Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A hundred miles on a bicycle

Good to hear all this, and tire technology is so different now w/ respect to puncture resistance combined with low rolling resistance you wouldn't recognise 'em they are so good.

One thing doing all this is that distances seem shorter now rather than longer like I was expecting. On that hundred miler part of it was riding twenty miles across town and then twenty miles out of town on a route in a car I always thought was a fair piece. Weird, even though it took me at least three hours longer to get there inside my head it felt shorter.

Likewise I've ridden downtown and back (40 mile round trip) so many times now it feel like just down the block, even if it does take ninety minutes or more each way. Sounds ironic but the secret is to fight the desire to stand up on the pedals and crank, low and slow gets you there every time.

Getting a sense of half a continent that way is gonna be cool.... IF I can pull it off (obligatory disclaimer).

Birdwatcher

I weren't gonna touch this but here's the deal, regardless of what the Doc says this thing is gonna happen anyway, at least the attempt. While I don't have a death wish, the concept of keeling over on a task like this doesn't trouble me at all.

I mean, consider the alternative.

Anyhow, I'm worth so much dead right now its flat scary

Birdwatcher

Was wondering if there are restrictions against bicyclist traveling across certain high traffic bridges like over the Mississippi and Ohio River's. I know I've seen some posted road signs at bridge approaches stating that low powered motor scooters/mopeds below a specified engine displacement aren't permitted to cross.

There are, but there are others where it is legal to at least walk the bike across on the pedestrian walkway.

All of this is covered pretty well on internet bike touring sites. Even Google Maps "Get Directions" has a "Bicycle" option, I've been consulting it frequently..

Birdwatcher

put your hand gun in a locker at bus stop airport , friend on the fire ,pick it up on the way back.

norm

Will do, just find somewhere with an outdoor patio, I could be sorta rank...

Got kin in Pa. so dropping if off isn't an issue, problem is I'm most likely to fly or take the train back from NYC.

Upright (touring) is why I said B67, wider than the B17 and a springer, put one on my old Fisher hardtail along with an adjustable stem, fenders and Marathon's and it is a first class comfort machine compared to the road bikes of my past.

I have so many stories about my road riding in that chithole Houston I could write book. Got so bad including several physical confrontations I ditched the road bikes for mountain bikes and continued to ride the asphalt. But I had what I needed to get out of potentially bad situations.

Lots of restaurants have a garden hose laying around in the back. We'll just hose you down.

My youngest son took a trip from Buffalo NY to mount Rushmore, then to LA . Took him 71 days (he had some bike trouble) I should mention it was on a fixed gear bike.(one speed).
You can expect some flats, you will also be surprised at how many nice folks you will meet along the way.
There is a website you can go to that lists folks you can stay with or camp out on their property. Most of the folks that provide help or shelter are bikers that have done some traveling or are just bike nuts. I'll see if I can get the site address for you. Good luck

Sir, I believe that hosting site would be Warmshowers.org

Now you done it!! You got me wanting to do something like this!! My last century was 2010 on a Haro mtb... Not a comfortable way for sure so many changes to be made before I ever plan anolther long ride. One thing for certain will be padded gloves and better gel grips. I changed the stem on that bike within a week of making that ride and 2 weeks later totalled the bike and nearly myself. Class IV shoulder separation, torn neck muscles, bruised kidney, sprained knee and a doubly broken pinky finger. Money spent on quality helmets is never money wasted. I have a 4500 Trek now... its slightly more comfy but I will have to find something else. Once again Im sure you already know this but whatever ya do make safety 1-2 and 3. It still amazes me how bad you can get hurt at 10-15 mph.

Thats the one, Please don't call me sir, I'm 2 years younger than you. Bad enough the cashiers and bank tellers call me that. Sucks to get old.

The steel frame idea is a good one, my sons aluminum frame cracked and he had to have it TIG welded in Fort Collins.

I need to update this to one hundred-ten miles on a bicycle.

Brung my wife lunch in Helotes two hours and twenty miles away on Friday (a no-school day around here) and thought, well-hey, Bandera is just thirty more miles away up Hwy 16.

Get my mass kicked by the tall hills between Helotes and Pipe Creek, roll into Pipe Creek a little after 2pm; shaky, light-headed and whipped. Stop in at a small roadside establishment with a sign saying "Bikers Welcome". Hey I've been a biker about a kazillion times on this road, this time I was on a bicycle.

