Languish, I am just about to go on a very long trip on a bike. Only, how much is really necessary to spend? I am boggled by the enormous prices I see some bikes going for. What, exactly, separates a $200 bike from a $9,000 one?
I am ignorant on this matter. Thanks in advance for the help!
Do we even have a completely insane cycling fanatic on Languish?
Weight is one of the issues that separates the expensive ones from the cheaper models. If you're racing, you want a light bike, but light bikes need to be made from strong materials so that they don't bend out of shape. So a carbon fibre bike will be more expensive than another one. Are you going off-road? If not, don't splash for a mountain bike. A hybrid bike (that is a hybrid between a mountain bike and a racing bike) is adequate for most, while a racing bike would be good if you'll stay on the main roads.
The second expensive set-up regards brakes and gears. Some brakes are just better than others and more expensive. If you stick to a semi-known brand, it's really hard to make a mistake unless you are some super-athlete.
Spending more than a thousand dollars on a bike would seem like a waste unless you are doing some serious training.
What to bear in mind:
Tires - you don't want too wide and studded tires if you're mainly cycling on dirt roads, asphalt or tarmac. That's for the off-road stuff like tracks in the deep woods.
Seat - Get a seat that suits your ass, since you'll be spending a lot of time sitting on it. A gel seat cover may be a good idea for overweight and inexperienced riders to avoid huge boils on your buttocks
Saddle/handlebar height - buy a frame that suits your height and adjust handlebars in the shop so that you get a comfortable position when seated. Too low handlebars will kill your lower back. Too high, and you will not be particularly aerodynamic, and if you are biking to Japan, you'll want to save energy.
Apart from that, get padded shorts and a pair of gloves, as the ribbed parts of the handlebar will eat your skin.
Quote from: Norgy on June 11, 2011, 05:09:07 AM
Too high, and you will not be particularly aerodynamic, and if you are biking to Japan, you'll want to save energy.
This really made me smile in an otherwise bluh mood. Bike through the deserts until you attain the promised land, indeed :D
So, I can't imagine caring about a light bike. I honestly don't what kind of terrain i'll be going through. I figured i'd push east until California became Utah, and then seek some saints.
Thanks for all the help! and yeah, a thousand seems absurd.
Quote from: The Brain on June 11, 2011, 05:01:34 AM
Do we even have a completely insane cycling fanatic on Languish?
I certainly can't see Mongers spending nine grand on a bike. Or having nine grand to spend. :hmm:
I recommend Diamondback. They have an entry-level hybrid that has low-mid-range gearshifts, gearing, and brakes, for usually less than $500.00. I've been very happy with mine. Their frames are very solid, and tolerably light.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:54:59 AM
Languish, I am just about to go on a very long trip on a bike.
Don't start training first or anything, Pugsly.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on June 11, 2011, 08:28:28 AM
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:54:59 AM
Languish, I am just about to go on a very long trip on a bike.
Don't start training first or anything, Pugsly.
He'll start his bike trip in January. There will be a Lettowcicle in Nebraska.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:54:59 AM
Languish, I am just about to go on a very long trip on a bike.
Pretty comprehensive set of advice from the standpoint of bicycling in San Francisco (so perhaps not as relevant if you want to bike across a state or something):
http://www.jwz.org/blog/2008/05/the-collected-jwz-bicycle-wisdom/
Wait a second. You do not own a bicycle, yet you want to go on a cross-state bicycle trip? Are you sure you have the required expertise to do so? :unsure:
Quote from: Monoriu on June 11, 2011, 09:36:16 AM
Wait a second. You do not own a bicycle, yet you want to go on a cross-state bicycle trip? Are you sure you have the required expertise to do so? :unsure:
Expertise? How about lung capacity, for starters?
Quote from: CountDeMoney on June 11, 2011, 08:28:28 AM
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:54:59 AM
Languish, I am just about to go on a very long trip on a bike.
Don't start training first or anything, Pugsly.
This.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:54:59 AM
Languish, I am just about to go on a very long trip on a bike. Only, how much is really necessary to spend? I am boggled by the enormous prices I see some bikes going for. What, exactly, separates a $200 bike from a $9,000 one?
I am ignorant on this matter. Thanks in advance for the help!
Norgy has laid out some very sensible advice.
IMHO the key questions are how fit are you, as CdM has already touched on, and how fast do you want to go ? Cycling is mainly about pushing air out of your way, so the faster you want to go the more aerodynamic and increasingly expensive the bike tends to become.
From what you say about a desert ride, this sounds hugely ambitious to me; desert/sandy tracks have to be some of the most challenging terrain for cycling over.
At this time of year, isn't it hellishly hot in the desert, you'll need to carry a metric ton of water, even just the drier conditions and the action of the wind on your body will really dehydrate you; and that's before you consider the effort you have to put in yourself.
I'd suggest you reconsider your plans.
