Bike Ride to Maine - Wrap Up

It's been a week since my ride to Maine and it's time to reflect on what went well and what didn't.

The Route
I used the Garmin MapSource software with the City Navigator maps to plan my route. You can instruct the software to calculate a route for a bicycle and it tries to choose appropriate roads. Even still, I had difficulty knowing whether the chosen roads were good ones for cycling. As it turns out, New Hampshire publishes some bicycle maps, which show roads suitable for bikes. These maps helped keep me off some busier roads. Apparently, Maine has similar maps, but they are not available online.

Navigation
I decided that I would use my Garmin 60 CSx GPS for navigation. With the City Navigator maps loaded, the GPS was able to calculate the route. This worked great. At times, I would stray from the chosen route and a new one would be quickly recalculated.

Mounted on the handlebar, I could see exactly where I was going and where I needed to go. If there was any criticism, the advance warning for turns was inadequate when traveling in the city. More than once I needed to make a left turn and it was too late to move over to make the turn.

Attire
Just before I departed, I decided to wear mountain bike shorts. I figured that having pockets when I stopped would be useful for carrying money, my GPS and other items I didn't want to leave with the bike. The shorts are very comfortable, but the chamois just wasn't up to the task. By about mile 50, I was wishing that I had worn other shorts. For the second day, I wore road shorts under the mountain shorts and that was just right.

Tools
I had some problems with my crankset or bottom bracket. In trying to diagnose the problem I tried tightening the chainring bolts. In order to do this, I needed two hex wrenches. With a single multi-tool, this was impossible. In the end, I lived with the squeaking bottom bracket and fixed it at home. For a long tour, I would probably take more tools.

Food
With the exception of lunch on the first day, I didn't eat too much during the ride - mostly Sharkies and Kind bars. In order to keep my food and cell phone handy, I purchased a Bento Box, which mounts on the top tube. This I liked a lot.

Bike
I used my commuter bike, a Soma Juice 29er mountain bike, for the trip. A number of people asked why I decided to ride the bike I did. All I can say is I love this bike. It has a nice ride and it handles well.

Bike Ride to Maine - Day 2

I've arrived safely at my destination and I'm getting ready to crack open a beer and relax on the porch.

Today's ride was much shorter than yesterday, only 52 miles, and there weren't as many hills. It was much windier, though.

About an hour into the ride, I started to notice a squeak when I was pedaling. It was driving me crazy and it continued to worsen. I stopped a few times to see if I could find the source, but it was no use.

When I arrived at the dock to catch the boat to the island, I ate a platter of fried seafood. I had thinking about that all day.

All in all, this was a good introduction to bicycle touring. I saw parts of New Hampshire and Maine that I had never seen before. I saw looks of amazement when I told people how far I was riding. Most of all, I accomplished something, which I had set out to do.

Now, back to that beer.

Bike Ride to Maine - Day 1

I successfully completed the first leg of my journey to Maine. With my fully loaded bike weighing in at 50 lbs, I traveled 89 miles in under six hours. Although, the bike accelerated like someone was holding on to the seatpost, it otherwise handled well.

The GPS I used for navigation did a great job getting me to my destination while keeping me off of the major roads.

Overall, the day went well, though I was really tired by the end. That hill at mile 84 certainly wasn't welcome. I'm looking foward to what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully, my legs (and butt) will be up to the challenge.

Mobile Blogging - Take 1

I'm about to hit the road on a two-day, 140-mile bicycle ride to
Maine. Before leaving, I wanted to try adding a blog post from my
phone. If this works, you may be able to read about my adventure
before I plant my butt in front of the computer again.

Finally, A Suitable Bike Rack

From the time I started biking to work, I used a backpack to carry my clothes to work. This worked well, but I came to realize that using the backpack was leading to the lower back pain that I was experiencing. It was time for a better solution.

I started by deciding whether to use a rack-top bag or panniers. Since I don't typically carry a laptop and I rarely need to carry much, I opted for a Arkel Tail Rider. This is a very nice bag. I also found some Deuter Rack Pack II panniers for a great price. I use these when I need to carry more than will fit in the Tail Rider.

Next, I needed to find a rack, which would fit on my bike, a Soma Juice. This was complicated by a few factors. First, I'm using disc brakes, so the lower part of the rack needs to be wider than normal. Next, the frame doesn't have upper rack mounts, so I would need to use p-clamps or some other solution. Finally, because this is a 29er mountain bike frame, it supports big knobby tires and many racks aren't tall enough.

I started by trying to use an old Blackburn rack, which I had used many years before. This didn't have enough clearance for the rear fender. I also had an older Topeak seat post rack laying around, so I gave that a try.

Happy to be riding without a backpack, I left for work with my new setup. I immediately noticed that weight of the bag and seatpost rack. There was no side-to-side motion, but I felt the weight pulling the saddle and seatpost back. The effect was even more pronounced when climbing. Clearly, this would not do.

The next stop on my search for a rack was the Axiom Journey Disc, which is designed to deal with disc brakes. This was a much better option than the seatpost rack, but it still had problems. First of all, the special hardware to deal with the disk brakes stuck out about an inch, making it difficult, if not impossible, to mount a pannier on that side. The other problem, and this was the deal killer, was that the vertical stays were designed to fit a mountain bike with 26" wheels, so there was not enough vertical clearance if I used the rack/fender eyelets. I tried using p-clamps to mount the rack to the seat stays, but it just wasn't stable enough.

Next in line was Soma Disc Brake Rack. I had looked at this rack earlier, but for whatever reason, I decided that there were better options. This rack is designed to deal with disc brakes and has an adjustable height. This rack was much easier to mount and so far, it's been working well.