As you can see what I lack in amazing gear I more than make up for in perseverance.
I started Saturday in Harpers Ferry WV along the C&O tow path with the plan to bike towards DC and camp where I started to physically slow down. Longest bike before this was 25 miles with no packing stuff.
I made it 49 miles the first day and a camped out in a beautiful spot next to a bunch of other bike packers.
The next morning I saw the threat of rain so I decided to bike to DC and then take the train back to Harpers Ferry to get my car.
THIS DID NOT WORK OUT!
The train was sold out, so fearing the 60 miles back to HF I thought I’d take the DC metro north as far as I could to reduce mileage but unfortunately the train didn’t go to its terminus because of track maintenance which didn’t show in the station or on the website. So I ended up doing a 75 miles second day in the rain with no rain gear. Also 2500ft of elevation gain for someone who had never gone more than 25 miles was brutal.
I ended up ditching all my camping gear on the tow path because it was so wet and weighing me down for the last 20 miles and then coming back in my car and picking it up.
All in all I learned a lot and pushed myself way past where I thought I could go physically and I’m walking funny today but I’m glad I had the experience!
Total: ~124 miles, ~3000ft elevation, ~18 hours riding time
TLDR:
Pack real rain gear.
Get some drop bars.
Plan for the worst case scenario
by Ironiciconography
6 Comments
Way to stick with your goal and persevere, bud
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🚲
Your experience is your own and I’m super proud of you!
I disagree with the drop bars comment. They’re terrible! Especially on a basket bike. If you’re interested in my suggestion, I would point you towards Ergon GP1/2/3 grips and keeping your flat bars. You can also replace the flat bars with other flat bars that have more sweep and/or rise depending on your preferences. But regardless I’d do the ergon grips.
Of course, if you want drops, go drops and thanks for posting your ride report!
Well done. This is how you learn
Glad you made it safe! Would highly recommend Sea to Summit dry bags. They do a tremendous job of packing your stuff down and keeping everything dry.
A cheap poncho will do wonders in keeping you dry while on the bike. Just keep it out of the wheels.
On the note of swapping to drop bars, I’d say give [upside down north road bars](http://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2012/05/upside-down-north-road-bars.html) a try, or check out some other options for bars that will have a 22.2mm clamp diameter. This will make it so the upgrade cost is just that of the bars, and not new shifters and brake levers too – drop bars have a 23.8mm diameter. There’s also the Surly corner bar, but that won’t save any money in this case. Old north road bars can be had for $5-10 in most co-ops.
Wow! That is really good. Very smart also.