I would expect that you will average 6-7mph to begin with, then as you ride yourself in to shape probably around 8-10mph. With a good tailwind, you will probably get up to around 15mph. Fighting the wind you'll go back down to 6-7mph.
posted
Luckily for you, most of the wind will be tail wind since your going West. Watch out for cross-winds, if it gets really bad just wait it out (if it looks like you can), same goes for rain. And take my advice from the other thread and start early to avoid as much of that as possible.
posted
I hate to disagree with the basic premise of this thread, but bee-in-as Eddie is a teenager of the male persuasion, nagging him will only make him more oppositional. Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote: Plus if you made it to Iowa you just might be able to catch a ride with Dana the rest of the way in.
Let me get this straight – you are suggesting that Bob and I give up the only time we have scheduled to be completely alone in the next seven months—the drive to Chicago—in order to give Eddie a ride because he hasn’t got his butt in gear to leave on time?
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Woops, I was thinking a Western wind which then got lodged in my head and pushed out the fact that this actually means traveling East.
Lalo, I think you can do this if you just get moving, and don't screw up on the planning. Sweat hard in training so you don't bleed in battle type of thing, only now instead of training, it's planning and buying and what not.
posted
Sorry dkw I shouldn't have volunteered you without your permission. I was thinking that if he actually made it that far, I could go pick him up if worse came to worse...
Fine. To reinforce just how superior I am to him, I'll have to do it.
Only, crap, none of the stores I'm calling stock the touring bike I'm interested in. And the cell phone and the credit card aren't arriving for at least a week. Dammit.
By the way, in terms of advice (directed to those who ever know what they're talking about -- breathe easier, Frisco), would end-heavy shoes supposedly designed for cycling be better than lightweight running shoes? I can't figure out which I'd prefer -- the heavier end will give a better drop to my pedals, but I can't process that heavier = better.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
If you get off late you can always have a friend drive you out a few hours so you can get back on schedual. Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Well for touring this long, if you're actually going to get new shoes for it I would suggest at least looking at cycling shoes (clip-ons). This would mean ou'd have to take slippers or loafers or something since you can't really walk in cycling shoes but it can save you a lot of energy since the clip-ons mean you use the energy that you spend moving your leg up as well as down.
If you're doing a none clip-on shoe just ride around in both and see how you feel, but I would seriously doubt that heavier would be better. Remember that you have to push these shoes around in a circle thousands of times, and the heavier they are the more work that will be. Plus it will be rotational inetia instead of just plain mass, so it's I = m*r^2 you'll be dealing with every time you go 'round.
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If you don't get cycling shoes and cleats you are going to at least need toe clips. With cleats you increase your efficiency a lot because instead of just pushing down you are also pulling up on the other part of the pedal stroke. Toeclips do the same thing but are much more annoying. I second the have someone drive you up the coast idea. If you could get as far north as Santa Barbara it would definitely help you out.
And if you are wearing normal shoes, definitely lighter what goes up must come down so you aren't really going to get any advantage with heavy shoes since you have to pull them up on both sides equally. It just adds extra weight to lug around the country.
posted
Watch out with toeclips, they can hurt your feet pretty badly after a extended period of riding. This is from personal experience, that involved my size 14 feet so don't take my word for it, but do watch out for that.
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And just GO to the bike shop. You don't know what model you actually need, or want until you actually RIDE the bike. See what they have in stock and choose from that unless it seems woefully inadequate, which I highly doubt.
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oh and the cycling shoes are gonna run $60-$70 another reason why I have advocated a slightly cheaper model of bike compared to the ones you were looking at last time I remember.
posted
Cycling shoes often run higher than that, I got middle of the line ones for a little over 80. Of course Eddie's not going to be getting top-of-the-line but I just want to make sure he realizies that $80 wont buy him racing shoes, just good, solid preformance.
posted
Since the shoes weight the same as each other, won't the weight cancel out? I understood the main reason you want cycling shoes is to have a rigid surface to press against, to save a bit of maneuvering your foot would have to do with each rotation. The net weight is lighter to design this into the shoe than to design it into the pedal. If you use regular shoes on touring pedals, the effect in a hill climb is going to be like walking on stilts rather than on stairs. At least, that's the way it was in '89.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
The main point of cycling shoes is that you are always connected to the pedal, so that when you bring your leg upwards you're not just wasting energy, you're pushing the bike forward. It also allows your motion to be much smoother sonce you don't have to worry about your foot slipping off the pedal. Cycling shoes also tend to be much lighter, but that's not their main benefit.
The weight of the shoes don't cancel out because you still have to bring each one around seperatly every time you do a full revolution.
posted
It's starting to feel like that. No place carries the bike I'm interested in -- and they can't order it from Treak since Trek apparently sold out this year, and the new model year won't produce it until August.
Christ, this is annoying.
