We're coming up to a long weekend here in Australia (Labour Day), so Rowan and I are planning another hub-and-spoke style tour. We're booked at a campground in the Australian Alps.

Never toured before other than hopped out of the car and rode the 76km to the camp ground so this year will be my first real tour.

Considering the Beaver Valley Sally in August as it will be easy for me to get to and appears to be a good start.

Hope I didn't already post in this thread.

My short tour for 2013 is a variation of my annual summer ride from the New London, Connecticut Ferry Terminal to either Westerly or Narragansett, Rhode Island. I've put together a new, longer route that I think is going to be much more enjoyable than previous ones, and I can't wait until July to hit the road.

Central California Coast Bike Ride
 

Next month I'll be riding down the Pacific coast from Monterey, CA to LA. I have 6 days allocated for the ride with my folding bike. I'll be camping along the way much like I did with my Oregon coast ride last year. I suspect that there will be fewer places to find food along the way which might be problematic since I can't carry that much. Hopefully the weather will be nice with me again. You can follow about it on my blog and via twitter.

BTW, Let me know of any good way to cross the northern part of LA to the south. I need to end up in Newport Beach and would like to some multimodal transportation through town (biking, riding train, bus, etc). I don't think I'll have enough time to ride through all of LA. Remember, folding bike, so even a taxi would be workable :thumb: although I would like to go on the cheap side if possible.

You know, no need to ride 76km. Two or three are enough to use the hikers/biker sites at the campground. LOL

We're set up in our campsite, and if all goes well, we'll get some cycling in tomorrow morning or evening. It's supposed to be painfully hot this weekend, so we'll try to hit the pool or a shady spot somewhere during the middle of the day.

It wasn't supposed to even be 76 km (I see the map has a different distance but I'm was sure that's what my cyclocomputer measured) but the entry for the campground in the GPS was wrong. We were supposed to go from Little Current (A) to Kagawan (C) but the GPS told us that the camp ground was near Mindemoya (B). My wife dropped the boys and I off just outside of Little Current and we rode to the West Bay (the junction) where the boys hopped back into the car and I followed her to Mindemoya only to discover that she had learned that the campground wasn't anywhere near Mindemoya (she was waiting for me). I had my cell phone and plenty of water and granola bars so I told her to go on ahead and we'll be in touch every so often.

At one point, I was travelling on the straight stretch north to Kagawan on the clear, 2-lane minor highway when a large tractor trailer passed me, by moving to the oncoming lane, giving me huge space (THANK YOU!!!) but a minute later, a pickup passed me so close, I was nearly clipped by the side mirrors (no oncoming traffic either) (IDIOT!!!).

It was a great weekend of camping although Kagawan Lake was cold and choppy.

Normally I just ride a radius of about 150 km around my home city (Winnipeg). Since I'm getting a new Surly LHT Deluxe, I'll be able to bring it with me when I go flying. I have a few tours planned, one in May in Germany (7 days from Frankfurt to Munich) and this summer, I'm planning to do some "remote" touring in the Canadian Arctic. Maybe Rankin Inlet - Whale Cove.

Have you been cycling in the Winnipeg area long? I live there for 13 years, and cycled the whole time, but left in 2004.

Where do you like going? When I lived there, I did a lot of long daytrips, but only a few overnighters.

You might check out Metrolink http://www.metrolinktrains.com/

Amtrak connects with their trains.

You can also call them for other connecting transport services and additional information.

Hello everyone,

I've been building up strength (and courage) to start touring this spring and am planning to take a weekend 160 km tour from the city of Athens along the south-eastern coast towards Loutra Oreas Elenis a bit past the Corinth canal. I've already reached 2/3 of the way there on a day trip, but that was a year ago, I was totally out of shape and the hills outside of Megara were torture!

Here's a map showing the -to- segment of the trip; with the return being identical.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2216825

I have been planning a short day trip to the center of the next county. But every time I re-map it, I come across roads that I would not want to be on. Because of the high speed limit(50mph), and/or no shoulder, and/or, bad road surface.

You might have to use a very meandering route.

Or drive, bus, train, or fly to a nicer area.

Our long weekend away did turn into a bit of a hub-and-spoke tour when we got out for a 50 km ride on Monday along one of the rail trails. The rail trails in the area where we were are paved, and I believe that they are the only paved rail trails in Victoria. They're nice. :) I'm not a huge fan of trails for various reasons, but I enjoyed yesterday's ride.

We opted to start the ride in the morning, when it was cooler (only about 27C), but by the time we finished it was up around 40C. Yet another warm day in this part of Australia. I'm not used to exerting myself in the heat so I wasn't feeling so good by the end of the ride, but I was pleased we covered that distance ... longest ride in a while.

