My weekend tour on the New River Trail in SW Virginia is finally coming to pass. Several friends and I are planning to ride the entire trail (which is about 50-60 miles long) next weekend. I had initially planned to camp but couldn't talk anyone into doing that. We are planning to stay in a hotel and ride from the mid-point to the each end of the trail and back on Saturday and Sunday. So we will ride about 50-60 miles out-and-back each day, stopping for lunch at the turnaround point. Will post some photos after the trip, but here's a shot from my last ride up there.

Car camping with bike "along for the ride" next month to watch some of the Battle Mountain HPV speed trials. I`m waiting for (northern hemisphere) autumn before I go back to lugging my gear around.

Long Live October!!!

Bike Hermit, thanks for the video, only a couple references on this thread to Idaho. *Did you start off in Grand View?

For the time being i do alot of hub and spoke short touring from palo alto. i usually do about 60-100 miles depending where i want to go. I visit places like San Francisco or Sunnyvale and as far east as union city but i like it.

New River Trail, VA
 

Here are some shots from my trip on New River Trail in SW Virginia last weekend. We started in the middle and rode to each end and back on Saturday and Sunday, for about 103 miles total. I rode on my Bob Jackson World Tour with 32 mm Ritchey Crossmax Pro tires, which were perfect for the surface (unpaved gravel and dirt).

Wow, that`s an awfully high bridge!
Glad it`s finally comming together for you, Tarwheel.

Most of my "touring" these days is commuting to work, but I try to get away on real tours every few months or so. Still trying to work out my loaded tour from Raleigh to the NC coast, but waiting for the weather to cool down and dry out first. More long term, trying to plan a trip riding the entire GAP and C&O Canals. Some of the my friends are interested, but they would want to credit-card tour rather than camp. The New River trip was sort of a shakedown for that.

My most recent short was 81 miles from palo alto to sausalito and back to San Francisco. Very fun and interesting.

Being from Long Island, NY, I enjoy riding out on our east end, particularly the North Fork. However, finding a hotel out there between April and November, when the weather is right for cycling, is virtually impossible. For this reason, I do all of my short tours along the Connecticut shoreline.

Typically, I will ride out to the ferry at Port Jefferson, Long Island, take it across the Long Island Sound, then ride the CT coast anywhere between one day and four/five days, staying at chain hotels along the way. Otherwise, I will ferry from the eastern end of LI to New London, CT and ride up to Mystic, Stonington, Westerly or Narragansett, Rhode Island. This summer, I did both of these trips.

With very little free time these days and my bones turning 50 in November, I find that about 50 miles a day is all I want to do anymore. But at the end of those 50 miles, I want to stay over somewhere so it feels like a real "tour!" I know that many of the riders on this thread consider 100-150 miles a "short tour" and 50 miles a trip around the corner, but these trips have changed and enriched my life in so many ways that I just want to shout about them all the time.

Anyway, if anybody needs some tips for piecing together a "short tour" along the Connecticut shoreline, let me know.

Here's the tour journal of our two-day New Jersey/Delaware tour Sandy Soil (and Fort Mott, too): On the edge of New Jersey's sandy Pine Barrens, and across the river into Delaware. We spent most of the tour in the "triangle" of southern NJ, the area bounded by the Turnpike, the Parkway, and the southern shore. The journal includes a page on an odd local site, the Palace of Depression. Enjoy!

South Lake Tahoe to Bishop,California
 

Over Labor Day I had the chance for an unplanned spontaneous seven day tour from South Lake Tahoe to Bishop, California via Hwy 89 and 395. A quick drive [to help my brother move to Lake Tahoe] from sea level to the lake at 6200 feet and then climbing over Luther Pass at 7740 ft. was not the best way to acclimate. The first day ended with camping at the $3 bike n hike section of Grover Hot Springs State Park just outside Markleeville. Mileage about 40 miles.

At the campsite I met an English couple on a Santana Fusion SE Tandem who had ridden from Santa Rosa, CA to Yosemite NP and over Tioga Pass 9945 feet and then riding North to Lake Tahoe. Earlier this year they has ridden through Tajikistan along the Afghanistan border. Quite an impressive tandem touring couple. The only bike tourists on the whole trip it turned out. I was the only bike tourist they had seen while in the US

Day Two found me climbing to 8313 feet at Monitor Pass from the 5500 feet at Markleeville with lots of heavy breathing but I managed moving at sewing machine stitch speed as needed. I ended up near the town of Walker [5400 ft] along the Walker River. Lovely campsites but too much traffic noise. Mileage about 40 again.

