Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Touring
Reload this Page >

Off again

Notices
Touring Have a dream to ride a bike across your state, across the country, or around the world? Self-contained or fully supported? Trade ideas, adventures, and more in our bicycle touring forum.

Off again

Old 11-10-20, 10:26 PM
  #1  
KC8QVO
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173

Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Liked 115 Times in 99 Posts
Off again

It looks like the rain is passing. With any luck it will be gone by morning. The plan is to roll out in the morning and if things go well I'll cross my first state line this weekend. The forecast has been up and down, but as of right now only rain one day of the next 10. Of course, that is always subject to change. The temps do look colder. A few nights are around or below freezing. I think I'll take the lack of precip and more sun over warmer temps with rain and if it isn't raining - mist - like last time.

Ohio to Erie Route, Columbus south and back - with a stop further down in Kentucky.

The bike and gear is all in good shape. The two flats I had on my last adventure I repaired with 2 new tubes. The tubes that had holes in them were patched one day en-route, but never used. So I swapped tubes around today so I could get pressure in the patched tubes to make sure they will hold. I'll roll on those first - no reason not to.

That's one thing I didn't even think about at the store today... I need another patch kit.

I'm rolling out with more food and water this round. I imagine all the water fountains will be blocked off from the covid crap this direction also.

I'm down to about 370 miles on my seasonal riding goal so this trip will whack off a good portion of that. With any luck I can finish out the rest through the end of this month and in to December, unless the snow sets in and/or temps dip in to the teens or lower (F) for a prolonged period.
KC8QVO is offline  
Likes For KC8QVO:
Old 11-12-20, 07:29 AM
  #2  
KC8QVO
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173

Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Liked 115 Times in 99 Posts
One gear malfunction so far - if you watched my video on the OTET gear or saw pictures - the green bag (roll top) hsd the buckle tear off. So I put 550 cord in there to roll up and tie. That worked. Until yesterday. I didnt know it, but the bag had dropped with the 550 cord pulling out from the roll. I took a turn and as soon as I leaned for it the bag hit the ground and scraped open a bit.

I spent some time with it this time. I taped the holes and sewed 3 sets of loops in to the roll top to lock the 550 cord on. So far so good.

Weight balance is better. I put 2x nalgenes down on the front bags instead of up by the bars or top of the rear rack. That, I think, made the biggest difference.
KC8QVO is offline  
Old 11-17-20, 01:10 PM
  #3  
KC8QVO
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173

Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Liked 115 Times in 99 Posts
Made it across in to KY. No real "Welcome to KY" sign, though. Ive had a stiff head wind for 2 days. Maybe I should put up an umbrella as a sail and take advantage of my newfound tail wind now... I took 2 days off with some weather moving through - high wind warning 2 days ago so I waited it out at a campground. Good move. Still windy, but not nearly what it was before.


KC8QVO is offline  
Old 11-17-20, 02:12 PM
  #4  
KC8QVO
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173

Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Liked 115 Times in 99 Posts
Duplicate post
KC8QVO is offline  
Old 11-17-20, 07:37 PM
  #5  
robow
Senior Member
 
robow's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,860
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 595 Post(s)
Liked 278 Times in 189 Posts
I know that Purple People bridge. Great place for a meal just off the bridge and on the KY side, Brothers Bar and Grill. Treat yourself after a week of Ramen : ) Nice outdoor seating and a great view of the Ohio when warmer.
robow is offline  
Old 11-17-20, 08:20 PM
  #6  
KC8QVO
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173

Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Liked 115 Times in 99 Posts
Originally Posted by robow
I know that Purple People bridge. Great place for a meal just off the bridge and on the KY side, Brothers Bar and Grill. Treat yourself after a week of Ramen : ) Nice outdoor seating and a great view of the Ohio when warmer.
I didnt have any time to do anything else other than hit the 2 destinations down there - Smale Riverfront Park (southern terminus of the Ohio to Erie Route) and make it across the PPB and back. It was a busy day and I hit a lot more hills down here than I was expecting = slower pace. I got back to camp on the n side of the cinci suburbs after dark as it was. So no time to take things in today. If I was staying down there in town that would be another story, but Im not doing that.

I may find a place on the return to grab a few beers and eats. On the first leg up to lake erie I stopped at Fishers in Peninsula (in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park) and ate 2 full dinners with 2 tall beers. I could do that again this round somewhere. We'll see. I need to resupply first. And Id like to hit a laundromat. Though, I wont have time for both tomorrow. Resupplying is more important than laundry right now. We'll see what the next couple days bring. Hopefully warmer temps.

I already have frost on the tent tonight as of about 30-45min ago. Temp forecast is low 30's tonight. Tomorrow night is supposed to get down to the mid-20's.

KC8QVO is offline  
Old 11-21-20, 07:35 PM
  #7  
KC8QVO
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,173

Bikes: Surly Disk Trucker, 2014 w/Brooks Flyer Special saddle, Tubus racks - Duo front/Logo Evo rear, 2019 Dahon Mariner D8, Both bikes share Ortlieb Packer Plus series panniers, Garmin Edge 1000

Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 405 Post(s)
Liked 115 Times in 99 Posts
I completed my trek. My day around Cincinnati was the hardest day on this leg of the trip. I rested longer than I would have liked the next morning, but it was warranted. Between that and a resupply run it put me in camp late the next day - the same place I waited out the wind storm before. It is a nice place so I stayed 2 nights so I had a day to catch up on rest and to get cleaned up. The campground is winterized already so all that is around are porta-jons. No showers or running water. With my water filter bag I can get potable water from streams. However I don't like doing that unless I have to (midwest rivers have pollution that mountain streams don't - two different environments). I do, however, use the filtered water for cleaning tasks so I am not using tap or bottled water up. On this trip that has been crucial - I had to resort to consuming filtered water on the northern end of the trek, not the end of the world, just not ideal (and that is exactly why I have a filter system - I can get drinkable water if I can't find it). With my 2 rounds of sitting at the campground on the way down and the return on the way back up - I ran off some extra water so I could take a bath and wash my hair. The stay on the way up I even got 2 loads of laundry done. There was no laundromat around, and even if there was one I wasn't going to break camp to spend 4 hours sitting at a laundromat. I heated the water over the camp fire for my baths. Worked great, considering the circumstances. Though, getting home, taking a shower, and putting on real fresh clothes is definitely better!

All said and done I got back in 3.5 moving days (4.5 days total, with the day off, the 1/2 day being the day I rode to the end of the route and flipped around - 1/2 there, 1/2 back basically). Yesterday I had a tail wind and did 54 miles so that was a big help. That is getting up towards double the mileage I would have liked to do in a day - just not my style. With the wind it was possible. That was a wind mostly out of the west going mostly east. However, today - the last leg of the trip was almost all due north and I had a stiff head wind - plus dropping temperatures.
KC8QVO is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.