phytovictus

Riding from Rochester Ny to Aurora Colorado this June 2016. Plan on filling a 10 liter bag under my seat post with a bivy/thermarest/wrench/patchkit/pump/credit card. 1,600 miles in total. I plan to average no less than 100 miles a day. 48x16. Longest fixed gear ride was summer of 2015 -- 122 miles in the hills of western new york. Tips, advice, support, recommendations, all welcomed. New to the community.

Peace and carbohydrates.

GamblerGORD53

No photos = No advice. Sorry ha

Salamandrine 

Go for it. People seem to think I'm nuts cuz I toured with 42x27 as a low gear. By comparison to you, I'm completely sane.

I'm not sure how the hills of NY compare to the hills of CO, but pretty sure the latter are bigger. I'd consider a double sided wheel with maybe a 21t on the flip side for the steep climbs.

DanBell

That sounds like a pretty big gear for any kind of sustained climbing. Have you checked your route to see the elevation profile? Even with a light load, that seems like a big gearing for your task. Have you thought about having a high fixed gear on one side of the wheel and a much lower geared freewheel on the other side? This would allow you to ride fixed at a high speed on the flat(ish) sections, then stop and flip the wheel to the freewheel side for climbing and descending.

Edit: Salamandrine slipped in ahead of me! Too slow yet again.

Leebo

Bringing clothes, food or water? Rain coat, warmer clothes, off bike shoes, cooking? Sleeping bag? Thought about a 1x9/10 speed? Good luck with a day of headwind and hills. 100 miles min seems high. Touring is challenging enough. The appeal of fixed gear is? Touring experience?

nun

There aren't any mountains between Rochester, NY and Aurora, CO but I wonder if a 122 mile tour is enough for you to know if 48x16 is appropriate. I toured England on a 40x16 single speed and found it good for most hills and big enough on the flats to maintain a reasonable 15 mph.

Leebo

Ever been through PA or OH ?

phytovictus

Bringing an extra cog with me sounds reasonable -- 17t -- My only boast is that I'm in stellar condition and this challenge will either prove that or break me. To your point, Leebo, I'm concerned about food and shelter and repair as much as the next "tourist". The idea is to go super light. I reckon I can keep a days supply of food in the form of dried fruit and water on my person and refuel-re-equip at supermarkets along the way. I'll be taking the Transamerica route -- does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks everyone for engaging in my thread.

BobG

??? Which Transamerica route are you referring to? The Northern Tier?

The ACA Northern Tier Route goes through Rochester but beyond Muscatine IA you'd have to wing it on your own through IA/MO/NE, KA and on to Aurora CO.

79pmooney

What might make the 48-16 or even a 48-17 feel huge would be two or three days of hard midwest or prairie headwinds. They can be relentless. And if the wind does pick up, it os almost guaranteed to be out of the West. I wouldn't count on too many tailwinds that make you wish for higher gears.

I rode Boston to Detroit long ago, averaging about 100 miles/day loaded a little heavier than you are planning. The last two days, Niagara Falls to Windsor though Ontario were hard to the bone and that was with a full complement of gears at 20 years old. Riding across Wisconsin two years later, west to east, was a joy. Glorious tailwinds every day.

This fellow rode Boston to Portland last summer fixed traveling roughly as you plan. Check it out. (Sorry, this address will take you to day 17, not the start.) https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/..._id=423353&v=V

Ben

chasm54

Stellar condition or not, 48-16 is a big gear, and it's going to feel bigger as the 100-mile days pass. I'd suggest 48-20 would be more sensible. That'll be plenty tough enough, and you can still cruise at around 18mph.

bikenh

If you are in stellar shape, go for it. Last year(2014, still need to figure out it is 2016 now) I rode a 5200 miler through the Appalachian on a 52x17 single speed. I was going to do this years(2015...see above, LOL) trip fixed 52x17 until I got the offer for the new bike that had the rack mounting options and I decided to try a whole new way of packing. I would do a fixed gear trip even 52x17 but I'm in stellar shape, rode over 21,900 miles last year and I already have over 200 miles in this year. I ride year round so I don't get out of shape.

