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Tag Archives: outfitting
Day 3 on the Great Allegany Passage
It is the start of day three on the trail. We had planned to get about 45 miles yesterday but had to pull up at 31. As our website suggests crossing mountains is exactly what yesterday was all about. With the 80 or so pounds on our bikes each yesterday tested not only my physical stamina but my mental resolve to complete this passage and be one of the countless other to travel the passage. The 30 or so miles yesterday were literally uphill the entire way.
It is a 2 or 3 percent grade following the old railroad bed. We are along a river the whole way so we have also stood true to the other half of the site name chasing rivers. Part of the mental fatige brought on for me was aside from going uphill for thirty miles we rode at one point for about twenty miles literally a tunnel of green with trees covering the path. At a few points where the path straighted out all you could see ahead and to the sides was green and the gravel covered pathway and more hill. We did get some glimpses of the river now and then and there were a few overlooks with beautiful views of the river valley below. One other highlight was the various train trestles we have crossed over some of the valleys. They have provided a spectacular views.
We pulled into Confuence PA and decided we had enough and got a couple rooms at a Bed and Breakfast. Aside from be tough day yesterday today is going to be even tougher. This part of the trail is steeper more hills and 35 miles to tonights destination. From the beating our legs took yesterday we decided to treat ourselves to a nice place to stay plus it rained a bit yesterday and was some last night. We also wanted to be able to visit the Post Office this morning when they open and mail back some of our heavier and redunant items. This should drop my weight about 20 pounds or so I believe.
So after yesterday and getting a good night rest and a delicious Sea Bass dinner I feel refreshed and ready to go today. Towards the end of todays ride we should be in for a treat as we will cross one of the widest valleys and a tressle of roughly 2000 feet long or a bit over a third of a mile.
Today we will be close to the top but not quite there yet. Early into day 4 we will cross the Continental divide and the hardest part of our journey will be over.
Chuck
Loaded training run, hard lesson learned…
Chuck and Tom Loaded
Sunday we did training run fully loaded run as one of our last steps to prepare for the full tour. This coming Sunday we will have another simular run, or at least I hope it is with the exception of the end of last Sundays ride.
Last Sunday we travelled to Massillon to ride the Old B&O Railroad Trail to Butler. Down and back was to be about 37 or 38 miles. We packed the bikes with all of our equipment and supplied we expect to take and I added about 15 or so extra pounds as well so I was up to 60 to 65 pounds. I felt maybe the extra weight would help since this was a very flat trail. The first three days we have scheduled on our trip from Pittsburgh to Cumberland Maryland will be a long slow uphill battle. Anyway I think it helped simulate the extra force of gravity we will be going against. My legs and knees were starting to really feel a bit of the grind after 25 miles or so. We kept a pace of about 8 or 9 mile per hour. We stopped a few
First fully loaded Training ride
Tom and some other friends did a poker run this morning that I was unable to go on. I had a lot of yard work to get caught up on so I can go on vacation next week. Anyway after I got some things planted and everything so I took the bike out and started fiddling with it. I also tested out a old car rack on our Escape to see how it worked and if it will be strong enough to haul two bikes to the beach and back next week. I definitely want to take my bikes to the beach to get in some early morning training each day.
Anyway after tinkering around with the rack and the bike I decided to load up the panniers and my gear for the trip and test it out. I wanted to see how everything measured up and see how the bike handled. I ended up heading down to the towpath and rode about 10 miles to test it out fully loaded with some extra weight. Ended up I had 58 pounds total on. I think this is probably at least
Things are shaping up nicely
Typical Lockhouse on the C&O Canal Trail
It’s been a productive week of trip planning. I assembled my packing list for the tour. I based it on some good touring web site lists and some touring books I have been reading. I’ve become a fan and regular on the touring board on bikeforums.net. There has been some good advice on what to pack in the forum.
Which Bike?
It’s been a few weeks since my last update. I have been so busy lately I have not had much time for blogging.
I have two main bikes. I have a Redline Conquest Sport Cyclocross which I bought last year strictly so I would have a cross between a road bike and something I could also take on trails and outfit with racks and packs and use for touring. This is the bike I plan on taking on the trip. My other bike I won last fall. It is a Kona Lana Mountain Bike which had much thicker knobby tires and really more of an off road bike.
Last night I decided to try the Lana out on a short 12 mile ride our SpinOffs group had scheduled. I had given some though to taking the new Lana on the trip but ruled it out after the ride. With the the suspension the bike was very comfortable as far as hitting the bumps and objects on the trail, which last night were many. The trail had many sticks and junk that had been blown into it because of several days of high winds here. The over all ride was fine. The drive train seemed to be geared a bit different than the conquest. It shifted smoothly and was quick to slide through the different speeds. I liked how when shifting down to a lower gear I was able to with one stroke of the thumb shift down anywhere from 1 to 4 or 5 speeds. Shifting into a higher gears was one at a time which keeps was nice. This made it a bit easier for me to find the right gear as I hit a few of the up hill spots.
First test ride with panniers
Nice spring day for a ride and I headed to the Little Beaver Greenway in Leetonia. Panniers added about 35 pounds. They seem to be holding well. The ride is a little more challenging with me being in a gear lower most of the ride. I am also testing my mobile posting using Blogpress and my iPhone. This post will tell how well it works.
Tom
Casual Research or Googling…
I’ve been doing casual research on Chuck and my journey. My definition of casual research is Googling bicycling touring, backpack camping, and bike trails. I’ve actually assembled nice list of dependable web resources that have been helping me get up to speed as a novice. I thought I would share them with folks who are considering bicycle touring.
Learning how to clip in the hard way
One of the things I have wanted to do since I cycled the MS Pedal to the Point and the Hancock Horizontal Hundred last year is to switch out my caged pedals to clipless pedals. These pedals clip you to the pedal via a cleat recessed in special cycling shoes. They make you one with the bike and improve your pedaling efficiency. On the pedals we grew up with in our youth, we moved forward with every downward push. The clipless pedal moves you forward using the total circumference of your cycling motion.
New Front Panniers and Rack
Got the Dew Plus tuned, front rack installed and new front panniers. Getting this Dew outfitted for touring. Thanks to Andy at Blimp City for the install. the front disc brakes made his job a little harder. He has to install special brackets to get the right clearance.
