Planning epic road trip, what do I need?
timpaynter
Posts: 6
I am planning an epic road trip from Canada to Mexico in April or May. It will be about 1,850 miles. Any ideas on best bike for this trip? I will be camping, need to carry everything with me. How does one stay connected on a trip of this nature? Thanks!
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Have you made any smaller journeys to work out what "you" need ? Sounds an awesome adventure though - but I'd be practicing first.0
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I seem to recall that Marcusjb and a few others posted some excellent advice on multiday touring recently so it might be worth searching the forum a bit. A few test rides of weekends away (as per above) would be an absolute must in my book but then sometimes it is fun to just jump in and make the odd error (I like stories where people end up carrying around really heavy items and then, in hindsight, realise the madness of it). Might be worth hunting out Mark Beaumont's book to get you in the mood for the suffering...
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How does one stay connected on a trip of this nature?
Ideally one doesn't! The beauty of touring is disconnecting from all the crazy work and home stresses and just being on a bike up a mountain/on a beautiful coastline etc.
As Bobbinogs says, there's the really epic way of approaching it and just doing it. Plenty of people have set off on a cheap bike, with no proper equipment and ridden on huge adventures, often with very limited budgets.
It's far too easy to get bogged down in "I can't do this, until I buy that." - I am as guilty as anyone for that.
What bike is best? The one you have or can have. You can tour on just about any bike* from a lightweight carbon racing bike to a purpose built tourer. If you have a lightweight bike, then travel lightweight (bivvy bag and use motels more often), if you have a touring bike, then you can carry more (though don't carry too much - this is where the test rides come in as you will realise that 3 sets of evening clothes is just rediculous). Never let the bike stop you doing something. People have ridden around the world on pretty much anything with 2 wheels (and 1, and 3 etc.). As long as the bike is pretty comfy and you've got some mental fortitude, anything will do.
I've hardly ridden in North America (there's quite a big bit of planning going on for me to rather change that at the moment), but I have been in more states than most Americans (probably including my American wife - we're going to have to compare notes on this). Food is generally cheap and readily available, even the dustiest Hicksville will usually have a mom and pop diner that will keep you going for hours for relatively little money. So I probably wouldn't worry about cooking equipment unless I was going to be away from civilisation for days.
Anyway - you either obsess about every detail and do some test rides or you get some stuff and see what happens. As long as you have a bit of cash and/or the gift of the gab, you can sort out pretty much any discomfort along the way. You're going from cold to hot, so buy cheap warm gear and donate it to a thrift shop as things get warmer.
Whatever you choose to do, enjoy it!
*assuming metalled roads which I think is fair in USA other than Alaska.0 -
I can't add anything about touring but boy has this thread made me want to go on a cycling adventure! I'm now wondering if I could take the wife and kids on a coast-to-coast trip this summer!0