A good test run southeast of you would be to go ride US20 starting in Cazenovia, NY and head westbound. Ride it fully loaded down the way you are planning on doing the trip. See if you can climb it, actually when you get up on the west side turn around and go back the other way and do the drop and climb roundtrip and see how it goes. Yes, the climbs out west are MUCH longer but they shallower pitched then the Appalachian climbs.

Actually do the Cazenovia climb trip this winter. That will help to make it even harder for you. If you can easily pull it off I wouldn't be a bit worried about anything you will have to deal with out west. The climbs will be long but they won't be as steep.

Squeezebox

I wouldn't do it.

Doug64

I used to tell our son when he was racing cyclo cross on a single speed, "racing on a single speed is like playing a round of golf with only a nine iron; sometime during the race you may have the right tool for the conditions."

Actually, we found some hills in NY harder than the longer grades in the western mountains.

Good luck, and enjoy.

Doug64

I believe those are the Pompey Hills; the hills I was thinking about when I posted above. However, we rode them from west to east. It would be a good area for a "trial run".

phytovictus

Here is the route @BobG
@79pmooney thanks for the blog share --
@bikenh -- challenge accepted
[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.541176)]
^ 23,973 ft · v19,177 ft

saddlesores

eastern hills/mountains shorter, much steeper.
those in the west taller, long easy grades.

nun

I was assuming the OP would go from Rochester to Buffalo (maybe on the Erie Canal route) and then hug the coast of Lake Erie and head out across Indiana, Illinois and then the plains....not much to climb really

veganbikes

I would maybe take a little more gear for comfort. After a long day in the saddle fixed you might want more than what you are carrying. Maybe a small frame bag with extra clothes for weather and more food and water storage?

Also I would take different cogs as well (plus tools needed to change said cogs) and I would probably start off with a new Izumi Super Toughness or similar high quality chain (if you are doing 1/8) and a good quality cog. I might also consider taking a Dingle cog Drivetrain | Parts and Accessories | Surly Bikes (they recommend a 9 speed chain if you are doing that) and for sure a good freewheel like a White Industries Dos Eno Freewheel FREEWHEELS ? White Industries that way in total you have four gears two fixed and two freewheel just in case.

Fixed is fun but I know for myself I wouldn't want to do a long extended tour fixed at least not without the set up I described above. There are some hills that I have done on a geared bike that I wouldn't care to do fixed.

bmike

yes, if he stays out of the NY southern tier, and stays north and PA it will be 'rolling'.
south of 90 its a roller coaster.
same goes for the tiny bit of PA he'll cross through (he'll go through Erie), and then Cleveland. The Cleveland area can be rolling if you get south, and near the lake you'll want to route carefully coming into Cleveland. You'll have hills if you go through on a sane route and avoid East Cleveland. Once you get west of Cleveland depending on route it can be rolling, but if you stick with 2 (I think) near the lake out to Sandusky its pretty flat.

mantelclock

Yes, several times. The area where the OP is going is quite gentle. He is also traveling very light. Although I would be uncomfortable riding a fixy that distance, especially 48x16, the OP seems confident that he can do this. Best of luck.

Rowan

I've done fixed touring in Europe and numerous centuries in hilly terrain, with grocery shopping included!

I echo vegan's comments about ensuring quality machined cogs as opposed to stamped ones. I had the latter at one stage and it ruined the threads on a good hub.

Apart from that, if you are used to riding in the terrain you intend to tour, and are confident of your stamina and stability of the ligaments and muscles in your legs, go for it.

And remember, there is no shame in getting off and walking up a really steep hill.

