Machka 

Short tours are great for those of us who can only spare a few days from our busy schedules to spend on a cycling tour ... or for those of us who want to do a quick exploration of the area where we live or an area we want to learn more about ... and for those who want to test equipment, bicycle setup, etc.

When you go on a short hub-and-spoke tour, overnight tour, weekend tour, long weekend tour, maybe even a week-long tour, or something similar, tell us about it here.

Where did you go? What did you see along the way? Would you recommend the area? What sort of accommodation did you use? What kind of bicycle did you ride? Did you learn anything new?

What short tours do you have planned for 2015?


[HR][/HR]

2014 short tours:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/92...ort-tours.html

2013 short tours:
2013 - Your Short Tours

2012 short tours:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/79...ort-tours.html

2011 short tours:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/72...ort-tours.html

2007 short tours:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/25...ort-tours.html



[HR][/HR]

Short tours can include quite a variety of different sorts of touring including, but not limited to ...

-- day tours (usually taking up most of the day and including scenic or tourist destinations)
-- hub-and-spoke tours (cycling or driving out to a destination which becomes the "headquarters" or "hub", and then doing day tours off in various directions from the "hub")
-- overnight tours (cycling out to a neighbouring town, campground, national park, etc, staying overnight in a campground, hotel, B&B, or whatever other choice of accommodation is available)
-- weekend or long weekend tours or several days or week long tours (similar to the overnight tour, but longer)

These tours can be credit card tours where no camping gear is carried and the cyclist stays in accommodations such as hotels, B&Bs hostels, etc., and eats in restaurants, cafes, etc., or they can be camping tours, or some combination of the two.

They can have a variety of purposes ... travel and exploration, a desire to get away from it all for a weekend, visiting family and friends, or in combination with work, school, or other events.

Lots of options!

[HR][/HR]


Also for reference ...
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/98...tinations.html

mrv 

Planning: a spring trip, Detroit to Louisville; 5 days; campground to campground.
Figure I'll buy a couple of Ohio / Indiana gazetteers to stick to dirt road / back roads: Atlas & Gazetteers, by State - DeLorme

Machka 

We're considering the possibility of getting onto more dirt road / back roads here too ... less busy.

Machka 

Anyone doing quick overnight winter tours?

Lone

i'm thinking about riding up mount mitchell is a week or less tour.
otherwise, i can ride the backroads of the top half of the state, or camp in the mountains for a night.

Machka 

We're on a short hub-and-spoke tour now. Drive to a location, park the van at the "hub", cycle and walk from the "hub" ...


Yesterday we covered 50.73 km cycling in northern Tasmania ... where the roads are beautiful, wonderful, and gloriously relatively flat. Flat compared with the Hobart area.

We loaded up our folders ... me with pannier and handlebar bag, and Rowan with panniers, trunk bag, and trailer filled with folding chairs, table, cooler, etc ... and cycled to Evandale for the annual Evandale Village Fair and Penny Farthing National Championship.
Evandale Village Fair & National Penny Farthing Championships - Home

We set up and spent a great day watching and photographing the Penny Farthing races.

And it was a beautiful day ... clear blue sky, high of 28C, relatively light wind. Way up north, there are two cyclones creating a swath of destruction ... they aren't directly affecting us, but they are pushing the tropical air of Queensland down to Tasmania. It is hot and humid these days.

When we got back, we did an additional exploratory ride ... and then walked to and from the local pub for a delicious dinner.


Oh yes, a highlight of the day was meeting a couple on a tandem. We got chatting with them, and found out that they've put a lot of km on their tandems (plural) ... about 200,000 km ... plus they have owned penny farthings and have also put a lot of km on them ... in the neighbourhood of 60,000. Wow!

[HR][/HR]
And today ... 43.64 km ... on our tandem!

Our tandem has been in storage pretty much constantly since June 2012 while we roamed around the world and then moved several times. Finally, at the beginning of November 2014, we got most of our stuff out of storage including the tandem ... and we were able to ride it at the end of November.

We did not have the opportunity to ride it again until about 10 days or so ago, when we set off on a test ride ... and our front tire went flat on a descent, and everything went wobbly. Rowan just managed to maintain control and we came to a stop upright and intact.

But I think that experience shook me up more than I thought.

We started the ride today, then stopped at an intersection, and just as we were about to go ... quite unexpectedly, I started shaking, my chest tightened painfully ... and I couldn't do it! I was off the bicycle in a flash.

But I wanted to get back on and try again. So we walked a little way, and then set off again ... and that time I was mostly OK, although it took me a while to settle in.

Again, the roads in northern Tasmania are lovely ... relatively flat and mostly very quiet. The first few km were a little busier, but then we turned a corner and there was hardly any traffic at all for the next 20 km or so. And then it was slightly busier at the end. So nice to be out in the country with hardly anyone around.

One additional feature of the ride ... I have a brand new Brooks saddle on the tandem. So this 43.64 km ride was my inaugural ride on that brand new Brooks. We were stopping about every 5 km or so ... so I could take a little break and stretch.

Noonievut

I have experience only with short tours, and I try to do a few per year. Problem I have is where I go...the further from home I start the tour, the more time I need, and the whole point is with a young family I don't have an abundance of time. So I usually don't venture far from home, which takes away to some degree the lure of touring (i,e. exploring new places). For me it ends up being a multi-day ride at an easy pace...versus an out and back on a weekend morning before I start the weekend with my family.

