WalksOn2Wheels

I was hoping to do a three day trip starting today. Well, it rained/"snowed" here in North Texas yesterday resulting in some patches of ice on bridges this morning along with being nasty and wet outside. Also, I expected temps in the 40's during the days and maybe lows of 25-30 at night. Instead, it was 30 degrees at ten this morning and a low of 22 tonight and a forecasted low of 18 the next night.

So I'm going to wait until Thursday and even then I might cut it short to an overnighter, being my first experience touring and camping. By then it should be in the 40's again and generally dry.

But I am curious, what is the worst conditions you've set out in and did it last the whole trip? Do you have pretty mixed feelings about that venture or just attribute it to more character?

stephenjubb

wise man, if you go in the wrong weather it could put you off for life. go in better weather and enjoy. there will be plenty of bad weather later

The Impossipede

That's not wimping out, that's being prudent. You would have done the same had it happened the second day on the road. I've often holed up somewhere for a day or two when the weather didn't work out. Just enjoy yourself come Thursday!

X-LinkedRider

Yep. If you are not used to or prepared for that stuff. You made the right decision. In time, you will realize there is nothing you can do while you are out there, just learn your survival tactics. That is ok, just be a little more prepared for Thursday if that is your next opportunity.

dcrowell

I'll ride in almost anything, but a three day trip? I'd pass to.

Tansy

Hmm, well I've set out in super hot, heat-advisory-humid weather, but that isn't so bad when you can just rest and pour water over yourself every so-many-miles. As far as cold and rain, I plan my tours with a lot of flexibility, so if tomorrow looks better I'll just hold off a day.

In 2009, during an unusually warm October, I was biking up the north shore of Lake Superior, when a sudden cold snap hit along with a predicted week of thunderstorms and freezing nights. I spent that night at an overpriced state park, with very little food. The wind, rain, terrible visibility, and retreating RVs flowing southward where so bad I didn't feel safe biking eight miles to town to pick up some food and try to wait it out. My hammock was whipped about wildly by periodic wind gusts all night. I ended up getting a ride home.

It wasn't too big of a deal, since I was never planned on biking the full distance back and I made it to the arranged pick up location(The overpriced state park), I just cut out most of the trip and did it five days early. I'm glad I did. It was only a 10 day tour and spending half of joylessly would just have soured the good days.

My very first bike camping trip, for which I departed having never really read a map, driven a significant distance, or camped since childhood, was an utter disaster, but we don't speak of that

Fortunately, when it comes to tours not going as planned, in my case, it's generally a different matter. I'll take off for a week with two days notice, or turn a week into a month. Some of my route maps for past tours are awfully funny looking - in places they look like a bumblebee's flight, where I reached the end of my planned route and just shot around aimlessly for a while.

Once when I turned a two night bike camping trip into a eight day tour, I ran out of map, and unwilling to buy one, I ended up tracing from google maps onto notebook paper and scrawling down approximate mileage between towns.

I suppose I took some liberty with the topic of this thread and kinda answered something else, but forums can be like a good conversation, and those're always flying off the walls.


EDIT: Hah! I got so caught up in my own storytelling I forgot what I really meant to say at some point or other: For a three day trip, I think you DEFINITELY did the right thing. The shorter the tour, the more each day counts, especially if this is your first touring/bike camping attempt. Reschedule, and make your first trip something to remember in a positive light.

acantor

You made the right call. Just wait out the bad weather.

There is nothing heroic about setting out in potentially dangerous conditions knowing that you will be wet, cold, and miserable!

It's also perfectly OK to bail when feeling unwell. On one eight-day trip, I was a six or seven hour ride from my destination. But I grabbed a train because I felt I might be getting a cold. (I did, and it was a doozy of a cold!)

KDC1956

Sound's like a wussy to me lol. Na I'm J.K. I would have done the same thing besides I don't like it when it gets cold burrr.Wussy right lol.

wahoonc

In my 35+ years of cycle touring and camping I have only canceled one trip...that was a canoe camping trip and we got slammed by a late season ice storm. Nothing wrong with being prudent. I would not have set out in conditions like we have had today (southern NC). I have snow camped and had a blast, but we planned for it. I have cut more than one trip short when the weather went bad.

