Bike Trip Details

Well, I realize that I haven't put any real details about the trip up yet. So here is the plan:

It looks like we have four riders: Me, Rachael, Michael, and Shira. Four is a good number, and I am now not being overwhelmed by girls.

We leave from DC to New Orleans on the train on July 4 evening (maybe we can catch some fireworks from the observation car?). The train was chosen because it provides a relatively cheap way of transporting bikes and gear. For $400 total, I can transport Rachael and I and three checked bags each (the bike counts as a checked bag) from DC to New Orleans. Included in the price is our own little 2-person room where the chairs fold into beds, and all of our meals. Compare this with the airlines, who only wanted $100 per person to take us to New Orleans, but wanted $200 per bike plus surcharges for the other checked bags. The train takes 24 hours to go from Dc to New Orleans, but we should be pretty comfortable with a room, the ability to walk around, and a laptop computer. Shira is taking a slightly different transport scheme and is getting a ride with Kelly, who just happens to be driving through the area at about the same time.

We will probably spend a few days around New Orleans doing the tourist thing, then we will set off for the Underground Railroad Route's official starting point of Mobile, AL. We will follow the official route the whole way up into Owen Sound (see map). As on the last bike trip, we will carry our food and camp essentially the whole time.

The only difference is that this time we plan on going a little slower. When Jason and I went across, we kept feeling the pressure of Time=Money and went quite fast (I recall biking through a Shaker village in New York, but merely slowed down enough to grab a quick picture). The whole trip should thus take us about a month if everything goes well, putting us in Owen Sound around 10 August. Of course, lots of things can change on a big bike trip like this, so don't expect the schedule to be clockwork-perfect.

Bike Trip Technology Roadmap

So let's talk bike trip technology.

You may recall that on the other Big Bike Trip, Jason and I had a decent amount of technology: camera, camcorder, cell phones, even a solar battery charger. During that bike trip, we also theorized about bike touring "ultra-luxury" items, my favorite of which was a laptop computer. This would have enabled us to post on the blog, download photos, and communicate by email - a real convenience.

So this time, we are bringing a laptop. There are lots of good reasons for taking the laptop, but the primary one is to store data. This time around, we have several cameras plus an HD camcorder that records to SD cards (8GB per hour). I can easily imagine the photos/video from the trip being 100GB total, and SD cards are too expensive to buy 100GB worth (note that the video requires at least a Class 4 SD card due to high data rates).

But, once we have a laptop (and an external hard drive to backup the laptop, since these are pretty cheap and small), suddenly lots of options open up. Firstly, I can use my GPS to take tracks while we ride, then use the laptop to sync the photos and tracks to easily geo-tag all of the pictures as I download them (this sounds complicated, but is not). So we will have geo-tagged pictures.

Secondly, we can of course use the laptop to connect to the internet through Wi-Fi hotspots or through Rob's phone (which will work as a USB Internet bridge). Now things really get spicy. We can use the internet to put up blog posts and to upload the geo-tagged pictures. The Picasa tools for geo-tagged pictures allow people to not only see our photos, but to keep track of our progress on google maps, since we can display our pictures on a map rather than in an album if we want.

And, since my laptop already has Sony Vegas video editing software installed, plus all the videos and pictures stored, we can edit short videos right on the laptop and upload them to vimeo (and then link them to the blog). Also, Twitter messages can be posted by text message (from cell phones), so we will be able to do frequent short updates.

To make it easier for the viewing audience, I have centralized everything on the blog. The Twitter feed now gets ported directly to a sidebar on the right side (you should be able to see it now). The Picasa album posts the 9 most recent pictures to the top of the blog (right now there are some placeholder pictures). Also, for the lazy Facebook crowd, I have set blog posts (but nothing else) to upload directly to Facebook (If you are reading this on Facebook, know that the full bike trip info-blast is only available on the blog).

DC to Pittsburgh Bike Trip Finished

The annual DC to Pittsburgh Bike Trip is now safely ended. 19 people biked the C and O Canal portion and 9 biked the entire trip. We had perfect weather and a good crowd with no slowpokes at all. We did, however, have significant bike issues including: a magically and suddenly warped wheel, one example of extremely dubious rack/bag mounting, another wheel which could not be convinced to stop throwing spokes, and a tire that was so frayed on the sidewall that the inner tube was literally poking out of it. Problems were dealt with as they came up (note to self: buy more kevlar spokes) and we kept right on schedule.

Because we had so many people, we tried out a new concept: a command system. We had four teams with four team leaders (Rob, Scotty, Ed, and Jason). People had to be on one of them, but could switch as desired. Each team could then decide their own schedule/breaks/pace. This seems to have worked out quite well, and even fostered some inter-team competition.

I'm not going to do a movie this year (though I hear a rumor that R might), but I will post a link here to our pictures (a mix of R's and mine). They are geotagged, though some of the locations are a bit off due to us not being in the same location at all times. Also, I will post links to other folks' pictures too, since we had such a big group and mainly did not take pictures of the same things.