I may wind up going directly to dock work and do the round-the-country bit next summer, if this persists.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Oh, Eddie, please don't let the bike be your excuse. If you have to come up with something, please get kidnapped by aliens. ANYTHING more creative than "I can't go because I can't get the exact model of bike I want, despite not having actually gone to a shop to look at bikes yet."
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Heh. Tom, relax, guy -- not inspecting the bike doesn't mean I haven't browsed a number of brands and their respective touring models. Thus far, I've been directed towards a $1500 Cannondale bike and several different hybrids -- none of which I'm particularly entranced by, and none I'm eager to blow upwards of a grand on.
Worse comes to worst, I'll mount the tiny clown bike with jacked up seat and handlebars, and manage my way across the country on that damn thing. Or I'll get a job on the docks this summer and tour the next. I'm easily the least happy person about the reality of my life right now, all the more so for my keen awareness of my responsibility for its problems -- but I really don't need to get ridden for this by every Hatracker who lacks the barest understanding of my financial and social situations. I'm flattered by AJ's passion and Tom's dry humor, but flattery goes only so far.
So, please. Believe me when I say I'm trying to get off the ground. And leave be.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Ugh. Maybe I'm not as bright as I enjoy believing, but I've no idea what you're referring to, Kama. I've made some poor financial decisions, but I like to believe that's not unique to my youth. The same preferred belief works with my current financial troubles and my unfortunate timing with the release of bicycle models as well.
But, hey. I'm tired. Maybe I'm simply not capable of understanding what you're talking about.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
no one has the barest understanding of your financial and social situations right now?
and you just bought an ipod?
you're right. i have no idea what it's like to have money, especially to blow on toys.
it's okay to be reasonable and decide that now is not the best time for you to take a cross country bike trip, but to strut around cocksure and then tell people they have no idea what your life is like is, well, as kama said, very telling of your age. arrogance and innuendo swapped with defensive "you don't know me! you're not my real dad!" exclamations are usually a trademark of youth. especially impulsive, male youth.
just don't take it too seriously, eddie. a bike trip would be cool, and it's fun to see other posters get you worked up, but do what's best for you in the semi-long run, not what will make you popular or get you laid.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Ditto, what porcelian girl said. After talking to you last night on IM I'm far more concerned about other decisions you are making (like regarding delaying school) than one for the stupid bike trip.
The scary things are the similarities and patterns between the two. I thought about it a lot last night and you should be smarter than this Eddie. I know you are.
Example A) You decide to go on a 3000 mile bike trip without ever having been to a bike shop.
Example B) You decide to delay school for a year without ever having applied for need-based aid.
You do this, despite several merit-based scholarships that drop your need-based aid to relatively reasonable levels even if it seems like a huge sum from where you are standing now.(Other people have managed far more with far less than you have currently been offered)
Eddie I wouldn't yell at you if I didn't like you. Maybe delaying school for a year will help you gain a bit of perspective. But I don't see it, I see you stagnating where you are at which is a crime because you have so much potential.
You aren't acting with a lot of maturity or even seem to trying to see the larger picture at this point. Maybe, going on the bike ride would help you develop the perspective you need you would develop more Perserverance and Determination if you didn't quit after day 3 or 4. I don't know.
Maybe being stuck at a boring and tedious job til the end of summer or for a year would be better for your character. You would be putting Duty before selfishness and that is always character improving.
Do you ever actually look at things from the perspective of Duty? Yes it may be an old dusty character trait, but the fact is most people in the world actually do live by it even if some do flagrantly violate the strongest of bonds. You've seen both, I know.
You could make arguments for various things on the basis of Duty. For example, is it your Duty to your mother and yourself, to get your butt educated as fast as possible at the highest quality level, so that you are no longer a burden to her and can maybe help her out a bit? Or is it your Duty to stay where you are and work for a year and take a community college class or two, so that you lessen the burden on her when you go off to college, thus prolonging the process slightly but helping out more as you go along.
I don't know the answers, they are your questions to answer. Choosing either option won't screw up your life, unless you let it. (and that's really where the kicker is, isn't it?)
AJ
(afterthought: The conversation last night was a bit vague. He may have applied for the need based aid, but if he had done it the normal deadlines I think he would have known already what he was getting. There are late apps I know, and a second deadline, but to make any decisions before you know for sure what your need-based aid is, seems premature. And given the info he's given me I would expect him to get a decent package of grants and loans.)
posted
Oh, Eddie, are you REALLY considering delaying school?
Don't do it, man; I'm speaking here as someone who turned his short vacation from school into a complete failure to ever finish his degree.
You are eligible now for more scholarships than you will ever be. Period. You're going to a reasonably-priced school. And right now, interest payments are so low that you could probably even afford to take $12k/year in loans and expect to be able to pay it back.
You need to go now, or you will risk being paralyzed by idleness.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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