pennpaul

The longest "unsupported" tour I've done is one night in a motel along the C&O. I carried my clothes and snacks and bought dinner in town. I rented a car to drive to the start (Cumberland), and my family picked me up the next afternoon in Harper's Ferry which is close to our house. I was not ready to go all in with the panniers, tent, sleeping bag, etc.

I want to do RAGBRAI 2023, and understandably my wife's idea of a vacation does not include driving halfway across the country, finding activities for her and the kids to do while I ride my bike, and then having me crash into bed at the end of the day for a week.

So how do you solo a bike tour when the start (and end) of the tour are nowhere near your house? Just fly there with all your stuff and fly back? How do you arrange for a bike box for the return trip?

indyfabz

I have done loop tours in MT and SD. Ship bike (with racks, stove and fuel bottle in the box) to a LBS. Fly to the start/ending location with a bag with the rest my gear. Shop assembles the bike and has it waiting for me. Shop holds my bike bog and gear bag. At the end of the tour, give he bike, stove and fuel bottle back to the shop along with sipping document, get my bag and go have a beer.

When I did an up and back on the GAP, I drove to Cumberland, MD and left my car in the free lot under I-40.

Tourist in MSN

I do not know where the Ragbrai route is, is it near Amtrak one or or the other end?

If so, there might be a lot of bikers on the train, thus the bike racks might be already reserved, thus might need bike box to pack your bike in one or both directions.

I have ridden Amtrak with my bike several times, but never through Iowa.

GhostRider62

I take it you are flying international. If domestic, ship the bike to your hotel or a bike shop. Have the hotel hold your box.

When I fly international, I bring the bike into the plane checked luggage with either a box or a specially constructed and padded bag. I will either take a cab or rent a car to the start of the ride. If touring, I start my tour at the airport in which case, I used a box.

For real fun, try it with a recumbent.

headwind15

Google is your friend. Type in where you are, and where you want to go, followed by "travel options". Usually about four option come up. You just have to figure out which one makes sense for you and your bike.

mev

It depends - and RAGBRAI is probably a special case.

On some organized rides I have been on, e.g. Ride the Rockies, the need to get between start/end points is a common issue for many cyclists and so there were organized buses. So my first suggestion would be to look at RAGBRAI related forums/information on how others are solving the same problem, e.g. https://ragbrai.com/about/charter-services/

On rides where I doing solo touring in a one-way route, it depends a bit on the distance but will typically either:
1. Fly into one location and back from the other; done this on a long ride such as across the country.
2. Book a round-trip flight into one location and a rental car to go one-way. For example, riding the Natchez Trace by flying into Nashville, cycling to Jackson and renting a car back to Nashville to fly back.
3. Taken Amtrak both ways, e.g. I took a train to Tucson, cycled to El Paso and took a train back from El Paso

On my own trips, I've taken a mixture of trains, planes, bicycling, rental cars and once a ferry to connect things on for a one-way ride.

John N

It depends on where you live and where the tour starts and ends from.
1. Drive your car to the start and rent a car, u-Haul, etc. one-way to the start to pick up your car. Or verse that.
2. Rent a car one-way to both the start and the end
3. Fly, bus, train to/from but that might require boxing the bike up.
4. If going to a large group ride like Ragbrai, consider getting on a Facebook page and asking if anyone wants to share a ride and/or shuttle if you are coming from the same direction say you both live in Michigan.

Basically, it boils down to cost vs. convenience. Tailwinds, John

pennpaul

I'll be back in the US by that point so all domestic travel.

Thanks for that link.

Cost is definitely a consideration. I'll be coming from the DC area. I'm going to have to work on my sweet talk game with my wife, I think, or find some local friends who want to join in.