About to set off for my tour in a couple of days and starting to get the jitters. Except for some smaller local tours that I have done a bunch of times, I have not toured in a while do to family and heath issues.

Now I am getting back on the horse (so to speak) and I am getting nervous. Add to the fact this will be my first major tour that I will be doing solo.

I can't help but think of the number of warmshowers guests I have had from other countries. Barely speaking english yet they set out to a foreign country alone and crossed the whole thing. But they were much younger than me and bolder. When I was young, I did a lot of things I might not attempt today. But I did have a guest in his 70s that did the transam. He is my hero.

I am also concerned that the trip might be a bit too simple / boring. I am headed down the Willamette. Long way to go for me on the other side of the country but the route certainly fits my requirement of easy and low stress. Just a bit nervous that it will be too simple. But I guess what is done is done. .

I just did a solo tour in England. I was nervous too as I hadnt time to plan it properly (decided on my starting city the day before my flight.) And I hadnt bike toured in like 17 years. It was so fun! But how was I to know that in advance?

For the Willamette valley, you can always add to the challenge/interest by deciding on impromptu side trips to wineries or breweries or other things.

so make some bail out plans!

you'll be surrounded by numerous national forests. download a gazetteer and look for side route options. check crazyguy trip reports. make note of bus/train stations.

if you get bored, do something different.

The challenge of trying to ride in a straight line while drunk.

Problems is time and miles. I have a train reservation in Eugene for the 1st and another in Sacramento for the 3rd. It would be very expensive to change plans now.

The Starlight was looking like it was going to be canceled which would have given me an excuse to do a car trip to Sacramento via Crater Lake and Mt. Shasta but looks like it is back on.

Route?

I celebrated the start of my summer break (I'm a teacher) by riding a quick overnighter from my house in Salem OR to Champoeg. I had never camped there before. I was very impressed with the campground. There is even lockable lockers with plug ins for charging phones available.

You should have an easy peasy relaxing time on the logistics of the ride itself. Shoot me a pm if you have any questions. Do you a rough sketch of your planned route?

Pretty much the Willamette Bikeway. But starting from Portland where I will ride the river trail (been there before) then on to the Trolley Trail with Oregon City as first night.

Deviations to the bikeway are I will pretty much head straight to Woodburn which I will hopefully arrive in time for lunch then on to Salem for th enight.

Next day and deviation would be Corvallis bypassing Albany (which is on the bikeway) I'll be crossing the river on the Buena Vista ferry (just becaus I like ferries )

From Corvalis it is pretty much the bikeway to Eugene.

I have warmshowers hosts every night (except the Oregon city) which will help with stress factor There is a host in Oregon City. I have emailed a couple of times but no response. I could call but I figure I might just want a nice comfy and quiet (be it expensive!) hotel room where i can relax.

See above. I will be pretty much following the bikeway into Salem. My host promises to meet me at the merrygoround (???) to guide me through Salem. He warned me about Commercial street.

I won't be camping. All hotels or warmshower hosts. I'll bypass Champoeg to save the miles.

One less thing to make be nervous. The bike is at the Bike Gallery (downtown) Portland and they are building it today.

I go again in 4 weeks and this will be my first tour when I need to fly with my bike and I'm already getting anxiety about the bike boxes :-)

If you're jittery, a nice simple ride is probably what you need

I did a couple overnight camping trips before a big trip last year. I was worried about how they'd go, and if they'd be too boring. Turns out, they were both quite pleasant and even though simple, quite enjoyable.

Crap, thanks for reminding me I need to go find bike boxes! I'm off in three weeks, and I just finished my bike, and still need to swap the wife's from friction shifters to brifters. Way overexerted my schedule this summer

What you getting?

Experiencing a little pre-tour jitters is probably normal. At least it is for me. IMO, if you are not excited about a tour, it is probably not challenging enough. In my experience, preparing for the tour, and getting to the start produces most of the pre-ride anxiety. It dissapates as soon as I get on the bike. I think it is from having less control during the prep and and travel prior to the start is part of the reason.

Enjoy your ride.

P.S. If you get bored, try the 75 mile loop that I think I sent to you earlier. I'd resend it to you, but I'm on a tour right, and don't have access to my computer
Yes, I had the jitters before the start!



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He shipped his bike out there.

????

Shipped them mine. My Jamis Aurora. . Having them build iit. The whole low stress thing. I arrive on the red line , walk a couple of blocks, get dressed and packed up. Ride away.

Normal for me. My brain likes to try to work out solutions for problems before they exist. I just try to ignore it and realize its part of the excitement. Over time ones confidence in dealing with things as they occur helps to diminish that.

Exactly. Getting there is 9/10ths the battle.

I was just going to drive to the airport parking. Return would have been a little easier as it is right off the bike trail after I arrive back at the train station in Pittsburgh.. But I went with Super Shuttle so I don't need to worry about the car staring. driving etc. Plus it will be a lot cheaper. Parking is plan B.

Downside is, it is a bit of a climb up to my house from the bike trail. But it could be worse. My new house is only halfway up that hill the old place was at the to and then after I got up that hill I still had another to get to my place. I used to live in one of the the highest points in the county. Now I just live in one of the second highest places in the county.

Yeah, the biggest issue I experienced at the start of the present tour was getting 4 boxed bikes, and 4 people the 129 miles to the airport. The solution was to rent a 4-door pickup. Once I got that figured out there was a lot less stress.

We have been playing tourist in Paris for the last week, and will start our real riding tomorrow.

Not to hijack this thread, but did you fly into CDG? How did you get into Paris from there with bikes?

Sorry about all the typos, but I'm on my phone.
Have fun, and welcome to Oregon!
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Two things I've found:
-- Jitters pretty much go away as soon as I'm on the road. I then shift into working things out day to day. Perhaps there is some upcoming thing I might work out (e.g. that squeak in my drive train or whether an upcoming holiday weekend results in all campgrounds being full...) but it is different
-- Jitters happen a lot less and for bigger things. For example, I recall more jitters before my first cross-country trip flying to Portland, than I do years later flying to Prudhoe Bay, despite PB being much more remote

Have a great trip and enjoy the ride!

Jeff,
We used a route I found on www.rogerrealm.......
I don't have the complete adress, but if you use that for a search, you should find it. It is detailed PDF. We landed at terminal 1, and assembled the bikes near the baggage area. The airport staff was OK with leaving our boxes near a waste can near the exit from the baggage area. They hauled them away as fast as I emptied them. You can take the airport shuttle to Tetminal2, which is a better starting place, and has the train station.

​​​It was a little exciting in spots, but our daughters did quite well. Is you wife OK with riding in traffic? As you know, it gets a little crazy here. Our friends here were a little incredulous when we told them we rode in from the airport. You may be able to take the train from the airport into the city during non-peak hours.


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Well I am not there yet. But thanks.