The latest form of cycling that I've become passionate about is touring. This is where you pack your bags, load em on to the bike and go ride, find a suitable place to camp, and keep doing this until obligations reel you back into reality. I mentioned briefly my first adventure of this sort with Meghan from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara over 3 days, with Amtrak to get to the start and the last leg home. Well recently Meghan and I set out again, this time from L.A. to San Diego in 2 days, and again Amtrak for the ride home. So far both trips have involved stopping off to a Mission, which was exciting for me because as a California native we learn about them in school, but I never actually saw any of them before.
Mixing train and bike travel is a great and economical way to get out and explore California, especially when your free time is limited and a round trip by bike is impractical. The pace of bike riding gives you a completely different perspective on travel than everything blurring by in an automobile. It's not something for the beginner cyclist, but with a little base training it's pretty easy to go far even with all the gear on the bike. With the right training and maintaining a comfortable pace you can just about ride forever..
When I get some more time I'll write some specific tips about touring and some of my experiences and perspective on it. In the mean time I'll leave you with a link to Russ Roca's touring focused blog, The Epicurean Cyclist, which inspired Meghan to start planning our first trip, and a few photos of our journeys so far below.
San Luis Obispo To Santa Barbara:
Long Beach To San Diego:
[Flick Collection Of Bicycle Touring]
5 comments:
Wow ! totally inspirational. sincerely, thanks
Glad you found it inspiring. It's a lot of fun, I wish I had more time off to do it for even longer. Saving those vacation days.
Nice! Looks like you guys had a blast. Next time you roll through the LBC let me know.
Glad you're getting into touring. I think it's coming back into style and we're just early adopters :)
Great photos! I kinda wanted those red bike packer plus bags too, but my shop only had black :(
Happy to hear you guys are enjoying your touring excursions...my tour-mate and I did LA to Oceanside a month or so ago, and this weekend we're doing oceanside --> julian and camping in the anza borrego desert for a couple of days. They're essentially just practice trips for the Big Ride, though.
hopefully I'll see you guys soon so we can have a touring-specific bike-nerd sesh...I don't think I've seen either of your new bikes yet!
I've been doing bike tours for 10+ years and LOVE it. I go somewhere new every year. It's the BEST way to see a place, meet people, eat the local food, etc. And when you ride self-contained and camp along the way, it's a pretty cheap vacation!
Post a Comment