So, let me get this straight. Lettow plans to ride his bike from somewhere in the South to California? Without, say, a year at least riding regularly? I mean, yeah, stamina is one thing, but I imagine that after 50 miles his back, ass and legs will feel so sore he'd admit secession was wrong just to get a ride somewhere to lie down.
Stamina and lung capacity are both obviously important, but once you're above your early teens, so's getting used to the seat and the fact that you will need to pedal to move forward, except when you're riding down the Rockies Jim Carrey style.
Never mind the cost of a bike, this is just slow suicide.
Best get you some padded bike shorts Lettow
Quote from: Norgy on June 11, 2011, 11:02:38 AM
So, let me get this straight. Lettow plans to ride his bike from somewhere in the South to California?
California to Utah. He's already in San Francisco.
Quote from: Norgy on June 11, 2011, 11:02:38 AM
So, let me get this straight. Lettow plans to ride his bike from somewhere in the South to California? Without, say, a year at least riding regularly? I mean, yeah, stamina is one thing, but I imagine that after 50 miles his back, ass and legs will feel so sore he'd admit secession was wrong just to get a ride somewhere to lie down.
Stamina and lung capacity are both obviously important, but once you're above your early teens, so's getting used to the seat and the fact that you will need to pedal to move forward, except when you're riding down the Rockies Jim Carrey style.
Never mind the cost of a bike, this is just slow suicide.
I think he is in California and wants to go to Salt Lake City. (If we needed more evidence of less than stellar Lettow judgment, it is that he is in California but wants to go to Salt Lake City) :P
Lettow, while this idea is really bad, if you get to Salt Lake City you will actually be in decent shape. With the hard part behind you (except for the Rocky Mountains, but how hard can those be?), why not just continue across America? You could start with your bike wheels in the surf of the Pacific and end with them in the surf of the Atlantic.
Isn't there a lot of desert in between? This is probably a bad idea. Like in "you will likely die", bad idea.
Um-
I mostly balk at the cost. Actually, the temperature of the desert is an incentive for me to begin the cycling, I think. It caps out in the 80s according to a quick look at weather.com, and it is inhumanly cold here. Nobody told them it was summer, and I shiver in weather that drops below 60 in daytime. Inhuman.
Things I consider real problems with this idea:
1) sleeping
2) being attacked by wild animals while sleeping
3) carrying things while biking
4) what if the bike breaks down?
edit: it should be added I don't have a cellphone, or anyone I could really call regardless, so I'll be alone in the um, classical sense?
CdM's comments aside, I am not too worried about my physical fitness for the trip. I assume I am quite capable for 30 miles a day, which would get me there in around a month. Were I more fit, I could go a lot faster- cyclists on the internet claim 60 is sustainable, but they are cyclists with strange ideas about fitness.
I acknowledge the physical risks of the trip, but I am in a good position to be reckless that I shouldn't waste. Later in life my absence would cause much more disruptions.
Unfortunately I am, at the moment, rather unprepared. I came out here without even a pair of shoes, save for some flipflops. Equipment purchases are in order, and it all sounds ruinously expensive. And other than biking to zion, I am not sure what application a bike has in my life, or indeed how I would get it back to the glorious South.
Still, this idea is superior to alternative options, and preparations are to begin soon. The scheduled date of departure is: June 22 :ph34r:
I hope you die.
Lettow, this is not a good idea. If you do this you will likely give up, be taken to the hospital or die. You are not going to be able to simply buy a bicycle and make it over a mountain range and through a desert. There are few people out there. If you dehydrate (which is likely since it will be difficult to carry the water let alone food), you will collapse on the side of the road and may not be found for days. Since you know so few people out West you'll likely be doing this alone and nobody will know you are out there.
I looked up some of this. Apparently there is a stretch of highway between two towns in Nevada that is 168 miles long. One gas station in between. Almost nothing else. You can not make that. You will die if you try. Don't be stupid.
At the very least plan out your logistics each day before you set out. You know, how far do you need to go, how much food and water you need to bring and so on.
By the time you get to the 168 mile stretch of desolation in Nevada you should hopefully have a good idea of what that requires from you.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:24:38 PM
4) what if the bike breaks down?
This is a horrible idea. Do you even know how to change a flat tire? You will puncture regularly. Also, depending on the type of bike you get and the terrain any number of things could malfunction making progress either much harder or impossible.
Also, even experienced riders crash.
Quote from: Liep on June 11, 2011, 05:37:28 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:24:38 PM
4) what if the bike breaks down?
This is a horrible idea. Do you even know how to change a flat tire? You will puncture regularly. Also, depending on the type of bike you get and the terrain any number of things could malfunction making progress either much harder or impossible.
Yes, I thought that odd, bikes don't break down, bits of them break and it's up to you to repair/replace defective parts. If the frame breaks, Lettow, you have to find someone who can weld it, assuming it's not C.F.
If you have little idea about dealing with bikes, or cycling or some of the real dangers this escapade involves, then you shouldn't try this.
