How do you guys tour...out one route and back a different route? Go somewhere and catch an Amtrak back home?

I usually only ride one direction. I rent a mini-van and drive the other way, usually camping in it en route since I've got all my stuff.

Most often I fly to the start and fly home from the end of my tours. I tend to usually do longish point to point tours rather than loops or out and back tours. I have never started a tour from home or finished at home for that matter.

Roy's 750 mile tour for his 75th Birthday

Our most common tours are hub-and-spoke style tours ... we drive out to a particular location, stay there a night or two or more, and from that location we cycle in various directions for various distances exploring. But always returning to the hub for the night.


Our other tours usually involve flying to another country and doing some sort of generally loop-ish route which may also include a collection of hub-and-spoke tours, out-and-backs, and the use of public transportation such as ferries and trains. Whatever we feel like doing at the time.

All of the above with a few more variations thrown in for good measure: ride to Amtrak station, start tour, catch Amtrak back when finished, and ride home (35 miles); get ride to airport, start tour, fly back to Oregon when finished, and ride home; drive to relatives, catch Amtrak to start of tour, catch Amtrak back to relatives when finished, drive home; start at front door, ride across the country, fly back to Oregon when finished, and ride the 135 miles home; drive to start of tour, leave car at motel or ferry terminal (for 1-2 week tours), ride loop back to car, and drive home; rent a car (for start locations without train or air facilities nearby), drive to start of tour, finish tour, catch train or plane back to Oregon, and ride home from airport or train station..........................................................

There are many different ways to do it. We are fortunate that the Amtrak Station is only 35 miles away and the PDX airport is 135 miles. It is also a pretty easy ride in Portland from the airport to the train station. It makes logistics pretty easy.

i vote for loops, but i'm not so in adamant about riding loops that i'd never do an out & back. i've done that too. my first trek this year will be an out & back probably. then hopefully a 5 day one way.

one trip i'd like to do in a couple of years is bike to the train - train to Chicago - bike to a ferry in Wis., then bring the ferry back to Mich, then ride back home a couple 100 miles.

i think that'd be a really cool loop.

do what you can get done and enjoy at the same time.

That is really cool!

I would hardly call this a dumb question.

I generally do the same route there and back but am hoping to plan a tour where we have a friend drive us up and then we ride back camping along the way. The hub and spoke idea is pretty cool and I might have to try that.

I would love to find different routes back and maybe if I end up getting some turn by turn navigation going, that might be easier, since I am a terrible navigator and have missed turns on the que sheets.

This is a loop my wife and I did a couple of years ago that might interest you.

It was "Plan C", and how we got there is along story. Plan A was a circumnavigation of Lake Erie. Plan B was a circumnavigation of Lake Huron. We changed plans up in Mackinaw City when the weather turned cold and it was spitting snow in Canada. It was mid October. Come to our bike club meeting next week, and you can hear the "rest of the story".

I tend to avoid out and back. This means taking a plane, train, rental car at least one and sometimes both directions. However, the exact combination depends on where I am going. Some recent examples:
- This past Christmas, I drove a rental car to Brownsville, TX and cycled back
- A lot of my weekend trips in TX are out and back to nearby state parks or cities, but 4 times I've also cycled to San Antonio and taken rental car back and also done this to College station a few times.
- When living in Oregon from 2009 to 2012, each year I ended up cycling Vancouver BC to Eugene OR piecemeal and using Amtrak to make the missing links.
* One weekend, train to Vancouver, cycle to Seattle, train back to PDX
* Another weekend, train to Seattle, cycle back to PDX
* Another weekend, cycle to Eugene, train back to PDX
I also cycled from PDX to Whitefish, MT and took train back, cycled from PDX to Boise and took rental car back, cycled to Pasco and took rental car back, cycled to San Jose and took train back, etc. Also twice cycled four day trips along the Columbia River Gorge. Technically these might be out and back, but one direction I cycled the WA side and the other direction, I cycled the OR side. Also cycled some loops along the OR coast.

Generally I'd rather not do an out & back, however depending on what you're riding going the opposite direction may not be so bad. Sometimes riding a rail-trail like the GAP in the opposite direction gives a whole new perspective and you see things that you missed going in the other direction.

On our tours we rented a car and shuttled our van (hard to fit a tandem in rental) sometime during the tour so that it was waiting for us at the end of the tour.

I do point-to-point. When I have gone coast-to-coast, I flew to the start point each time, and then flew back from the end point. When I did it with a single touring bike, I was able to take my bike with me each way as onboard baggage. When I did it with a tandem, my local bike shop shipped the tandem (and BOB trailer) to an accommodating bike shop at the start point, and then a similar bike shop at the trip's destination shipped it back to me local bike shop at the end.

On several other tours, I/we started at home, and then brought the bikes back from the destination on vehicles. On one ride, a family member carried the two bikes on a vehicle to the start point, and then met us at the destination several days later to carry the bikes back home.

Out and back via the same route or slightly different routes. Travel somewhere, do a loop and then travel home. Travel to the start and ride home.

I almost always end up back where I started by taking a different route than the one I used heading out. My trips are usually anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks.

I am planning a hub and spoke in central Oregon for this summer with some friends who appreciate not having to carry so much gear.

I have done the following:
Fly to start and fly home from end.
Fly to end point, take bus to start point, and fly home from end point.
Fly to city near start point, take van to start point, take bus from end point to different city and fly home.
Fly to start point and have wife pick me up in car from end point.
Drive to start point and do a loop.
Start from home and take train home from end point.
Do a loop from home.

[MENTION=34773]paul2[/MENTION] - any preference from your experience?
my personal preference is to attempt to make my bike related stuff car-free (as possible) - that includes club rides, coffee shop rides, buzzing up to the hardware store for small stuff, touring.
i don't bike to work much due to family stuff, church stuff, and right ICE. i'm not ant-car. i make my living when others buy cars! <<subliminal message: buy an F150>> so just curious which you gravitate to the most often. thanks!

twice, i've done just an 'out', no 'back'.

Mostly loops; living in Mobile, AL I can go into FL and take several different routes to the Atlantic East Coast and then come back a different path. US 90, 98, and 27 are great roads with wide shoulders, as is FL 20. One can make several different loops in the 1,000 mile range, or less, and end back here in Mobile.

I like this

This looks like a nice ride

I hope I'm doing it when I'm 75, good for you. I met a woman of 75 a couple years ago who was crossing from Maine to California solo. I have been so filled with admiration for her every time I think about it

i do any of the above and other options too. Mostly decide what I want to do first, then what are my travel options (will my wife pick us up, is it on an Amtrak line, etc.), then decide what transit mode I can use. I have started and have finished at my house, have done Amtrak, MegaBus, been picked up, done loops, etc. depending on circumstance.

Glad to see this thread. I teach so my summers are free. My plan is to buy a folder (99% sure a Brompton), hop on Amtrak for about 150-200 miles and spend two or three days cycling home. I've got camping equipment so some trips will be camping and some in motels.

I'm really looking forward to the summer.

Funny you say that...I am thinking of changing careers and taking a pay cut to be a teacher so I can have more time to do things I want to do and spend time with family.