Windblown Tour
 

For a number of years, now, I've been toying with the idea of starting a tour with no route planned. Just get up in the morning and go whichever way the wind is blowing. If the wind changes direction during the day, so do I. I would bike as much or as little as I cared to - then stop whenever I found a nice spot. I'm guessing that if you started out on the California coast - Santa Cruz - you'd end up on Hudson Bay. But then again you could end up in Guatemala, Louisiana, or Detroit. Anybody else ever toyed with such an idea?

Best - J

Hi.

A friend and I did just that type of tour last fall. We essentially rode tail winds for the first two days before turning into the wind and heading for home on day three.

We ended up riding a triangle course. All three days had winds in the 50 km/hr range. That last day was a bit tough since it was a headwind. The other two days were a breeze (grin).

It's a lot of fun and a good way to introduce someone to touring as long as you keep an eye on how far you are away from your planned return point when you start to near the end of your tour.

Here's the tour report from that adventure:

http://jrnfriendlytour.crazyguyonabike.com

~Jamie N
www.bicycletouring101.com

I toyed with the idea of using a dice to choose directions, I read about it somewhere else but don't know the link. Didn't go through with it, but still I never ever really planned my tour in advance, just a few days at a time, a general direction, etc.
Cheers
Leon

Jama, that sounds like fun, you could make up a light jacket with web like material between the arms and body to catch the wind and sail you ahead. You could also work with wind direction differences depending on time of day, especially in morning and evening winds in canyons and valleys. Take the GPS and plot the travel and post us a map if you do it!

I thought of doing it in Europe where there are lots of trains to bring you back. Follow the wind until your tired of it, then take a train back to your starting point.