Papa Tom

What's the general consensus among cyclists who ride from hotel to hotel and occasionally use public transportation as part of your "credit card" tours? Will there be a touring "season" in 2021?

I keep starting to plan summer rides, but then I shut myself down when I think about the reality of staying in hotels, riding trains in between biking segments, and other aspects of my rides that involve possibly exposing myself to the damned virus.

indyfabz

Last September I stayed in hotels three nights. Once when I arrived at the start after a 7+ hr. train ride then two other nights during the 9 day trip. Campground bathrooms and some grocery and convenience stores were more of an issue due to some people not wearing masks.

mev

Depends on ones overall risk tolerance and factors.

Last October, I took a one-week trip from Austin to Dallas/Fort Worth and rented a car at DFW airport to come back. Cases here were moderately high but not as high as either August or end of the year. I stayed in campgrounds half the nights and so a few days in motels. Where I could, I picked motels with individual outside doors to the rooms. I otherwise tried to be careful. The risk wasn't zero but I was willing to make the tradeoff.

This summer, I hope the risks will be lower than last October, so except for that being wrong time of year to tour in Central TX would otherwise anticipate touring. I don't yet plan on further overseas trips [Timor-Leste and west Timor was on my list for 2020 and skipped but want to explore that in the future]. I'll probably pick late Spring or early Fall for weather reasons.

skidder

Not planning any at this time. If anything, I'll do something in the fall that needs minimal planning, probably some tried-and-true routes along the Southern California coast or up in the Owens Valley (eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mtns in eastern California).

robow

I leave for a 5 day credit card tour in mid February and will have had my second inoculation by then. I will be traveling with a small group of friends and it is those few individuals that would normally give me cause for concern, otherwise if I were traveling by myself, use your head and the risks are generally quite low.

Tourist in MSN

I am planning at trip, mostly camping but with a few motels. But we are looking at October or maybe November (where we would be risking frost and snow). We are confident things will be much safer then.

I usually tour in June and early July, but decided against it this year.

Papa Tom

From the OP: Camping would solve some of my problems, but I've never done it and have been advised - by people who know what a bug-magnet my Italian skin can be - that I wouldn't like it.

I don't have time for long trips these days, so most of what I'm calling "tours" are 40-50 miles or so each way. Others are closer to 25-30. Last summer, I did a couple of these as day trips, in and out, but it wasn't the same. I'm half about the ride and half about the destination and the experience once I get there.

Altair 4

I hope to have my vaccine injections well before the end of winter. I think that once that occurs, my risk assessment will change pretty dramatically (assuming that resistance to the variants is proven) and I'll be more willing to travel with hotel or bnb stays. My 2020 credit card tour planned for around parts of southern Ontario Canada got sidetracked because of COVID and the border locking down. I'm thinking that the earliest that might still happen is late summer, or early fall, if at all this year. Too many variables in play yet.

a_d_a_m

August 28th-September 4th, riding slow across Ohio. It's been planned since September and my hotels are already booked.

I'll have my second dose of Moderna within the week, so I plan to lick every doorknob I can find.

Kelly I

After much consideration, we followed our 2020 touring plans without change. We rode a 2,500 mile credit card tour from Mexico to Canada in the summer. It was interesting to see each communities compliance (or not) to COVID. We rode a 7 day tour in Arizona over Thanksgiving and spent two weeks in Tucson, base camp riding.

We took reasonable precautions when around other people, but spent most of our time riding in the fresh air and sunshine.

For 2021, we have a five week tour of Michigan and Wisconsin in the planning stages. I believe we will have our vaccines by then as we are considered essential workers. My biggest concern about 2021 touring is finding open lodging and restaurants. COVID has hit small businesses hard.

Our regular touring friends did not join us in 2020, due to COVID concerns.

jpescatore

I'm a credit card tourer and I'm not planning any multi-day til the fall. My wife and I have done some weekend get aways with bike and hiking, and the hotels/B&Bs we stayed in were chosen in part because the seemed to be taking covid seriously. Worked out great, but with a car had more options on choosing hotels and how to get food at night than I typically do when I'm biking.

Last year I did a a 5 day credit card tour from Venice FL to Jacksonsville FL in January before covid really reached here. Two of the nights involved motels and "restaurants" I really wouldn't go near now without a hazmat suit! The other two nights would have been fine.

According to the NY Times "when will you get vaccinated?" calculator, I will be waiting behind 267M Americans, 5.5M MD residents (out of 6M) and 900K county residents (out of 1.2M) before my group gets vaccinated - so not counting on that for spring/early summer.

Papa Tom

I'm glad people are being cautious, at least. Mostly, I'm envious, as always, that so many of you can make time to do multi-week trips. I feel lucky if I can get away from work long enough to do three days!

Pratt

My planning is on hold until I get vaccinated, twice. Maybe by June I'll be able to make plans, then, it will also depend on what is open. Last year, even a campground I wanted to stay at was closed. Potentially, Gap and C&O, but then Amtrak enters into the equation. Maybe my planning is on hold to prevent headaches.