I suggest instead, you plan a cycling tour of californian vineyards instead, JR might even approve.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on June 11, 2011, 09:50:20 AM
Quote from: Monoriu on June 11, 2011, 09:36:16 AM
Wait a second. You do not own a bicycle, yet you want to go on a cross-state bicycle trip? Are you sure you have the required expertise to do so? :unsure:
Expertise? How about lung capacity, for starters?
What about the ass?
My brother is currently somewhere in the Balkans, probably Montenegro. He and a couple friends started biking down from Slovenia and can't decide whether to go for Greece or Istanbul. However, one of them has already bailed out, because after a month on the bike his ass is killing him.
In the process of trying to determine, per Jacob's excellent suggestion, how far I'd be going a day, where that would put me on the map, and whatnot.
I admit I don't know anything at all about this. Is it so foolish to assume I could have a backpack full of water and some food such as peanuts? (Goober peas being the traditional light rations for a Southerner on the march)
Rather, the main concern I have is sleeping. I really can't overstate my anxieties about having a scorpion impose upon my rest. And for the matter of rest itself- what does one do? I'm not sure what i'd lay on. I'm not soft in that regard though- I'm sleeping on a floor with one pillow and no blanket now, and i've done similar for a lot of my life.
I feel compelled to embark, because I long for Salt Lake City, I want to test myself, and even if I took greyhound or such there i'd be in Deseret without transportation. Furthermore, there is the very real concern that there is nothing to do in Utah- if I have too much time on my hands once I get there, I will be forced to face that very real reality, whereas if I stumble in toward the end of July I will not have too much time and can delude myself into thinking I was torn away just before I could see Ogden's wonders, or some such.
I promised myself I would return from this trip a changed man. A few interesting news events from back home confirmed this decision for me, and so there really isn't much to discuss in way of _not_ going. I am apprehensive of the dangers of the trip, particularly as I have never had a head for repairing anything, but braving hardships for a glorious pilgrimage to the holy land is a romantic sort of thing. When I do make it back, I will have a significant laurel to speak of, and can seek the hand of miss emily.
Go for it and give the naysayers the finger. If you risk your life to change it then my hat's off to you.
Quote from: jamesww on June 11, 2011, 05:42:48 PM
If you have little idea about dealing with bikes, or cycling or some of the real dangers this escapade involves, then you shouldn't try this.
I suggest instead, you plan a cycling tour of californian vineyards instead, JR might even approve.
This is a much better idea. Less chance of dying. Deciding to bike across California, Nevada, and parts of Utah by yourself is akin to waking up one morning and deciding to swim the English channel. It's dangerous.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 06:09:45 PMI admit I don't know anything at all about this. Is it so foolish to assume I could have a backpack full of water and some food such as peanuts? (Goober peas being the traditional light rations for a Southerner on the march)
You need too much water to carry in a backpack, get some bags you can mount on the bike.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toursport.dk%2Fsharedimages%2Funderkategorifoto%2F94.jpg&hash=2dff090db5fbc617b3f144131e7ebeba6be55beb)
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 06:09:45 PM
I admit I don't know anything at all about this. Is it so foolish to assume I could have a backpack full of water and some food such as peanuts? (Goober peas being the traditional light rations for a Southerner on the march)
Backpacks on a bike for any distance are a no-no, plus they make you and the bike more unbalanced, an added danger.
It seems i'll be following highway 80- less lonely that the road raz described, that being 50, but i'm not clear on how much less lonely.
I will look into bike-mountable bags, along with a bike, in the very near future. I still have eleven days of planning, though.
Edit: being warned by mongers is _extremely_ endearing. I am of course aware of the cycling he did himself- it reminds me of Bilbo warning other halflings against the dangers of adventure. Regrettably, I am not a halfling myself, so the analogy isn't perfect. Still, it brightens anyone's day, I am sure. Has languish done enough to recognize mongers' contributions to the community?
Do highways have SOS posts at regular intervals over there?
Quote from: Iormlund on June 11, 2011, 06:35:41 PM
Do highways have SOS posts at regular intervals over there?
They certainly don't have portable AEDs.
Quote from: Iormlund on June 11, 2011, 06:35:41 PM
Do highways have SOS posts at regular intervals over there?
Plenty of Rest Stops where he can get his ass pounded by the gays that hang out in them.
Illegal to ride a bike on the interstate Lettuce.
I've driven across the salt flats. You would die instantly if you tried to bike there.
Across Nevada on a bike? With pedals? Better to rent a camel. Might I suggest a Harley or Indian?
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
http://www.mvermeulen.com/nevada/
This, then, is illegal? I can find precedents of other people doing it online, at least. It doesn't seem the death march languish suggests.
It's certainly doable, but just saying hey i wanna ride from California to Utah with no preparation or getting in shape means your trip will end pretty quickly, at least that is the most likely outcome.
Quote from: katmai on June 11, 2011, 10:18:58 PM
It's certainly doable, but just saying hey i wanna ride from California to Utah with no preparation or getting in shape means your trip will end pretty quickly, at least that is the most likely outcome.
By all means, Lettow, be sure to take your laptop so you can update us on your progress.
