Mri G.

Started in Las Vegas four nights ago and am now in Mesquite, Nevada. Cycled 134 miles already through Lake Mead and the Valley of Fire. There was one road nowhere near as good as Google Maps would let you believe. As in there was a massive canyon in the middle of it and no actual road... Luckily though we'd taken local advice and gotten on the freeway for that part of it.

Surprisingly not as bad as you would think, though not fun at all so we detoured onto our first off road track. Bit bumpy, but not too bad. Road wasn't in great condition (hence the canyon gap at the start of it) so could never get a good speed going cuz had to break a lot. However, made it though okay. Haven't fallen off yet. XD

60-70mph winds tomorrow though so idk what the plans are atm...

Oh, and does anyone know what to do to stop sunburn minus using sunscreen? We're applying factor 50 like twice a day and still burning massively. I'm Asian and am still red!

And for those wondering about our food budget. We've spent $40 so far, but have 2 more nights of food left and spent $7 on hummus as a treat for the sunburn. XD haha. Should average out somewhere around there, but we've added another meal in during the day cuz I hate snacking. lols.

Our 2017 Tandem Cycling Expedition Up the Rockies

rickyk76

I haven't seen the Valley of Fire in almost 30 years. Great pics on your blog. Keep updating us.

Machka 

Sunsleeves
Long sleeved jerseys
Long sleeved cotton men's dress shirts
Knee warmers
Helmet with a visor
Big sunglasses

If you're going to stick to sunscreen, you'll probably have to apply some first thing in the morning, and then about every 2-3 hours after that especially while cycling and sweating.

jefnvk

Yep, Google Maps is not the best. One trick I like to use: pick a few spots and look at what the street view looks like. If there isn't street view in 2017 in America, it is probably not a particularly well kept road.

As to the burning, either sunsleeves which are available in most bike shops/REI type places, or lightweight long sleeve fishing shirts/pants designed for folks out on a boat for hours at a time. The clothes are light and airy, and both options generally rated to somewhere near 50SPF

Machka 

Yeah, here in Australia, if there is no street view, chances are it is gravel, and probably pretty rough gravel. And sometimes it will even be gravel if there is street view.

I do that "pick a few spots" technique too, and most of the time it gives me a reasonable idea what things will be like (despite the fact that the last time a Google Van went through filming the roads was in 2010), but even doing that caught me out once. Somehow I managed to pick the last bit of pavement on one side of a rough gravel section and the last bit of pavement on the other side, and assumed the whole road was paved! Oops!!!

jamawani 

Enjoy your trip!
It may be hot and sunny now, but cooler weather is ahead.

Ditto - long sleeves.
I have cut the feet off of white stretch knee socks and just pulled them on my arms.
Your arms are actually cooler due to evaporative cooling.

mstateglfr 

As already mentioned, but worth repeating- sunsleeves. Get some white or yellow ones as they will reflect rather than absorb heat.

sunsleeves are UPF50 and if you apply sunscreen and let it dry before tossing the sleeves on, they help keep the sunscreen from sweating away(thats my observation, at least).

Get em at REI, any bike shop, any running store, etc. Or Amazon has dozens of styles that you could deliver to a place you will stay at 2 days away.

Mri G.

Thanks everyone for the advice about the sunsleeves! Rob has been wearing long sleeves and trousers, but my medical problems won't let me wear a lot of clothing in the heat (brain doesn't understand heat is supposed to feel sweaty and just a bit annoying, and instead makes it feel like I'm being splashed in boiling oil). However, will try these sunsleeve things as they don't sound like they cover the back, which will help keep the pain down a lot.

And I will definitely remember to use google street view from now on. I would've hated cycling those 9 miles to have to turn around cuz it was that impassable!

Have seen snow on the top of one mountain already so probably going to hit it in a few days/weeks. O: Glad you guys and Rob talked me into taking down jackets as the nights are colder already. Haha.

Luckily the wind forecast has changed this morning and it's only going to hit like 35-40 max in our area. Hopefully we can just sit the gusts out.

Doug64

This is my wife's answer to sun protection: a long-sleeve, loosely fitting sun shirt, and homemade thigh/knee protectors. The first pair of her "knee protectors" were fabricated 10 years ago by cutting the sleeves off a XXL t-shirt. She originally made them because we were experiencing 109F (43C) riding through southern Idaho, and has been using them ever since. We were also experiencing 43C temperatures in Spain when this picture was taken.

She also uses a long-sleeve t-shirt with her knee protectors. These are the original pair using t-shirt sleeves.
[IMG][/IMG]

alan s 

Sounds like you are starting out with shorter days of riding, which is a good idea until you adjust. Hope you continue to update your progress from time to time.

berner

Soon you will be an Asian red neck. I use white sun sleeves as Machka suggests but a long sleeve white Tee shirt will work as well. Enjoy your tour.

Mri G.

