I know you can travel heavier while touring and be self sufficient and also go lighter and "credit card" tour.

Has anyone tried touring and couch surfing? I just found out about this from a friend of my brother-in-laws who is from the UK and has travelled across Canada and now south along the west coast of the U.S. this way. He's had quite a bit of luck with it and hasn't really had a bad experience while staying at a complete stranger's place. I thought the concept was a little weird and intriguing at the same time.

We live in a town of about 15,000 people and were shocked to find over 25 people registered to host a "couch surfer".

I've never couchsurfed on a bike tour, but all of my experiences (both hosting and hosted) have been positive. I do have friends that hosted a sketchy guy who went through their stuff while they were at work. Didn't steal anything (per se) but smoked all their weed and ate all their cheetos.

I think the main thing to keep in mind if you plan to couchsurf your way through a tour is to send out your request emails early and often. It's like craigslist, 80% of people won't even respond and 80% of those that do aren't very helpful. But, also like craigslist, persistence pays off—you'll meet some really awesome people and have a great time.

I have, and everybody's been wonderful

Like jtgotsjets says, sometimes you do need to send a lot of requests.

I hosted two cross country cyclists two years ago. We connected through warmshowers. I cooked them dinner and the next morning led them out of town to the route they needed to take to their next destination. It was a good experience.

We've hosted a number of couchsurfers, but have never stayed with anyone through that network. We have, however, stayed with LOTS of warmshowers hosts. We've found we typically hear back from everyone we send a warmshowers request to - occasionally they say no because they are traveling or whatever, but nearly always they welcome us to their home. that said, do try to write early - I try to write at least 2 weeks before we plan to arrive in an area. The few times we were turned down were when plans changed and we found ourselves in an area we hadn't planned on and contacted the warmshowers person to say, "We're here now - can we stay with you?" Whenever we've contacted them in advance it hasn't been a problem. One time, the warmshowers host was going to be out of town, so he arranged for us to stay with a friend of his!

I have hosted and been hosted via warmshowers and it was a good experience. That said I see it as an occasional break from or supplement to camping. I don't see it as a substitute for camping, so I don't see it as a way to go lighter. I like to avoid bigger towns and cities most of the time and you just will not be able to reliably find hosts in remote areas and tiny towns.

I guess you might be able to manage a long tour using hosted stays exclusively if you planned the whole route around their availability. Me I'd rather pick my route to hit small towns and national parks and forests staying with a host only once in a while for a change of pace, to meet some nice people, and to have a shower and a bed.

Yeah, that.

I've hosted 4 singles and 2 couples over the last two years via Warmshowers and they have all been positive experiences. So far its been the case of always the host and never the hosted but maybe someday.

Warmshowering is a great idea for someone new to a strange city.

Personally, I prefer to stay rural and independent when touring.

Warmshowers is something I hadn't heard of either. Guess I'm out of the loop. Great comments.

I'm shocked that you were shocked.

Maybe you meant 'surprised'.

Using such sites can be good on both sides but like previous posted, it is like Craigslist. People have contacted me through Warmshowers.com looking for a place to stay. I contacted them via e-mail and phone and never once was a reply given to say "Thank you but..." Many are so inconsiderate and rude that I have removed myself from those sites.
I remember some time ago there was a guy who posted here about two girls that gave him the run around from Couchsurfers.com when all he wanted to do was help them.