Philly Tandem

DelMarVa is a nice place to ride. For your first tour, I'd go the credit-card route, especially since campgrounds are terribly prevalent where you are headed. Worry about one thing at a time: first get a feel for touring, then add the camping part in. Downside of motels, at least in summer, is that you often need to make reservations, which really detracts from the free-spiritedness of bike touring. If you go in the fall you probably don't have to worry about it so much.

And, you're right about the winds there, they can be brutal. As long as you are mentally prepared, though, you should be fine.

I second the "take more water" advice, especially in area like DelMarVa that is often lacking in shade, gets lots of sun, and can be very rural. Don't count on knocking on doors to get water. I love the Zefal "Magnum" water bottles that hold a liter and fit in regular bottle cages. Two of those and you have a half gallon! Also, stash another quart bottle of water in a pannier just in case. Or, at least, have an empty bottle available that you can fill if the area is looking pretty desolate.

neil

Just finished our first tour, two weeks in PEI.

- I don't think I'll bring camping gear again. After a day of riding, there's nothing I want more than a good bed to crash on, and I'm willing to pay for it. The camping gear added a lot of weight, and only got 2 nights of use.
- Never trust maps or tourist information. Call ahead to book accomodation and make sure that any restaurant or grocery store you're expecting actually exists/is open at this time of year. 20km to the nearest restaurant/grocery store is nothing in a car, but on a bike after you've already done your day, it's a lot. This one cost us a $60 taxi ride to go buy groceries.
- Topo maps!!! Our first day we located the largest hill in the province. Each day was a blind crap shoot for constant hills or a nice flat ride. After the first one, we became a bit gun shy and either stuck very close to the coast (still some hills, but fewer and smaller), or to the rail trail which was harder riding due to the gravel surface, but comes with guaranteed easy grades.

raybo

Here is another thread with 1st time mistakes: https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/443775-what-i-learned-my-first-tour.html

Ray

X-LinkedRider

Puncture resistant tires, well balanced packing, and the ability to take it as it comes, are all important things to have.

LeeG

aint that the truth

Booger1

On my fisrt tour,I loaded my old entry level Ross sport bike with front and rear panniers,loaded to the gills.The plan was to ride from L.A. to Santa Barbara and back,some 200 mile or so round trip.

Got about 2/3 of the way when the back wheel started popping spokes.Had a shop relace the wheel and made it to Santa Barbara.On the way home it started popping spokes again,so I headed for a shop.This time it had bent the rear axle so bad that it cracked the hub...Oops!

That's when I learned about freewheels and loaded touring.

benajah

I didn't say bike + accessories, just bike.
Point is, know how to fix your equipment on you own, and do it well and quickly.

axolotl

Wise route selection is my most important factor in my touring happiness. In order to pick good routes, I get the best maps I can find and a good guidebook for the region or country, plus research online. There are a variety of factors I look for in a good route. I try to devise a route with the best combination of minimal traffic, nice scenery, interesting sites along the way, reasonable gradients, and minimal up-and-down. I'm not afraid of hills and sometimes I seek out mountain passes both for the scenery and challenge. However repeated up and down is far more exhausting than steady climbs. When I first began touring, I didn't pay enough attention to picking good routes, and was too concerned with covering distance and getting from point A to point B. This would sometimes lead to me riding on roads which had too much traffic.

mev

Something to do over multiple tours is to develop and tune your packing checklist.

Something from one of my first overnight tours: "make sure your brakes work".
That advice came from when I was in college, young, male and invincible. My bike was so-so and the brakes didn't always work but I could drag my feet and help get to a stop. I had organized a trip for other friends where plan was a two day trip from Boston to tip of Cape Cod and return via the ferry.

About 10 miles in, the route went through a city park and briefly on a small path. The path went down a small hill and then around a bend. My brakes weren't working and I missed the bend. The bike came to a stop and I went over the handle bars, flipped and landed on my back. It was mostly ok, except my lower right back had landed on a small rock and had an open gash. Not much bleeding, but it sure hurt.

Reasonable thing for me to have done would have been to go back home and get the back looked at. However, I was young, male and invincible and I was the leader so nobody else told me to go home. Instead someone went and bought a bandage from nearby pharmacy and we taped things up - and we continued on our way. It got hot that afternoon and I sweated into the wound (ouch!) and we bonked in heat of the afternoon. However, we eventually made our way to Barnstable and camped on a church lawn. One of my friends changed the dressing (ouch again!). Next day we eventually made our way to tip of the cape and took the ferry back.

Cycling back through Boston I felt proud to have made it, though I did learn the lesson of having working brakes...

markf

I think everybody brings too much stuff on their first tour, and some people never learn how to travel light. The less weight you carry, the further you can go in a day, the easier hills will be, and the fewer mechanical issues you will have.

Learn as much as you can about maintaining and repairing your bicycle, and get in the habit of doing as much of your own maintenance and repair work as possible.

The wider your tires are, the less trouble you will have with flat tires and broken spokes, and the more comfortable your ride will be.

spinnaker

I made the mistake on my first tour of waiting till it stopped raining. Later in the day it stopped but I was already committed to my hotel room.

