Joe Padilla

It will be east, so ill prly have the wind to my back, and it will be flat. I plan on a 12 hr day.

LeeG

great bike, hope that rope can't get loose. It's amazing how fast a wheel stops turning when something jams in the the brake bridge. I was launched once when I tied a t-shirt under the seat and it got loose and caught inbetween tire and brake bridge. Luckily I went over a brush covered incline and not the bridge overlooking the river and rocks.

escii_35

80-100 is just fine with four bags, good roads, no head wind, in shape and not too interested in seeing sights.

Toss in some head winds or junky road surfaces and you will have to balance it with less weight or greater fitness.

As for rest days I start all my > then three week trips the same.

Three big or four medium days -> rest. Take another rest day 5-7 days after the first. Then as needed. I try and pre schedule a long period off every 5-6 weeks. (aka mooch a bed from a FAOF)

Joe Padilla

Yeah im getting a 35L dry bag to put it in.

Machka 

Go ride back-to-back 100 mile rides this weekend or next.

Ride them fully loaded, as you plan to ride your tour.

Ride them on a variety of terrain/environmental conditions ... some hills, some flat, lots of wind. If it rains, ride anyway.

Then report back to us on whether you feel it is reasonable to assume you could do that day in and day out.



Are you on some sort of time limit for your tour that you can't do it at a more leisurely pace?

Joe Padilla

no time limit im just excited to get to Oregon, ill let you about the 100 mile plus in a few weeks.

Thulsadoom

If you have to ask, then you must have doubts. Lots of folks tour and do that kind of daily mileage, and more, with ease. Others don't or can't. You'll likely find your own pace. Totally relative question.

John N

Since you are not on a time schedule, just start easy for you (say 60 miles a day). Ramp it up 5 miles every day until you decide what is good for you. You may decide to stop after 50 miles since you stop and meet locals continually.

Or you might be like a guy I met who did a coast to coast and back who averaged something like 147 miles a day. I met him in Moorhead, MN when he was on his return from the east coast. He was loaded very light (1 change of clothes, bivy sack, and a patch kit and tube. That was about it. I asked him how he liked it. He said he hated touring since it was no fun and he never met people and saw cool things like others had talked about. I suggested he might want to "slow down and smell the roses" but he didn't see the sense in that.

My point is, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

No matter what you do, enjoy the ride!

pdlamb

I submit it'll be a better trip for you if you take a third again as long to get to Oregon, and are still excited to get there. Sorry to throw cold water on your plans, but I think you're biting off more than you can handle, and you're likely to burn out and quit in Missouri on your current schedule.

I'd suggest you start planning at half that distance until you get to Berea (assuming you're on the TransAm). From there, with some more fitness trained into your legs, lungs, and seat, you can start riding as much as you feel comfortable every day.

MassiveD

totally fair question. Probably the tour I did the highest mileages in I was in my late 40s, and I weighed about 270. I did around 80 a day. But the tour only lasted 3 weeks, and I lost a lot of weight, and was done by the time it was over. There were also days when headway was all but impossible due to wind.

Fair question, but one of many questions that make sense to ask from home. When you get out their, your priorities are not the same. Normally my best state felt great, in the flow, you just want it to carry on for ever. Not the same thing as worrying about whether you make miles. If you can stay comfortable, enjoy the riding, you will will churn out the miles. I average about 10 mph for the whole tour, but normally my speedo would read 14, just can't keep that up all the time. But at those rates you can toss off 100 in 10 hours. And I prefer to keep moving, so you kinda wonder at the end of the day where the rest of the time goes.

As far as doing half the miles to Berea, it might be a good thing, but I don't know how you would put in the time. I normally top 40 around 11, and I am not an early riser. So the rest of the day, and stuff I might toss off the same mileage. At my age. So for a younger person to do only 40, you can walk that. But yeah, whether you do 100 hundred is another mater. Also, you should probably do 800 slow if you want to build your resilience. Except maybe you already have done that.

Joe Padilla

Yeah I've ridden over 10k mile this last year. So I feel completely at home on a bike, and know how to ride steep incline's and strong headwinds (Spin it out)! I can still the sights it seems at 13 15 mph average. I average 20 mph on my daily commute with my handlebar bag and my rear panniers on. But its over familiar grounds. I know others have ridden the TA from yorktown to Oregon and I'm trying to get a idea on what I'm gonna face, and how others have handled it! Plus I was at work and wanted to talk cycling and everyone at work is tired of hearing me talk about it! I get my TA map set next week so I can start planning it out even better. I do thank all of you for your responses and will be definitely taking it all into account!
Thanks for your time and advice all!

My Bike,

Joe Padilla

I do plan on being in Oregon 2 months after I start but I'm never about passing up a experience. I know you can never fully plan anything with these kind of adventures, you can't plan the people you meet. For me it's all about the experience and not about being able to say I did it! I'm moving to Portland and I moving there by bike! I'm Shipping the few articles of clothing and my 90 liter backpack, and taking what I can carry on my bike, that I need, and getting rid of the rest!
I can feel the Open road already!

spike57

A guy calls his doctor on the phone:

Guy--Hey, Doc. I've got a real problem. You remember how you told me last week that I need to get more exercise?

Doctor--Yeah, what about it?

Guy--Well, for the past five days I've been riding my bicycle 80-100 miles a day.