Eric/R's Pictures

Josh's Pictures

Brinda's Pictures

News Flash: KFC Adds New "Sandwich" Just in Time for Bike Trip

So, I saw an ad today for a new KFC "sandwich" (see picture) which has replaced the traditional "bread" with fried chicken slabs. If that isn't offensive enough, the contents of the "sandwich" are bacon and cheese.

My first reaction was: "Yikes. That sounds awful."

My second reaction was: "I hope we pass some KFCs on the bike trip."

These people need to advertise in Adventure Cycling magazine.

Whats going on with this place?

If everything looks different and wrong, that's because I am re-tooling this blog in preparation for the Big Bike Trip II: The Underground Railroad. So, if you are looking for Canal/GAP stuff, don't worry. Its all still here, but you will have to scroll down to find it. Otherwise, keep an eye out here for new Big Bike Trip stuff coming soon!

2010 C and O Canal / GAP Bike Trip

Time for the now-annual DC to Pittsburgh Bike Trip. This trip consists of both the usual 3 1/2 day bike trip up the C and O Canal Towpath trail (183 miles) from DC to Cumberland, as well as the additional 150 miles from Cumberland to Pittsburgh. Thus, people can do the whole trip, or just the portions that they are interested in. The plan is to leave DC on Fri, 28 May (afternoon) (meet up around 4PM at Key Park), with the Pittsburgh people coming in that day or the night before. Leaving DC after work, we will do about 20 miles on Friday, about 60 miles (each) on Sat and Sun, and the remaining 40 miles of the Canal on Monday. From Cumberland, anyone heading back to DC will catch a ride (pre-arranged outfitter) back to DC, so that they will be home at a reasonable time for work the next day. Anyone heading further on towards Pittsburgh will continue for another 2.5 days (60 miles/day average) and get in on Wednesday night.

I have biked the canal 8 times, and it is a delightful bike trip. The path is level (except for 10 ft rises at each lock) and is packed dirt/gravel. You are in the woods pretty much the whole time, which is nice, but there are small towns every 30 miles or so where you can eat or restock. The Canal is a National Historical Park, so it is well maintained and there are *free* hiker/biker campsites (clearing with well water pump, porta-potty, picnic table, and fire pit) every 10 miles or so. Additionally, there are many interesting natural/historical sites along the canal that make for a fun break from biking.

I've only done the GAP 4 times, but this section is also great - the trail is smoother and has more towns than the Canal, but is still in the woods. The GAP also features the "easiest" (note: relative term) 2000 ft climb you will ever do, a number of tunnels, the Mason-Dixon line, and the Eastern Continental Divide.

If you are interested in bike touring, this makes a great introduction. For this trip, it sounds like there will be a large Pittsburgh contingent and a generally large group. Hopefully, we are looking at a big rolling party like last year - don't miss out!

Still curious? Here is a short summary video of last year's trip:

2009 C&O Canal/GAP Bike Trip from Eric Hittinger on Vimeo.

2010 Canal/GAP Bike Trip - Things To Bring

There is not that much equipment that is critical for this trip - just the camping basics, really. Some people (poor Co-ops) like go cheap-and-light. Others (professional engineers) like to travel with fancy, high-tech gear. Either style works fine. This trip is a great time to try out experimental camping gear arrangements, if you are so inclined.

Things each person will need (I suggest):
-Bike (mountain or hybrid, not road bike... also, it can be cheap and crappy - my bike cost $120 at Walmart 7 years ago... note that bikes can also be rented pretty easily around here)
-Panniers / storage for your stuff (you can buy/borrow panniers, a trailer, or just put your stuff into bags that you bungee onto your rack - there are many options that will work depending on how fancy you want to get)
-Food (snacks and a few meals, and more if you don't want to do restaurants)
-Tent (or space in someone else's)
-Sleeping bag
-Proper clothes (probably 2 sets of clothes, plus rain and cold gear - this is plenty. You can get "high tech" clothes or just wear old t-shirts)
Inner Tube - in case you need it - chances are someone will have a flat

Things you probably want to take (or ensure that someone takes for you):
-Flashlight
-Headlight/tailight (in case of night riding)
-sunblock/bug repellent (I don't use it, but I take it anyway)
-personal hygiene stuff
-TP (not everyone needs a whole roll, but you don't want to run out either)
-spare change
-bathing suit

Other things to maybe take:
-Leatherman
-duct tape
-short rope
-pump
-matches
-camera
-pad and pen
-"blue" polyethylene tarp
-extra cords/straps
-towel

I will be taking a whole bunch of bike maintenance stuff, but everyone should make sure that they have at least 1 inner tube for their bike.

The costs for the trip depend mostly on how fancy you want to get with the equipment. Bike rental is probably about $30 a day (this is a guess) or you can straight up buy a bike. A passable bike at Walmart/Target for $125 (make sure it has mounting holes to mount a rack), and a good one will be hundreds of dollars. Buying a bike rack (needed for most people) will cost you about $30. Transportation back to DC will probably be about $85 a person. Campsites are free, and the remaining costs depend on you - you guys already know how much a meal in a restaurant costs if you want to go that way (I highly suggest restaurants), and the equipment above ranges greatly in cost from nothing (if you borrow it or already have it) to big bucks.