How many miles do you do a day?
We try to average 60-70 miles a day.
How heavy are your bikes with all that stuff on them?
Each of our bikes usually weighs around 85-110 lbs when fully loaded.
where do you sleep?
Most nights we sleep in our tent, doing what many call 'guerilla camping'. That means that we camp wherever it is safe, where we are not on an individuals private property without permission, or where we are hiding in the woods off the side of the road (in areas where there are no posted signs of course). When we are in towns, we often feel safe asking to camp on a churches lawn as the people are always really nice. Part of the fun of touring is not knowing where you will sleep that night or what town you will end up in for the evening.
We are also part of an online hospitality group for touring cyclists called Warm Showers. The way it works is when you are touring, you are able to stay at other peoples houses, either in their guest room or camping in their backyard; and when you are home, you host other people that are traveling by bicycle. We have stayed with SO many incredible people all across the country on all of our previous trips, and have also hosted a whole guest book full of cyclists from around the world. We are not sure if we will have as many opportunities as normal to utilize Warm Showers on this trip due to the coronavirus, but hopefully we will since its always one of the most memorable part of touring. There are times that we decide to take a hotel, too, although this is usually only when there is no safe place to camp outdoors, or we have a special reason to take one-- like watching the Superbowl on TV in 2013! Don't you get tired?
Of course! Especially when its really hot and sunny, like it will be for many days on this tour. After the first week or so, your body gets pretty used to riding for 6+ hours a day.
What do you do about bad weather?
Most of the time, we just keep going if we are in between towns or cities... after all, a little rain isn't a problem, you just get wet! Yes- thunderstorms are scary on a bicycle... but sometimes we have no choice or shelter, so we just continue peddling. If we are in town when a bad storm hits, we will find some shelter and wait it out.
What do you eat?
There are grocery stores in most towns, so we often buy some food if needed cook our food over our camp stove. We do of course, like to treat ourselves sometimes too- so we might eat at a restaurant or buy some take out. On the shorter bicycle trips, we tend to eat out a lot more, but as the trips get longer, we turn to our camp stove more frequently.
How do you know where to go?
On almost all of our trips, we just used AAA maps to navigate. We prefer the paper maps because you can see the 'big picture' of where you have been and where you are going. On our tour to Alaska and back, we also used a tablet and google maps to micro-navigate in cities. The last two trips though, we have had smart phones to help us as well.
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“LIFE BEGINS AT THE END OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.”
– Neale Donald Walsch |