Well, I am glad I brought up this thread. It seems like many of us are not only beginning to plan but even starting to date/schedule and prepare of 2011. It seems like every single idea on here is a good one for touring.

Anyone planning on East coast tour or New englander? I am curious as to whether or not I can meet up with another rider or group at some point during their tour.

My - our ;our' - plant for 2011 are all set!

Countries coming up:

Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Equador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina and Antarctica!! That will keep us busy until December next year

Busy and then some. You will see things you just won't be able to pay for. That looks awesome. I hope you will keep us updated as you ride.

Hopefully making a trip from NYC or Albany up to Montreal, or maybe that in reverse.

A loop from Albany to Burlington, Montreal, Quebec City, Dartmouth College (NH), and back to Albany. 2 to 2.5 weeks.

My husband and I will be biking across Sweden, from south to north. Current rough plan is Ystad - Happaranda. He wanted to go to Kiruna, but I vetoed it because it's too out of the way, makes the trip longer, and riskier IMO. I'm hoping we'll have enough time to take a day at the end and ride north of the Arctic circle. We still need to do our more detailed route planning. The bike route information for Sweden is hard to come by... it seems like there are 2 major routes - Sverigeleden and Cykelsparet - but they must be ordered online and they're quite expensive. Husband bought a map when he was there in November, but it's just a regular roadmap without bike route information. He couldn't find the bike route maps in the stores.

Organized tour: The FANY ride.

Dis(self)-organized tour: Start from Boston, west to the Connecticut river valley, north to Colebrook, NH, east into Maine, then south to Portsmouth, NH and back home. We will take eight or 9 days to do it. Probably in August.

Speedo

Sounds interesting how long did that take and what was the mileage?

I have to go on sabbatical next year. I need to get away, my mind needs long rest and a reboot. I'm planning 5 months of combined vacation and leave of absence next year.

I was hoping for the TransAm but perhaps it is too early in my "touring carrier", and too ambitious. My wife has been trying to talk me out of it saying I don't have enough experience for going solo on a 3 months tour, and I think she's right. I still have lots to learn. My longest tour (Adirondacks, NYS) so far was 10 days long and I had to cut it short due to cold weather, I planned 2-3 weeks. I will definitely re-do the Adirondack tour, however, I'll be better prepared this time.

I'm also thinking about joining the ACA self contained Atlantic Coast ride as my first really long tour (61 days, 2900 miles). Has anyone ever participated in any ACA organized tours? It's a group of 14 people, small enough for me not to feel "crowded" (social anxiety...) and to get to know all riders well I may even do the Adirondacks Loop with them, make it a part of a longer tour of NY State. I'm just wondering how well their rides are organized. Any experience?

Also, I'm building another bike based on a steel MTB frame for touring as my Winter project. Maybe a Big Dummy, don't know yet. I've been looking at steel MTB touring frames for a few months and then Surly announced the Troll and I've been waiting for it since. I just like 26" wheelers better than road bikes

staehpj1, have you done the Icefields Parkway yet? I think you would like the great parks route, including the icefields start in Jasper, head south into Glacier, down the spine of the rockies into CO, then you can just wander around in the CO mountains until your time is up.

My wife and I will probably spend a week touring around Lake Champlain and possibly go up as far as Montreal. We still need to do more research regarding routes and the best time to go.

Yeah, the Sverigeleden bike maps are quite expensive. I have all three sets and they're more like touring maps with the Sverigeleden marked on them. The reason they're so expensive is because they aren't only maps, but have numbers relating to locations with a little blurb of info. It's all that extra info you're paying for.

I don't know if you've seen this - https://www.svenska-cykelsallskapet.s.../sveledeng.pdf

Basic Sverigeleden info you've maybe seen before, but it does at least have listings of the towns it goes through and distances between key ones. The trail is very well marked in most cases. There's only been one case where I went wrong because a sign for a turn was missing. Granted, I've cycled less than 200 miles of it, I think. Essentially, every part of it within 40 miles of my home . The roads and trails of the Sverigeleden are generally very good and not TOO bad traffic wise. Worst I've had to deal with is are freshly grated dirt roads. Nothing like bouncing over new raked stones the size of chicken eggs!

No, but that sounds interesting.

Your call, but three of us did The TransAmerica in 2007 as our first tour and all went well. Two of the three of us had never even done very long day rides (they did some 33 mile rides in preparation and only a few of them). One wasn't a cyclist a few weeks before the trip (she certainly was after though).

The two without cycling experience were young though and we all were used to camping and outdoor activities in general. We met a number of others who were doing the TA as a first tour and all seemed to be doing fine.

Nothing wrong with waiting if you want to but there is no reason you couldn't do it if you want to.

Hmmm...next year,my divorse will be final,and I'll have a new wife,and this one rides a bit. She and I will both take our first ever mini-tour,maybe the C & O Tow Path trail between DC and Maryland,maybe some of WV's New River rail trail...something romoantic,scenic,awesome.

I have 2 ridable bikes,both mtn bikes,but one a 29er with rear rack mounts (the stock rigid fork has em too) but disc brakes,maybe use the 'Cross tires on the stock wheelset,get some frame/seat/bar bags like those Great Divide racers use.

She has....a dept store special,we'll have to remedy that

First plan for 2011 is to build up the Nashbar touring frame I just purchased.

For it's maiden tour I'm thinking C&O Canal.

I'd also like to use my new workshop to weld up some racks for my bikes.

Late August: Five days of riding through the Berkshire mountains in western Massachusetts, eastern New York, and western Vermont. There are waterfalls, covered bridges, national forests, and mountain views! The total ride would be 233 miles long. Each day of riding would be 51 miles or less with lots of stops in little villages and scenic areas along the way. Here's a Google map of the proposed route: Five Day Tour

1 or more of the following: Houston to New Orleans, La.; Louisiana perimeter; Jacksonville, Fl to New Orleans, La.

I agree. But the wife is worried and I don't feel like arguing that with her. I will do several shorter rides instead, closer to home. Upstate New York, Vermont, Maine - plenty of good rides here too.

First: walk up..

Mt. Meru (5 days), then Mt.Kilimanjaro (9 days).

Then drink and purchase some Tanzanian coffee, (maybe 4 kg), and have a Kilimanjaro beer, or 2, or ,,,

Secondly: land in Sydney, and ...

take the Indian Pacific to Perth (June) and then bicycle to ...

Sydney in about 42 days of pedalling @ 100 km/day. Then return (August) to Middle Earth and enjoy life and think about ...

The NEXT year ;-)

Blue Ridge Pwy late May..........North to South

My Senior Trip this June is going to be a bike ride across Tennessee north to south, from Clarksville to Chattanooga. Oh yeah, and a stop at Bonnaroo in between!

Not sure how much I'll be doing after that. New semester in the fall. Maybe, if I've got the scratch lying around, a ride down the Natchez Trace. The problem would be finding a way back...Greyhound maybe? Still a long ways away so we'll see. And covering 450 miles in 5 days sounds like I'd be pushing it and not enjoying myself. We'll see.

does anyone know if bikes are allowed on Highway 12 out of Missoula Montana headed towards Leweston Idaho i have done it several times in a truck but not on bike and its a awesome drive.

Yes, I rode it the other way, in 2004, it is also an awesome ride. It's on the Adventure Cycling Lewis & Clark route.

Hey Ryan. The C&O is a nice ride. Please keep posted on when this will be taking place. This is a tour that is easily accessible for me.