Traveling and Camping

bump for interest

>>851408
What bike do you have?

>>851408
And you are leaving soon? This route is perfect; biking in the snow is an absolute joy. So you have that to look forward to before you freeze to death.

Plus ego trips are always a good idea. Friends and family are such losers.

>>851417
Hey man, I've done nothing but stare at a computer screen for the past 4 years just for some piece of paper. This trip is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I came here for advice not ridicule.

>>851415
Plan to purchase the bike in Miami, what would you recommend?

>>851417
and I do not plan to leave until next year, this is not the final route

I drove a motorcycle from Miami to San Diego. Another mc trip from Bridgeport, CT to Silverdale, WA. Camped out on both trips. I can't imagine bicycling that Northern route across the Great Plains, I'm sure people do it, but the Southern route seems more approachable.

>>851432
>the Southern route seems more approachable
Why?

>>851441
Well, the smart ass from above was kinda right, you wont freeze to death

>>851420
Fuji Touring bike

It's cheap and pretty good.

Look up cycle tourong. There will be videos and forums and shit with a lot of advice. I was interested in this idea about 10 years ago but never did it. Maybe someday. The one poster is right you do not want to leave now youll likely freeze to death. Are you planning to hunt and fish for food? You better be fucking skilled at that shit.

>>851454
fishing but I was thinking like can food and jerky for the most part.

but i will for sure look up cycle touring

>>851441
This >>851447

Get real comfy riding that bicycle first and fixing everything on it. Figure out how many miles you can realistically make it day after day carrying that gear without killing yourself. If you were to leave Miami in like January, you would get decent weather. If it's starting to get into summer by the time you get to TX, AZ, and NM you could ride at night (or dusk & dawn) when it is nice and cool and chill out during the heat of the day.

If I were doing that, I would try and stay south all the way to San Diego or LA and then ride the PCH Highway all the way up north. Even if it is summer by the time you get there, it will surely be more temperate right on the coast. Riding through the Rockies would be cool, but goddamn will that tire you out after you have already ridden 2000mi.

>>851441
>Why?
The Great Plains, the Badlands, basically form Minnesota to Montana is remote and rough. The Southern route has West Tx into Arizona that is pretty formidable but I read less risk in the Southern route.

>>851408
Hey! I'm planning to go cycling to Argentina by christmas (I live in Chile). I just recommend you not to think much and do it. Bring an emergency credit card in case shit happens, try to gain some weight before beginning and get proper gear for the snow. Also, are you on twitter or anywhere I can follow your journey? I may ask you for tips in the future

>>851408
>>851420
1.That route is anal discharge. Youre going to just be on highways in the snow all the time. Google maps may say its the fastest, but its an absolutely shitty route. Try going through colorado, utah, and nevada, then taking the west coast up from california.
2.4 years? Its pretty fucking hard to cycle any decent distance with a full kit. Unless if youve been biking every weekend for those 4 years, you wont be able to do it. I would say one year of 3-5 hour bike rides in hilly areas every weekend is the absolute minimum to prepare.
Take your bike, fill a backpack with rocks, and see how far you can go.
If you havent been going every weekend for a year, you will be stopping to rest after 30 minutes.

>>851467
https://twitter.com/pavionx

I dont use twitter at all but I will just for you buddy

>>851457
Southern route in summer, even riding at night is a bad idea.
You'll be trying to sleep when its 115° and you'll go through 50 pounds of water a day- towns aren't close out there, you can just as easily die there as freeze to death up north.

I thought about this years ago, then actually did the math.
You'll have to buy food along the way- you can't rely on foraging/hunting/fishing in unknown areas to survive.

How old are you OP?

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>>851501
Oh BTW, this is the only realistic way you could do it.

>>851505
Will be 20 next year

>>851501
>But you could start from Florida in Dec/Jan and be through West Texas before summer.
Northern route just as dry, or worse.

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>>851506
Fuck that.

Fuck trailers and fuck that bike. That bike would not be comfy after 100 miles a day for weeks. You don't need suspension. Just another thing to break. If you are riding the roads you just don't need it.

You just need to get a good STEEL touring bike. Get a rear rack and a front rank. You can hold 4 panniers with that. You don't have to haul a heavy trailer and have to worry about the rear wheel. You need bars that you can switch up your hand positions.

>>851513
Trailer seemed kinda stupid, ive seen a bunch of guys do big tours with your kind of set up. I just need to pack efficiently.

