Bicycle Touring 101: An end and a beginning

Some people can identify poisonous mushrooms. I can't so I took a picture and left it alone!
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I've just returned from my fourth bicycle tour this year. Like all tours this one was interesting. I had the following goals in mind this time:

Two fixed gear touring bikes along with two bicycle trailers. Notice that one bike is a modified ten speed meaning that touring doesn't necessarily require a "touring" bicycle. As long as it's reliable then get out there and tour!

Notice the two types of bicycle trailers.
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This turned out to be a very interesting touring experience that will likely spawn a number of additional web pages but I can give you some brief answers here.

Riding a fixed gear bike as a training aid before a tour gives you some great advance preparation for long days in the saddle. Since you pedal constantly and you only have two gears (pedal and walk) it really helps you to get ready. On tour I found that it wasn't as great for me. My gear was setup for 62 gear inches and although I made it up every hill I found myself more tired then normal at the end of each day. I also found that my top speed suffered since I was unwilling to pedal at high cadences for hours at a time. So riding a fixed gear on tour is definately doable (just ask Kent Peterson who rode the Great Divide route on one) but for me I will save it for local riding and take my trusty multi-geared touring bicycle on tour.

Using a Bob trailer was an interesting experience as well. Normally I have four saddlebags and a handlebar bag along on tour with me. Everything has it's place and to be quite honest carrying the bags works out extremely well for me.

Surprisingly using the Bob trailer was also a very nice fit. It tracked vwonderfully behind the bike and the vast majority of the time I didn't really notice it back there. When climbing hills I could feel the extra weight then but never to the point where it became a real problem. Avoiding pot holes was very easy as well since the trailer wheel always stayed on the same path as the bicycle.

The Bob trailer I used for this tour was a Bob Coz trailer. These are heavier trailers that come with a large plastic bin to put stuff in. The newer Bob trailers available now are lighter so in many respects they should work even better. The plastic bin is a real advantage in my case since it makes it a bit tougher for animals to get to my stuff compared to the normal waterproof bags that the new Bob trailers come with.

The third member of the touring crew was Mr Smiley another one of my touring mascots! Notice the comfy seat with the secure seat belt. He also insisted on sleeping inside the trailer at night.
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I shared this tour with Jakub who was using a two wheeled trailer. It was interesting to compare the advantages and disadvantages of both trailer types. Look forward to seeing a page soon that discusses this in more detail.

A cold front was expected to drop the temperature significantly during the course of the tour and this did happen. I've toured before using the hammock in similar conditions without the new cold weather options so it made for a wonderful opportunity to compare the results.

The cold weather options consist of three components, an overcover, an underpad and an undercover. The overcover sits on top of the normal bug screen and significantly reduces air flow by limiting it to a small porthole on the left side of the canopy. The undercover tucks in the edges of the overcover to reduce drafts and allows you to insert the underpad inside. The underpad is a simple foam pad that rests between the normal outside of the hammock and the undercover.

The overcover worked extremely well to reduce cold air flow. The underpad is much better then sleeping in the hammock without a pad at all but still not as warm as using a thermarest as an insulator instead. While packing up the hammock I noticied a paper mentioning that I was an early adopter of the cold weather gear along with mention of some planned upgrades. Since I've owned the gear for about a year I intend to contact Hennessy to see what new changes have come out that might improve the cold weather performance further.

After this test I definately recommend the undercover and overcover for hammock owners thinking about using it in colder conditions. At the worst the underpad can be replaced with a thicker, wider and longer foam pad to increase insulation value. I intend to try this option myself. The hammock was originally designed for backpackers so weight and bulk were likely key design issues. For bicycle touring these are still important issues but not quite so overwhelmingly so.

St. Mary's has a number of scenic stone buildings as well as a few interesting hills to climb. I believe that the highest point in South Western Ontario is nearby.
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This is the shortest tour I've ever experienced but after hearing the glowing reports of several Bicycle Touring 101 contributors I really wanted to give it a try.

Surprisingly I found the short period of time great for giving me a break from my daily routine while still giving me a chance to get back to the heavy workload I've picked up since finding myself in a new job for the same company.

It's not the same as the total sense of freedom that you achieve when you get out on the road for multiple weeks but if you are time sensitive or someone who would like to try a tour then a 24 hour tour might be your thing. Essentially you start out around noon on the first day, camp overnight and return home the next day. This gives you many opportunities to explore numerous side roads, share fun times with friends and enjoy meeting new people on the road without having to be away for a long time.

I have absolutely no idea what my average, maximum or minimum speed was during this tour. I also couldn't tell you the exact distance we travelled although it was likely 100 to 120 km.

Riding without a bicycle computer left me more focused on simply enjoying the ride and worrying less about meeting some arbitrary speed goal. It was a nice change but I think I'll put the bicycle computer on again for my next tour. I really enjoy being able to see the terrain profile when the tour is finished.

I also didn't take along my pocketmail device so unlike my last eight or nine tours I didn't keep an online journal. I found that I missed the enjoyment of writing daily entries before bed plus the memories slip away faster then I would have believed. Next time the pocketmail device or it's equivalent will be coming along with me again!

Here's Jakub pedalling contently down the road. Touring with friends is a rewarding experience.
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Hanging out with friends is fun and if you can go on a tour with them and still have fun then it's a great thing. I take it as a successful experience when my friend makes it clear that another tour would be great despite the cold weather testing that they also enjoyed!

I titled this page "An end and a beginning" and not to announce some drastic change in the web site. The site is still continuing to grow and despite the absence of recent updates many more are planned and will begin appearing again soon.

In fact I named the page based on the changing of the seasons. For many people in North America it's likely the end of their bicycle touring season while in the southern hemisphere the season is just getting started again. In fact the next interview to appear on this site will be from an Australian that I respect a great deal. I am looking forward to sharing that with you.

Despite the traditional end of season in North America I am strongly considering another tour either this year or early next year during the winter months. Last night's test showed me that I still have one or two minor gear changes to make for complete cold weather touring but most of my gear worked out extremely well.

BT101 has been on the internet for almost a year now. I've heard from several first time tourers who went out and enjoyed their first bicycle tour. If you also did the same please consider dropping me an email using the "Contact the Editor" form. I really enjoy hearing these stories!