Some of last weekend's scenery ... :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8242/8...5b5c37370c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8...5b402694a6.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8250/8...fd208eebee.jpg

Planning on making a few S24O's out of the Virginia Creeper again this year with my son,and at least one S24O out of the New River Rail Trail with him come summer,being 40 or so more miles on him than the Creeper. "Big dreams" for this year would be north to south on WV's Green Briar River RT,and next year the C&O/GAP up and back down solo (600+ miles is a bit more than my 10 year old has aspirations for). I'd planned to train '11 and ride that in '12,but a house fire mid summer kinda kinked those plans,so planned to push it one year (to train '12/ride '13),then we got scammed ona lease-purchase house and had to move twice on the cheap (yes,they're in jail,no we didn't get any $ back).

Yes,I know typically one doesn't have to train a year in advance for a 600 mile ride (which would be my longest tour ever,BTW),but I'm kinda disabled and hit and miss with spinal injuries from '01,have to pre-plan and hope ;)

Photos of our Labour Day ride on one of the best rail trails in this state ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...7633064830733/


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8385/8...e3552db5ec.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8...dc050735b0.jpg

Live in VA & hadn't even heard of the Creeper nor S240 term! Creeper trail looks scenic, er...http://www.vacreepertrail.us/

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=307700

It is Easter weekend ... anyone doing a long-weekend tour?

The last few Easter's Rowan and I have done hub-and-spoke tours ... this Easter, we're moving into our 'new-to-us' house. Our first semi-permanent dwelling in over 9 months. :)

But we've dug our bicycles out of storage again (we have had our touring bicycles with us). :)

Yeah, that area is hard to beat. Late in the summer before last I cycling from Sacramento to Clear Lake, traveling around the southern edge of Lake Berryessa, though wine country, Calistoga, and then through the mountains NE of there. Someday I'd definitely like to do more riding in wine country, it was spectacular.

We don't have anything solid on the calendar this year. It looks like we'll be lucky to get out for a handful of overnighters. I'm eyeing riding from where we live in North Seattle up to the Mukilteo Ferry terminal and then riding from the Kingston Ferry landing up to the Hansville Greenway & Adler Wetlands on our way to spend the night at the Kitsap Memorial State Park. I figured we'd make a loop out of it by rolling down onto Bainbridge Island the next morning, after stopping in Poulsbo for breakfast, then taking the ferry back to Seattle from Bainbridge and then home via the Elliot Bay/Terminal 91/Ship Canal trails.

Be sure to check the rules for bringing your bike if you plan on taking their subway. When I was there in 2000 I got harassed by the police on the train as I didn't realize it was verboten to bring your bike on the subway. I think the rule may have only applied during whatever they considered "rush hour" though.

Oh yes,the Creeper is a nice ride! I did a couple of those last year with my son (Sub 24 Hour ;) ) and had a blast,though at 30+ miles in a day he was complaining,LOL! Other times,I did my first ever 50+ mile ride when I rode it from Abingdon to White Top and back,I did that a few times last year. You should check it out if it's an option :)

I did a nice 2 day trip through southern Taiwan before it gets too hot. I took a longer route on the way back past the southern tip just so I could take the following photo. I was hoping for blue skies and clouds but I guess this is alright also. Overall it was a 250km trip plus a 20 km (18USD) taxi ride at the end. I was still moving pretty good but I didn't want to overdo myself and wreck myself for the entire week.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8520/8...77e073c2_c.jpg
Hengchun, Taiwan by abacus07, on Flickr
My Surly arrives in 1-2 weeks and I cannot wait to retire this bike to commuter bike only. It just doesn't have the gearing for the mountains in Taiwan.

I haven't been cycling that long. I just got into bike touring about 2 years ago when I moved here. I used to live in Vancouver before and only really biked around Stanley Park, etc. I did some longer bike trips (40 - 50 km) when I lived in Calgary, but not really touring.

Here in Manitoba, I usually go to some sort of Lake. I've been from Winnipeg to Grand Beach (x2), Pinnawa, Lac du Bonet and Woodlands. This summer I'm hoping I can get more touring done, but it's so hard to enjoy Manitoba. I mean it's great, but after 5 - 6 trips, everything's the same. Usually I drag my wife out, but she's not too keen on biking with me. Where did you go?

I live in central Washington state and have finally decided this is the year to try out touring. I've had the notion to do it for awhile but a large family, work and kids sports activities always seemed to get in the way. I had a trip scheduled with my dad and brothers to S. Dakota planned for June that has now been cancelled. I'm still marked off for the time and figured that's the best time to finally start this. My wife's comment - "don't expect me to come get you if you have a tire blow out." (She'll still be working and the kids are in their last week of school for the year). I like the sounds of that - just me and the bike.

So, I'm starting to look at routes I can take here in the area for a 3-5 day tour to just get some experience doing it.

Assuming all goes well I'd love to try some north Idaho routes next year and even some northeast Washington. Gotta say I'm excited to get started and my thoughts are consumed by the possibilities every day.