Epilogue, part 2. Bike touring lessons
Things I absolutely loved
1. Adventure Cycling Association Northern Tier maps. The route was incredibly well chosen, weaving together bike-friendly routes whenever possible. (In Maine, unfortunately, it wasn’t possible for many miles.)
2. My navigation system. Navigating with ACA physical maps, the Bicycle Route Navigator app on my iPhone to confirm I was on the route and for calculating distances between nights, and how far I had remaining for the day, and lastly my Garmin Edge 1040 Solar with maps that show me upcoming turns. It was not turn-by-turn and I did not download GPX files—others may have done so and have an opinion regarding how helpful that is.
I manually created turn-by-turn maps on my Garmin for Day 1, but this is very time-consuming and I didn’t do it for the other 69 days. That would have been helpful. Others may know more about GPX and turn-by-turn.
3. My sturdy steel Surly Disk Trucker. There were potholes, rutted gravel roads, rumble strips, and rocks in the road. I felt very secure with my bike frame.
4. My awesome tires. Schwalbe Marathon 26x1.75 (47-559) tires. For 70 consecutive mornings my tires were full. I had 2 flats—one from a small piece of wire and one from glass when the rear tire was worn down. The wide tires were great when I hit sand or gravel on the shoulder unexpectedly. I’ve used Schawlbe Marathons on my urban commuter bike for years also without flats.
5. Ortlieb panniers and handlebar bags. They were absolutely waterproof, sturdy, and simple.
6. My clothing: Outdoor Research lightweight hoodie with hood up under my helmet, which protected by head, ears, neck and arms from sun and was cool even on hot days. Gorewear C3 3/4 Bib Tights+ Comfortable, tough, cool, covered my knees.
I washed these nearly every day and used them for nearly all the trip.
7. My shoes: Laker MX238 wide. Absolutely no foot problems. Incredibly sturdy and comfortable.
Advice for others planning to ride the Northern Tier
1. Make reservations when you can. Motels and campgrounds were often full and I was glad to have a reservation. You might think small towns would have lots of vacancies but that wasn’t my experience.
2. Follow the ACA routes. They reflect the experience of many cyclists, and though they aren’t perfect (construction projects block you occasionally and there are errors in the cue sheets on the left of some maps, but not on the maps themselves), I was very grateful I followed them.
3. If you aren’t a super-fit cyclist, which I am not, have a granny gear. I bought my Surly Disk Trucker to get the granny gear and I was so grateful to have it. The steepest grade was Brandon Gap in Vermont (Garmin says average grade 6.9%, maximum grade 26.1% for short distance) and I made it with full panniers, but just barely so, with my lowest gears.
What do I mean by granny gear and how do you measure ease of biking? Calculate gear inches, which allows you to compare one bike to another on the criterion of how easy it is to ride up a steep hill. This article explains it. You count up the number of teeth on the smallest chainring (front gear, attached to your pedals) and divide it by the number of teeth on the largest gear in your rear cassette. Then you multiply this by the tire diameter in inches. My old bike—the one I sold to get the Surly—was 27 gear inches. My Surly was 22. That is ‘low and slow’ when you needed it. This made a huge difference, because sometimes I needed it.
4. Listen to vehicle and nature sounds. Your best clue as to the speed, type, and distance of vehicles coming up behind you is the sound they make. Earphones could take away these clues. There are lots of wonderful natural sounds including birdsong, streams, wind in the trees, and also church bells and sirens.
Statistics
70 days including 2 zero days (Minneapolis, Hanover NH), one 1/2 day off (Many Glacier)
4,568 miles, 161,447 elevation gain.
Excluding rest days and half days, average 70 miles per day, range 25-108,
I spent 9 days in campgrounds, and 61 days in motels or hotels.
I had 3 flat tires, but 2 of these were the same problem so more accurately 2 flat tires.
I lost 11 pounds.
1. Adventure Cycling Association Northern Tier maps. The route was incredibly well chosen, weaving together bike-friendly routes whenever possible. (In Maine, unfortunately, it wasn’t possible for many miles.)
2. My navigation system. Navigating with ACA physical maps, the Bicycle Route Navigator app on my iPhone to confirm I was on the route and for calculating distances between nights, and how far I had remaining for the day, and lastly my Garmin Edge 1040 Solar with maps that show me upcoming turns. It was not turn-by-turn and I did not download GPX files—others may have done so and have an opinion regarding how helpful that is.
I manually created turn-by-turn maps on my Garmin for Day 1, but this is very time-consuming and I didn’t do it for the other 69 days. That would have been helpful. Others may know more about GPX and turn-by-turn.
3. My sturdy steel Surly Disk Trucker. There were potholes, rutted gravel roads, rumble strips, and rocks in the road. I felt very secure with my bike frame.
4. My awesome tires. Schwalbe Marathon 26x1.75 (47-559) tires. For 70 consecutive mornings my tires were full. I had 2 flats—one from a small piece of wire and one from glass when the rear tire was worn down. The wide tires were great when I hit sand or gravel on the shoulder unexpectedly. I’ve used Schawlbe Marathons on my urban commuter bike for years also without flats.
5. Ortlieb panniers and handlebar bags. They were absolutely waterproof, sturdy, and simple.
6. My clothing: Outdoor Research lightweight hoodie with hood up under my helmet, which protected by head, ears, neck and arms from sun and was cool even on hot days. Gorewear C3 3/4 Bib Tights+ Comfortable, tough, cool, covered my knees.
I washed these nearly every day and used them for nearly all the trip.
7. My shoes: Laker MX238 wide. Absolutely no foot problems. Incredibly sturdy and comfortable.
Advice for others planning to ride the Northern Tier
1. Make reservations when you can. Motels and campgrounds were often full and I was glad to have a reservation. You might think small towns would have lots of vacancies but that wasn’t my experience.
2. Follow the ACA routes. They reflect the experience of many cyclists, and though they aren’t perfect (construction projects block you occasionally and there are errors in the cue sheets on the left of some maps, but not on the maps themselves), I was very grateful I followed them.
3. If you aren’t a super-fit cyclist, which I am not, have a granny gear. I bought my Surly Disk Trucker to get the granny gear and I was so grateful to have it. The steepest grade was Brandon Gap in Vermont (Garmin says average grade 6.9%, maximum grade 26.1% for short distance) and I made it with full panniers, but just barely so, with my lowest gears.
What do I mean by granny gear and how do you measure ease of biking? Calculate gear inches, which allows you to compare one bike to another on the criterion of how easy it is to ride up a steep hill. This article explains it. You count up the number of teeth on the smallest chainring (front gear, attached to your pedals) and divide it by the number of teeth on the largest gear in your rear cassette. Then you multiply this by the tire diameter in inches. My old bike—the one I sold to get the Surly—was 27 gear inches. My Surly was 22. That is ‘low and slow’ when you needed it. This made a huge difference, because sometimes I needed it.
4. Listen to vehicle and nature sounds. Your best clue as to the speed, type, and distance of vehicles coming up behind you is the sound they make. Earphones could take away these clues. There are lots of wonderful natural sounds including birdsong, streams, wind in the trees, and also church bells and sirens.
Statistics
70 days including 2 zero days (Minneapolis, Hanover NH), one 1/2 day off (Many Glacier)
4,568 miles, 161,447 elevation gain.
Excluding rest days and half days, average 70 miles per day, range 25-108,
I spent 9 days in campgrounds, and 61 days in motels or hotels.
I had 3 flat tires, but 2 of these were the same problem so more accurately 2 flat tires.
I lost 11 pounds.
