Across America with the ABC's John Shovelan



hippy wrote:

....snip....
> This is expanding on how I thought it would happen (get on bike, ride,
> pay for anything I need as I go)


Personally, I think that is your best idea.
Doing a little research first takes some of the "adventure" out of it.

....snip....

> Urgh, hate to have to use them, but i'd be taking knowledge of the
> bus/train schedules to bail me out if needed.


That is the idea.
 
>Originally posted by flyingdutch Get yourself one of them shammy-style
>swimming towels which >are great for traveling. light and small and
>easy to dry too.


Nice one (idea), keep 'em coming :)

>i got a little one-man tent that packs down to about the size of >a
>litre of milk-carton which your welcome to borrow. Heck if I >could
>spare the time I'd tag along but gotta work for 'the man'!


Still not sure about camping vs. pub stops. I'm thinking for such a
newbie, the luxury of pubs, etc. would be a better idea first go. As for
working for the man.. I don't actually have time off for this 'idea'
yet.. but I figure 'the man' comes after 'the bike' :)

>Shower-smower!


Saddle sores are much more likely to happen if I'm dirty. The thing most
likely to stop me isn't fatigue, it's more likely to be pain from
something like saddle sores, aching back etc. ( Pneumonia.. :) )

>you going to get sweaty shortly after riding again each morning


True, but getting into clean knicks while dirty, I may as well only take
one pair of knicks.. hey, there's an idea :)

>you can squeeze in a Pub-stop or un-powered caravanpark stop along the
>way to keep you going


Pub stops are sounding more and more like my kinda touring! :) Assuming
I'm not bashed by some trucker who doesn't like lycra-clad, long-haired
cyclists, I reckon I'd quite enjoy beerin' it up nightly at some
country pub...

If only I could build the road fixie before then...

hippy



--
 
Think this thread should re-named "Across Victoria with aus.bicycle's Hippy" Whatdoyathink?:D



--
 
>>>>> "hippy" == hippy <[email protected]> writes:

hippy> I'd be worried the thing blowing away, getting wet and then
hippy> sitting in wet gear for 4+ days.. After Swan Hill, there's no
hippy> train and I'm not sure on the bus timetable and their
hippy> friendliness to soggy riders with bikes for stowage.

One of the first things I learnt in the army; two sets of clothes.
Sleep in the dry, spend the day in the wet.

Getting out of nice dry clothes in to soggy wet ones on waking up isn't
exactly the best way to start the day but the alternative; having no dry
clothes to sleep in; is much worse.

hippy> In August? "Melbourne experiences some of Australia's coldest
hippy> weather in winter with some nights producing frost. Snow
hippy> doesn't fall in the city itself, but occasionally the
hippy> outlying hills receive a light snowfall" "Temperatures: From
hippy> -1°C to 12°C, average 8°C"

A bivvy bag may do the trick. It's sort of a half way house between a
tent and a tarp ;-) http://www.outdoorsupplies.co.nz/bivvy.htm

If you're claustrophobic though, forget it. Oh and never underestimate
the importance of a roll mat.
--
Regards
Euan
 
"Terry Collins" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> hippy wrote:
>
> > Hmm.. the 'most basic' camping I've done has been in a tent. I know it's
> > possible to sleep under plastic in all my clothes.. but comfortable? I
> > want to be able to ride the next day! ;-)

>
> I only mentioned the plastic as an idea for a one nighter. Once you
> start carrying tent, sleeping bag, poles, pegs, sleeping mat, you will
> also probably need stove, and two meals per day. As you can imagine,
> your weight is heading higher and what could be four days of 150kms/day
> is going to take much longer.
>


scuse me for butting in here but you could always pick up one of these.

http://www.hennessyhammock.com/

i hear they are real nice. bit pricy but you'll then have one and not need
to buy tenting gear. nor would you need to carry poles and the like. and
having a tent at only 1 pound 15 oz... that's not a whole heck of a lot of
weight. didn't read up on if they ship to oz, but if your coming to the
states anyway you can have it shipped to your starting point i'm sure.

<snip>

hope this helps
cheers
kat
 
"flyingdutch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hey Hippy
>
> Get yourself one of them shammy-style swimming towels which are great
> for traveling. light and small and easy to dry too.
>
> i got a little one-man tent that packs down to about the size of a litre
> of milk-carton which your welcome to borrow. Heck if I could spare the
> time I'd tag along but gotta work for 'the man'!
>
> Shower-smower! you going to get sweaty shortly after riding again each
> morning and you can squeeze in a Pub-stop or un-powered caravanpark stop
> along the way to keep you going (altho the caravan park wont have beer
> on tap:) )
>
>

nother little tid bit of info, if your looking for showers while on the
road, in the US you'd want to hit up truck stops. (unfortunetly they are
usually on the US highways,... not a good place for biking, not to mention
illegal to non motorized transportation. but normally there will be a side
road leading to each US highway exit.) they usually cost about a 1.25.

again cheers
kat
 
"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> >Originally posted by flyingdutch Get yourself one of them shammy-style
> >swimming towels which >are great for traveling. light and small and
> >easy to dry too.