Umm! I have no laptop. Or cellphone. But I see, looking at the route, that there are public libraries in some of the towns along the way. I'll certainly use public library internet when it is available, to let my wonderful family here know I'm alright and proceeding.
I intend to keep a paper journal- I could type the less personal parts online, although this might wait until the trip is over.
I hope General Sherman is your spirit animal.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 11, 2011, 04:24:38 PM
Um-
I mostly balk at the cost. Actually, the temperature of the desert is an incentive for me to begin the cycling, I think. It caps out in the 80s according to a quick look at weather.com, and it is inhumanly cold here. Nobody told them it was summer, and I shiver in weather that drops below 60 in daytime. Inhuman.
Things I consider real problems with this idea:
1) sleeping
2) being attacked by wild animals while sleeping
3) carrying things while biking
4) what if the bike breaks down?
edit: it should be added I don't have a cellphone, or anyone I could really call regardless, so I'll be alone in the um, classical sense?
CdM's comments aside, I am not too worried about my physical fitness for the trip. I assume I am quite capable for 30 miles a day, which would get me there in around a month. Were I more fit, I could go a lot faster- cyclists on the internet claim 60 is sustainable, but they are cyclists with strange ideas about fitness.
I acknowledge the physical risks of the trip, but I am in a good position to be reckless that I shouldn't waste. Later in life my absence would cause much more disruptions.
Unfortunately I am, at the moment, rather unprepared. I came out here without even a pair of shoes, save for some flipflops. Equipment purchases are in order, and it all sounds ruinously expensive. And other than biking to zion, I am not sure what application a bike has in my life, or indeed how I would get it back to the glorious South.
Still, this idea is superior to alternative options, and preparations are to begin soon. The scheduled date of departure is: June 22 :ph34r:
This is an incredibly stupid idea. Where are you going to sleep? I assume you can't afford to stay in hotels for a month straight, and there won't be hotels at 30 mile intervals along the path anyway. You can't camp for a month straight--and you can't just set up camp next to a highway or whereever you want. Where are you going to get food and water? Are you going to carry a tent, sleeping bag, food, water, toiletries, clothes, and basic bicycle repair items with you?
I suggest using whatever money you have to fly back home. Spend the summer doing something else. Getting in shape would be one way to spend it, so perhaps you could try an ambitious journey that you are prepared for physically and also materially.
This is a battle you cannot win.
Turn back, mon ami. Panache will keep.
Fly back "home"? what is home, exactly? I can't lean on my friends to stay at their house- it'd be embarrassing, and its no recompense to one of the only people I get on well with. Summer housing in dreary Martin, TN is an opportunity come and gone, and switched if I know how i'd get my personal effects there anyhow.
Sleeping under an open sky might be my lot no matter where I go. (Although, for the sake of argument, if I pushed hard enough to stop at a hotel every night, as some cycling enthusiasts did, I'd be in Nevada for about a week)
If any languishites want a boarder, I am certainly taking offers.
I am prepared to offer tutoring in Southern history by way of compensation.
Everyone is pointing out the physical hardships of a trip like this, but there is another trial. The mind-numbing monotony. I've on a few occasions set out in my car with no specific destination in mind- it wears thin pretty quick. There's a pretty good chance you'll turn around long before carting water through the desert becomes a problem.
Go or don't go, just know what you're getting yourself into. Most likely the worst thing that happens is you lose a chunk of change on the bike, either on resale or baggage fees.
Lettuce, did you buy a one plane ticket or round trip? How much cash do you have on you, or in the bank?
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 12, 2011, 12:56:44 AM
Fly back "home"? what is home, exactly? I can't lean on my friends to stay at their house- it'd be embarrassing, and its no recompense to one of the only people I get on well with. Summer housing in dreary Martin, TN is an opportunity come and gone, and switched if I know how i'd get my personal effects there anyhow.
Sleeping under an open sky might be my lot no matter where I go. (Although, for the sake of argument, if I pushed hard enough to stop at a hotel every night, as some cycling enthusiasts did, I'd be in Nevada for about a week)
If any languishites want a boarder, I am certainly taking offers.
I am prepared to offer tutoring in Southern history by way of compensation.
But you have a place to stay in Berkeley, right?
I don't understand--you have a limited amount of money, no income, and no place to stay? It sounds like you don't need to be thinking about a vision quest or a bike ride--you need to get a job and investigate if any types of social assistance might be available.
A one way trip was more..thematic.
As for finances, a gentleman doesn't discuss such things. I'll manage- I keep impressively low living expenses.
Edit: of course I wouldn't seek social welfare. I live basically free on school campus, granted, but that is an investment on the government's part in the country's future. It is overdue that I seek a job, though.
One of the options before me was to get an apartment in midtown, get gainful employment, and start that sort of life, transferring to the university of memphis. I toyed with the idea earlier, before rejecting it in favour of..whatever this trip was. Which may have been a silly idea, but I still hope for a desirable outcome. Either way, in the fall I will apply myself as I have seldom before- I'll have no real distractions.
