Love the photo's, great shots,
Rode a mini tour June 8-9th, our mini TOT, took the ferry across the Geogia strait to Vancouver Island and rode the Lochside Trail to Victoria, then camped at Islandview Regional park. In a week and half will be riding up island to Campbell River and Quadra Island (4 days)

RepWI - good show! How old is your daughter? Sounds like a good place to tour!

Transporter, I enjoyed reading your adventure/misadventure. I remember coming across you and your troop earlier this year on a Narragansett Bay Wheelman ride you were on for training. Happy to see you were able to follow through with tours. Since that day I've been getting my bike ready for the kind of tours this thread is about and getting myself ready to tackle some New Hampshire mountains.

Machka, great idea for a thread. I'm unlikely to undertake an epic adventure across Asia, such as I read about on Crazyguyonabike, but mini-tours (have not heard the expression 'spoke and hub') before) but small adventures are in.

Abbie is going to be 23, just graduated from college. I did get her a set of Ortlieb panniers for part of her graduation gift.

I also want to say TY to the OP for this thread. I also am not going to be heading out on a two or three month tour anytime soon. But rather will enjoy the 4-10 day regional tour. I can probably get three of those in during a year.

My longest tour yet is a short tour. :)

I took five days in March of this year to ride from Louisville KY to Indianapolis IN and back. I even spent the middle day as a rest day in Indy. Most of the riding was in rural Indiana. I need to get out and do it again. :)

http://fatguy.org/wp-content/uploads...56-500x375.jpg

I was introduced to the term "hub-and-spoke" tour by the Elbow Valley Cycling Club in Calgary ... and realised that I loved the idea, and had actually been doing that for years, since I was a little girl.

I signed up for their Logan Pass long weekend tour, and they told me that they used to do a 3-day loop in that area, but for various reasons they decided it was better to headquarter in one campground and do day rides out in different directions for 3 days instead ... and they called it a "hub-and-spoke" tour. :)

I like that sort of tour because I don't have to worry about setting up camp and breaking camp each night. I don't have to wonder where I'm going to sleep that night. I don't have to carry heavy panniers with me when I ride. And best of all, I have a chance to explore an area rather than just travelling through.

These kinds of tours also work well if you've got a family who doesn't ride as much, or at all. I said I had been doing this sort of thing since I was a little girl. We used to set up our base in a cabin in Banff (and other places). My father was the most avid cyclist of the family and he would set off early in the morning and ride a particular direction, later my mother and brother and me would get ready and go, and ride out that way. My father would go past our destination, then turn around and ride back to it, and if all went well, we'd all pull up together ... and then have lunch and often go for a hike before returning home. We'd do other variations of that sort of pattern, but it gave us each the chance to ride as much as we wanted.

I'm planning 6 days around VT this August.
Starting in Meredith NH on the 15th and following the ACA Green Mtn Loop counterclockwise. Meeting family in Queechee on the 20th
Any takers?

Jay

Short S24O to Washington County IL State Park
 

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=209265http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=209266http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=209267

First S24O trip! Paked up the hybrid with Tent and headed out at 5:30 in the evening ( not my idea ! ) and got there pretty late. Great time and a beautiful setting. Will definitely do it again. Down side, got soaked on the way home by a thunderstorm, 2 miles from the house! Never fails. Although soaked, it did not dampen my enthusiasm for another trip https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
here to look at the bike.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

I just did my first S240 as well. I was thinking our 20 mile each way was a "micro-tour", but now I see there is the S240 name. My son and I rode to a friends place for 4th July outing / fireworks. We camped in a large field behind their house and basically after an unexpected pancake breakfast we did the (hot) ride home.

We saw a large turkey vulture in the road, not more than 40' from us before it flew up to a chimney and watched us go past. Man that bird is big! A deer went across the road - rare before dusk, but it was overcast with light rain - still comfortable to ride in. of There was also a kamikaze chipmonk that ran in front of us then did a 180 diving back into the woods. Funny did not think of seeing animals on such a short tour!

We probably won't be doing any sorts of tours for the next 6 weeks, but then we're heading to Canada, and if all goes well, there will be at least hub-and-spoke tours and quite possibly a short loop tour.

We are debating between bringing a tent and camping gear ...... or buying a tent and camping gear there ........ or doing a credit card tour.

It's the year of short tour for me. This time, I started in Ottawa and went north through the Gatineau valley, partly on a 80km bike trail, then cycled the roads to Mont-Laurier and biked down south to Montreal on the P'tit Train du Nord. Weather was good except for one stormy morning. Speaking of Turkey Vulture, there were dozens of them near the northern end of the P'tit Train du Nord, perhaps a hundred or more. Saw a few deers, hares, beavers and other tourers. I had my third longest ride ever (180km) with a stop in Tremblant at the "Sandwicherie Café", a bike shop that serves sandwiches, soups and other goodies. :D

http://borealphoto.com/photos/i-HZwx...DSC1308a-S.jpg http://borealphoto.com/photos/i-p9rc...SC13667a-S.jpg

Also had the chance to add to my collection of outhouse pictures. :p

http://www.borealphoto.com/photos/i-.../DSC1318-S.jpg http://www.borealphoto.com/photos/i-.../DSC1348-S.jpg http://www.borealphoto.com/photos/i-.../DSC1353-S.jpg

http://www.borealphoto.com/photos/i-...DSC1393a-S.jpg

LOL.... That is too funny..... And kind of cool... But how many pictures of them do you have?

Love this thread BTW.... Getting my bike set up for my first credit card tour this fall. Three day and 2 night (so far). Took my first 20 mile test ride yesterday with the set up (so far).

