Conference noted::bicycle

    Greetings all,
    
    I've got an opinion about this topic! (like it matters hehheh)
                                                         
    I think the bike rides across states are the best kind of bike 
    tours. They usually last for a week (except for Deleware which has
    a ride called the Deleware Double which is a trip across that state
    twice for a total of 28 miles!) These rides are generally well attended
    and there are lots of old slow geezers like myself to go faster
    than, the BRAG last year had like 2000 riders in it. Also these
    rides are cheap. Maryland for instance is having a ride called the
    CAM cycle across Maryland, 350 miles in 6 days. These rides have
    lots of SAG wagons and traveling repair wagons. I read somewhere
    that some number like 38 states have these kind of rides. The only
    bad thing is they always are camping tours. I hate camping! 
                                                    
    Conversly the organized comercial tours seem boring. They are so
    darned expensive that the groups are small. I was chatting with
    a fellow who went to Washington State for a tour, the guy payed
    $1200. for him and his wife. There was one other rider in the "tour".
    The great thing is they stayed in great places! 
    
    So if I were you I'd look into the local bike clubs and see when
    a ride across states are in your area.
    
    Fred Mudgett                          
                                          

    
    Ok, inspired by Fred's reply...
    
    - PAC tours (Lon Haldeman, et al., of the UMCA) will get you across
      the country in 20 or 30 days, completely sagged, with accomodation.
      They're not cheap, but are value for money.  This year there's also
      supposed to be a ridge-running PAC tour going south to north along 
      the Continental Divide, about 100 miles a day.  This gets my vote!
      (With PAC tours, you won't have a cushy tour adorned with charming
      country inns, but you'll be in the company of great bikers!)
    
      By contrast, a friend in Charlotte did the Bikecentennial Northern
      Route Tour (Seattle-Montana-...Maine) in 1988 - about 90 days.
    
    - BANC (Bike Across North Carolina) was supposed to provide accomodations
      indoors at each of the stage-stops, but had to be cancelled in 1989.
      It was to cross west-to-east (Murphy to Manteo), about 750 miles, in
      4 days.  Great fun, starting in the Smokies and the Blue Ridge Parkway,
      ending on the NC Outer Banks, site of the Wright Brothers' first flight.
    
    - NCTTB (North Carolina Top-to-Bottom) was a concept inspired by BANC
      and NHE2E (below), but time ran out last year before I could research
      the route enough.  NCTTB involved *optional* camping.  It was really
      two rides: Charlotte (Fort Mill, SC) to Fancy Gap VA (on the Parkway);
      and return, the next day - about 125 miles each way (100 miles on the
      Interstate).  You could camp in Fancy Gap if you wanted to, and ride
      either direction, or both.
    
    - NHE2E (New Hampshire End-to-End) was another ride that only involved 
      optional camping at the start (Canada), being a one-day, 250 (?) mile 
      ride drawing ever  closer to Nashua (and Tyngsboro, I guess), the 
      veritable Mecca of New England.  Ed Fisher is a veteran of this one.
    
    Oh my, all this makes me want to break out the ol' panniers!
    
    -john

    
    
    	750 miles in four days!  A 250 mile ride in one day! ???
    
    	A bit agressive, no?  Either would be quite a lot for a
    motorcyclist, never mind a bicyclist.

    	(I must not be tough enough. :-))

    
    Well, it's more like, "First the brain goes, then you start
    doing crazy rides like that."  :-)

    I didn't think motorcyclists were tough enough to do rides like that in
    one day.
    
    I heard about the DRAM once.  The woman who held the female record did
    it in 13:13.  (Dinky Ride Across Maryland)
    
    ed

    
    
    	Actually, Riding a bicycle for 250 miles allows you to use your
    	body much more than a motorcyclist would. (obviously) The point
   	is that although the bicycle rider is working much harder, his/her
    	body doesn't fatigue in the same fashion as that of a "motionless"
    	motorcycle rider.
    
    	I've ridden both, and must say that I'll get stiff on a long
    	motorcycle ride, and simply tired and a bit sore on a long bicycle
   	ride.

    	250 miles in one day is still out of my bicycling league. 

   	Has anyone here done it?  How many hours did it take?

    	Ed.

    	"250 miles in one day is still out of my bicycling league.
   	Has anyone here done it?  How many hours did it take?"
    
    The best I've ever done that was 16 hours, but I'm not fast like Kevin
    or John.
    
    ed

My best ride ever was last year's WISILL 24-hr race in Capron, Ill, in which I 
rode 323m in 24-hr.  I think I remember doing 240m in the 400k BMB brevet in 88 
in 14+ hours, but I can't remember exactly.

Kevin

ps.  I may be faster, but Ed can go MUCH longer...

    
    Several of us have done 24-hour rides.  Hey, that's it ... time
    for a new note!
    
    -j

    
    RE: .-2
    
    Yes, Ed can go on for days, seemingly unperturbed.  The true randonneur?
    
    -j

Nova Scotia is a very nice tour.  My first bike tour was a two week loop
in 1975 thru Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.

The only problem is there aren't many roads so you generally travel on the 
same road as the logging trucks.  If you travel down the smaller roads
on the coast you can find some great little towns with nice pubs.  

If you do go, make sure to visit PEI.  It is quite different from NS.
PEI has beautiful rolling pastures, nice beaches, and alot of roads
with very little traffic.

On the other hand New Brunswick was only so-so.

There are lots of inns and campgrounds throughout the three provinces.

As far as group size, I was never too thrilled by crowds so I always toured 
with a small group of friends (2-5 folks).  Four people on a tour is nice,
you can get by with two tents (if you camp) and one cook stove (if you cook
your own food).  Also you can break up into two groups occasionally (group
dynamics tend to go haywire after a few weeks).

It always seemed to me that the large groups were somewhat of an assault
on the locals.  In other words, you'll have a much greater chance of actually 
meeting some of the local folks and getting a taste of their culture/values,
if you are the only bicyclists they see.

-peter