We've started applying sunscreen about five times a day now and that's helped a lot. However, we now have another problem...

When Rob changes gears (I think just the low ones), the chain either falls off or keeps switching between gears. Any idea of what to do to fix it? It was fine in England, but we had to take it all apart for the plane.

In St. George now. Had to cycle through a storm to get here and the bike almost for blown over while we were cycling downhill, but luckily rob managed to catch it before we hit the floor. Combined with the rain it wasn't a pleasant ride, but at least we missed the snow (realized once morning came XD). We're off to Zion, probably reach tomorrow as most of our days are somehow spent always fixing, cleaning, or rearranging the bike...haha

Oh and did our first proper off road yesterday evening! Bike didn't handle it well though and had to push four miles through sand, but we eventually made it through. (:

Happy Feet

Check to see if it falls off when he changes the front chain ring or the rear cassette.

If it's the front chain ring, going into low (small) gear it's called chain drop. My bike does it some times. You can adjust the front derailer limiter (two small screws on the derailer arm) to not allow the derailer to travel inward too much.

Another reason friction front shifters are good!

If it is the back cassette the same concept applies. There will be a small screw on the back of the rear derailer arm that sets the allowable travel. It may be letting the derailer come to far outward. Adjust.

Also check to see if the rear wheel is mounted in the dropouts correctly. Putting it together you may have gotten it a little cockeyed and that may throw the derailer travel off as well.

stevepusser

Though it will be cooler at higher altitudes, you'll burn even faster since UV radiation increases 10-12% per 1000 meters elevation. It's not the heat, it's the radiation, but cooler temps allow you to cover up and there may be more shade from vegetation to block the direct sunlight. I also think that UV can reflect off rock and sand in the desert to make it even worse there.

stevepusser

There should be some really interesting updates coming up, considering the wild weather that part of the West has been having the last few days!

Machka 

Take the bicycle to a shop in St George.

stevepusser

Yes, it sounds like perhaps the derailleurs have gotten out of adjustment, maybe even bent during the shipping. A bike shop can adjust or bend them back if you can't do it yourself. You may want to look to see if the rear cogs and the little rear derailleur sprockets are still in-line. Ideally, they should be vertical and in the same plane when viewed from the rear:

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Mri G.

Rob's been adjusting that but it turns out you can't adjust it when the bike's on its side or gravity effects it differently. I didn't really listen to what he said well enough. Anyway, the weather was ridiculous. We were caught on the old US 91 to St. George when the snow/rain started and 40-50mph winds!!! Not fun at all, but we managed to go up and over. Also someone random let us shoot a semi automatic rifle where we were camping so you know, 'Merica.

But I would take the high winds and rain any day over freaking mud. At many, many points we were literally just dragging the bike because the wheels had gunked up so much they wouldn't spin!!! Six hours to go four miles uphill... not even freaking joking. Lesson learned though. Do not take dirt tracks after a rain. Surprisingly though, sitting in a tent for 24 hours in the cold due to constant rain isn't as bad as one might think. Just take lots of naps and hope someone's kind enough to invite you into their warm caravan. Ahahahah.

We hit the 400 mile marker last night; under what we were hoping, but not doing too bad. Rob wants another saddle so might be able to cover more distance next month as he stops a lot at the moment. The sunburn is getting less and less, but now the windburn is killing us. Lols. Had a great descent today though. Unfortunately that means tomorrow is all uphill, but we're doing a lot better than we expected. This cycling thing is really fun; gonna have to learn how to confidentially ride myself one day.

Currently in Escalante and heading towards Capital Reef. Hoping to be there Monday morning as still doing really short days cuz Rob's saddle is uncomfortable. Legs are doing well though, but knees click a lot around camp. Any stretching tips or something to make them click less? We do stand every so often, but doesn't seem to relief much (we both have old knee injuries).

Mri G.

Oh jeah and I forgot to mention that we found out that we had the brakes pretty much on the whole time (they were set too close to the back wheel)!!! Just figured this out a few days ago when we finally decided that something was wrong with our speed and it wasn't just the other person not pedaling. Argh!!! Lols.

BigAura

Nice! But yer still pedaling.

Mri G.

Jep, still pedaling. (: Even did our first single track fully loaded today in search of dinosaur tracks. Didn't find them, but had good, terrifying fun anyway. Thinking of doing Whistler... Hahaha. Currently around Moab til tomorrow then heading into Colorado through La Sal (probably). Rob just bought a new saddle so hoping to cover more day distance soon.

Rowan

Bumping this as we haven't seen any posts since then.

jamawani 

There have been three major snowstorms in the Rockies since their last post.
And not much good weather in between.

Cyclist0094

They have been posting updates on their blog.
Our 2017 Tandem Cycling Expedition Up the Rockies

Rowan

I am aware of the blog. But the thread was started here and there might be some interested in a synopsis of their progress.