If I were planning such a long trip, I would probably not spend less than $1000-1500 on a bike.
Quote from: Martinus on June 12, 2011, 02:00:57 AM
If I were planning such a long trip, I would probably not spend less than $1000-1500 on a bike.
For that, I'd buy some Sherpas and have them carry me.
Lettow, you felt out of place at school so you went out West. Now you feel out of place in California and you're planning to go to Utah. You're going to feel out of place there as well. The problem lies in you, not the place where you are.
Quote from: Razgovory on June 12, 2011, 02:44:39 AM
The problem lies in you, not the place where you are.
:o
Quote from: Martinus on June 12, 2011, 02:00:57 AM
If I were planning such a long trip, I would probably not spend less than $1000-1500 on a bike.
And probably the same amount on other equipment. Cycling through such a desert stretch sounds like you need some rather good equipment.
Quote
The problem lies in you, not the place where you are.
:( I understand that well. I'd feel more at home in the South now, having seen California, but I can't go back yet. I don't expect to fit in Deseret- I just want to ogle its adorable culture. But that wouldn't take long and i'd tire of it pretty soon I think, which is one reason not to just fly/greyhound out there.
Also, I am hoping the journey _to_ Utah will do something about who I am, which would hopefully fix the problem the destination can't solve.
On the other hand, my dear best friend told me I was just running away with this wonderful venture, and that I should take my medicine and linger here. Plus, the costs would be rather expensive..
On the OTHER OTHER hand, I want to do something of note that people don't think I can, and mormons are absolutely adorable. Furthermore, I am just visiting here in Berkeley; I dare not tarry here, or i'd feel I was imposing. Anyhow, one way or the other, I need to go somewhere soon.
I should have gone to my grandfather this summer; he lost his eldest son and wishes i'd do what that son would not, straighten up, accept the One True Faith, tend to the family land, and be a respectable Mississippian. But I was too selfish and afraid to do that; I feel so much my father's son, except in the many areas in which he exceeds me, and he was something of a black sheep.
Anyhow, I really just want certainty in life. I need a proper missus and years that rotate rather than progress.
Edit: but on the OTHER OTHER OTHER hand, I don't want to change who I am! I am a quiet and private person with a mercurial nature. I like absorbing culture and discussing history. Increasingly, comfort and a normal life replace political ideals in terms of what is important to me. I'd be happy with people who cared about me, tea, a cat, and an internet connection. I just wish being that person brought me more happiness.
I think taking your medicine is a good idea. Challenging yourself isn't a bad thing, but taking an enormous and dangerous challenge with out preparation or the necessary skills is. I think you should take some sort of summer job. Something hands on like a street department, or construction where you would get some exercise. A few months of hard work in the sun would do you some good.
You should cycle to Oxnard.
Quote from: alfred russel on June 12, 2011, 12:30:06 AM
This is an incredibly stupid idea.
It sums the whole thing up wonderfully.
A serious suggestion: Buy a bike, go for 10-20 mile long rides five days a week for the next two weeks, double it the next two (20-40 miles) and see how you feel.
If you still have an urge for death by pedal, go for it.
You are an idiot if you do this.
With this kind of preparation it doesn't even matter what kind of bike you get, you wouldn't know how to use it to your advantage anyway.
Seriously, get a bike (any bike), load it up with all your gear and go for a one-day, 150 mile or so roundtrip. That will get you sobered up real quick.
I propose an alternative challenge.
Make enough money so that you have enough cash to rent a private jet for a one way trip between Berkeley and Salt Lake City :showoff:
(I am not saying you should spend the money; I'm saying you should make that kind of money)
This is crazy. You could easily die doing this, you have to at least get a cell phone for emergencies.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on June 12, 2011, 08:01:40 AM
This is crazy. You could easily die doing this
:ph34r:
I bike 80-100 miles a week, I am in fair biking shape and I can do 30+ miles at a go, and I would plan for something like this months in advance.
First of all a new bike would be stupid - a bike you have ridden for at least a couple of months is known and understood. Learn how to change a flat and fix the derailleurs, learn how to tune the brakes and cables (a new bike will have new cables, a big problem), lean how to ride long distances.
Secondly, I would work up to having the legs to do this - a couple of months of intense training of longer and longer distances each day, finishing at 60-80 miles each day.
Third, I would expext to spend on bike, gear, communications, food, repair, and all the other bits around 5k.
Fourth - the Sierras. Followed by Nevada...then the Salt Flats. Fuck that.
If you have never biked more than a day trip you are a fool to even contemplate this without training, learning and a partner.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 12, 2011, 03:03:25 AM
Increasingly, comfort and a normal life replace political ideals in terms of what is important to me.
That's good. Political ideals rarely tuck you in at night and them serving tea is even rarer. I can only think of once, and that was in Boston.
"Normal life" is underrated. A bicycle trip across a stretch of the US that at best can be called slightly dry and hilly is not normal life. It's a poorly thought-out plan that makes the Italian invasion of Greece seem extremely well-planned.