Day three brought more climbing from 5400 to 7519 at Devil's Gate Summit enroute to Bridgeport[6465 ft] on a cloudy cool day. Nice to have a descent at the end of the day again although there was a strong headwind for the last three miles into Bridgeport. Mileage around 40 again.

Day Four and more climbing: this time the long climb to Conway Summit 8138 ft enroute to Lee Vining 6780 ft and Mono Lake. The downhill was a nice reward after the climb. Mileage only 28 miles but it seemed longer. Mono Lake is lovely and fuller than the last time through here.

Day Five found me choosing between my original plans to follow 395 South and riding up the 13 miles to Tioga Pass 9945 ft the gateway to Yosemite NP. I have ridden Tioga several times on previous tours and decided to continue with my original route. Of course climbing began again almost immediately and the temperatures started rising as well. I made a concerted effort to hydrate thoroughly- to drink before I felt thirsty and this helped my energy level a lot. The humidity along the route has been around 7% so water is just sucked out of you as you ride.

I reached Deadman Summit 8041 ft at mid day after passing the June Lake Loop junction. I turned off the highway onto the Mammoth Scenic Loop and found a lovely unauthorized camp site off an old logging road spur. I only set up my net tent without tarp at the weather was clear and mild. After dining on Soba noodles with curry and turkey jerky as a salty soup I had tea and bagels with sunflower seed butter for dessert. The six inches of pine needles made for a very comfortable mattress. Mileage about 30.

Day Six started near dawn wearing a wind suit over a light down vest climbing again to over 8000 ft on the way yo Mammoth Mountain. Once over the divide the long downhill into town was welcome. I had skipped breakfast to have it in Mammoth and was not disappointed. Their Wi-Fi connection was a bonus to catch up with e-mail. After digesting a while I started again heading for Tom's Place at Sherwin Summit 7000 ft overlooking Bishop 4140 ft. A massive thunder and lightning storm dumped heavy rain for almost two hours but I had luckily stopped at the Crowley Lake Library to check e-mail and stayed dry. The storm made for cooler riding the last three miles to Tom's Place and Rock Creek Road. An excellent dinner at Tom's Place but encountering a large group of beer drinking, loud football/fisherman fans watching TV was quite jarring after so much time alone. Mileage about 35.

Day Seven began early to ride the 8 mile 8% downhill without much traffic and to cover the last 25 miles to Bishop before temperatures reach 100F. A fun downhill again with no braking required as the hot updraft from below never let me go faster than 35 MPH. Once in the heat of Bishop I decided to end the tour as 395 only gets hotter as you reach the Mojave desert. I was not prepared for the heat having come from sea level by the ocean.

I had ridden this route several times before this time as part of much longer tours from Oregon. It was easier riding thirty years ago and the mountain passes are higher now and the mileage average was 80 miles then. I wonder what has changed?

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My wife and I completed a weekend tour in northern Michigan last weekend from Harbor Springs to Mackinaw. Short over-nighter but awesome. (Actually it was the last leg of a larger ride up the coast.) We are seriously loving the weekend touring and plan to purchase better touring bikes over the winter so we can do many more.

Here is a link to the short blog of our ride. thetaylorfamilyride.blogspot.com/

Life is a bike. Love it!

I have a week off work, so took my first overnighter in years, 35 miles from the unusually hot and humid El Cajon Valley to the California state campground at San Elijo Beach. I made a couple of cheap, quick panniers out of plastic bins:
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I stopped by the Sports Chalet store in Mission Valley to pick up some forgotten doo-dads, then it was west to the Pacific, and north along Mission Bay. Along the Rose Canyon bike path, a group of long-time transients were having a cookout with a gas backyard BBQ, and they offered me a wave and a bite, but I pedaled on. Soon, many riders from the annual Amtrak Century began passing in pacelines as they headed south down Rose Canyon toward SD. Ironically, all rail service south of Encinitas was suspended this weekend due to construction of a pedestrian underpass, so the riders were to be bused back from SD to Encinitas to board the train home.

