took my bike to nyc from Philly for the weekend to play a gig. rode about 34 miles in a couple days (big number for me) in a city I’ve never biked before. took no trains while I was there! was able to see so much and even find a great deal on some important music gear. definitely a gentle first dip into traveling by bike, but i had so so much fun and can’t wait to do it again. hoping to make my music rig even more compact and do some longer trips while stringing multiple shows together. thanks to you all for the wisdom gleaned from lurking here. I’m converted!
by powered_by_batteries
2 Comments
what I’ll do differently next time:
-work differently around the bag limit with Amtrak. I relied heavily on my dry bag and it put a lot of stress and high weight solely on my rear rack. I’ll pack my lightweight saddlebag style pannier inside the bag and once it’s time to move around distribute my stuff between the two, saving the drybag for my laptop and controller, to move a little weight to the front (I could feel my rear wheel struggle at times) and lower the center of gravity a bit. maybe even get rid of the backpack?
-bring a small pump with me, I lost tire pressure more than I expected. nothing awful, but I want to avoid it
-focus more on maintaining a steady cadence than speed (didnt really get how important it was until my legs were jelly on day 2 with 20 miles to go)
-get a second bottle cage! I never got parched but by the end of the trip I was more dehydrated than I realized
-pack 50% less merch to sell at shows, the extra weight isn’t worth carrying around esp if it doesn’t sell
-get better straps! I think my bungees might be cheap, they lost strength by the end
awesome. what do you play that you can bike between cities and bring your gear and merch with you??
I live in nyc and am looking to get into short tours this year with a steel touring vintage raleigh i recently picked up — inspiring to read your notes!