This thread is for sharing tips and info about long distance cycling. I love riding my bike, but have never gone on a long trip. However, I want to do one by next summer. I'd like to go around the maritimes in Canada, and then eventually cycle across Europe.

Has anyone done a long trip like that? I need to start learning about what I need, what kind of bike would be the best, how to pack, where to stay, etc.

346 miles - Washington, DC AIDS Ride from Raleigh, NC to Washington, DC over 4 days. It was an organized trip so we had camping set up. I can look in to my bookshelves and find some training books that a friend gave me. My biggest recommendation - GOOD BIKE SHORTS AND A SUPER GEL PADDED SADDLE!

yeah, my advice would be to protect your butt and get a good callous there too--because you'll need it. man. that's why i dislike cycling. the legs burning, the breathing, all of that i can deal with--it's just those doggone seats!

sorry i couldn't be more of a help!

I know a guy who has cycled from California to Flordia several times.

He rides on a recumbant (sp??) bike becuase he said it is more comfortable. He belongs to a church and can find places to stay the night with members cross country or else he camps on the side of the road. He rides with a little trailer on the back of his bike.

Thats all I can remember right now...I can ask him more if you need me to though.

I had a friend who cycled on a recumbant from Winnipeg to California and back. I'm not sure how he packed his stuff. He usually stopped in at small town bars, ,made friends over tequila, and slept at their place. That's not exactly what I want to do, especially being a woman.

I'm wondering if I should take some sort of trailer. Right now I don't even have panniers, I have a milk crate on my rack. It works for hauling stuff around the city.

I'm gonna be majoring up in the saddle in a bit, Autumn me thinks, in South of England where I shall head, firstly by train, and cycle round endlessly in the NewForest until
my heart's content. :) and wherever I fancy along the coast here and there.

I am looking forward to seeing how you do SuperJane :) in particular of course when
eventually you make for Europe. I will try and get together some sites featuring lists
of recommended gear both by professionals and amateur riders (NO LESS)!!

Anyhooter, you may like to include in that; what else but a hooter :up: incidently!...

Seriously though, being that you are in the USA you probably have more scope for quieter routes and open spaces relatively free from traffic than here in the sucky UK
where roads are pants.

btw: Blinkered knows a guy that does long distance, I'll try and dig out his thread, for to glance back at! :rockon:

btw: Blinkered knows a guy that does long distance, I'll try and dig out his thread, for to glance back at! :rockon:

That would be this thread:
http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=15373

Last I heard Martin was somewhere on the west coast of the USA heading towards Canada.

id have to agree with the seat thing..
also..the style of bike does make a difference..
i used to have a mountain bike...but wrecked it..and got more of a recumbant/cross between street and mountain bike..
i think the recumbant is alot easier to ride long distances..
theres some people here who im sure know alot more than i do though..

veganaconda, first of all, I'm in Canada, not the USA, but yes, there is a lot of open space here.

Currently I have a fuji espree racing bike that I got at a garage sale for $10. It was the first bike I ever owed with those loopy handles (I don't know all the terminology, sorry) and such narrow wheels. I was very apprehensive at first, but now I love it because it's so much faster than a mountain bike.

Dawngirl, how much training did you do for your 346 mile ride?

"Loopy handles"? You mean drop bars, they form sort of a semi-circle dropping down and going towards you?

skylark has a recumbant i think and goes on long trips with her family, she'd be a good one to talk to.

also Lance Armstrong has a book out (probably a few by now actually) that's really good, it goes through his training methods and diet for building stamina. i forget what it's called but it's worth checking into.

the tricky part i think is in what you bring with you. you can't carry much on a bike and you'll definately need to keep a lot of food and water with you to keep you going. start buying different protein/energy bars and drinks now to find out what ones you like, it's harder than it sounds, most of the riders i know swear by one or 2 types and won't touch anything else, it takes trial and error. (like i've heard of people getting physically sick from eating the wrong bar while riding, if it doesn't agree with you to begin with picture it bouncing around in your stomach... :spew: )
also look into something for electrolytes. there's something called e-load that comes in a powder you mix into your water bottle, or in capsules (gelatin capsules though), taking that plus some form of magnesium (bananas or supplements) can help cramping and exhaustion etc.

as for where to stay you should be able to find some hostels along the way.

my bf's a mountain biker but a lot of the same rules apply so let me know if you have any other questions about the diet and endurance part

i ride 30 minutes to school every day.. i got a little bmx bike so i can bust tricks out on campus and get all the gals!

I biked 110 miles yesterday...the seat killed me. :)

i ride 30 minutes to school every day.. i got a little bmx bike so i can bust tricks out on campus and get all the gals!

Girls actually like that? :surprised


Ebola, how long did that take you and what kind of bike do you have? Do you often cycle that long?

letsee...I trained for a few months before the ride. roughly 100 miles a week. my legs were plenty ready. I wasn't even that sore the day after.

food:
I packed a bunch of water, 20 oz gatorade, and 5 pbj sandwiches. all of them were entirely necessary and did the trick.

I had a bit of trouble pacing myself. Started out at 20 mph...got worn down to 15. :)

the real shock was the pain from the seat. next time, ill have to do longer training rides to build ass-callouses or perhaps get a more comfy seat.

ebola

Padded bike shorts work wonders. They're not particulary attractive, but your heinie thanks you at the end of a long ride. :) I have gel seat now, but I used the shorts for awhile before adding the new seat.

:up: to the earlier suggestion about staying at hostels. They are a great place to meet folks and have some interesting conversation. Check out www.hiayh.org and www.hostels.com for some directories.

I used to do to long trips through MI/IN when I was young and skinny. Now, I'm working my way back up slowly. There are some good trails around here, and one of my pals and I have been doing a stretch that's just under 50 mil. r/t. We're working up to a longer 90ish mile ride at the beginning of October...doing our own version of a color tour. :)

On a couple of the longer charity rides I've been on, they had trailers for our gear, but now I just carry a pack. You can get saddlebags, but the drag they create was a downer for me.

did you see the road race at the Olympics? I just saw the men's but the went something like 240 km in 5 hours, 21 minutes, and their average speed was 39.9km/hour! Sure they have better bikes than most people, but holy crap!

If you were riding daily for a few weeks, what would be your average distance? I can't imagine going 90 miles day after day!