Bicycle Tour 2005

From Houston to the Canadian border was as far as I accomplished before returning home.

All I had was an idea, a trustworthy chromoly steel mountain bike, a direction, and a pair of sandals. What would I do differently to begin the journey? Not much other than reducing the MB-4's weight by using lighter components. The Bridgestone held together beautifully! I should have added liners to the tires before leaving and that's about it. Thinner tires would have been more efficient, especially with so much pavement riding, but then they would wear out faster. A set of handle bar-ends would have helped tremendously in the beginning, but my hands and arms adapted after 2 weeks. The Bridgestone was a great choice for a ride, but it would have been a good idea to tune and test ride it before leaving, instead of riding it for the first time in 10 years the afternoon I left. Yeah, that would have definitely been a good idea!

More time would have been nice so I didn't have to be concerned with the daily miles. I think that's one problem I've had on all my journeys. That invisible, intangible anchor called time always restraining me and never letting me truly be free. Alternatively, because of time, I accomplished those things and vaulted forward.

Definitely, I would travel light again and again and again. That allowed me to power up every climb non-stop, except one where the chain came off during an experimental simultaneous shifting of both derailleurs, from the first day. Power may sound impressive, but it only meant continuous pedalling, and many times, I only moved slightly faster than walking. (I never got out of the saddle while climbing on tour.) My lowest gear was 24T front and 28T rear, and it was just enough to creep up the brutal Cheyene Crossing heading towards Deadwood, South Dakota. As light as I travelled, I carried all my regular camping equipment (same equipment for mild winters) and 2-3 days worth of food, and there was still room in the panniers for a few small items. Each extra pound does make a difference when ascending. I don't think I was ever over 65 lbs (maybe even 60) total bike weight which included water, food, and fuel. During the trek, I trimmed 10 lbs to 145 lbs and became noticably skinnier.

I'm not much of a speed freak and was actually concerned about zooming down steep hills. What if a tire blew on a fast descent? Not only would I risk meeting pavement, but would have serious damage to the rims. Plus, I like the descents to last so I can enjoy the effortless ride. I think close to 40 mph is the fastest speed achieved on the journey while going down a steep hill at Lake McKenzie, TX, and to be honest, I was a little worried, especially when an SUV approached on the shoulderless hills. I never applied the largest chainring, and mainly stayed in the middle one. The small chainring was extremely useful on granny gear for steep climbs. If not for that, I would have walked up many hills.

What I took, but didn't use: 8 oz water filter, bent chain tool, pair of jogging tights, and 2 pair of socks. This equates to 1 to 1.5 lbs of unnecessary weight; however, I would still bring the water filter along for 2 reasons: it allowed me to camp next to natural water sources without worrying about fresh water and to go south into Mexico (related to portable water also). Almost everything else was essential. As for the chain tool, I never realized the tip was bent when I tossed it in the saddle bag at the last minute. I could have sent the jogging tights home or donated it, but decided to haul it up north.

Every 800 miles, I rotated the back and front tires (twice on the trip at around 800 and 1600 miles) because the rear tire wore out faster due to the uneven weight distribution caused by having only rear panniers. When I first took the tires apart at home before leaving, the old Mr. Tuffy tire liners were completely brittle and stuck to the tires, and I replaced the tubes and tires without new liners. One of the tubes I tossed out was the original unpunctured Bridgestone tube that came with the bike. I should have never left home without tire liners, but eventually bought liners in Temple, TX, after four flats and only 250 miles. I did manage to get one more flat weeks later when a goathead stuck to the front tire worked its way to the tube after one or two hours of riding. Although it was only a minute puncture that air slowly leaked from, I patched the tire immediately with a glueless patch.

Believe it or not, I ended up wearing one pair of cycling shorts the entire trip. Everyday, every moment I was on my bike. At the end in Bismarck, North Dakota, they were full of small holes, especially, around the padded area. I tried to stay sanitary by cleaning myself every night and washing the shorts by hand whenever reasonable. I made the mistake of carrying cotton bicycle shorts because they don't dry nearly as quickly as synthetic ones. During the 6 weeks, I only laundered clothes twice with coin-operated machines. I did bring 2 bike shorts, but one of them fell apart because they were so old and brittle.

The 1991 Bridgestone MB-4 has always treated me better than I have it. For this journey, I wished it could hold another water bottle cage, especially when carrying water is essential through hot desolate scretches. The bungee cords stretched long enough to carry a soda bottle on the trunk of rack- sometimes, it secured a 3-litre bottle. Near the end of the trip, I decided this was the farewell tour for the Bridgestone and me. Once it was disassembled to be mailed home in Bismarck, North Dakota, I was never assembling it again, and selling the parts once home. If I ever go on another bicycle tour, I may regret the decision.

