delbiker1 

I drive a school bus and am off indefinitely. Spring break was supposed to start this past Friday, and I was planning on doing a tour of the Natchez Trace. Obviously, due to the present crisis, I am at home. I am going to be doing some local touring instead. Once I get a way from the beach resort areas, I am in a very rural location. Yesterday I did a pavement, gravel, trail tour of the nearby state parks, wildlife and scenic areas, getting in 50 miles. I am going to continue to do more of that, but am going to locations I rarely make it to. I am going self-sufficient, in that I am using large handlebar and saddle bags for room to pack food, water, tube/patches/tools, and alternative outer apparel, paper towels and sanitizer. Today's ride is going to be heading south, but I am not sure where to exactly, as I do not know if there is access to some of the areas I would like to go to. I will just adjust on the fly.

Normally, here on the Delmarva coast, it would be a very busy holiday weekend with heavy traffic. The lack of traffic; vehicular, pedestrian and bikes, is pretty nice, and makes for a more relaxing time on the road. So enough typing for now. Time to get dressed, packed and on the road.

VegasTriker

It all depends. All of the National Parks and state parks within cycling distance of Las Vegas (NV,UT,CA) are closed. You can't camp there and you can not use facilities such as bathrooms. At least I can still get water at local parks. If you are depending on staying at campgrounds you may find them all closed. That's certainly true for any in my region.

JohnDThompson 

That's what I've been doing as well. Our governor even waived state park entry fees so people could have places to go outside during the "Safer at Home" social distancing period. Unfortunately, some people abused this, refusing to respect the social distancing directives, vandalizing park facilities, and leaving trash everywhere. So now the parks are closed, and instead of my typical scenic ride through the park, I now have to detour around the park. And just when the spring wildflowers are starting to come out.

greatscott

If you haven't already done so now is a good time for you to load up you bike with more weight than you normally carry and practice riding it, go on short rides with the bike fully loaded and build up to 70 miles even though the average touring distance per day is only 40 miles. But this practice will build your muscles and your balance while you wait for the parks to open, once the parks are open you'll be good to go.

I tour too, and that's what I'm doing, training with loads about 25% more weight than I normally carry.

JayKay3000

I wish I could do this, but all our local campsites are closed and I don't live near wilderness to be able to camp out in the wild without people noticing.

delbiker1 

I am not camping. Starting at home and ending at home. Today's ride was 60 miles, maybe half of it across the state line into Maryland. Left the house at 10am and got back home at just before 3pm. Numerous short stops for pictures or just to get off the saddle and stretech for a few minutes. One longer stop for the lunch that I packed. Also, I made stop at a Royal Farms store for water refill and energy bar. Sunny with a high in the mid 60's and quite breezy.

Looking at OC, MD highrise row from west side of Assawoman Bay

Midtown OC with Rte. 90 bridge span

Headwaters of St. Martins River. Used to be a dam and mill pond here. MD. DNR removed them to improve water flow and quality. Also to allow fish upstream to spawn.

Did not ride on this dirt road, only about 1 mile long. It is just where I stopped to eat my packed lunch.

Bassmanbob

If you really want to get a feel for it, pitch your tent in your backyard. Have fun!

mstateglfr 

Actual touring = no go around here right now. The weather is too unpleasant for most days, but even if it were nice enough out, the Gov closed all campgrounds.
Day rides though?...yeah those are fun and especially great if the weather is nice and working isnt an option.

Ive gotten one long 70mi ride in this year and some shorter ones that are all off the beaten path. Since my usual cycling calendar is totally changed and probably cancelled, itll be a lot of long solo day rides instead.

Just looking forward to more consistent weather.

Maelochs

Parks are closed here---and even MTB trails, which have no sanitation facilities, no concessions stands, and no place for people to congregate. Looks like you live in a good area for day rides, though. I live between Scrublandia and Stripmallvillia, where I can scan scenery consisting of empty lots, poorly maintained houses, and rusty dumpsters.

delbiker1 

I thought today was going to be a total wash out for my local touring ride. It rained pretty much all day with heavy downpours and thunder/lightning at times. Also, the wind was blowing 25-30 mph with higher gusts. Weather report was showing that ending this evening 6-7 pm. It actually mostly cleared up about 3:00 and the wind calmed to the high teens around the same time. I got on my old and heavy Fuji Ace, even heavier with rack and fenders, and got in 14 miles. I stopped at home at that point to start getting my dinner together, thinking I would get out again this evening. That did not happen as we had another round of thunder/lighting roll in, though it did not rain. So I am happy I got the ride I did and spent part of the evening switching a crankset/cassette on my old school Ochsner steel. I have a used, like new IRD 46/30 crankset and a 12-28 cassette, 10 speed, that I never before mounted. I now finally have those on a bike. I reset the F der position, shortened the chain, and got it all back in tune. Using the DT shifters in friction mode sure makes that easy. I also mounted a new Selle Italia Novus

Tomorrow I will be riding the Ochsner on my daily local tour. I am going to start out going NNW direction, which is the way I go the least. Should get in some miles on roads that I have rarely, or never, ridden my bike on. I think the low mile, easy paced ride today will be a good thing tomorrow. I am looking at some wind again, mostly NNW, but lower velocity than it has been. Also going to be on the cool side with the day starting in the mid 40's and the high in the mid 50's but sunshine. I like that temp range for riding. I am looking forward to trying out the new gearing.

koolerb

Really cool. Sounds like you are having fun. So far I'm still working so no touring for me. Need to knock on wood.

James Christie

Count yourselves lucky folks! Here in France cycling is a big no no except for getting groceries. Leaving the home on foot is limited to a radius of 1km and for a time of 1 hour. After an appalling wet winter and early spring the weather is just right for getting the bike out but our President has just prolonged the confinement to 11 May and rightly so.
But I have just fitted the ‘summer’ tyres to my FX4 in anticipation!

james

indyfabz

I live in Philadelphia and the same is true for the state parks I could reach from home—PA, NJ & DE. I had planned a long weekend tour over Easter but had to cancel it. At least the park in DE where I had a reservation refunded my $102.

Phil_gretz

I enjoy the way that you write.

"Rusty Dumpsters" might be a good name for a bar band.

delbiker1 

Got in another 60 miles today. I rode my old school Ochsner that I just replaced the stock crankset with an IRD 94 BCD and 46/30 rings. The cassette is 12-28. It was a very pretty day with sunshine and winds calmer than they have been the past several days. Left the house at 8:15 with temperature in mid 40's and got home at 1:45 with temp of 57. I headed NW to start into the wind and rode in some areas I have rarely been to on a bike. All that time I saw only a couple of cyclists. Like it has been for a few weeks now, very light traffic. I did not actually go into any park/wildlife areas today, consequently very few pedestrians. A few scenic pictures coming up. All the mill ponds in this area are suffering from degradation of water quality and flow. Residential areas are expanding all around them. They have issues with getting choked with algae and vegetation through the summer months. I used to fish these ponds a lot of years ago. Fishing was great with bass, pickerel and all types of panfish, and very few people on or around them. Sadly for me, that is no longer true.

Upper stretch of Indian River maybe 7 miles from the inlet and ocean.

Trap Pond at Trap Pond State Park. Did not go into park but there is now a trail to hike and ride.

Old grist mill dam at Trussoms Pond

Trussoms Pond, the northernmost stand of Cypress trees in the country. Paddling around in canoe it is like being in a bayou.

Plaque about the preservation of Trussoms Pond.

Ingrams Pond and my lunch spot.