Doctor--Wow, that's fantastic! What's the problem?

Guy--I'm 450 miles from home.

(Totally irresponsible.)

Joe Padilla

Nice ! Well I'm 32 and feel like being irresponsible! It gets boring being responsible all the time!

-holiday76

Get some fenders and all will be well

Joe Padilla

yeah i'm getting my fenders and new tires,(planet bike fenders, schwalbe tires), next week! I knew someone would notice!

bikexcountry

I plan to do 100 a day. If you are fit, you have been training, I don't see a problem. Definitely do a 100 mile ride before you head out though to make sure you can do it

pacificcyclist

Joe,

Here are the issues you are facing. First, Lee G had outlined some great training facts.

Basically, it's really simple. A hard workout provides the "potential" for fitness. Yes, it provides just the potential. So many amateur athletes misunderstood that by working out harder, run harder, swim harder and cycle harder you will get stronger. Yes that's called building, but in fact, it is through proper recovery and nutrition is WHEN you realize that potential!! When you are supposed to do a recovery bike ride and you're wearing a team jersey, all of a sudden a dude on a mountain bike with knobbies passes you and challenges you to a duel. How many times have our egos caught up into this?!? Probably many when in fact, you should let that looser go and continue with your recovery ride!

Basically, all this cycle race training or endurance training is to eventually train your body to burn fat first and efficiently at a specific heart rate and spare the carbohydrates for later. And you want this so you can prolong from getting into glycogen depletion too soon. The feeling of hitting the wall is what a lot of endurance athletes will feel after all glycogen stores have been depleted. You have 2 stores in the form of muscle glycogen and liver glycogen to draw from. Even the very very best professional cyclist on a 4 to 5hr stage race will reach the limit of glycogen depletion and that's employing forestalling techniques. Your training has not even reach that period yet as your less than 3 hrs ride is not enough time to completely deplete your current reserves.
You see, in order to do what you want, you need to have the fuel tank to do it. But in order to have that fuel capacity, you really need to do a full 100 mile ride loaded and a few times too but in between builds to realize that capacity. Your body won't build a 100 mile fuel tank when you only rode for 45 miles! Sorry, it doesn't work that way either even with marathon running. Train only for 13 miles and then you can expect to run a full 26 miles? Lance Armstrong (7 TDF winner) paid for this assumption very dearly on his very first marathon thinking his TDF training will be no problem and ran only 50% of the full marathon mileage. You will also need to feel as you reach glycogen depletion (it feels really really crappy and your brain will start to shut down and body parts hard to move), so you won't be surprised. If you don't do this, you'll hit this wall eventually and you don't know what hit you and don't know how to deal with it. Everyone including pros will experience hitting the wall once including myself as I do ultra marathon running in the past. If you want to push 80-100 miles /day or longer, please do a century ride. The longer the better.

Like one poster said, 12 hrs of riding is not fun. I did something like that when I was younger, but all I saw was roads, more roads, bushes to pee or sometimes on the saddle (ahh that's how you soften your Brooks saddle!), then more roads, eat, then more roads. Most people will eventually build a tolerance to this pain, but ask anyone who endures this pain and they will not say good things about it but some people were after this high buzz when you pass a certain threshold. It's addictive for sure.

Joe Padilla

I've ridden 116 miles before, but that was last year and all I had was my tent sleeping bag and a extra bag on my back rack. It took 13 hours and was one of the most painful experiences of my life! I was cramping in spots I didn't know could cramp. I really don't know how I made it threw the last 10 miles of that ride. I just kept pedaling, It hurt more to get off the bike at that point! I'm a MUCH better rider now, and far more physically fit.

Joe Padilla

Yeah I have to do a few more long distance rides, doing a 60 mile one this week then a 80 mile one next week. Then a 100 mile overnight er the at the end of may. I work out daily, crunches, push ups, pull ups, planks and squats. Well at least 6 days a week!

BigAura

It sounds like you're ready for 80-100 miles-a-day tour to me.

My only concern is your day-one 138 miles. It's probably a bad concept. I think you'll make it, but you may suffer physically or mentally. I say do it in two days.

Bacciagalupe

There's a big difference between doing "100 miles one day" and "80-100 miles, day after day, for weeks on end."

There's a big difference between riding an unloaded bike, and riding one with lots of baggage and weight. The bags increase drag; the weight makes climbing harder.

There's a big difference in time between riding 100 miles and going home, and: waking up, cooking breakfast, breaking camp, cycling, finding water and food, cycling, arranging your campsite, cooking, washing up, setting up camp. (Plus the occasional laundry pit stop, mechanicals, etc.)


By the way, I've noticed that people who are planning their first tour often think "I'm gonna do 100 miles a day, unsupported!" I'm not sure, though, how many people come close to that amount.

Machka 

+1

I've seen several people over the years come in here with the idea that they are going to do 100-mile-a-day tours, but I don't recall any of them coming back and telling us how their tour went. We just never hear from them again.

One begins to wonder if they got 10 days into the tour, and then caught the first flight home, put the bicycle in the garage, and didn't look at it again.

irwin7638

I like 60-80 miles a day when I am fully loaded. 2-3 hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon, leaves plenty of time for sight seeing and socializing at the end of the day.

Marc

Joe Padilla

The 138 miles will be thru coastal NC. The biggest climb will be a small rolling hill, and given the time of year the wind should be at my back.