Thread: Post tour
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Old 08-05-19, 10:50 AM
  #12  
Tourist in MSN
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
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Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

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Originally Posted by wrldtraveller
well. What I did to get 35 days off, was to work for 3 years with no vacation. eventually I asked, and my boss said sure as I earned that (my boss allows vacation banking and each year is 2 weeks vacation.)
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That explains how you could take over a month off. Sounds like you have a good boss to allow that.


Originally Posted by wrldtraveller
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anyway, what I learned from this trip, is that I can only do 60 mile day and thats all I can do. maybe because Im out of shape? or maybe its because my bike crankset only has 2 gears and no granny gear. My bike set up is 11 gears in the rear, 2 gears in the front. 50-36 for crank set, 48-12 casette. The first few days my friend tried to go for higher miles, ie: more than 60 miles, my knee protested badly so I had to take a day rest to let my knees recover. then we tried to do 60 miles and realized that I can only do 60 miles, before my knees start protesting.
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My knees are much happier now that I have stopped standing on the pedals to accelerate up hills or to accelerate after stopping at stop lights. You have to be careful to avoid over stressing your knees. And 60 miles on a loaded bike is something that a lot of people can't do, so do not feel that it was not enough mileage. My last tour was about five weeks and I had 6 days over 60 miles, none over 70, most less than 60.

The touring bike I used on the Pacific Coast (which has a lot of 8 percent grade hills) had a 24T granny gear and biggest sprocket was 32 in back. That is nearly identical to your 36 in front and 48 in back. So, your lowest gear and my lowest gear on that bike was about the same. My point is that lower gears are nice but you already have a low gear that is comparable to the lowest gear on a lot of touring bikes.


Originally Posted by wrldtraveller
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The only thing I might change is I would add tri bars, and the tires. the tires were too easily punctured as i experienced 4 flat tires in that amount of time I was on vacation. 2 was caused by rough roads (pinch puncture), 1 was caused by a tiny sliver of metal, and one was caused by a 1 dollar bill as my friend put a dollar bill to help protect my tube from further puncture because my tires had several gash and cuts in it.
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I would skip the tri bars, but it sounds like you need different tires. I use 35 or 37 or 40mm wide tires on my derailleur touring bikes, unless I am on gravel and then I use 50mm wide.

In all of my bike tours I have only had one puncture on a tour, I picked up a big staple in a rear tire that looked like it was used for construction projects.


Originally Posted by wrldtraveller
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As for retirement.... I'd rather enjoy it now than wait until retirement because life is too short to wait....
Agree. While I did not do multi-week vacations while working, I did take several weeks off every year.
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