MichaelW

On my North Sea coastal tour I met a German woman cycling home from a season on an organic farm in southern France. She had no sense of direction or navigational skill at all and carried no maps. Her method was to ride alongside a river out to the coast in France, follow the well marked coastal bicycle path all around through France, Belgium, Netherlands and N Germany until it hits the Elbe river, then follow the Elbe cycle path till it goes past her home in Hamburg.

foamy

The best part of solo is that you keep your own pace, go where you want, stop where you want, for as long as you want. You meet more people and the people you meet are more willing to talk and extend hospitality. I never expected it and was always surprised when it was offered.

You are your own master for however long your tour lasts. Not beholden to anyone. It's the closest you'll come to being "free."

And as another poster mentioned, pubs are great. That, and I have tamales where ever I find them.

Booger1

1:Get water when you can....Don't wait for the next chance.

2:No grizzly bears...only brown/black bears and they don't eat much......Just kidding,you'll be lucky to see one.

3:Raccoons know about zippers and buckles,rats and mice don't.Either hang your food,use a box if available or keep it with you.If you leave it on your bike...holes may appear in your panniers.

4:Wash your arse....

5:Your going to have the time of your life...it's wonderful! Enjoy!

indyfabz

My second fully-loaded ride ever was the first day of an organized x-country group tour. (The first was a 62 mile day ride to see what riding a loaded bike was like.) When it was finished, I spent a couple of weeks riding home solo. Having never done unsupported touring or even camping, I chose to ride with a group to gain some knowledge and experience. The following year, I did two long, solo tours.

I definitely preferred solo for the reaons you note. You can make your own schedule and spend more time seeing what interests you. I would have liked to stay in more woodsy campgrounds like USFS campgrounds, but we had a high maintenance group and thus often ended up in commercial places with more ammenities. During the group tour, there was less interaction with the locals. On a couple of occasions, I and another member of the group did sidetrips. We definitely had more local interaction during those times. Also received more "trail magic" riding solo. One night, after seeing my tiny tent, a man "forced" me to come to his family's campsite and drink beer and eat hot dogs. Another time, a woman gave me half a pie she had baked.

Group touring is not all touchy feely bonding. There was a decent amount of animosity between certain people in our small group of 13. It didn't help that our original leader, who we eventually had replaced, was pretty much a social moron. Another member of the group was a bigoted alcoholic who almost got arested a couple of times. We also had a guy who tried to shirk his group cooking and cleaning responsibilities whenever he could. We think he found it beneath him. Many times there was an uncomfortable tolerance among several members, myself included. While I had many memorable moments with another rider, I felt a weight had been lifted when I set out for home on my own.

gordyb

thanks for all the advice.

How long do you think I should allow for this journey?
I plan to set off from Vancouver in the first week of May. I would like to book a flight out of LA in advance to save money but I'm not sure what date to go for.
I definitely don't want to rush the tour. I'm expecting to have quite a few rest days during the trip as my body/knee's gets used to so much riding.
I consider myself to have reasonable fitness for a 31 year old - (I'm training to run a half marathon at the moment) but I expect I will have to get fit as I ride. Reason being I will be backpacking for the four months running up to May so will probably be substituting visits to the gym for visits to the Beaches and bar's.

Whats a reasonable time frame to complete the journey without putting myself under too much pressure?

alan s 

Not clear which Vancouver you are referring to. BC or WA? What is the route?

gordyb

Vancouver BC I think, Canada, down the US coast to Los Angelas

darkstar173rd

pickup a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th language...over 30yrs. solo touring never hungry, nor place to not rest my head.

staehpj1

That is a great route and you will meet lots of other touring riders along the way. Once in Oregon I never camped alone. I wound up hanging out the same folks much of the way.

No worries about bears, but definitely keep food and toiletries in the provided boxes or the raccoons will drive you nuts stealing your food.

Don't take a huge tent, your bike will be fine outside. Do take a light cable lock. There were a couple urban places where I did not feel it was prudent to leave my bike unattended, but those were rare instance.

There is no reason not to take this trip as a first tour.

Have a great time!

staehpj1

How far do you want to ride in a day? 40-50 miles per day seems to be a popular pace on that route, but more is certainly possible. I found a little over 50 miles per day allowed for a somewhat relaxed pace.

LeeG

Yup, it manifests itself differently in different climates

Booger1

If it has leaves of three,let it be.

Poison ivy,oak have leaves of 3 and hairy vines.

There isn't much Poison sumac out west,chances are you won't see any.It has smooth edges and no hair on the vine.There is lots of regular sumac,it has jagged edges and a hairy vine.It can be big like a tree.