spectastic

This is my first tour, from South East Texas to San Francisco. My journal here https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/..._id=15524&v=1i

tomorrow, I'm planning on a 150 miler from Houston to Austin. about 4000 feet of steady climbing with a consistent crosswind from the south. I will stop at the 92 mile marker and gorge at a chinese buffet, and hopefully reach North Austin before sundown, and maybe gorge again to prepare for the next day. I might take half the day off to cruise around Austin for some landmarks, and do an easy day the day the day after tomorrow.

palu

Hopefully you have contingent plans for those food stops. Nothing like getting there to find them closed!

spectastic

my contingent plan was to stay after I finished eating. I felt sleepy and tired. the wet condition made my chamois uncomfortable. I still made 94 miles, and I'm happy with it

buffet was open though. it was low quality, but as a bonking cyclist, it tasted like crack.

jargo432

I'd like to hear how that 40deg sleeping bag works out for you in February. Good luck.

hueyhoolihan

i found that i could always find a not quite empty plastic quart bottle of oil, in the trash of course, at just about any gas station. it was fine for just about anything that needed to be lubricated on my touring bikes.

if forced to actually BUY something (like on a cold day in hell ) i would go for the 90w oil used for shaft drive motorcycle's final drive. always available in any auto parts store, usually in qt bottles..

and if by chance out in the middle of nowhere and close to a set of railroad tracks, not uncommon, there are automatic rail car bearing greasers built into most tracks that spew grease everywhere, just ready to be scooped up by transients like bicycle tourists and such.

couldn't find your anticipated route on your journal. i'd be leery of getting too far north. crossing the sierra nevada's could be a problem if north of Isabella Lake, just East of Bakersfield. i would think long and hard about where i planned to cross them, and when.

anyway, sounds like fun, good luck.

edit: found your itinerary... Good! going through L.A and up route 1. good choice. BTW, don't be disappointed if you average 80-90 miles/day for the first month.

bradtx

Giddings is a sentimental favorite, best of luck on the trip.

Brad

hueyhoolihan

don't know if you are logging in here now, but if you don't mind, where do you plan on crossing the Rio Grande and the Colorado? thanks.

spectastic

was going to go north into the national forests, but I'm getting tired of climbing, so I'm going to stick south near El Paso and Phoenix

hueyhoolihan

good to hear. going through the center of N.M. could get really nasty this early in the year. same goes for the Kaibab, if you had planned on going that far north.

nothing wrong with the ride from Las Cruces, N.M. through Lordsburg to Globe and Phoenix (if that's close to where you are going), nor the one from there to Needles or Blythe.

hope the wind turns for you. maybe it will once in west TX.

LeeG

Take care o yo self

spectastic

thanks


I'm thinking about going against my GPS suggestions and riding on i-10. It's west tx, so there shouldn't much traffic. the road is likely better paved than the other highways. I've already got my tires slashed pretty good by the chip seal, and I think my bum would appreciate it if I go on a smoother road. also it's probably less hilly and more direct.

mev

I-10 in West Texas is fine as far as riding. The hazard you need to watch out for, particularly if you are already having tire issues, is interstate seems to have more small wires coming from shredded truck tires.

spectastic

hey has anyone toured new mexico and arizona? I'm asking for tips because I'm in west texas, and it's deserts and small towns. I'm thinking about getting on a train to skip straight to LA, and ride up hwy 1, which is one of the things I really look forward to. I think if I stay south, it's mostly deserts, and if I go north, I face more hills. Any advice?

Machka 

No! Really? Who would have thought!?


Yes ... keep riding. It'll be good for you. You might learn something about your country.

spectastic

meh. i dunno...

spectastic

i think I'll go with the train route and spend more time in california. I don't think I will find many things or meet too many interesting people in the desert, no offense intended to people who love the desert. But I feel a lot more comfortable doing a tour like that on a motorcycle.

amtrack for now. let my body heal

Doug64

Sometimes bike tours can be more mental than physically challenging.

Machka 

I'm curious what you expected to find ... in the way of scenery, things, interesting people ... between about mid-Texas and California. It's like you're surprised to find desert in the very place that is well known for desert ... what did you expect to find?

spectastic

I just thought I'd like it more

hueyhoolihan

if you must take the train, it might be better to take the train all the way to SF, then ride home to Texas via San Diego.

the north to south route is preferable to the south to north route because 1) when on a northerly course there are at least two lanes of traffic blocking the decent view, the ocean view, at all times, 2) there are few turn-outs in the northerly direction. and 3) all right bends will be inside bends for you with the hills tight on your right. that situation creates a blind bend, and consequently little time for following traffic to react. so it's inherently less safe, 4) they will be hugging that inside edge of the road too, right where you will be, which makes it just that much worse. and 5) you may encounter more headwinds too. the vast majority of cycling tourists travel the pacific route north to south for good reason.

heading "home" if often more inspiring than heading away from it, IME. and it's possible, and preferable, IMO, to discard GPS doodads and just buy the ACA pacific (from SF south) and Southern Tier (just to Del Rio) maps and be done with the hassle of routing and service availability issues. there is nothing yet to rival the combination of sense of place and progress, perspective, and detail provided by a good state road map. tiny led screens even with their zoom capabilities just can't compete.

valygrl

Probably too late but....

take a day off and rest, make plans to ride fewer miles and stop more often. NM and AZ are great, California coast in winter won't be that awesome, and that wind map you linked lies, it's only wind from the south when it's storming, the rest of the time prevailing wind is from the north.

Stop. Rest. Don't jump on the train until you are sure.

Machka 

+1


And I don't know where you (OP) are right now, but there are often tourist info places near the US state borders. There is one in El Paso. And another somewhere around the point where you cross into New Mexico on the I-10.

If you can find one, look through some of the brochures for interesting things to see in New Mexico ... and then as you go across, stop in to see stuff. You're probably not going to find a lot of interesting things and people if you just cycle long distances each day on the I-10 ... but you might find them if you meander a bit to various attractions.

hueyhoolihan

nice to hear that after 20 years you can still get a $30 motel room in Van Horn.

spectastic

thanks for the tip on going north to south. I received the same tip from two other people. I called, and it's an extra $60 to ride up to SF from LA. Good call, I probably should've seen that one coming

and there's a lot of those $30 motels as it turns out. I was biking down the street to McD's for a quick "dinner," and I saw a whole bunch of them. Everything was marked up at the grocery store too. This seems like one of those tourist towns that people only stay at to get to their destinations.

spectastic

yea the last few days were better, now that I'm not chasing sundown everyday trying to make it to the next town, and taking more time to make stops.

In the beginning, I was going up north into NM and AZ into the national forests, but I now realize that's not such a good idea this time of year, and I don't look forward to the climbing - it does get old. And if I stay south, it's mostly desert, and it would extend the trip quite a bit.