Originally Posted by
BigBlueToe
He said he often rides back-to-back 100 mile days. He says there have been lots of times when he rides 50 miles, gets to a campground, then says "What am I going to do for the rest of the day, sit around?" So he'll get back on the bike and ride for another 40 or 50 miles.
That happened to me, more or less. I took my first and my second mini tours this year- the first with my wife, the second alone. When I was by myself, I arrived at the point where I had planned to send the first night at about 1 PM. Since I still felt good and didn`t know what else to do, I just ate another lunch and kept on riding. When I reached a town, I looked for a place to buy a paperback but couldn`t find any (very small town). The next day was very similar. I rode 65 miles the first day and 93 the second pulling a BOB Yak- way more than I have ever ridden even unloaded before. Next time I`ll definitely pack a book.
The trip I rode with my wife was the opposite. It was on a rail trail and I figured to ride the whole trail (24 miles, I think) the first day and return to our car the second day. We only made it half way up the trail the first day and that turned a bit scarry because we had planned to refill our water bottles at the town where the trail ended but my wife was just plain out of gas and there was no way she could go that much farther. We lucked out and found some car campers willing to give us all the water we wanted. Any rate, we spent several hours at that camp site after we finished riding and it was very enjoyable being there together. Alone, I need to be doing something- pedalling, cooking, sleeping, packing... reading. I can`t handle doing NOTHING. Maybe that`s why I never really enjoy going to the beach.
In addition to bringing a book, the other thing see I need to work on is packing smaller (weight wasn`t a big problem, but I had too much bulk). I see that snacks go a long way- I had read to snack frequently and I over did it in that respect. Water continues to be a problem. I carried a lot and will keep doing that that because towns can be spread out around here and most natural water sources aren`t dependable. My biggie for this fall will be about 120 miles (mostly on dirt) in two or three days and entirely without towns, stores, or any guaranteed source of water.