enigmaT120

I was backpacking in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area (NE Oregon) car-free last week from Tue. morning to Friday afternoon. But it was a hot 6 hour drive in my buddy's car to get to the trail head.

wipekitty

Due to illness, my partner isn't able to do longer bike rides anymore, and I'm not really into taking vacations by myself.

Instead, I've done what might be called day tours: I pick some destination, ride there, hang out for a bit, then come home. When I lived in Southern California, I frequently went to Huntington Beach (50 mile RT), and also enjoyed my trip to Crystal Cove State Park (65 mile RT). I had planned to do a day trip to San Diego the week before we moved - a 110 mile bike ride and train ride home - but I came down with a really nasty ear infection, so it never happened.

There's a few state parks around the area that I'm planning to check out - the Great River Bluffs State Park should be doable in the near future. Eventually, I'd like to take day trips to Winona, MN and maybe Decorah, IA. I know there will be some work thing or another in Madison at some point, so that would be a good excuse to ride there, especially since they really don't like to pay for car rentals.

Roody

And it was nice to see that Machka herself got some good info here about a bike tour that she plans to take next year.

I-Like-To-Bike

For those willing and able to travel far from home:
https://www.smartertravel.com/photo-g...ls.html?id=818

Rowan

Thanks for the link. Some interesting trails to explore.

We've done parts of the North Sea route, and of the Velodessy Trail which isn't mentioned on the list. I've also had brief contact with the Munda Biddi Trail in Western Australia before it was completed.

And there is a network of trails that are reasonably well marked in Belgium, the Netherlands and France that I've thoroughly enjoyed and am looking forward to exploring again.

Machka 

It's almost the end of summer in the northern hemisphere ... where have you travelled this summer?

Walter S

I've been doing just overnight camping trips all summer. Great fun though. Mainly in Dawson Forest which is a bit more than 50 miles from my home. I usually leave my house around 5 a.m. and I'm in the forest before noon and setting up my camp. Then it's an afternoon of exploring and just enjoying the sound of the Etowah River rapids near my camp.

But I am finally going to have something more like a vacation. It's only a week off work but that's still so much better than riding somewhere one day and riding home the next! I'm doing a waterfall theme this year. I've mapped out several waterfalls and campsites I want to visit. This will be so much fun. I've picked about 15 waterfalls I want to see, I think what I actually visit will be more like ten. I'm planning low milage days so I can enjoy little side trips I find along the way or just hang out and bask in the sun and mist of the Appalachians. I'm leaving on Saturday September 13 and returning Sunday September 21.

Can't wait!

Roody

That sounds awesome. Have fun and give us a full report when you get back.

plustax

I used a car four times, but I went to Thailand and Vietnam this summer. Was a rather nice two months. Cycling in those countries was definitely a departure from the norm!

Sixty Fiver

Summer is my busy season... there has not been much time to get away but that will change.

This past weekend a group of friends got together to ride what was a 222km round trip with an overnight stay at the lake, we did this in memory of one of our friends who passed away earlier this year on the anniversary of her solo tour to California.

Getting ready... my bike is the blue Kuwahara and the copper bike is a vintage Specialized (I built that fork).



Our first rest stop after getting out of this sprawling city...



We found some roads that were not quite roads...



Slept like a baby... was snug as a bug in the bag and bivy while a few of the other folks complained of being a little cool.



We live in the land of big skies... the secondary roads are almost car free.



Got the bike ready for another out and back trip planned for Friday / Saturday... will be running lighter and tighter on what will be a 130 km round trip.



After that I'll probably be waiting until next spring... our travels will be taking us to Michigan for family matters and will need to prepare for that trip.

Walter S

I just had a perfect week in the chattahoochee national forest. The riding was great. The views were beautiful. The camping locations were plentiful and splendidly serene. And the hot weather gave us a break down here. In fact I made an unplanned stop to buy another layer to keep warm at night. I hiked to several waterfalls and they were each wonderful in their unique expression of nature and just nourishing to my soul.

I'm back in town but can't go home without stopping to lay in the grass at Piedmont park and grove on it. Updated my blog last night at a motel.

Hello again everybody!

intransit1217

I love pictures of happy wanderers !

Ekdog

Nice photos!

Machka 

Where did you go? Do you have photos?

fietsbob

<Pictures on Film>


AMS Shiphol airport NL it is a Ride away on the same bike paths the locals use to go to work at the same airport..

and you have the National Rail system station in the lowest level directly under the Building to begin your trip anywhere in Europe.