(Unfortunately, the flimsy box I recovered from the recycle bin in Bismarck to mail the wheels home contributed to both wheels having damage. The front skewer and 4 spokes were bent. The rear skewer was broken. Even if the box was not the greatest, I have no doubt poor handling was also a factor, especially to the broken skewer.)

The number of upper 90's and lower 100's days were unbelievable. If not temperature, then heat index. No one should have to suffer that. There were only 2 days when it drizzled for a short while, 2 days when it was overcast, but the rest of the days were hot during the 6 weeks! Even in Wyoming and South Dakota temperatures reached near or above 100 F. (The worst day of the tour was a 75-mile shadeless no-man's land section in Wyoming during 103 F heat.) I must have broken some bike touring record somewhere concerning the number of brutally hot days. Although everyday, I wore a Mountain Hardwear Canyon shirt that has SPF 30 sun protection, my back was very tanned after returning home.

The total cost of the trip was roughly $800, and that included a $89 bus ticket home, $50 in equipment (new gloves, tire liners, glueless patch kit, couple of tubes) and $50 to mail the equipment and bicycle home. Without considering those charges, that's roughly $611 in 6 weeks, or $102 per week, or $14.50 per day. (I might have overestimated the $800 because it might have been $700 or even $600.) Analyzing back, that seemed too much since I recalled thinking like $10/day, and most of that was buying fast or junk food. One stop at a convience store could cost $6 or $7 easily. In Dickinson, ND, I stopped at a McDonald's and finished off a Big Mac combo along with 4 double cheeseburgers. I didn't pay for any accomodations except for a handful of campground fees, and I do all my own bicycle maintenance. Because I camped on all but 2 nights, it was very tedious and worrisome on many occasions to find a stealthy place to spend the night.

Some of the best places to stealth camp are under bridges (my favorite), some city parks, churches (come late, leave early), densely wooded areas, open fields (come late, leave early), behind buildings, etc.

About people. Well, people are people wherever we go, but they are extremely nice up north, especially in North and South Dakota. I made the mistake of trying to hitchhike unsuccessfully for about 45 minutes outside Max, North Dakota, to catch a short ride- it just renewed my sense of how people will avoid a traveller as though it was always troublesome to assist a stranger. I really cannot blame them. When personal security is an issue, even the Dakotans are similar to most everyone in the United States. Even groups of men in a truck, who could allow me ride in the truck bed, would not stop. On the other hand, drivers have been pretty good about space, and I did have some memorable encounters with a few people. One person even offered a ride while I was on my bicycle. (I ended up abandoning that hitchhiking attempt and got on my bike and rode the shoulderless road as darkness loomed.)

As I've mentioned in the preface, I'm not a guide when it comes to preparation, but I did prove you don't have to spend tons of money on a nice modern bike and expensive tires ($20 for both) to bike tour. As in hiking, one of the most important ways to enjoy travelling is to carry light. Heck, that rule is true about life in general: "The more possessions we have, the more they weigh on our minds, occupy our time, and consume our money." The Bridgestone was a tad heavy, but it was nearly indestructable and comfortable. And it's not necessarily about the bike, it's about desire- the motivation to carry on, to keep pedalling.

The only mistakes I made but didn't do any damage is not bringing the tool to remove the freewheel in case the spoke on that side of the back wheel got broken. I also should have carried a fiberfix emergency spoke. I guess after all the riding I did with the Bridgestone in the early 90's allowed me to have much faith in the bicycle. I'm sure not weighing down the bike with unnecessary equipment kept the Bridgestone in a mostly maintenance-free condition.

Final notes to anyone reading the journal. My finger nail I chewed away because it was infected did regrow. FedEx did refund for the damages to the wheels. The Bridgestone's original saddle and heavy seatpost have been sold, but I have decided to keep the frame and fork and replacing components with modern lightweight parts. My goal is to get the bicycle weight down to 25 lbs or less. (Although the 1991 Bridgestone MB-4 is now hovering at just over 22 lbs, my next tour will be on a Tange Prestige steel mountain bike that weighs in at just under 20 lbs.)

Old Links

Collection of pictures of very loaded touring bikes (all bikes shown have at least 4 panniers).

Hundreds of touring journals at Crazy Guy On A Bike

Hundreds more touring journals Trentobike

Directory of Travelogues from Yahoo

South American Travelogue Links from a person who put a list of links together

Touring discussion forum at Bike Forums

Touring discussion forum at BikeRadar

Short/Overnight Bike Trips discussion forum at Bike Packing

Touring discussion forum at Lonely Planet

Blog search for fully loaded bicycling

German Touring discussion forum but you can use AltaVista's babelfish to translate

Old Journal Links

These are some of the more interesting journals I've encountered because they're less fact-based, such as the daily miles, weather, beer joints, tourist spots, wind gust, and flat tires, but rather stories about individuals and the drama of touring.

Arizona to Canada 2003

Teacher on two wheels 2007