chrisx

I have done both. I had 6 weeks to ride from Seattle to San Diego, doable. Unless, I get off route and look around. I started with the Olympic Discovery Trail. Then I went off route to Neah Bay. Then took a county bus from Sappho to Ruby beach and camped in the forest for a few days. I took another bus short cut from Queets to Amanda Park,then pedaled out to Taholah where the Indians told me the story of the pitch lady, (around dusk a fat lady tried to lure me into her van.) No thanks.

You get the idea, I pedaled the places I wanted to pedal and took a county bus in the places I though the road was to narrow and curvy.

On another trip, I wanted to cross the country, ocean to ocean under my own steam. Crossing Phoenix AZ by bike in one day was hard, I should have taken a bus. Crossing Texas east to west into a 30 or 50 mph head wind was hard. Amtrak would have been comfortable. I made it under my own power. Not sure how much fun it was.

Choice one, soldier through it, hold your head up and say, "I made it." Sounds like few people actually made it every pedal stroke of the way under their own steam. A school bus driver in west Texas said I was the first person to refuse a ride.

Choice two, Go off route, enjoy the ride, Stop on the reservation and listen to some stories. Ride out to Grayland and listen to the birds and nap on the rocks. Take a couple of buses to make up the time. Enjoy the ride.

fantom1 

Mmmmmm, what's the question or point of discussion?

chrisx

Ride every pedal stroke of the way or use buses someitmes?

pdlamb

Option 3, plan (or pick) your trip so you have enough time for a few days off and still bicycle the whole way.

chrisx

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chrisx

Example:
In Oregon I decided the best chance to see a smoke free eclipse was inland. I choose correctly.
I took a bus from Newport to Corvallis, then changed for Sweet home. Then I went the long way around up Quartville dr and a forest service road to 22 and back down to 20. I traded a shoulder less road ride with lots of trucks for a nice ride with waterfalls few cars and abundant free camping. But, I did not pedal every stroke of the way. But I did enjoy the ride.

I wanted to watch the eclipse from the eastern slopes of the Cascade range north of Sisters, on an isolated ridge. I had time to ride a road ride the whole distance. I did not. I took a bus, then did some trail riding, and some touring on some forest roads where a car passed by a couple times a day.

On the trail north of Suttle lake, I moved aside to let a 9 year old girl pass. I said, "wow you have nice wide tires," 24 x 3. She said thanks and moved on. Her sister was on a 27.5 x 2.1 her mother had 29 x 2.1. The 40 year old mother said she could not keep up with the 9 year old on the + tires. The 17 year old sister, was ahead of the mother, and behind the 9 year old with the 3 inch x 24 tires. (Read that again oh person who rides the thin tires to save weight.)

I got to meet Sara, in Guatemala City, always get off your bike and walk around

jamawani 

You can do whatever you want.
It's your ride.

That said, I find that if I visit folks and we drive places,
it takes something out of a long tour by bicycle only.
Even if I bike the entire route - just being in a car for a while.
Because the mode switches back to "normal world" with all of its static.

Machka 

Yes.

Or cars or trains or ferries or planes.

skookum

I think its okay to take boats but not buses.

Machka 

Buses can be a bit of a pain, but in some places they're doable.

robow

and therein lies the answer

saddlesores

boats are okay....even the occasional dumptruck..

B. Carfree

I'm out to enjoy a trip on my bike and I love riding, but I don't sweat it if for some reason I get off the bike and take some other conveyance while touring. It can happen for a lot of reasons. I've taken unexpected legs on planes, boats, trains, vans and pick-ups. It's all part of touring, imo.

Now if you are doing some sort of check-off bucket list thing, then you might feel cheated (or like you're cheating) if you travel by other than bike for a bit. That's in your head, so it's your problem. I define my trips differently and rarely do a route that is "common", so there's no one to compare with anyway.

Chris_Pountney

Hey Chris, I'm Chris. I've been cycling around the world for the last few years and I'm in the 'cycle every inch' camp. In fact for more than four years I've been working on trying to fully go around the planet using nothing at all to power me at any point besides my bicycle on land and boats on water. In fact I haven't voluntarily been in any motor vehicle on land since May 2012. I'm about 1,500 kilometres away from completing the circumnavigation challenge now, in Western China. What do I plan to do after that? Well, keep cycling of course.