Probably connect with the Chunnel trains if you wanted to be in England Instead ..

tourer78

Just Finishing up 6 weeks in Eastern Europe. We have been driving from place to place, leaving the car parked when we arrive in town, and walking or cycling as the mood and weather dictates. My personal highlight was the cycle path between Kranjska Gora in Slovenia and Tarvisio in Italy, a spur of the Alpe Adria route, which would be nice to ride on a future trip. Have managed to cycle in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia. A bit sad we are now packing up the Bike Fridays and returning the car later today. Some photos here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/84448690@N06/

Pobble.808

OK, I'll play. Just did a week-long tour in Puget Sound. Flew into Seattle with Madame Pobble and met up with a friend who flew in from Los Angeles. The three of us took the Victoria Clipper ferry (no cars!) from Seattle to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands, renting bikes and using it as our base for four days of riding on all of the islands that are easily accessible by ferry (Orcas, Lopez, and Shaw, as well as San Juan Island itself). Light traffic, rolling hills, splendid scenery. Even though this is a popular vacation area, it was refreshingly free of billboards, chain stores, and the rest of the usual commercial razzmatazz, especially once you get out of Friday Harbor. We saw a lot of other cyclists on San Juan Island, not many on the other islands, but this was the week after Labor Day so things were probably less intense than during the high season. Car traffic was mostly relatively light and drivers were mellow.

Then we caught the Washington State Ferry from Friday Harbor to Sidney, BC, and from there it was a short bus ride to our next destination, Victoria. We stayed at the Admiral Inn, a nice, friendly hotel close to the center of things that had free loaner mountain bikes, which were not in tip-top shape after a long summer of constant use, but Crystal, the hotel's ace bike mechanic, made sure that all the necessary adjustments got made. We spent three days there, mostly riding around the city checking out parks, restaurants, food markets etc, and sharing the road with lots of other cyclists and well-behaved drivers, but we also spent a day on the Galloping Goose Trail, a partly paved, partly gravel MUP that starts near the center of town and runs for 55 km through urban, then suburban, then pastoral landscapes. Then we took the Victoria Clipper back to Seattle.

There are plenty of places to ride on Vancouver Island and I'm sure that we could have happily stayed for a week, or taken the ferry over to Vancouver city on the mainland (yeah, slightly misleading nomenclature ) and done more riding there, but for a one-week trip I can strongly recommend this as a car-free itinerary, especially for people who need to rent bikes, don't want to camp, and prefer a leisurely pace to long-distance riding, although Vancouver Island would obviously offer some longer rides too if you're looking for them.

I'm not much of a photographer, but some pix can be viewed (I hope) at
https://plus.google.com/photos/10728...90915575998065

If anybody wants/needs more detailed info, please feel free to PM me.

Machka 

I've enjoyed cycling on Vancouver Island.

We're just across the water, on the mainland, right now and toyed with the idea of going over, but just not enough time.

Machka 

As the northern hemisphere moves out of summer and into winter, I wonder ... did any of you do a bike tour or take a carfree vacation this year?

Or maybe you've got one planned for the winter months ... perhaps you'll fly somewhere warm and cycle from there?




[HR][/HR]

We did a little bit of hub-and-spoke stuff during our trip to Canada, but now that summer is approaching we are trying to figure out what weekends might work for a short tour or two or three.

Summer is Rowan's busy season so that'll take up several weekends, and we're hoping to be more involved in randonneuring, so that doesn't leave us a lot of free weekends, but we'll see what we can do.

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" ... the car light approach.

[HR][/HR]

Yesterday we cycled 50.73 km 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.

Machka 

And back to the "good ol' days" of cycling ...

B. Carfree

Great phots, Machka. I haven't been to an ordinary race in years. Did they do a "slow race", where the winner is the one who takes the longest without falling off? Those are always good for a chuckle. A business run by a friend of a friend makes penny farthings as a side-thing. The proprietor was jokingly accused of cheating when he showed up to a high-wheeler race with one of his creations that had a freewheeling hub.

A front tire blowout on a tandem is always problematic. It's a good thing Rowan has a few kms under his belt so he knows how to react properly. We have found that since our change to wider/lower pressure the nature of the flats is that they give much more time between puncture and control difficulties. That might be something to look at to relieve your stress. Then again, a bit of riding will likely do the trick just fine.

Machka 

They did have a slow race, but it was held just before we arrived so we didn't get to see it. Maybe next year.

I did wonder if they were all fixed gear or if some had freewheeling hubs.

What amazed me was the kids ... I'll post some photos of them later. But then, maybe when you're 10 you don't have the same fear as when you're older. That said, one of the best races was the 70 year old and up category ... those guys gave it everything and at the end there was a sprint photo finish.

We usually ride with somewhat lower pressure, but perhaps it was a bit too low this time.

Anyway ... the first 10 km was a little stressful, the second 10 km was a bit better, and by the time we got into the third 10 km, I was almost relaxed.

Machka 

The Easter holiday is upon us ... where are you going and what method of transportation are you using to get there, or while you are there?

Tony Marley

When I lived in suburban St Louis, I biked to the Amtrak station and took the train out to central Missouri, then rode along the Katy Trail over the course of several days back to St Louis.