Idle thinking here but I read a great great blog last night written by someone who cycled the trans America cycle route. There is a standard route that is fully mapped (meaning accommodation, dodgy bits of town etc are less complex than figuring out your own route) and runs through a lot of familiar RP places from Astoria Oregon to Yorktown Virginia. I'll have had a big birthday in 5 years time and the kids would be just about old enough to abandon for a 3 month long break from work (or to come out and join in for part of the school summer holidays). The standard route is Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia so you had all better plan your vacation to be away in the summer of 2019 or so!!
There is some competition here- I've always wanted to do some of the big eurovelo routes (e.g. from the Atlantic to the Black sea) so it would be one of those cases of figuring out which I'd enjoy more, climate, food etc. It would be nice to say I did the trans american though for my half century.
I can more easily do the eurovelo routes over the course of the next few years even if I need to beak them in to to accommodate holidays as its a lot quicker to hop back from Vienna to home that from Pueblo.
Idle thinking here but I read a great great blog last night written by someone who cycled the trans America cycle route. There is a standard route that is fully mapped (meaning accommodation, dodgy bits of town etc are less complex than figuring out your own route) and runs through a lot of familiar RP places from Astoria Oregon to Yorktown Virginia. I'll have had a big birthday in 5 years time and the kids would be just about old enough to abandon for a 3 month long break from work (or to come out and join in for part of the school summer holidays). The standard route is Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia so you had all better plan your vacation to be away in the summer of 2019 or so!!
There is some competition here- I've always wanted to do some of the big eurovelo routes (e.g. from the Atlantic to the Black sea) so it would be one of those cases of figuring out which I'd enjoy more, climate, food etc. It would be nice to say I did the trans american though for my half century.
I can more easily do the eurovelo routes over the course of the next few years even if I need to beak them in to to accommodate holidays as its a lot quicker to hop back from Vienna to home that from Pueblo.
Hey, if you consider that for 20 years this vehicle has provided me with basic, around town transportation, with no insurance expenses, no fuel costs, minimal maintenance costs, etc., and has kept me healthier by providing regular exercise, I'd say it's a bargain. I have probably sunk a total of about a grand into it when you total up the purchase price, repairs, upgrades, and clothing.
i own a trek navigator (nice bike, kind of an urban cruiser)
great for the beach and your basic paved bike trail
i keep it tweaked and the gyroscopic drink holder is awesome
Hey, if you consider that for 20 years this vehicle has provided me with basic, around town transportation, with no insurance expenses, no fuel costs, minimal maintenance costs, etc., and has kept me healthier by providing regular exercise, I'd say it's a bargain. I have probably sunk a total of about a grand into it when you total up the purchase price, repairs, upgrades, and clothing.
My spring tune up for my 21 year old Performance R203bike has included some new drive train components, specifically, a new chain and a rear cassette. The chain was looking rather worn, so I measured it for stretch according to Sheldon Brown's recommended method and found it had about one eighth inch of stretch per foot. Theoretically, you can get away with replacing the chain only if you catch it this soon, but after putting the new chain on, I found that it was skipping in the two most commonly used gears in the rear (4 and 5). They were just too worn out, so I decided to spring for an entire new rear cassette. Decided 21 speeds was still more than I need, so stuck with the 7 speed cassette, rather than trying to upgrade to 8 or more (would have probably had to re-lace the rear wheel to dish it more, and obviously replace the rear derailleur, too)
Now my drive train feels so smooth, with a new chain newly lubricated, rolling over new sprockets in the rear. Just call me Mr. Smooth!
The other replacement was a frayed shifter cable for the front derailleur; I got a Teflon-coated replacement cable since the front derailleur cable is not enclosed within a housing.
My spring tune up for my 21 year old Performance R203bike has included some new drive train components, specifically, a new chain and a rear cassette. The chain was looking rather worn, so I measured it for stretch according to Sheldon Brown's recommended method and found it had about one eighth inch of stretch per foot. Theoretically, you can get away with replacing the chain only if you catch it this soon, but after putting the new chain on, I found that it was skipping in the two most commonly used gears in the rear (4 and 5). They were just too worn out, so I decided to spring for an entire new rear cassette. Decided 21 speeds was still more than I need, so stuck with the 7 speed cassette, rather than trying to upgrade to 8 or more (would have probably had to re-lace the rear wheel to dish it more, and obviously replace the rear derailleur, too)
Now my drive train feels so smooth, with a new chain newly lubricated, rolling over new sprockets in the rear. Just call me Mr. Smooth!
The other replacement was a frayed shifter cable for the front derailleur; I got a Teflon-coated replacement cable since the front derailleur cable is not enclosed within a housing.
A perfect bike trail - lots of ascent for a great cardio....lots of amazing and varied forest sections (and fall colors), sunny and 70-degree weather and then a looooong coast back at the end.
Heh. It wasn't really mountainous, but there we a few of hills in there. The thing that struck me is the fact that it was a group of 13 people, which usually brings the average speeds down, but this was a pretty fast group of 50-60-somethings.