>>851501
>implying I don't know how to fish
>implying I can spend $2 on a big bag of dry beans

>>851516
>implying I don't know how to fish
You might know how to fish ... wondering how much you know about the desert or the high plains. I'm guessing nothing.

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>>851516
You can fit almost the same amount of stuff in 4 panniers than in one trailer. You still need to worry about weight. Remember you will be hauling that shit for a thousand miles.. Don't skimp on tires. Get nice fucking tires, you won't want to get a blow out 500 miles in. Getting flats every 100 miles sucks too. Schwalbe is bretty good. Personally I use Maxxis re-fuse. Make sure you know how to fix basic things on your bike. Know how to retune a wheel etc.

https://www.adventurecycling.org/

use this

>>851522
always open to learn famalam

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>>851408
>>851420
>>851456
>>851511
>>851516
Ok you need to do a lot more research on this. You won't get this info on this board reliably. I've done a through on the app and rode across the states. You dont want canned food. Its just dead weight. anything and everything should be dried such as jerky, rice, nuts, etc. The guy saying fatten up is smart. you're going to be burning 4-5k calories a day probably. You'll need to know how to fix your bike. Often times if something goes wrong you're no where near a shop, they're closed, who knows. Water will make up a large part of your weight. Bring a filter to get more when you're not around town. I don't know your price range and what not but it'll be harder without lodging once and a while you should be keeping yourself clean with a rag bath at least. As far as the bike goes I did it on a cannondale touring 1. I saw someone post about a steel frame which works well but they're heavy. Aluminum is the way to go since you probably can't find a good steel one if you buy it there and you can probably find a good aluminium one from a shop. Invest in disk brakes. Its so much better to have them when you're riding in the rain and you have to brake fast etc. You're stopping yourself plus 50-60 lbs of bike and equipment.

Beyond that, just be sure to think it out and plan for things to go wrong because they will. Its when not if. Make sure you're not stressed for budget etc. Its a great time and test.

>>851408
Do you currently own a bike? What's he longest bike ride you've ever taken?

>>851546
The city I live in is very easy to travel in on a bike so I bike pretty much everywhere I need to go except my university. The longest? 25-30 miles

>>851537
Good advice, I really appreciate it

>>851408
>>no hotels
>no hot showers>
Yeah you're gonna want showers after you have days on end of sweaty swamp ass

literally the worst possibly route through georgia

>>851605
WATER, H2O, this is the Greatest Demand of Biking Tours and trips. Get a battery/usb powered shower pump/water pump, get a couple different ways to filter/clean water. Pop up shit tent/shower tent and a small collapsible shovel.

You can now pump water from a puddle into your water jugs/bottles. Filter said water so you don't poison yourself/die of dehydration. Shower in the middle of no where, using the water pump to spray yourself. Shovel and shit in a hole. Also shovel down for water if you are that desperate/need shelter from the heat/cold. Solar water heater tube or collapsible box for heating/steaming/cooking a bonus. Add water and rice/beans/dried food for lots of calories. Those black water bag showers ONLY work if you can find something that can handle over 30 lbs of water weight at height.

What no one will tell you to bring though is

SALT SALT SAAAALLLLTTTT.

Get a large tube of it, you'll sweat all of your bodies salt out faster than that beef jerky and salty trail mix can give it to you. Pour that shit in your water and you'll go MUCH farther.

Also get spare tubes for your tires, patch kits, and bubbles, yes, BUBBLES. Use it to find those tube holes in your tires.
Get some tire liner to help protect them from thorns/nails/tacks.
A solar powered lantern/flashlight.
Helmet, hand pump and battery pump. Don't bother with canned air stuff, especially that goop tire patch stuff, that stuff is only good for 30-50 miles. You have to throw the tube and maybe the tire even after that.

Have multiple routes for each state, construction and shit WILL occur. Map it out on both your phone and on an atlas. WILL SAVE YOU DAYS OF WONDERING.

If its 90 degrees or above, bike for shelter with water. BIKE AT NIGHT, you'll save a shit load of water. HAVE BRIGHT LIGHTS/HORN for yourself and others.

Weight will NOT be your friend, corn starch/body powder WILL be your friend for keeping clean/preventing skin burns/foot odor and general body grease.

>>851604
Pack a fuck ton of Gold Bond and smother your balls before and after you put your bib shorts(bibs are a little sweatier but stay in place waaaaay better on long rides) on.