Like PDH says, bicycling is something that takes some practice. While I definitely support the idea of taking up biking, you need to think smaller.
A more sane idea would be to buy prospecting gear, a mule and a wagon and head off to the Black Hills. Really.
Quote from: PDH on June 12, 2011, 08:22:29 AM
I bike 80-100 miles a week, I am in fair biking shape and I can do 30+ miles at a go, and I would plan for something like this months in advance.
First of all a new bike would be stupid - a bike you have ridden for at least a couple of months is known and understood. Learn how to change a flat and fix the derailleurs, learn how to tune the brakes and cables (a new bike will have new cables, a big problem), lean how to ride long distances.
Secondly, I would work up to having the legs to do this - a couple of months of intense training of longer and longer distances each day, finishing at 60-80 miles each day.
Third, I would expext to spend on bike, gear, communications, food, repair, and all the other bits around 5k.
Fourth - the Sierras. Followed by Nevada...then the Salt Flats. Fuck that.
If you have never biked more than a day trip you are a fool to even contemplate this without training, learning and a partner.
This.
It's taken me the best part of a year to regain a lot of my fitness, and yet all of my long distance cycling trips are entirely modest, when compared with Lettow's plan.
Oh and I do my cycling in 'aGreenAndPleasantLand' Lettow you're planning to do yours on a Continent, so everything is bigger, further, higher, longer, hotter, colder, nastier, remoter etc .
:lol:
You fucking dreamkillers.
Your children will aspire towards sanitation and fast food.
Go for it if you dare, you magnificent son of a bitch.
You will most likely perish, but timid people never accomplish anything.
There is a huge difference between being a dreamkiller and pointing out the idiocy of jumping from a plane and hoping someone provides you with a parachute on the way down.
If he wants a vision quest, he should hitchhike. He will get SOMETHING out of that.
Oh, Slargos? When Lettow says biking he means pedalling, not the kind with motors like you ride.
I undestand that.
What I don't understand is this immediate need to stomp on his aspirations.
"It can't be done."
"It's too expensive."
"It's too dangerous."
"I can't stretch my legs that far."
Fucking nay sayers.
There's no pioneer spirit in Americans.
Quote from: Martinus on June 12, 2011, 02:00:57 AM
If I were planning such a long trip, I would probably not spend less than $1000-1500 on a bike.
That is true, quality is a good idea. Lettuce, dont get out in the middle of nowhere and have your Huffy breakdown.
I've driven between Reno and Salt Lake a bunch of times. It takes eight hours. That stretch of road is no joke. You have to actually put some thought into where you will stop for gas because you will get stranded if you do it wrong. There aren't any campgrounds that I know of (hwy 50 has some). There are some super small towns. One thing about those towns is that if they do have a hotel, it's likely that it's a mining town and the hotels are geared for the business travelers that go to such places. Which means they are expensive as hell for anyone not on a mining company's expense account. Also, they would be a day or more ride by bike from I-80 in most cases as well.
It's not flat either. The whole GB is a big series of vertical mountain ranges one after the other. There are three mountain passes between Reno and SL. There would be more, but 80 swerves rather dramatically to find the best way through. It takes a big jog north before going east. Taking 50 might actually be a better route for a bike. The towns there are a bit more old-timey and wild west tourist things. They are still far between, but there are camping opportunities that way. Maybe this is the route taken by the people you've read about?
Well there you go. I knew there had to be someone left with a bit of spirit. :hug:
Quote from: jimmy olsen on June 12, 2011, 08:01:40 AM
This is crazy. You could easily die doing this, you have to at least get a cell phone for emergencies.
I wonder how useful a Cell phone is out in the middle of nowhere.
Cycling is allowed on highways?
Quote from: Maladict on June 12, 2011, 07:13:56 PM
Cycling is allowed on highways?
Not really. Good way to get killed.
Interstates in the west sort of have different rules than in the east of the USA. Lots of places allow bikes (though for reasons MiM said few use it), but the larger town areas do not. Salt Lake, Denver, for instance do not allow bikes near them (though there are frontage/parallel routes to take).
Having driven the route from Wyoming to California at least 30 times in my life, I can't imagine too much more foolish than a broke novice trying to bike from the Bay Area to Salt Lake City.
take a train there in the last week if you wish to explore isengard and its culture. don't ride there, not because it's dangerous, you're not prepared, etc, but because inevitably you will not carry through with it. this is a pipe dream with an expensive price tag. you've no employment, are still in school, and the money you inherited from your father can only last so long. spending $1-2k or more on what you think to be a really cool idea is not becoming of a southern gentleman
One problem is that if you will need decent sets of both front and rear panniers, they will balance your bike and the weight is far less important than the weight distribution IMO. Good panniers are, of course, quite expensive, but riding with a backpack is moronic both in terms of immediate safety and future back problems. You will also need gears that include a few extremely low gears, you should be aiming to ride up every hill and mountain, walking a loaded bike is far harder than riding it.........but you really need very low gears for an extended climb.