JerrySTL

2015 Katy Trail Ride | Missouri State Parks

I'm doing a 5-day tour of the Missouri Katy Trail in June. It's the 20th edition of this group's tour and will be my 9th time. Very well supported.

mev

Austin doesn't have *real* winter, but this past weekend did an overnight ride of 88 miles (Saturday) + 25 miles (Sunday) to go one way to College Station to east of Austin - and rented a car to return home. The weekend before that, I did 40 miles (Saturday) + 40 miles (Sunday) to cycle to Johnson City - to west of Austin. Expect to be doing some more of these short weekend trips in March and April. More pleasant than August around here...

RidingMatthew

I am planning on riding the C&O this summer. It will be my second tour. Last year I rode the GAP from Cumberland MD to Pittsburgh, PA. I think I want to ride from Cumberland to Washington, DC on the C&O

tarwheel 

I also plan to ride the GAP - C&O Canal trails again in May, but I consider that a long tour since it will take us about 7 days. For shorter tours, I plan to ride Cycle NC Spring Ride in April, the Virginia Creeper Trail in VA in April, the Greenbrier River Trail in WV some time this summer, and the New River Trail in VA at some point during the year.

capejohn

My son and I are doing one of these in June. We are meeting in Cumberland and will decide close to our departure date which one we will ride. It could possibly be both. It's all in the timing. We arrive in Cumberland on the 1st and need to be back in Cumberland by the 9th. Maybe our paths will cross.

capejohn

You should visit my son and touring partner Brandon in Austin. He is a bartender at Javelina on Rainey St. and rides for Austin Bike. He would love to talk biking and touring over a beer.

lopek77

That trip sounds awesome. Louisvilley, KY ? There are a few nice trails you can take...Rails to trails next to Maumee river, Slippery Elm trail, Little Miami Scenic trail, Indiana s Historic Pathways - North Spur. Plus bunch of country side roads. Little jealous I must say

RidingMatthew

i started my ride at the cumberland inn and spa last year. they were comparably priced to hotels and with in walking distance of downtown. It was a good place to start and worked for my logistics. I have not planned a day or a time yet for my trip... which reminds me I need to get back at it.

RidingMatthew

I would like to ride the VA creeper and the new river trail and would love to do the greenbriar RIver trail in WV sometime.
I think that I might just do day rides of the Creeper and the new river trail.

RidingMatthew

@JerrySTL That looks really interesting. I see it is full for this year. is it usually the same time every year? My wife has a friend in Missouri I wonder if i could convince her for 2016 hmm

Craptacular8

That looks like a very fun ride. When I lived in St. Charles, I rode part of the Katy trail. It was not complete to Clinton at that time. It might have gone as far as Rocheport, not sure. The section I had ridden out from St. Charles was flat. I see in the ride description, it says "challenging." Must get hills etc somewhere on the route?

JerrySTL

Between Boonville and Clinton there are some hills. Still I wouldn't call the ride challenging except if it gets hot and windy.

JerrySTL

It's usually the day after Father's Day in June. Sign-up starts on March 1st and, as you can see, it often sells out quickly.

bruised

I'm in Wisconsin and just heard tonight that the temps may hit 40 degrees next week!!! It's minus 10F right now!

So I want to try and throw together a trip but haven't decided on the best approach.

I'm torn between driving 5 hours by car to Hayward with the Fat Bike and riding the Camba Trails for 3 days, doing hotels/motels....or....take the 29er and ride the Nicolet State Trail north from Green Bay up to Mountain WI, then back again. The Nicolet State Trail is an old rail route and they're dead-flat and tend to get a little boring after a couple hours...plus it could be a real slush fest as the snow starts to melt....

What to do?

johnplf

Chicago: I&M canal to Starved Rock State Park. About 150 miles round trip

Machka 

Little bit of a hub-and-spoke tour on the Easter long weekend.

We drove to the ferry, overnighted on the ferry, then drove to our "hub" in Victoria.

Friday - 40.52 km on old familiar roads in an area where we used to live. So nice to ride there again. Really nice! And it helped that the sun shone, the sky was blue and there wasn't too much wind. The high for the day reached 23C ... a hint of summer!

We also walked 8.5 km. 6.5 km earlier in the day when we first arrived, and then another 2 km to go to dinner.


Saturday -- 35.23 km on our folders up the local Rail Trail. The longest Rail Trail in Victoria runs through this area, and I've missed it!

Partly cloudy, 23C today.

I also walked 3.8 km around town.


Sunday -- 40.11 km on another part of the Rail Trail up to an old train tunnel and back.

Another nice day with a high of 23C again. A little more overcast, almost threatening rain at times and some wind. But no rain materialised.


The pictures are coming, slowly but surely, starting with the Devonport pictures in the middle of the second page of this album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka...detail/?page=2

Machka 

Got plans for any of the May long weekends ... or other weekends?

tarwheel 

Finished the first of my 2015 tours, three days riding in coastal North Carolina with Cycle NC. All of the routes were loops out of Washington, NC, with options ranging from 5 to more than 100 miles. I ended up riding 44 miles on Friday, 105 on Saturday and 38 on Sunday. We had decent weather, lots of clouds, a little rain, mild temperatures and relatively light winds. Fortunately, conditions were great for the century ride, with the least wind I can remember on a coastal ride here.

Next weekend, I'm riding the Virginia Creeper Trail with my wife and some friends. That will be a very low key, easy going ride through very scenic terrain.

In four weeks, I'll be departing on our tour of GAP-C&O Canal trails.