Small world, the proprieter was a biker, but his brother rode a bicycle four months and maybe 10,000 miles to do the four corners of the US last year. I learn of the marvelous restorative powers of chopped brisket and ice tea. Leave Pipe Creek a bit after 3pm, cover the nine miles to Bandera in a bit under 40 minutes.

On a roll now, sixty miles left to go, four and one half hours till full dark. Jet into a convenience store for water and an ice cream (a mistake, it just makes you thirsty) and turn left to go south twenty-nine miles to Hondo. A distance all downhill in my imagination.

First thing that immediately becomes apparent is a stout headwind, the wind has picked up out of the south. Second thing; while Hondo is indeed sorta downhill from Bandera, a four-hundred foot drop over twenty-nine miles don't amount to a whole lot. The third thing, and most important; the road surface on 173 between Bandera and Hondo is just HORRIBLE, borderline unrideable, Texas chip seal at its worst with NO road margin to ride beyond the fog stripe. Only good part was tires make so much noise on it, you can hear cars and trucks coming way back.

Two and one half hours of absolutely getting hammered, shoulders, wrists, hands getting sore. First the long climb out of the Medina River drainage, and then the slight drop over to Verde Creek. I will say the country was far prettier than I recalled from my motorcycle days when I valued a road mostly for the curves on it, but 173 here is pretty much a straight line between points.

One cool thing was spooking a group of blackbuck on the other side of a tall fence when I was rattling down a long downhill, absolutely spectacular to see those speedy antelope in full flight

Two and one half hours later, 6:30pm, sun getting low. Still five miles out of Hondo, finally on the flats south of the Hill Country, the constant headwind and constant hammering from the road has me so whipped I have to stop again. Sit on the ground by the side of the road leaning on a gate, legs stretched out in front. Drink a quart and a half of water, eat packaged jerky and potato chips. Between the ice cream, chips and jerky it becomes apparent that on a trip like this junk food is just junk. Feel worse after eating than before.

7pm back on the bike, around 7:30pm I roll into Hondo, less than one hour until full dark, thirty miles from home.

Stop in at the Whataburger, note with some surprise that the Walmart in Hondo has actually closed. At Whataburger I drink a whole 44oz of unsweetened room-temperature iced tea without even thinking about it, eat half of my jalapeno cheeseburger, save the other half and the fries for later (gave it to the dog the next day).

Roll east out of Hondo on the wide margin of Highway 90 as the sun is going down, reflective vest on, LED taillight flickering like a Christmas tree. Amazing, between the ice tea, the food, the rest and especially the smooth road surface I cover the fourteen miles to Castroville in a bit under an hour, slight quartering headwind notwithstanding.

Stop in at a convenience store to pee, a line of people all buying beer.

9pm, rolling out of Castroville. Now I'm in full idiot category; rolling this busy stretch of highway well after dark on a Friday night yet. I go slow, lots of roadside debris along this stretch and I cant see all that well by my headlight, plus I'm finally tired. Not the come and go tired that happens on a long ride but the just plain weary after ninety plus miles on a bike.

Didn't get run over by a drunk after all, rolled up my driveway at 10:45pm, thirteen hours after leaving.

One hundred-ten miles on google maps.

Just to make sure I could stand the pace I put in an easy fifty miles around town yesterday afternoon.

Bicycle are amazing, seriously, I am NOT in great shape.

Birdwatcher

Nice to be young, for sure! Not so intelligent, but nice...

makes me tired just reading it

norm

The handgun can be carried thru NY if your final destination is not NYS (wink wink). I'd say the final destination should be lets say Vermont and you'll be OK. It just can't be loaded and carried in NY but can be transported thru the state.

Nice work. Especially in the Hill Country.

Ya, and I was packing about forty pounds of stuff on the bike. Since 15mph is on the speedy side when touring a mountain bike crankset up front works fine, geared low enough at the bottom end to crawl up steep slopes. Actually steep downslopes might be the worst, you can hit near 40mph on a short-wheelbase tall vehicle with skinny tires. Hardly any margin for error.

But good bikes have gotten very good, I hammered the heck out of it under load on 173 with nothing coming loose or needing adjustment. No flats with the Conti Gatorskin tires, and not even any discernible loss in tire pressure through the presta valves since I had last checked them four commuting days before the ride.

One thing new I tried was lightweight nylon long pants over loose nylon boxers, both from REI. I had been avoiding spandex and so wearing cotton. Nylon is tougher, less likely to chafe, doesn't stay wet, blocks the sun better AND still looks like regular street clothes. Apparently the hot ticket now among the outdoor set is to just pack two sets of these and let one dry out from washing overnight while you wear the other.

Birdwatcher