One major problem is that if you start in California that is the wrong coast, you will get to the desert (which is pretty damned dangerous I would imagine) when you are still a wobbly unseasoned urbanite. Much better to start the ride in Charleston and go west...............more historically apt too.........if you did this you would gain your cycling legs in relatively easy terrain. Cycling requires a lot of stamina, stamina you simply will not have until you've been on the road a few weeks.
Only 2 days left! Got a bike yet?
To my embarrassment, the impracticalities and drudgery of it, but most of all the urging to desist of most everyone I know, has shelved the plan to cycle to Deseret.
However! I will still be departing for Utah, and I will still be cycling. A more revised practical itinerary involves taking a train and then renting a bike to explore the land. I want to see Provo in particular. I am unsure about the 22nd date; there is still some things I care to do here, where before I was eager to leave. I've met some fascinating folks.
Perhaps on the 5th, after the customary two days of fasting?
Cycling from Salt Lake City to Provo sounds much more sensible.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 20, 2011, 04:43:36 AM
To my embarrassment, the impracticalities and drudgery of it, but most of all the urging to desist of most everyone I know, has shelved the plan to cycle to Deseret.
Shame. I would've liked to have seen your final moments from your cell phone camera, carrion birds waiting off in the distance. Waiting.
I don't have a cellphone! I've said this.
But um, cycling around Utah should be enough of an undertaking. More pressingly, i'm not sure where I'll stay. Cheap monthly housing can be had, (very cheap, actually- surprised me) but that's no good if I want to be out and about. I'll improvise I guess.
:hmm: Shouldn't you maybe be trying to acquire marketable skills at this point in your life, instead of "cycling around Deseret?" :wacko:
Marketable skills is a disgusting idea. I am a gentleman of letters.
Or rather, did you spend all your college summers in a quest to increase your marketability? I will be a successful lawyer, or professor. I am confident I can do well in whatever I choose to pursue. The Deseret trip could change my life though
What if I: find the true faith?
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 21, 2011, 06:56:45 AM
Marketable skills is a disgusting idea. I am a gentleman of letters.
Have fun being a lettered hobo then. :)
QuoteOr rather, did you spend all your college summers in a quest to increase your marketability?
Actually, yes, yes I did. :smoke:
QuoteI will be a successful lawyer, or professor. I am confident I can do well in whatever I choose to pursue. The Deseret trip could change my life though
What if I: find the true faith?
If the LDS Church is the true faith, then I'm Cinderella. :)
What exactly did you do Cal?
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 21, 2011, 07:04:23 AM
What exactly did you do Cal?
Worked for an ISP in Philadelphia during the summers, and during the school year worked as a 1099 contractor doing web development and more general IT stuff around campus for various departments and centers. Alot of my friends were doing lame workstudy shit at like $8 an hour while I was billing at $50-100. :cool:
Quote from: Caliga on June 21, 2011, 06:54:31 AM
:hmm: Shouldn't you maybe be trying to acquire marketable skills at this point in your life, instead of "cycling around Deseret?" :wacko:
Cal is wise :yes:
Quote from: Monoriu on June 21, 2011, 08:39:12 AM
Quote from: Caliga on June 21, 2011, 06:54:31 AM
:hmm: Shouldn't you maybe be trying to acquire marketable skills at this point in your life, instead of "cycling around Deseret?" :wacko:
Cal is wise :yes:
Good advice +1
Good advice maybe, but only through a depressingly materialistic mindset.
I'll take an internship or travel abroad in the summer following this one, but for now, rather than furthering my capacity to live comfortably in the future, I want to find out exactly what it is I want to do in life, who I am supposed to be, & etc.
This entails a trip to Deseret. And in the future, also a trip to Glorious Nippon.
And possibly a tour of the South; outlook hazy. Anyway, wandering.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 21, 2011, 09:38:29 AM
Good advice maybe, but only through a depressingly materialistic mindset.
So getting a job and being independent is materialistic?
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 21, 2011, 09:38:29 AM
This entails a trip to Deseret. And in the future, also a trip to Glorious Nippon.
And possibly a tour of the South; outlook hazy. Anyway, wandering.
I'm sorry. I dont believe you.
Join the military. You might even get sent to Japan--and they would pay you to go. They would also get you in shape so you could go on a bike ride through Deseret.
Quote from: Monoriu on June 21, 2011, 09:48:45 AM
So getting a job and being independent is materialistic?
He's young; he'll learn. The question is... will he learn in time? :)
Quote from: Caliga on June 21, 2011, 10:00:43 AM
Quote from: Monoriu on June 21, 2011, 09:48:45 AM
So getting a job and being independent is materialistic?
will he learn in time? :)
no. He's had centuries (close to :P ) of historical learning to draw upon and he's still a secessionist, so that doesn't bode well for him.
