Hey Dagmarka... Or Other Serious Bikers

Re: Hey Dagmarka... Or Other Serious Bikers
Topeak Road(or Mtn)morph pump is what you want, and maybe add a CO2 inflator. Spare tube for sure, with patch kit and tire levers. A boot for the tire from Parks Tools might be better than a spare tire. Camelback for water and some backpack potential, unless you're sure of lots of amenities along the way. Be set up with two bottle cages. Anything like gatoraid goes in the bottles - not the camelback. Carry the lightest possible rain jacket.

Time? What's the condition of the path? Paved, good roadbase, or rocky? What kind of elevation changes do you expect?

Hey, why not ask your question on bikeforums.net? You might even find someone who's done the ride. Post in the general forum.

Tell 'em Nermal sent you.

thanks rog. I expect every imaginable type of condition going from the mountains of NC/TN to the ocean. I may be fooling myself. I'm going to build up to 20 miles a day as quickly as possible which shouldn't be too hard. I did 12 miles Saturday with no lasting ill effects and I also run 60 or 90 minutes a day. I figure I should be able to average 20 miles an hour and ride 4 to 6 hours a day to really be in shape for it is that reasonable? I plan to allow myself about 10 days to do it in, which should be a generous plenty I would think.

I'll go to that web site.

You're likely way ahead of me but do a Google search on "through hiker". It might be very enlightening.

I also have a suggestion for that lightweight rain jacket. About twenty years ago, I was given a Eddie Bauer "sack jac" (sounds nasty, I know). It is a Gore-tex single layer jacket that stuffs into a small sack, weighs almost nothing, and I still have it to this day. I'm pretty sure they still sell it.

Sixty minutes running has you in shape for any kind of ride, and if you can average 20 per hour over a 4 hour period, you are ready. Don't expect to keep that average if the path is unpaved. Uninformed guess is that 12mph might be a doable average on fairly well maintained unpaved trail. Physically, you are ready now.

I'm not sure I could ride 4 straight hours right now but that's my goal before I take on a coast to coast ride. As for riding an hour or more on paved roads and never coasting, that's not a problem although I haven't yet challenged a really steep grade. I intend to find some steep graqdes and start building up on them here in the next week.

And STILL..... I can't shake this goddam spare tire. I never had that problem before I got sick. Dammit.