here in Oregon people are either planning on getting in the path of totality, or avoiding it altogether. It's a few hours south of Portland, and I'm working that day, so I'll probably just go outside and see the only mostly eclipse.

I'll be in Carbondale, IL, close to the point of maximum eclipse (true maximum takes place near Princeton,KY - bit further to the east. But close enough for me.) No riding planned, just hanging out and enjoying the spectacle.

Centerline of totality runs just South of downtown Stayton, where the Stayton/Scio road crosses Santiam River. Gives us 2 minutes 7 seconds of totality


Brother in law is coming down from Whidby Island for a few days. He's into Photography like we are into bikes. Been excitedly planning for more than a year.


I will be enjoying the happening, taking pics of him taking pics and probably ride a bit either before or after.....maybe both. Supposed to be crowds of outsiders coming. In a small town like Stayton, it doesn't take many to make a crowd.


Here's a July 2016 shot of Ground Zero with my 66 Schwinn Super Sport during last year's Clunker Challenge. Don

What's a reasonable and safe way to view the eclipse. I imagine digital technology offers something?

I am directly in the path of the eclipse with near maximum time. I won't be riding at that moment, however, but I will have my entire classroom of students outside - our district has provided everyone with NASA approved glasses for the event.

OK, that said, be aware that the Missouri Business Journal is reporting that traffic will be a complete gridlock in St. Joseph, Columbia, St. Louis, and the northern reaches of Kansas City. They estimate some people could be stuck in St Louis traffic for up to ten hours, which I find unbelievable. Cell service, power, and infrastructure may brown out or be sporadic. And hotels? Fuggedaboudit. Rooms were booked two years ago. I am planning on riding to work that day and chuckling at the stranded cars as I pass them if even a small percentage of this doomsday scenario comes to pass.

Heck, we'll probably wind up with cloud cover that day.

Oregon along the path of totality is predicted to be several day's worth of Carmageddon. I'm going to be at work. I might go outside and bang on garbage cans to scare away the sun-eating dragons.

I have tentative plans to be in southeastern Iowa (95% totality), depending on weather.

Mr. VV & I are both taking the day off, along with many others we know. Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI) is having a big solar eclipse event. It's in Portland, so we'll likely go. They'll have telescopes set up, etc...
We'll likely ride our bikes to Portland to avoid traffic or the expected crowds aboard public transportation.

I'll be riding south, southeast of St Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi river. I'll have more than 2 minutes of total eclipse.

I work as a welder and used a #14 lens to watch the transit of Venus a few years ago. It's much darker than a normal welding lens so any old welding shield will let through too much light, gotta get the right lens. Any decent welding shop should have one for 5$ and then you can make a cardboard welding shield. I would buy a bigger 4x5 lens for more viewing area but depends on the selection at the shop.

The easier thing to do is just buy eclipse glasses if you are watching with friends this seems to be the way to go.

NASA will be streaming the event on their website. Info is here:
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-live-stream

It's probably the best/easiest way to enjoy the spectacle.


Steve in Peoria

I'm not planning on riding, but I am planning on driving an hour south with my telescope and solar filters. :)

that sounds like quite an apocalyptic prediction!
On the plus side, who says you can't watch the eclipse while sitting in gridlock on I-270??

I was assuming that there might be 50k to 100k of people streaming into the area, but that would only be a 5% change in the region's population. Might be a fair bit larger increase in auto traffic, though, but it wouldn't necessarily be happening at rush hour(s).

Well, I appreciate the input from you and Lynn. I'll certainly allow more travel time and pack some food and drink, just in case things really do get nasty.

Any thoughts on the traffic situation for those headed to Carbondale, relative to heading to SW St. Louis? A buddy is going down there, and the network of back roads don't seem like they could handle much traffic. I've been hearing much more about people traveling to Carbondale than to St. Louis.


Steve (keeping my fingers crossed) in Peoria

As the Carbondale area is one of the places with the longest totality, there are a lot of activities in the area. What most are saying is get there early.

I'm hoping it's all being overstated. But as of this morning, we've been notified of some local school districts closing that day.

Will be in Blo-No, IL but pending weather just might take a drive a little further south. Carbondale has some decent areas for cycling.

NASA has a list of approved eclipse glasses: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety

I ordered some a couple weeks ago; but it took quite a bit of effort to find the legit offerings on Amazon. Just because the Amazon listing says it is made by a certain manufacturer doesn't mean that it's not phony, and Amazon doesn't verify that stuff.

Ordering directly from the manufacturers wasn't an option, either, because most of them wanted $13 in shipping for $10 worth of glasses.