Quote from: Monoriu on June 21, 2011, 08:39:12 AM
Quote from: Caliga on June 21, 2011, 06:54:31 AM
:hmm: Shouldn't you maybe be trying to acquire marketable skills at this point in your life, instead of "cycling around Deseret?" :wacko:
Cal is wise :yes:
Agree with Cal as well. Being useless to society is not much fun. :( Though honestly, I can't really think of a professional career that Lettow would be naturally good at. I think he might benefit from a year off school working in a hard labor environment. Something like construction or paving highways or moving furniture. I think it might help him get a different perspective on things. Work with a few guys in their mid fifties with an assortment of back problems pitifully holding on to their jobs painfully hauling shit around and you will get an idea of what a future without a good job entails.
Quote from: alfred russel on June 21, 2011, 09:59:46 AM
Join the military. You might even get sent to Japan--and they would pay you to go. They would also get you in shape so you could go on a bike ride through Deseret.
I'd normally say AF, Navy or CG, but Lettow needs the pussy beat out him. Marines. :yes:
But raz, really, one thing bothers me a little- stop projecting.
I mean, i'm not crazy or anything and I don't have mental issues I need working through.
My greatest faults are laziness and loneliness. I am taking steps to deal with both.
Hard work is for suckers. I will enjoy a life of leisure- you'll see. First world and all that. Desk jobs are where it's at. I shall work with my mind and my grasp of history, the english language, and so on.
I'm simply warning. You do not want to end up like me.
Put an outrageous vid on Youtube, then get it songified and onto the iTunes top list. Money.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 21, 2011, 12:06:53 PM
Hard work is for suckers. I will enjoy a life of leisure- you'll see. First world and all that. Desk jobs are where it's at. I shall work with my mind and my grasp of history, the english language, and so on.
It's funny to me that you think desk job = life of leisure. :sleep:
Quote from: Caliga on June 21, 2011, 12:44:41 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 21, 2011, 12:06:53 PM
Hard work is for suckers. I will enjoy a life of leisure- you'll see. First world and all that. Desk jobs are where it's at. I shall work with my mind and my grasp of history, the english language, and so on.
It's funny to me that you think desk job = life of leisure. :sleep:
Public sector.
Quote from: The Brain on June 21, 2011, 12:45:53 PM
Quote from: Caliga on June 21, 2011, 12:44:41 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 21, 2011, 12:06:53 PM
Hard work is for suckers. I will enjoy a life of leisure- you'll see. First world and all that. Desk jobs are where it's at. I shall work with my mind and my grasp of history, the english language, and so on.
It's funny to me that you think desk job = life of leisure. :sleep:
Public sector.
That's a myth :sleep:
I just spent 20 days camping in Southern Utah and inland California. No scorpions to be seen. It wasn't that hot either.
If you're going to the literal Zion park, this trip would be totally worth it.
Events & revelations move up the trip's timetable. I'll be leaving on the auspicious 22nd after all.
I am not yet sure what i'll do for housing. I infact have no plan whatsoever, other than a vague notion that south is the best direction. It may be some time until I can update again- not sure when I'll next have the luxury of a computer. I'll be sure to hunt out a library along the line.
Edit: Languish! I checked the temperatures, and it is 88 today, and 91 tomorrow! Utah is truly the promised land! I grinned ear to ear at the news. It may as well be home- I won't have to freeze in this wasteland any longer.
I bet I can eat something that isn't squid, too. This trip will delight.
Well it still gets down to the upper 40s and low 50s at night. Feels like less if it's windy. But it doesn't sound like you'll be living in a tent.
South Utah truly is awesome though. Canyonlands are wonderful. I might retire in Moab.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 22, 2011, 11:15:23 AM
Events & revelations move up the trip's timetable. I'll be leaving on the auspicious 22nd after all.
I am not yet sure what i'll do for housing. I infact have no plan whatsoever, other than a vague notion that south is the best direction. It may be some time until I can update again- not sure when I'll next have the luxury of a computer. I'll be sure to hunt out a library along the line.
Edit: Languish! I checked the temperatures, and it is 88 today, and 91 tomorrow! Utah is truly the promised land! I grinned ear to ear at the news. It may as well be home- I won't have to freeze in this wasteland any longer.
I bet I can eat something that isn't squid, too. This trip will delight.
Good Luck. Try not to get rape in a bathroom somewhere.
Also, I think you need to join the peace corp or something like that & do some exploring in South America.
Quote from: Lettow77 on June 22, 2011, 11:15:23 AM
Events & revelations move up the trip's timetable. I'll be leaving on the auspicious 22nd after all.
I am not yet sure what i'll do for housing. I infact have no plan whatsoever, other than a vague notion that south is the best direction. It may be some time until I can update again- not sure when I'll next have the luxury of a computer. I'll be sure to hunt out a library along the line.
Edit: Languish! I checked the temperatures, and it is 88 today, and 91 tomorrow! Utah is truly the promised land! I grinned ear to ear at the news. It may as well be home- I won't have to freeze in this wasteland any longer.
I bet I can eat something that isn't squid, too. This trip will delight.
Lettow, check out this movie:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809698364/info