>>851537
>rode across the states
Good general advice but pretty thin gruel from someone who has supposedly rode across the states. Which states? Did you tent it? On average how many days out of the week did you lodge? What was the longest leg of your journey where you were out /out/

>>851408
>and live off the land while doing so
What will you do when you get to Seattle?
How do you plan going back?

Have you considered San Diego to Seattle, or Miami to Bangor, Maine?

>>851681
Started in Boston and went to Seattle. Me and my buddy who went with me are from Michigan so we went through ohio and then stopped back at home for a day to drop what we didn't need, get more stuff and just take a day off. Then we rode up through the bridge into the UP. Into MN, ND, MT, then into Idaho and Washington. we started in early-mid July and ended in late August. Lodging was mostly when we encountered bad weather or shitty sites for camping, AKA eastern UP Minnesota but even then maybe every couple of days for a nice sleep and shower. When we did tent it I had my backpacking tent so we both squeezed into that "2" person tent. The longest leg was in Montana. we hit a week of clear skys and moderate temperatures which was awesome. Looking back I could have prepared more but I brought a map and wasn't afraid to talk to locals and ask for a hand which most people were willing to help with.

>>851699
Thanks anon. That brings it to life. How long did it take, start to finish?
I've done a lot of camping up around Marquette, MI. Now that it's in the 90's there in June and July I'm trying to get my head around how I'd time such a route.

>>851706
I can't recall the exact mileage but it was in the neighborhood of 3600. We tried to do 100-150 a day with a rest every 7-10 days. Ended up taking 6 weeks. Just slow spinning when you get down to it 15-16mph for hours on end

why don't you just bike that PCT bike trail

>>851537
>You dont want canned food. Its just dead weight.
I wouldn't stock up on it in remote areas but in semi civilized areas I'd often get canned food in the last town before I camped. Need some high calorie low weight emergency supplies though in case the stores are closed.

>I saw someone post about a steel frame which works well but they're heavy. Aluminum is the way to go since you probably can't find a good steel one if you buy it there and you can probably find a good aluminium one from a shop.
Steel is good because it can be bent back into shape by hand if you crash. High end steel can be lighter than low end aluminum and weight isn't the most important thing on a touring bike anyway. If you're going for a traditional touring bike there are a bunch of good steel options, eg Surly Long Haul Trucker, Soma Saga, Kona Sutra.

>Invest in disk brakes. Its so much better to have them when you're riding in the rain and you have to brake fast etc.
Disks are great in mud and all, but overrated for non-MTBs IMO. I wouldn't turn down a good deal on a canti brake bike just because it doesn't have disks, and if OP goes for flat bars then V brakes are more than powerful enough. There's a tradeoff in that it's going to be harder to repair and find parts if something goes wrong on the road.

>>851688
Inn at the market hotel for one night and then fly back

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I'm planning a bike trip from DC to Pittsburgh then Pittsburgh to Johnstown in October. I'm also from FL (near Tampa) and if you'd be interested, im doing the exact same thing you are, just in a shorter time-frame and distance.

I have almost everything I'll need, minus food purchased and weighed.

I'm prepared to go solo but a riding partner / end of day campsite occupant bro wouldn't be a terrible idea, both for safety and survival.

Side note: if you haven't been training or haven't ridden multi-day rides recently, you may want to start now and prepare your body (and bum)

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DC to PA trip guy again. Go to https://www.crazyguyonabike.com and read other peopls' journals. They cover time, distances, type of gear packed, weight, how conditions were, experiences, failures, etc.

Was stupid helpful to plan my trip. Oh and now is NOT the best time to bike north. You will get into some serious shit with snow and coldsnaps. You should do this in the early spring so as you ride north, the weather gets warmer and things have time to melt and dry off. The downside is allergies, bugs, and washed out trails.

Other anons have been giving good answers, but I will pile on and insist you cut down weight as much as possible. Only take the things you NEED. Not the things you think you need, the things you need. As you gain more experience in the field, your pack becomes lighter due to improvisation techniques.

Beef jerky anon. I smoked some myself this weekend and it was delicious, but it took super long and wasn't easy to acquire the meat. You'll either have to pay for the raw or hunt it, neither of which are very good options. You could buy from covenience stores, but you better be loaded cause that shit is expensive.

If you've never done this before, find someone who has to go with the first 1-2 times. If you get caught alone in a bad situation, you have a buddy to help.