As a by-the-by, I know of several riders who have used fixed gear to participate in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200, including a really wonderful young woman whose enthusiasm for fixed riding is infectious. BMB went through many of the hills in the New England area, including the legendary Middlebury Gap.

bikenh

Another real good testing location not far from you, actually just south and west of the above mentioned site. Drive down to Cortland, NY and park the car there. Catch NY13 west into Ithaca. Catch NY79 west out of Ithaca over to Watkins Glen. Catch NY14 north up to NY14A onto out to NY226. Turn around and take the same route back to Cortland. Right around 110 miles round trip. You'll get two climbs going each direction right in the northern heart of the I-81 Duo(as I call it). The I-81 Duo is pretty consistent all the way down into Maryland. It starts 10-15 south of US20 and is two ridges(3-400 feet per mile and generally 3-4 miles in length). Anywhere you go from just south of US20 clear down in Maryland...at least, you can't avoid the I-81 Duo. It's some of the best climbing around the eastern US, both in terms of the length of the climbs and the grade of the climbs put together in one. Sure there are steeper climbs and longer climbs but putting them together into one and putting two of them close together, generally within 40-50 miles of each other you don't find that kind of climbing anywhere else around the east. I've ridden most but not all the I-81 Duo's down to US50 in Maryland...still a couple of them(on the bigger highways) I need to ride in PA but I've ridden US20, 30, 40, 50 across the I-81 Duo over the past four years. The further south you go the more difficult they get but the Ithaca/Watkins Glen aren't nothing to sneeze at either. Doug64: Not sure of the name of the hills just west of Cazenovia I just remember not expecting the drop going west out of town. I was riding a multispeed bike but had decided with my 2012 trip(first one) I wanted to try an experiment and see what would happen(I didn't understand at the time what a dramatic effect hills have on wear and tear on bike components. Being raised in OH and living in NH now I was seeing bike components have no life to them at all compared to what they used to have when I lived in Ohio). I decided to take the trip single speed, not switching gears. I dropped down the Cazenovia drop and I had already learnt by riding US20 from just west of Albany that once you go down a drop on US20 you know what the next climb looks like...just like what you just came down, and the climb starts immediately right after you get to the bottom. In the case of Cazenovia you actually do have a bit of a valley but the next climb is just like the one you came down except you are now climbing it. It was fun climbing at 4-5 mph up the climb in a 52x19. I stuck with riding it single speed. After that I knew I had pretty much any of the climbs in the bag that I would see the rest of the trip and I was right. When I did the RAAM course, Athens, OH to Hancock, MD I only downshifted three times and wouldn't have did that if I was doing a lot sooner in the year instead of right around the first day of fall...being pushed for daylight with no lighting equipment on the bike I wanted to try to save time...downshifting didn't do me much of any kind of good as my speed only increased by .5-1 mph.

bikenh

[QUOTE=phytovictus;18435796] In northern Ohio as long as you stay up by the lake and go through Cleveland you are fins. That 2012 trip was a riot thanks to not sticking to Cleveland. Found a nice stretch of road OH303. 30 miles with 3000 feet of climbing. Even though I lived many years in Ohio I never knew there was that kind of climbing in northern Ohio. Down in southeast Ohio, sure, I would expect it but not up in northern Ohio. 2013 I went right through the heart of Cleveland without any trouble on a weekday. As long as you are comfortable with traffic it won't be an issue going through Cleveland. I would stick to the highways.

indyfabz

Not detailed enough to tell if/where it follows ACA's Northern Tier route, but if it does and you find yourself needing to stop in the Monroeville, IN area, the community center there is a nice place to sleep out of the heat. Our group stayed there after God awful heat and humidity in IL and IN, although that was in either late July or early August. The high in Huntingdon, IN the day before hit 107. Haven't ridden across IA (came south from MN to Davenport), but I have read several posts saying that certain roads can be high traffic with no shoulder. You might want to check this out if you haven't already: Office of Systems Planning - Iowa Department of Transportation