Aaron

fietsbob

I wimped out regularly in the middle of my western Irish Coast trip,
stayed in the Hostel all day till the weather improved,
There, Independently Owned Hostels let you do that, unlike IYHA hostels ..

but, there's always the Pub ..

BigAura

Last year I was to do a coast to coast trip and planned to leave Feb 1. The day before I was to leave the weather report was calling for temps 30 degrees below normal. I contemplated a postponement but realized that might throw off my entire trip. Last minute I packed some more warm layers and hit the road, as planned. The below normal temps continued for weeks, but once I was on the road it just ampped the adventure. The trip was a fantastic (and successful) experience for me and I was glad I made the decision.

Only because this is your first tour I do agree with the others that you "probably" made the right decision. But I feel you'll be making a mistake if you truncate your trip. There are always reasons not to do a bicycle tour and only one reason to do one: "a desire within".

Cyclebum

Sure you did right. Thursday should be fine tho kinda cold. Cold can be managed. Icy roads not.

Had this happened in the middle of a long tour, you'd have had to hole up for a few days until the roads cleared, including the shoulders. I expect the lanes to be mostly clear here in NE TX tomorrow, not so sure about the shoulders.

Doug64

It is not whimping out, it is called wisdom!


Not a bike trip

StephenH

I planned a 200k permanent a while back, got to the start point, and it was the middle of a thunderstorm. Reminded me of a joke. The fire department comes to a fire, and find a drunk in bed, and the bed is on fire. "How'd the bed catch on fire?" they ask. The drunk says, "I don't know. It was on fire when I got in it." I figure it's one thing to get caught in some bad weather, but there needs to be a good reason before I'll set off in it.

skilsaw

Suffering is optional... I would choose not to suffer too.

SBRDude

I'm curious why you're starting your first trip this time of year. I'm down in Austin where the weather is a bit warmer, and I too am excited about my first 3 day trip, but I would only do it this time of year if we got a nice warm spell. As such, I'm going to wait until the springtime. I also need to get some bags, which I guess I better do pretty soon! Keep us updated about what you're going to do.

cyclist2000

My tent isn't designed for that type of weather.

I normally don't delay a tour since there is some schedule to be kept. I did delay my tour last september by a day, not due to weather but since my daughter made it into the state golf tournament, I needed to see at least one day of the event.

gpsblake

You did well and didn't wimp out. Bike touring is meant to be fun and riding in horrible cold wet conditions is not fun. However, I will say this, if you are planning to do a long tour (several weeks or so), you should venture into a horrible riding day weather wise to see how it's really like, and to test your equipment.

zoltani

For a weekend or short tour I definitely prefer nice weather. Before leaving for a 10-day tour on the northern california coast I saw that heavy rain storms were moving in, but I didn't want to call it off. Rode through some heavy downpours, got strong headwinds, but in the end had the time of my life. It helped me to figure out how to setup my tent in the rain without getting the inside wet since the body is all mesh. It was worth riding in the rain because the redwood forests seem to come alive and glow green when wet.

The worst I've ridden in was some sleet on Lolo pass in Montana, but on a long tour you will run into random bad weather sometimes. Lolo pass was worth it because we got to see the Camus field in bloom, it had just bloomed the night before for the first time that season.

Aurorabucky

If bike trips are anything like hiking trips, it's the "the weather seemed great at first" times that get me the worst. Our honeymoon "trip" for example - morning start was great, clouds by noon, 1 inch of water in the tent during the night, lots of "character" built as we bailed back to the car the next day.

I've also had multiday outings where we started off in the rain and were the only people out enjoying the beautiful day nobody expected.

Unpredictability comes with the territory on multiday trips. Storm fronts come in early or late or veer off in some other direction.

You were probably right not to mess with ice though.

Cheers