Eventually, I topped the hill up to UCSD, rode through the campus, stopped at my favorite isolated restroom with a chilled water fountain, and rolled down Torrey Pines hill back to sea level. There was very sparse traffic for a warm, muggy Saturday at the beach. Another 200 foot climb and slow downhill through Del Mar, and I was soon approaching the campground as the sky became overcast with high and middle clouds, while massive thunderheads boiled up over the inland mountains.

The ranger at the kiosk took my $6 for the hike & bike site site happily; she mentioned that last Labor Day weekend was "crazy" and there were 12 campers there. So far, just one H&B had checked in before me. I had brought an alcohol stove plus minimal cooking gear, but was planning to get food and fuel after checking in. However, a new taco shop in the campground, called Bull Taco and with free wifi, sank its hooks into me and pulled me onto its clifftop patio overlooking the Pacific, and put any cooking plans for dinner to rest. I felt so hipsterish sitting on the deck, eating a lobster burrito and surfing with my netbook, that I almost went out and pulled the gears and brakes off my bike, converting it to a fixie. Almost. Also, there's an outside soda fountain on the deck, so ice refills can go on all night, very nice on a muggy night like this.

It turns out the sites for the bikes are spartan, just bare dirt with no tables, but they do overlook the beach. I met Chicago Steve that was there before me, then British Steve and Dave (?) from Britain who had ridden down from Vancouver. I became Local Steve. I began to set my new tent, but found that a pole had been assembled backwards at the factory (which took some time to realize) and it also took some time to pick out and rethread the shock cord through the sticks. I sat on my plastic bucket and did the rethreads while the Brits hit the beach for some swimming. Once the poles were OK, the tent went up in a minute. I zipped off to take a shower and some clean clothes.

Once back, the sun was setting in a flare of orange clouds over the sultry sea. After the obligatory ooohs and aahs, I strapped the 200 lumen H7 headlamp to my helmet and crossed the highway and RR tracks to an upscale grocery store. I nabbed items for a cold breakfast, not counting on finding any alcohol fuel, but decided to see it I could find some HEET at the autoparts store 2 miles up. I turned around just before reaching it (now I remember it's at Vulcan and Leucadia), but Vulcan was unlit and the night pitch black. The headlamp made a pretty good spot, but I've been spoiled by the new ultrabright ones... The other Steves had all hit the sack by the time I got back, but I filled one of my mini-panniers with ice, then diluted and drank most of a container of concentrated grape juice. Ahhhh, nice. The roar of the ocean waves drowned out any traffic noise, and there were no trains this weekend, so slept very soundly.

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Hiker-biker site just after tent came down

Rose about 700, as Chicago Steve was leaving--he was in a hurry to watch the Bears game in SD at 10. Had some pastry and melon, then packed up and left before the Brits had even stirred. I basically headed back the way I came, with a few Starbucks stops to rest and cool down, and made it home OK.

Next up: Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, at 4000-5000 feet up in the ranges east of San Diego.

Just got back from two night in the H&B sites in Cuyamaca State Park. Took the 864 bus Wed. from El Cajon up to the Viejas Casino at 2400', due to the heat and a headache, then rode 17 miles up to 4000' and a brief rain shower to Green Valley Falls Campground. Suprised to still see some water flowing in the stream there, maybe due to some monsoon showers the past week up here. Went over to the older showers in the empty equestrian loop, since they still have a strong hot water stream, then found a flat spot in the empty day-use area after depositing my $5 in the kiosk. There is quite a lot of room for cyclists here, though you may have to hunt around for flat spots---I noticed that the boulder next to my tent had a few mortrero holes from native peoples, so has been a campsite for many years. Fired up the alcohol stove and made green-pepper/egg drop/noodle soup and coffee.

By now, the sun was setting. Green Valley collects colder air on clear nights, and tonight would drop to 45 F with heavy dew. A nice change from all the stuffy warm nights in San Diego lately. However, the minute the sun came up, the temperature shot up to shirtsleeve levels again. After breakfast, broke camp and headed 5 miles steeply uphill past the second camp and a few miles past that to Cuyamaca Lake, took a break, then rode back to the pass and Paso Picacho campground.

