Hey thanks. This is exactly what I was looking for. I said "SAG wagon" but really meant just a van/vehicle that can carry gear and spare parts, and the idea of rotating drivers solves a lot of problems. I like the idea of mixing camping and motels, but without a vehicle, I was stuck on having to carry just as much camping gear for one night as for every night. Anyway, you got me thinking. So thanks. And I'm not really interested in back-to-back centuries either. I would have considered that 25 years ago, but these days I'm more into averaging 75-ish a day.
On Jul 16, 12:42 am, doug peterson <dougpn...@cox.net> wrote: > Buck: > > My touring buds & I have done many tours over the years, with a > variety of arrangements, always trying to balance cost, comfort, > convenience & adventure. We're all well over the hill & have no > ambitions to back-to-back century days while camping & cooking. > > We've done SAG suppported tours & someone is always is to drive for a > half day. Agree upon a lunch / hand-over spot, driver takes off & > parks the van. Driver is then free to ride back up the course however > far they want to go, turn around, & ride the balance of the days > ride. Whoever takes over at the lunch stop drives the van to > tonight's destination, & rides back up the course if they want. OK, > you don't get to ride every mile of the tour but you can get pretty > darn close. > > By sharing the driving, you save the cost of hiring. Our preferred > vehicle is a mini-van. We've supported 10 riders with camping gear > out of a mini. In Europe we've done a dozen out of a small hatchback > on lodging tours. A rental is much easier to split the costs unless > someone is OK with putting several thousand miles on their own car. > > If you have all your stuff carried, you can either camp or motel it, > depending on deisreabilty of camping areas, weather, costs, etc. > We're lousy cooks so prefer restaurants but can get by on > cup'o'noodles when pressed. Keep it flexible. > > For your proposed trip, start recruiting now & you can probably get > enough people to split the car cost to make it work. We've found 5-6 > is pretty easy to get togehter but keep it under 12 as it gets pretty > cumbersome at that level. You may also get people who want to go > partway & others who want to join you somewhere along the way. Be > creative. The advantage to doing your own tour is control of mileages > & routing but you accept a lot of responsibility in the bargain. > > dougP > > On Jul 15, 4:44 pm, Buck <ahurv...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Long story short... After planning, training, and convincing my boss I > > just had to do it, I began a solo cross-country bike trip in 1985. I > > started in Anacortes, WA and expected to end in Boston (my hometown). > > I rolled into Omak, WA three days later with a raging corneal > > infection. My ophthalmologist insisted I fly home immediately. It's > > been gnawing at me ever since. > > > The math is easy... I'm 25 years older. I'm not nearly as fit. I no > > longer want to drag a tent and sleeping bag 3000 miles or drill holes > > in my toothbrush to lighten the load (kidding). But... > > > I bought a new Atlantis a couple of years ago thinking that just maybe > > I could make the trip one day. I'm thinking about next summer. > > > I'm looking for comments/suggestions with the following guidelines: > > > I still want to do the northern route and include, if possible, Going > > to the Sun Road in Glacier. > > > I don't want to carry a tent and I'd prefer not to carry a stove, etc. > > > I would definitely consider a group with a SAG wagon, but I'm gagging > > at the prices ($6000+). > > > I want to ENJOY the ride. My original plan was 5+ weeks (probably > > optimistic). I'm thinking more like 7-ish now, though I need to figure > > out my level of fitness, etc. > > > I was out for a ride today and came up with this fantasy.... find 6-8 > > compatibles and work out a loosely organized trip that includes hiring > > a college student(?) to basically drive a SAG wagon for us. Mostly to > > ferry the gear from point to point, but also as a safety net for > > emergencies or repairs that can't be fixed without parts/tools. > > > Any ideas? Any inexpensive organized trips you know of? I could handle > > camping if the gear was in a SAG wagon. Or I could do cheap hotels. > > > Is this an acceptable topic? > > > Buck -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
