Hospitality for Touring Cyclists

I'm starting to get used to the grip. I even found a 4th way to hold the handlebars. It's like a game, how many different ways of riding my bike can I come up with? Currently, it depends on if my back hurts, or my hands hurt or my bottom hurts. That's where the inspiration for the creative biking positions comes from. But its not so bad. Even when I'm slightly uncomfortable, I can imagine myself riding on and on.


I've been riding to and from work as much as possible. And occasionally, Lyon meets me and we ride back together. The trip is about 16 miles, so last week I rode about 40 miles. I'm guessing on the trip we'll average about that much, daily. But I'm not sure.

Riding alongside Lyon is interesting. I think we are comfortable going around the same speed, which is good. That means neither of us is falling behind, feeling tired, trying to catch up. There were a couple of times when he was riding close behind me, and it make me nervous, like if I decided to move over, my wheel would catch his. And another time, a biker was coming towards me, but I couldn't get over because Lyon was slightly behind and next to me, and there was another biker just ahead of and next to me. "Move back Lyon!" I yelled in a panic.I think we need a code. Like, "Apple" means I'll jump ahead and "Banana" means Lyon will move head. Or maybe something more clever, but you get the point. A way of signaling with one word so there's no hesitation or confusion.

In other bike news, we got to talk briefly with a friend's brother who had ridden the exact same route we are looking to do. He's totally a nomad, in the best way. Some of his friends kept riding into Mexico once they got to the boarder, and he hopped on a flight to Istanbul where he traveled around Turkey for a few months, using the website, www.couchsurfers.com. Now he's visiting his sister, but is heading back to the West Coast to go to bicycle mechanic's school. Awesome.

He and his group of friends left the Seattle area in late October. As the weeks went on, this meant that they spent a few cold nights where, in the morning, they awoke to frost on the ground. I'm pretty sure I can handle being sweaty and gross, falling off my bike, and being exhausted. But I have no desire to spend any cold nights outside. We'll need to get an earlier start than they did.

He also said that they had expected to have tailwinds at their backs, lending to a speedy trip. They, instead, found themselves battling headwinds so strong that there were times, as they described in their blog, that they had to stand up and pedal hard as they were going downhill. Is this seasonal? If we leave earlier, are we more likely to have tailwinds helping us out?


He recommended using www.couchsurfers.com and even mentioned a similar site he'd heard about which is 'geared' especially for people cycling tours called www.warmshowers.org. He hadn't used it, so couldn't vouch for it, but it sounds like a good idea. I looked it up and its tag like is, "Hospitality for Touring Cyclists." Sweet!. It's set up a little like Facebook, with a wall for posting where you're going. We were also heartened to hear that our new-found expert on riding down the West Coast had never done anything like that before. It was as new to him as it is to us. "My training," he said, "started the first day of the tour." He didn't think it mattered whether you trained or how bike savvy you were.

We talked a little more about foods he recommended we bring that would last long and weighed little (dry instant soups instead of canned soup, for example). And he recommended we get Brooks bicycle seats because they're leather and eventually form to your bottom so you don't get as sore! And lastly, I will leave you with this-he suggested we take our bicycles apart and rebuild them so that we would know them inside and out. And at the thought of dismantling my brand new bike, a shiver ran down my spine.