I've been thinking of things we've learned from the trip:
1. Don't eat gas station prepared meals, especially if it has meat.
2. We averaged 40-50 miles a day, with breaks included. The total trip will be close to 5000 miles and 110 days (we estimated 5000 miles and 100 days).
3. We spent most nights in the tent, but used motels and restaurants as we wanted/needed to. I think it is costing us around $60/day for food and accommodations for the two of us, on average. A trip like this can certainly be done for a lot less (and a lot more).
4. Talk to the locals. Besides interesting conversations, we also learned important information, like what time the local factory shift change was (a good time not to be on the road). We never had to make an effort to talk to people, people often came to talk to us.
5. The ACA maps are awesome. It would be a completely different experience (not bad, just different) forging our own route from standard state road maps. We really like all the information and suggested routes on the ACA maps.
6. Don't let all the negative talk from people before the trip get you down. Although the negative stories weren't incorrect, they were a very small part of the whole experience.
7. Weather is everything. We don't have control of the weather, but time of year and direction of travel are related to temperatures, storms, and prevailing wind direction. We've been VERY lucky so far. Like Kevin Tita said to me 3+ months ago, "if its raining, take a day off", which we did. We also took days off for strong head winds or wind/sand storms. Sometimes a day off is more productive than wasting energy battling the weather.
8. Take care of your bike. Greg has been diligent at keeping our drive trains cleaned and lube'd. We've paid attention to strange clicks and pings from our bikes, hopefully preventing failures that might have happened. I found and tightened a loose bolt which was holding my rear rack to my bicycle frame (it would have broken, for sure), and Greg replaced his shifter cables. We've also had the bikes checked, cleaned, and adjusted 3 times along the way at bike shops. Not that we can or will prevent all failures (Greg's hub!), but we can try do what we can.
9. Flat tires are inevitable. A heavier sturdier tire is worth the extra weight. We've liked using the schwalbe marathons with reflective sidewalls, especially on the rear wheels.
10. Be visible. Wear bright colours (fluorescent yellow is the best). Use the brightest blinking front and rear lights all the time. We also had reflective slow moving triangles on our rear racks. Other people use flags as well, which work really well.
11. Avoid rush hour.
12. I liked using panniers. We had plenty of room with 4 panniers each. Some people use trailers, but I think they are added weight and rolling resistance, and more tires that could get flats.
13. We've met so many nice people.
... that's it for now ...
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ReplyDeletewould duplicate everything we learned on our trip, only difference is amazingly we almost never ate at restaurants - we were always so hungry that whatever food we drudged up on our little whisper-lite was awesome.
ReplyDeletePeter - you shoulda seen how much Italian food we took down yesterday at Florinda's in Taylorville after our 108 mile day!
DeleteI like eating.
Bike touring is great!