Just get good rain gear and go. The rain will stop eventually. The hard part is pushing off in the rain. Once you get started and warmed it it is not all that bad. Unless of course you are riding through miles of mud puddles too.

steve0257

Don't overdo it on the neighbor's homemade wine the night before you leave. 85F, muggy, and a hangover is not a fun ride.

mthayer

What I learned from my first tour which was an overnighter, was to check to make sure the route that you have planned are A) the roads are paved from start to end, B) the topography of the roads your going to be riding.
I did not verify that the neighboring county had their part of a county road was paved and I ended up riding and walking through 4 miles of loose dirt. It was not really as bad a constantly riding up and down long and some steep hills. The time I got to a campground, all I wanted to do was sleep.
The most important thing I learned from that trip was that I really loved bike touring. I have been on numerous overnight trips, almost every other weekend. Take your time, and enjoy your trip.

lucille

Were you also told that PEI is flat as a pancake? In a car, maybe... ;-)
And the wind..... Still beautiful though, I love PEI.

For me it's trying to cram too much into a tour. Always rushing to get to town/campsite/motel in the evening, but still stopping to take pictures of the sunset.

acantor

So many mistakes I have made! For example:

1. Not drinking enough water. Lesson learned: Drink lustily, and before you are thirsty!

2. Not eating enough. Lesson learned: Nibble frequently!

3. Being cavalier about the sun. Lesson learned: Cover up! Sunburns are no fun.

4. Imagining that stock gearing would be fine. Lesson learned: Install the granniest granny gear your bike will accept. If you find yourself going uphill for 20 miles on a 15% grade, you will be glad.

5. Going too far on the first day. Lesson learned: Take it easy, and give your body time to acclimatize to the rigours of touring.

6. Forgetting to smell the flowers. Lesson learned: Slow down, and enjoy yourself. It's a tour, not a marathon.

wheelgrabber

Bring more than 1 patch kit for extended tours. I was riding on the Colorado/Kansas and got introduced to 4 corner jacks. They come off a plant and look like a pointed jack. They were blown all over the road for miles. I was ridding Spec. Armadillo and popped my tires 6 times in 2 days. This is in an area where its 40 miles between towns. Could be well over 100 miles between a bike shop or Wally World. I was sweating bullets for awhile. Yes, I had to buy a patch kit at Wally World.Now, I would ride the Schwalbe tires cross country that are essentially puncture proof.

wheelgrabber

PEI is a lovely place. Unfortunately the food sucks. It's all meat & potatoes.

I learned to fear the potato trucks.

They told me that Kansas is flat as well. That's because people only drive on the northern Interstate. Southern Kansas is all rollers for 500 miles.

lucille

Meat? I can't remember having meat on PEI. How did you miss all the fish, clams, mussels, oysters, lobster????

cyclist2000

That sounds like quite an experience.

nancy sv

I was a poor college student at the time and had very, very little money. I also didn't have a rack, so bought a $5 cheapie from K-Mart - it fell apart right away and I spent the rest of the tour stuffing sticks into the screw hole to hold it together. I didn't have panniers so strapped a couple of stuff sacks to my bike.

So - don't go with K-Mart quality stuff. You don't need high end, really expensive stuff for a short tour, but cheap cheapies aren't worth it.

staehpj1

Interesting. I have never used pliers for that job even if I am in the shop and they are within reach on the tray of the repair stand. Pliers just are not a tool that gets used much on my bike. A pair of needle nosed pliers are handy for pulling sharp stuff out of a flat tire, but I usually manage without them on tour.

CCrew

Maaaan, I dunno about this one Spinnaker First time I did the GAP we pushed off in the rain. I didn't know riding on wet crushed limestone was equivalent to riding in wet cement

TonyS

Hmm, things I learned on my first tour (Katy Trail in mid October, when we suddenly had a cold snap that week):

1: If I can help it, I will never ride in 40 degree rain ever again. Riding in the heat and riding in the cold are two VERY different sports.

2: Flat bar handlebars with bar ends suck. They ruined my wrists, and it took a couple weeks of not riding for them to recover.

3: My Walmart mountain bike, although it held up well, was heavy as hell and the knobbies sucked up wet gravel and clay from the trail and became unbearably slow. CCrew's comment about the "wet cement" is 100% accurate.

4: There is virtually no limit to the amount of calories I can put back while bike touring. Food was not the bottleneck.

5: I never ran out of water with a camelback and one bottle. Granted, there's a town every 15 feet on the Katy, but on that trip... water was not the bottleneck.

6: My leg muscles would start to hurt, but they never gave out. Fatigue was not the bottleneck.

7: My lungs would start to hurt, but they never gave out. 02 was not the bottleneck.

8: MY FRACKING KNEE, however... *was* the bottleneck. It gave me nothing but problems. Next time, I'm packing about 5x as much ibuprofin and wearing my neoprene compression thingy from the start.

9: GET ON THE ROAD EARLY. Somehow time distorts on the road, and 50 miles at 10mph requires more daylight than you have.

10: Those plastic rain ponchos are a great way to overheat. Given the fact that they caused overheating in 40 degree rain, I don't think I'll use them again.

11: Setting up camp in the dark sucks. Camping in cold rain sucks. Setting up camp in the dark in cold rain is worse than the sum of its parts. A great example of synergy at work.

12: Despite (in some cases... *because of*) all the misfortune, I had a *BLAST*! I love bike touring, and that trip inspired me to build my touring bike. Moral of the story: stuff happens. Full stop. You can't prepare for most of it, and you can't predict any of it. When it happens, get it handled, and get on with having fun.

kayakdiver

Cannister stove on the Northern Tier..... Not a good idea.

ploeg

Camping without a tent or anything more substantial than plastic sheeting. In Wisconsin. Without insect repellent. With a 20% chance of rain. (Ah, youth.)