My point is I'm about as firmly in the 'cycle every inch' camp as you can get, but my opinion on what you should do? Whatever you want. It's your trip, your life, you get to decide. I've met so many cycle tourists over the years, some never take lifts, some do it a lot, and I really have as much respect for all of them. I actually think the ones who are open to taking lifts have a lot more freedom. I remember cycling across the desert in Western China being bored out of my mind, crossing a section most people skip by train or plane, and thinking how dumb I was for doing it, I was missing out on something. It happens quite a lot actually, that I have to rush too much because of visas.

So, why don't I use motor vehicles then? Well, it comes down to a couple of things. First, I hate them. They're dangerous and polluting and generally bad, so I don't want anything to do with them. That's a pretty extreme personal viewpoint. The other reason is that there is, for me, a great sense of achievement in being somewhere and knowing I got there by my own power. Again, that's a personal viewpoint which won't be the same for everybody. I guess my point is that it's all down to the individual. If you want to cycle every inch, good luck, go for it. If you prefer to take lifts, good for you, you're probably going to see more.

andrewclaus

That's one reason they make folding bikes, though I don't lean that way.

In the hiking world, what you're describing is called "yellow blazing," accepting a ride in a car and following the painted centerline on a road instead of blazes on trees. It's a derogatory term most of the time.

Who cares, unless you're claiming a FKT on a route or bragging you did something you didn't. It's not like any kind of gain is involved, just a low level of personal ethics.

A popular warmshowers host in Minnesota talked about most cyclists accepting rides when offered and he was surprised when I didn't. Same thing in a long construction zone when I had the option. So I guess it's fairly common.

indyfabz

I'll bite. You're a wimp who should suffer a million goat head thorn flats if you don't tough it out. HTFU and ride.

Machka 

I'm more about seeing stuff than some self-imposed regulation that I have to cycle all the way.

For example, when we last toured Europe, we started in London for a few days, then took the train to Scotland, then cycled a bit, then took the train, then cycled a bit, then took the train ... and eventually made our way to a ferry which we took across to The Netherlands where we cycled for about 3 weeks, then took a train, then cycled a bit, then took the train, then cycled a bit, then took the train ... and ended up on the west coast of France where we cycled for a while and actually ended up staying longer than originally planned because we loved that part of the world ....

And that's how we often go! We'll ride for a while, then decide we want to see something over there, so we'll hop a train or ferry or something and go there and ride for a while until we decide that we want to see something up that way ...

Other times we'll do a hub and spoke style tours where we drive to a spot, then stop and cycle there for a few days ... and either go home or drive to the next "hub".

It just all depends what your goal is. If your goal is to cycle from one side of a country to another, then cycle from one side of the country to the other. If your goal is to go where the wind blows you ... feel free to mix it up.

For me, if I want regulations, I'll do a randonnee ... a tour, on the other hand, is a much more free-spirited thing.

gerryl

All pedalling for me. The reason I started cycling in the first place was to get away from things like trains, buses and cars. The destination is only part of the equation, the road to the destination is where it's at. Besides I'm one of those people who actually likes riding.

reppans

Multimodal for me - a folder has rekindled my interests in bicycle touring. My time is limited so I prefer to 'fast forward' through less desirable sections. I just want to see as much as I can, as fast** as I can, and at a reasonable cost. Depending upon trip/destination, sometimes the best mode of transport is by boot, bicycle, ADV motorcycle, RV (campervan), or combination thereof.

** - although unrushed, as I enjoy spontaneous planning and camping w/o reservations.

fietsbob

My North Sea Loop Route , 1991, required a sea going ferry between UK & Norway, then,
Norway and Denmark , then later I took one from CPH , on the Baltic , to the a coastal port in Poland.

skookum

Are trains more acceptable than buses?

chrisx

yes
Trains are more comfortable than long distance buses, and your bicycle gets less stuff stacked on top of it if you ride a train.
The county bus on the other hand, has a bike rack. 2 hours on a county bus is much better than 12 hours on a greyhound.

skookum

What about hitching a ride on a pickup truck? Where does that rank with respect to trains and buses?

Machka 

I don't hitchhike but I do rent vehicles. It doesn't matter to me. Whatever it takes to get where I want to go. There's no hierarchy of acceptable-ness. *lol*

jefnvk

Both of these. I've used services to get into/out of heavily populated places that I really had no care to cycle through. I'm in no competition with anyone else.