Papa Tom

It's extra frustrating because, at 58, I am starting to see the end of my "touring" days. Also, my overnighters were always planned around my wife's weekend retreats, where she went away to a meditation center and I took off for my own meditation on the bike. I doubt those retreats are coming back for her anytime soon, so going away without her will be kind of awkward.

indyfabz

I did the GAP as part of a cross-PA tour back in September. Took Amtrak from Philly to Pittsburgh and spent that night in a hotel that was not crowded. Started riding the next day. Came in contact with fewer people than I do on a daily basis at home. One campground I stayed at was completely empty except for me.

fishboat

You won't have any issues in Wisconsin with things being open. While there's a mask mandate..that's pretty much ignored outside of SE WI (can't speak for Madison, but in the north and NW that's the case). Restaurants and hotel-motels will be open unless there's a major change in the trajectory things are on now.
______________

As for 2020 touring..We did two short tours last year, totaling about 600 miles. One in WI and one in northern MN. We camped about 80% of the time..nothing quite so social distanced as a mostly empty campground. We got takeout food when we didn't cook in camp. Northern MN wasn't terribly...encumbered.. by masks either. We did the mask thing everywhere and used good quantities of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. Haven't had any issues. Planned on building a trip around, in part, the P'tit train du Nord by Montreal..but..that didn't happen.

This year we hope to do the GAP/CO in the late August/early September timeframe, mostly camping. I'll be starting active planning next week. We'll probably do one or two tours earlier in the summer..just not sure what they will be yet. As long as the standard precautions are taken(mask, disinfectant, distancing..) 15 minutes in a grocery store is pretty much the same risk in WI or PA(as an example). Of course, any restrictions at the destination(s) will influence what we do and when. We're retired, so traveling during the week and landing in the right place for a weekend, helps with respect to social interactions.

MarcusT

WHAT??? I am 57 and have no plans to stop touring. .
In fact I've done more touring in the last 5 yrs than in the previous 20. I knew a guy in his late 70s and he rode across continents on his folding bike
Perhaps you can combine weekend get-ways with your wife. She drives, you ride, or maybe gift her a spa weekend.
Sure, maybe not go as fast or as far, but don't fall into "I am too old for this sh!%" trap.
Cheers

staehpj1

Funny, I don't like to rely on getting rooms much preferring to camp and figured that getting rooms would solve some of my problems with touring during a pandemic.

Seriously? I am starting to think like that but I am about to turn 70 and I figure I am premature in thinking that way. I think it is cabin fever due to social distancing as much as my age. 58 is the prime or a touring career. You have what? Maybe 20-30 touring years left depending on how your health goes? I was almost your age when I started touring and know lots of others who can say the same. Many start after retirement. I of know are still touring in their 80s some have cut back on the multi month tours and long mileage days, but I did meet a couple guys doing the Trans America who were over 80.

Papa Tom

Ha! I fully expected that my "58 and getting too old to tour" comment would elicit some "WTF?" responses! I guess the isolation of the pandemic has made me suddenly feel "old." Also, my wife seems to be losing her desire and confidence to drive, alone, to the mountains of New York State to attend the week-long retreats that were always my excuse to get away on the bike for a couple of days. Now her events are done virtually.

Anyway, this thread is mostly about the logistics of traveling on public transportation, staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, and visiting the places I used to enjoy hanging out at the end of a ride. Most of you are describing rides along desolate rail trails and bikeways and staying at campsites. A typical "tour" for me involves driving to a ferry terminal, sailing across the Long Island Sound to New England, riding 25-50 miles to a destination, having lunch/dinner at a favorite eatery, parking my bike along a boardwalk or in a shopping village to hang out and talk to locals, then staying overnight at a simple hotel with an indoor pool. Breakfast is usually in a diner or bagel shop, then it's off on my return to the ferry.

So you can see that most of my trips involve being around lots of people. My dilemma is how to avoid that aspect and still enjoy the ride.

hsuBM

You and her will probably have little reason to not take the train to Lake Placid and back come July/August. It’s not a long bike ride for even a non-cyclist to pedal from the LP train stop to a cabin. Pretty good biking and good meditating to be done up there.

I’m very probably doing CO around then. Bit different for me as, while I’m not a terrible bug magnet, I am a compulsive scratcher. To minimize opportunity to obtain scratch motivations I completely soak my hammock and straps in OFF and store them in their own bag. It’s worked pretty great for me so far.

indyfabz

You wrote something very similar seven years ago.

"Do or do not. There is no try."--Jedi Master Yoda

kaos joe

I've really been remiss regarding bike tours the past couple of years. I'm determined to begin making up for that this year. I'd like to convince some friends to try the C&O or the Erie Canal, both of which I've done solo....probably have better luck with the Erie. I think Covid will be a smaller factor in the equation by midsummer, but my standards of what to be afraid of might be a bit skewed by my job. We did get out to the Rockies this past summer and aside from wearing an N95 on the plane things were just fine. Neither my age (60) or bugs (jeez!) were a factor. Then again neither were crowds, although some of the locals, as seen below, were very hardheaded and refused to adhere to social distancing.

fishboat

Hmm..understandable, that may be an issue. Maybe for this year(or at least until mid-late fall) you could shorten your tour by a few hours and just do day-rides, then follow in the evening with uber-eats. You'd still get a ride in, see some sights, and support the local economy..seems like a win-win.

Papa Tom

Was that part of my torn underwear thread that you won't let me forget?

Papa Tom

This past summer, I did two of my 25-milers as day trips. It's not the same having to race against daylight and not being able to stick around for nighttime activities in the parks and downtowns of places I visit. If I'm not going to get in a swim or enjoy lounging on the hotel balcony as night falls, I might as well just do day rides from home.