BikeManDan

Hey lovely bike folk,

I'm very lucky to have a girlfriend who wants to start touring with me so the gears are beginning to turn in my head about an upcoming tour

Do you have any advice for a couple?
I'm questioning the sleeping arrangement: individual sleeping bags, special bags that connect or some other solution?

Thanks in advance for any advice

TonyS

I've got a girlfriend who wants to tour with me too...

One catch... she doesn't think she can handle biking decent distances yet. So I gotta get her out riding first, and then we're gonna do a shakedown tour up the Frisco Highline trail and back.

And THEN the fun begins.

Steve0000

We have always used separate sleeping bags. Many women sleep colder than guys and it is more difficult to satisfy both if you have a joint sleeping bag.

Machka 

Rowan and I sleep in separate bags. There's the warmth factor, and we both toss and turn quite a bit which I think would be challenging if we were in one bag or bags that connected.

staehpj1

Individual bags that can zip together would give you both options.

kayakdiver

Look at it this way.... If the relationship doesn't work out do you really want to haul around a double bag?

paul2

My girlfriend and I have two different sleeping bags. We zip them together. On cold nights we put her warmer bag on top. On warm night we put my thinner bag on top.

Juha

Make sure it's fun for both.

We too have serious discrepancy in terms of mileage and riding speed, so we keep it within SO's comfort zone. The distances and speed have increased over time, even though we don't train specifically. We've considered a tandem, but it seems somewhat restrictive. For me, touring together is about sharing time, experiences and scenery. Solo tours are a different thing entirely. They complement each other very well.

I usually carry more stuff, and nearly everything that we share (tent, stove, fuel, more water, tools, spares etc). We use separate sleeping bags. Both can sleep as warm/cool as they like.

--J

xilios

My wife and I also sleep in seperate bags. It just works best for us.

erckdotorg

We did a one year bicycle tour as a newly married couple and used separate sleeping bags - that worked well for us.

We also did a post on our blog about the most common arguments we had on the tour. Things like our disparity in physical ability, etc, etc. Maybe useful for you?
https://blog.erck.org/?p=471

JeanM

Tandems aren't bad at all if one can tolerate its inherent constraints. The great advantage: they are fast! Otherwise, just carry much more baggage than your partner to even things out.

erckdotorg

Also we traveled with a 3 person tent rather than a 2 person tent for the extra space.

BengeBoy 

BTW, I read your journal -- it was great!

I don't know where I originally ran across it, but I enjoyed following the trip. Belatedly, welcome back to Seattle.

niknak

Since I'm the stronger rider, I use a few tactics to keep my wife happier:

1 - Do the pulling through headwinds
2 - Spend the majority of the time riding behind her so I don't accidentally space out and leave her far behind (it's far easier to pace yourself behind a rider than to pace yourself in front of a rider)
3 - Let her "beat" me up some of the hills

One of the important things I've found to stay happy during a long tour is to mix it up. If all you do every day is ride from sun up to sun down, either you or your partner is going to burn out. We like to also do some hiking, backpacking, kayaking, horseback riding, or swimming. A bike tour is still a vacation. Don't worry about your mileage goals and your itineraries. Have fun.

Machka 

+1

That's what Rowan and I do too ... gives us some extra space for gear etc.

zoltani

As most people have said, we use separate bags as I tend to sleep hot and sweat and my wife seems to always be cold.

In hindsight the things you fight about on tour are pretty funny, but at the time, when you are both tired, hungry and frustrated it is hard to see the humor in it. At the end of a long day it is easier to fight than at the beginning as your patience gets tested along with your need for nutrition. The important thing to do is compromise and set the goals for the weaker rider.

The hardest this for my wife was some of the monotonous daily activities, like unpacking and then repacking everything, setting up the tent (which i usually did anyway), and things like that. She seemed to also have a harder problem dealing with not having a place to call home, whereas the tent always feels like home to me no matter where I am.

Showers are another thing we don't typically agree on. We stayed in some pretty horrible campgrounds (loud, kids, rednecks, ect) just because they had a shower, when there was a perfectly good, and cheaper, forest service campground nearby.

valygrl

Touring is a great relationship-accelerator. Wherever your relationship is going, it will get there faster during your tour.

kayakdiver

Doesn't matter if it's a spouse/partner or riding buddy. Fireworks might happen one way or the other

xilios

After several tours we've found that we're usualy cranky when tired, hungry and riding in crapy weather all day. But after we settle down in a camping had a nice warm shower, some food and a couple beers all is well again.

erckdotorg

Thanks!

Carbonfiberboy 

Wife and I have been backpacking together for 35 years, now just starting to tour on our tandem. Biggest change we see, going from backpacking to bike touring is really getting the weight and volume out of the gear. Not that we haven't been pursuing that steadily in our hiking gear, but we will make some different choices for bike touring, knowing that we won't be bike touring in the snow and that if things get really tough, there's always the motel option.

We've always used the same sleeping concept: two rectangles zipped together. We started out with two bags, but realized we could get rid of the bottom bag and for years have used the Feathered Friends bottom sheet + pads + 1 bag system, as discussed in this recent thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ectangular-bag

We think it's the lightest/smallest system for the same warmth. Plus we don't hike/tour as an athletic contest or event. We do it for fun. It's more fun with two, in or out of the bag.

We will use this tent for touring:
https://bigskyproducts.com/big-sky-ev...p-shelter.aspx
Light and good interior height.

neilfein

My wife and I have toured together twice, and both times were quite awesome. Neither Martha nor I sleep well in a tent, so we alternated camping with B&Bs. We also used a 3-person tent, and there was adequate room.

I hauled all our stuff, the first time in panniers (credit-card weekender) and the second time I had to take a trailer to do the same.

Here are journals of the two tours we did. Both days were extremely low mileage - 20-30 miles.

Kazer

My wife and I have been on the road for nearly 11 months now. Posting this from our tent, inside our double-wide sleeping bag (which we love).

Three quick tips before we go to bed:

1. Go her pace, not yours.
2. Stop trying to get somewhere and enjoy where you are.
3. If either party gets upset, that party relinquishes decision making privileges willingly until their mood improves.

If there is anything in particular you're worried about, maybe ask more specific questions?

We have a pretty extensive journal (link in signature) about touring as a couple if you want to read it!

indyfabz

Definitely a 3P tent for that extra room.

With a height difference of 14" (5' vs. 6'2"), I think zipping together our bags might be awkward.

My GF has tiny hands that don't possess the size or strength to roll up a ThermaRest or tent or stuff her bag into the sack, at least without a lot of difficulty. I do all that for me and her. In return, she's more than happy to pull steaks, fold tarps/footprints and, more importantly, wash dishes. Dividing labor like we do eliminates the feeling that one is not pulling one's weight. On the subject, I carry the entirety of the tent and all of the cooking gear. They way I look at it, if I were by myself I would carry this anyway, so it's no extra burden. And the reward of companionship is worth it. Now if she would just slow down on those longs climbs so we could ride together more.

jurjan

we use a 3-person tent, like most other people it seems.
we use one of our sleeping bags as underbag, use the other over ourselves, both spread out like blankets.
that gives us plenty of ventilation.
when cold: we zip them together.
even colder: never had that problem yet, just went down do zero Celsius (or thereabouts).
for the rest: we just let out routine build up by itself.

in any case: enjoy!