It was still too early to check in, so locked up the bike and hiked the 2 mi, 1000 ft. climb to the granite pinnacle atop Stonewall Peak. It seems that high pressure had set in, and strong easterly winds threatened to send my hat sailing away from the summit, but they died down in the sheltered area of the campground as I hiked back down, checked in, took a rather unsatisfactory shower from the new and improved water-saving showers (filled one of my plastic pannier with warm water and dumped it over myself to get a better, free shower), shooed the deer, ravens, crows, and jays away from my gear, and set up camp. The campground, being on a pass at 5000 ft, has the cold air drain away from it, so didn't fall under 60 all night.

The next morning found me doing some wildlife photography of the panhandling varmints after packing up, and once every few minutes a pulse of heavy winds would roar through the trees. It was comfortably in the low 80's, but I had to head back down the hill. I soon found that the winds had the same idea, and soon was rocketing with a strong tailwind back to the Interstate. Once on the shoulder, I hit 45 mph before slowing, then 48 mph in the second steeper stretch before the exit...and the winds only followed me down the frontage road as I averaged 35-40 mph into Alpine. Past Alpine, another 3 mile grade dropped me into Harbinson Canyon at 40 mph, and I felt the temperature skyrocket as I climbed the short hill out of the canyon and back onto the 3-4% downhills at 35 mph. Being in the sun, my computer's thermometer had gone nuts, reading 122 F, but the actual reading was probably around 105 F, and the swirling winds made it hard to stay hydrated, even though I was mostly coasting downhill. Thank you, Lake Jennings Jack-in-the-Box, for the two bottles of ice from the soda fountain, and the 30 minute rest, that really helped me make it back to El Cajon! I split from the more difficult ACA route up Lake Jennings Rd and took the much better Los Coches Rd. option down into Lakeside, then rejoined the route to Santee and El Cajon. Some parts of San Diego hit 109 F this afternoon, and Oceanside 111 F, but a very dry heat, for what that's worth.

stevepusser .... have you got some of those photos you took to show us? :)

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all the Canadians? Are you out doing a long weekend tour this weekend?

A few years ago, Rowan and I camped in a closed campground in Alberta on the Thanksgiving weekend and did a hub-and-spoke style tour from there. It was chilly, but there was something adventurous about being the only people around.

We're on a long tour, but are planning a series of short tours as we travel through the US.

Anyone else doing some autumn short tours? Post your autumn photos if you've got them. :)

We've just had a Remembrance Day (Veteran's Day) long weekend and the American Thanksgiving is coming up ... are any of you still doing short tours?

Any tour on Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway is guaranteed to be pretty awesome, climbs are pretty tough but quiet scenery makes it worthwhile. Cars & motorcyclists are friendly & considerate & traffic is very light during non-peak/non-weekend times.

DC area has nearby mountains & also DelMarVa peninsula, both supposedly famous for excellent biking but on tours there I've seen near-zero other bike tourists. Local short tours are great to see things at a slower pace with the luxury of not risking being too far away if trouble happens.

I am planing to go California. I heard a lot about this place so this time i am planning to go there.

I live in Virginia but never heard of the New River Trail, it looks very pretty. SW Virginia is pretty scenic, I imagine one could also include the Trail as part of a longer tour around there too.

The last tour I took, in mid-September, was from Victoria on Vancouver Island, north to Campbell River, then south to Nanaimo. I spent a week on this one. From my home to the ferry is at least a six-hour drive. Then, getting across to the island is an hour and a half, but every time I get there, I notice something new which completely amazes me. It's a special place. What impresses me the most is the relaxed pace of life there.

In late January and early February, I'm planning a two-week tour in southern California. In many ways, it will be the complete opposite of the Vancouver Island trip, but it will be beautiful in its own way.

Come to think of it, I can't recall a bad bike tour.

We enjoyed our short tour of Vancouver Island last year, enough to want to see more in the future. If the weather isn't too bad in December, we're hoping to get across even just for a couple days.

In the midst of our big tour, Rowan and I have been doing a short hub-and-spoke style tour of southwestern Louisiana ... we've cycled off in different directions each of the 3 days we've been here so far.

We're still hoping to do some hub-and-spoke touring around lower mainland BC, but that may occur in 2013.

Meanwhile, as we wrap up 2012, does anyone else have stories of short tours you'd like to share with us? :)