I have 27 online now, and a few more in my files. It started with this one. The first 6 taken on my last trip: http://www.borealphoto.com/keyword/outhouses

Back on topic, not sure if this qualifies as a tour... about two weeks ago, I parked my car at a park's entrance and rode in the 14km to the hiker/biker/kayaker campground, and did some biking in the area. The biker campsites are ridiculously expensive (26$). Next time, I'll ride through and camp outside the park. I got attacked by a grouse and crashed. It's in the Charlevoix region in Quebec. Great for those who like hills.

A waterfall just behind the campsite:

http://www.borealphoto.com/Places/Pa...DSC1122a-S.jpg

Half the route to the campsite is on the park's road, usually closed to traffic except to car campers. The other half is a dirt road for bikers and hikers:
http://www.borealphoto.com/Places/Pa...DSC0946a-S.jpg

The park's road, first on a hiking trip last year and second, during a longer tour a few years ago:
http://www.borealphoto.com/Places/Pa...91_4ZLnu-S.jpg http://www.borealphoto.com/Cycling/C..._YhuJM-S-2.jpg

I'd like to do a tour from Quebec into the Maritimes some year soon.

Just discovered this thread--thanks! My wife and I did a 7-day credit-card tour in the Netherlands a few weeks ago. We started in Deventer (in the province of Overijssel) and rode clockwise around the old Zuiderzee, with a ferry ride from Enkhuizen to Stavoren. It was a lot of fun. I posted a journal at Crazyguyonabike if you'd like the not so gory details, or if you'd just like to look at the pictures.

This past weekend we had planned a weekend tour of sorts. We decided to drive to a little town on the coast on Friday night, then spend the day on Saturday cycling along the ocean in that area, and exploring a few of the towns. Then we would drive into Melbourne, and spend Sunday cycling around Melbourne.

The first part of the plan went according to plan and we had a lovely day by the ocean. The sun was shining and the temperatures got to 14.4C (nice and warm for the middle of winter). The second part of the plan, however, did not go according to plan. We woke up on Sunday in Melbourne to the sound of pouring rain (much more typical winter weather) ... and opted not to cycle around Melbourne after all. Instead we went shopping.

Oh well, that's what happens to the best laid plans sometimes. But it was great to get away for a weekend. :)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6148/...972cd619_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6017/...d8f4afc8a8.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6133/...b639663d_z.jpg
(Click photos for more)

We have booked the first night of our short tour of Vancouver Island in a couple weeks :D and are debating about booking a second night or just winging it.

This will be a credit-card style tour, but we do want to do some fully-loaded camping weekends in the upcoming summer.

Our Vancouver Island tour started today! We were dropped off at the ferry terminal in Vancouver (Tsawwassen), crossed with our bicycles (much less expensive than crossing with a car), and cycled to the place we're staying on a bicycle route (Lochside), rather than on Hwy 17.

And it rained, and rained, and rained. We were soaked when we got in.

However, we had a very good dinner with vik and his gf this evening. It was great meeting them ... a good start to the tour. :)

I'm heading off on a short tour from here up to Manitoulin Island and the north shore of Lake Huron... great weather in the forecast aside from chance of storms tomorrow... looking forward to it; haven't been on Manitoulin since I was a small child. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is my short time on highway 17... got a good by-pass mapped out for most of it though. Happy pedalling to all!

Three years ago tomorrow, Rowan and I were camping just outside Jasper. We got up early in the morning and rode a century (100 miles), finished around 4:30 pm, and relaxed for about half an hour before my parents and cousin (Mayor of Banff and Marriage Celebrant) and his wife arrived. About half an hour later we had changed into somewhat dressier clothing and were standing on a dock in Lake Annette saying our vows.

Tomorrow, we celebrate our third anniversary! :)

This year, we are doing a mini cycling tour of Vancouver Island and enjoying it very much so far. Today (Day 2 of the tour) was a great day! We took a ferry from Brentwood Bay across to Mill Bay, stopped for lunch and a little look around, then cycled up to Cowichan Bay. That's a really nice route with glimpses of the ocean, low mountains, rolling hills and fields. The small road, with very little traffic, was surrounded by trees of all different colours - lots of green, a few deep red leaves, and a hint of gold as the leaves begin to change for autumn. Very pretty.

In Cowichan Bay we stopped to take a look at a small wooden boat museum where Rowan was very tempted by a sailboat. We stopped to sit on a bench by the bay for a while, and then continued on into Duncan. After a short break, we checked out the totem poles and took lots of photos. Total km for today ... 44.98.

Then dinner and relaxing in our upgraded room! :)

This is a really nice way to do a tour!! :D

The big question is are you going to celebrate the anniversary with another century?

I just finished a two day 'tour' over a couple of local passes. http://retrocycler.blogspot.com/2011/08/pass-x-2.html

We actually did ride a century last Sunday ... just a few days ago. Rowan and I rode together, and my father joined us for the last 40 km. :)

Day 3 of our tour (and our actual anniversary day) was another beautiful day ... short distances, lots of sight-seeing, very relaxing. :) We cycled from Duncan to Ladysmith, via Chemainus ... and spent quite a bit of time in Chemainus looking at the murals and sitting by the sea.

Wonderful thread! Thanks for starting it Machka!

I'm trying to get ready to go out for a short tour in the next day or two. I keep adding distance incase I decide I want to extend it, but I have it planned for a lazy overnighter with Loke (my Siberian Husky) and I. 75 miles planned with lots of old churches, ruins, burial grounds and manor houses and castles. I guess it will be almost a hub-n-spoke tour as I do a figure 8 to either side of the town I'll be start from with a 12th century cathedral