See the whole Lewis and Clark tour
milage here now containing the revised last four days
..::My real portion of the tour
Well I did it. Just not as much as I expected to do. Due to time
restraints and other issues, like me still being out of shape I only
rode from Dickinson to Bismarck. A total of about a hundred miles,
you will be able to read all about on the rides page once I get it
done that is. I am going to have some good updates to the touring
gear page so watch for that in the coming weeks. Even though it was
only two days due to the weather we had I learn alot.
..::My portion of the tour
I am going to give the route maps and info on my portion of the mntbike
tour 2004: Lewis and Clark Trail. As time allows I may add all of
the trail from Astoria, Oregon to Bismarck, North Dakota. Some areas
of the trail take some time to map since there are many turns. Click
on each are below to see the directions and map for that portion.
In the directions I am also going include some of the services of
the towns on the route. Some of this may take a while to compile so
be patient
Start - - - - - Finish - - - - - - - - - - - Miles
Jordan
MT to Fort Peck MT - - - - - - -96.0
Fort
Peck MT to Poplar MT- - - - - - - -74.0
Poplar
MT to Alexander ND - - - - - - - 96.1
Alexander
ND to Medora ND - - - - - - 103.5
Medora
ND to Glen Ullin ND - - - - - - - 84.0
Glen
Ullin ND to Bismarck ND - - - - - - -54.4
My portion of this tour total equals = 508.0
..::It had to start somewhere
Now I am no expert, hell I haven't even ridden a hundred miles in
one day but I am going to give you what I am learning and things that
I am doing to prepare for the touring coming up this summer.
..::Plans are changing 02/19/2004
It started with the thought of going through Glen Ullin,
ND which is the home town to Jayme and me. Then the idea of trying to
hit Medora, ND came to Jayme to give Kevin a chance to ride the Maah
Daah Hey Trail. Now there is a lot riding on the fact of when Kevin
and Jayme get going and get to the ND point in the ride and if they
have time to add one more day to the ride. If not things will change
again with us making a big run to get to Glen Ullin and probably skipping
Medora. This is all up to Jayme and Kevin more than me. For now I have
built a set of maps for the Medora and home route.
..::A few thoughts on touring 01/27/2004
Disclaimer: I have never ridden a tour and I
am planning this for what will amount to about four to five days of
the tour. All of my experience comes from mountain biking and commuting
around town. I am just give my thoughts on what has happened to me during
this type of riding, and from what I have read on other peoples tours.
I could be totally wrong and am always changing my mind, since I am
joining up with Jayme and Mack at the end of the Lewis and clack tour
I need to be ready. I plan to pre-ride a lot with both loaded panniers
and a trailer to see which I like better I will update my thoughts once
I do this.
It has been brought to my attention that there are few issues on how
much does one really need on a tour. Now you can say that the amount
of time or the distance could determine what you need to bring, this
is true to a point. My thinking is the same things can go wrong in thirty
days that could in five days and leave you just a screwed. I am not
saying you could ever plan for or bring enough things to cover what
could possibly go wrong. I do believe a few important items will make
or break a trip. Now true you may not need the same amount of food or
clothes on a shorter trip. If your stay with in a certain distance of
home and a ride is there if everything goes to hell you may be able
to wing it more, but if you truly have to rely on yourself you may need
to bring things to keep your bike wheels moving to the next town.
This leads me to the keep your ass moving part. You need to bring a
few essential spare parts; you need a tube, spare tire, and chain, including
spare links (pins or connecters depending on your chain), spare spokes,
patches, brake pads, and few key fasteners. Some of these you may think
you might be able to go with out and you may be right. Spare tire could
be one but look at it this way one defect seem or major blow out could
not only ruin one day but it could ruin a few until you find a replacement.
Buy yourself a good Kevlar beaded tire folded it up and forget it, touring
tires are small there is no excuse not to bring one. Spare chain, now
you may think you can just bring links and you will be fine but I have
now broken two chains is my life. This is not many but each time it
happened I fixed them by just shorting myself some gears and rode on
just to have them break again, once you break a chain it is shot the
links are all messed even if it looks fine. Brake pads, give me a break
if you loose some of these in a hilly portion of the tour well you figure
it out, these are small and simple bring a spare set. As for the other
items in my mind they are must and small enough not to really matter.
Some things you may want to think about the area you are traveling through.
If it is more populate you may not need to carry as many spare parts
but if it is sparsely populate such as areas in ND you may need to carry
more. A blown tire could turn into a lot of lost time if you are a hundred
or more miles from a city that has a place that carries one. Now you
may think this area may not exist but I know for a fact that there are
only a handful of towns that carry bicycle parts in ND and they are
more than hundred miles apart. I speak of ND but believe it or not there
are states that have even greater distances between stores with bicycling
parts.
What camping and personal items to bring along will be the next thing
you need to determine? Now if you plan on staying hotels and eating
strictly in restaurants or where you can find food along the trail this
could allow you to lighten your gear considerably. If you plan to camp,
make some of your own meals and try to save costs you have to think
of what the bare essentials are. This is where the gray area begins
what one person thinks is important might not necessarily be important
to the next. There are many big items that you could question if you
need I will give you a few examples and my thoughts on them. You can
eliminate your tent and just sleep under the stars, but you have to
remember a few things. First is bugs the chances of you being eaten
alive by mosquitoes is high in the summer months in many states. The
next thing to keep in mind is protection from the elements including
rain, snow and wind, sure you could maybe use a tarp to give you some
protection but what happens when the ground you are sleeping on turns
into a pool, good luck! This could be considered by some more of a convenience
than a necessity but I look at it like this, how many nights can you
go with out sleep and still ride a hundred miles during the day. You
are going to need your sleep as much as you need food if you want to
be able to maintain a tough riding schedule. The next thing you come
to is that nifty sleeping pad. I have a self inflating full length pad
good for camping when I haul it with the car, but now I am thinking
damn that thing is big and bulky. This will be one of first thing to
be left behind or replaced with a smaller one, to you though this may
be the most important thing. A sleeping bag is almost a must; just make
sure you buy a mummy bag that can be compacted down into a compression
bag. As for cooking and eating there are many ways to save space here.
Do you really need a full mess kit or will a bowl, fork and spoon do
fine. What kind of foods are you going to eat, will they need to be
cooked or just heated. It takes a lot less of a cooking device to heat
something than have to actually cook it or only eat foods that don’t
need anything. Chances are you will not have any way to keep things
cool so freeze dried and canned are your only options. I am going to
use a MREs which will have everything I need to heat it included they
also include tons of calories so I will have plenty of energy, I may
also bring along some sort of snack/breakfast bars and instant oatmeal.
Oatmeal can be eaten cold and has a good amount of stick with you energy.
I am going to bring along a military issue canteen cup, this is a very
versatile item that I can eat, drink and cook with. I may also, if room
allows bring along the heater stand and heaters so I can heat things
up such as soups, oatmeal, instant noodle meals and such.
There are many more things that you will have to consider when packing
for a tour. This is just my option of things, yours may be different
I am just trying to keeping you thinking about different scenarios.
For more about what I am bring and why check out my
tour
gear list.
..::Touring Links