>
> Nice one (idea), keep 'em coming :)
>

<snip>
>
> Saddle sores are much more likely to happen if I'm dirty. The thing most
> likely to stop me isn't fatigue, it's more likely to be pain from
> something like saddle sores, aching back etc. ( Pneumonia.. :) )
>
> >you going to get sweaty shortly after riding again each morning

>
> True, but getting into clean knicks while dirty, I may as well only take
> one pair of knicks.. hey, there's an idea :)
>

<snip>

should have just postied this all in one posty... please excuse for the
excess posties.

easy fix for that. make sure all your clothing is man made materials. they
seem to dry very quickly, even in colder weather. take a change of three's.
one clean, one dirty, one wearing. the dirty's you stop in at any resteraunt
and go into the bathroom, wash your grubs in the sink (shampoo works just
fine for this) and then bungy the wets off the tail end of the bike or hang
on the tent over night. if it's man made stuff it should be dry in about a
half hour. or at worst the next morning. then you've always got a clean pare
of clothes in the morning and a spare set if you end up getting cold/wet
during the day.

and on a side note.... don't ever stick man made stuff in the drier but line
dry. it will hold oders if it's exposed to drier heat for some odd ball
reason. *shrug*

and just so i don't have to postie another tidbit i'll throw this one in...
don't get aluminum cooking utencles... it heats one spot in the pan but
leaves the rest cold or will burn one area while not cooking other areas.
also things stick like no tomorrow and w/ limited amouts of water on the
trail... making clean up much more difficult. i've heard titanum is good but
have not tried it. more expence than i'm willing to put into it. i ususally
go w/ copper cooking gear. bit heavier but you can get by w/ one big mug,
for soups/coffee/tea, one plate w/ handle that will stand up as a frying pan
and utencils/fabric coffee filter/etc.... mind you this is a kitchen for one
i'm discussing, if more than one will be traveling with you i'd go for a
small kitchen setup. which i would pack as one kettle/deaper cooking pan and
a frying pan. both of which i'd personally prefer having a copper bottom.
but again that's a personal choice.

on stoves, coleman has some pretty good set ups these days that are very
nice and light weight. local camping/sporting shop can help you on those.

on sleep wear, man made is getting pretty good these days so i'd stick w/
that material for the sleeping bag as well as the clothing. it dries faster
than most other substances and if it does get wet you can tarp it over your
supply bags and bungy it down like i mentioned doing w/ washed clothing. if
it's not raining while your on the road it should get dry by the time your
ready to stop for the night.

hope all this helps..

cheers
kat
 
Vixen2yall wrote:

> easy fix for that. make sure all your clothing is man made materials. they
> seem to dry very quickly, even in colder weather. take a change of three's.


Good advice. But different materials have their advantages.
polypropelene thermals, nylon outer pants/jacket (hard wearing),
polyester fleece (e.g. polartec). microfibre underpants, ...
A "polar" fleece is dry enough to wear after a spin dry.

> and on a side note.... don't ever stick man made stuff in the drier but line
> dry. it will hold oders if it's exposed to drier heat for some odd ball


I never heard that, but I do follow the labels re tumble dry.
Anyway, at worst you can put synthetic clothes on after a spin dry,
any they will dry out soon enough. Don't try that with cotton :)

> don't get aluminum cooking utencles... it heats one spot in the pan but
> leaves the rest cold or will burn one area while not cooking other areas.


Thats a problem with any lightweight cooking pots. You can't get better
heat conduction per gram than aluminium.
I use a trangia metho stove, which produces heat over a broad area.

> also things stick like no tomorrow


Get non-stick coated aluminium pots, or better yet, the Trangia ones
with a thin layer of stainless steel bonded on the inside.

> i've heard titanum is good but have not tried it.


A gimmick to save a few gramms. Like all uses for Ti :)
 
"Mike" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Vixen2yall wrote:
>
> > easy fix for that. make sure all your clothing is man made materials.

they
> > seem to dry very quickly, even in colder weather. take a change of

three's.
>
> Good advice. But different materials have their advantages.
> polypropelene thermals, nylon outer pants/jacket (hard wearing),
> polyester fleece (e.g. polartec). microfibre underpants, ...
> A "polar" fleece is dry enough to wear after a spin dry.
>
> > and on a side note.... don't ever stick man made stuff in the drier but

line
> > dry. it will hold oders if it's exposed to drier heat for some odd ball

>
> I never heard that, but I do follow the labels re tumble dry.
> Anyway, at worst you can put synthetic clothes on after a spin dry,
> any they will dry out soon enough. Don't try that with cotton :)
>


yes, that's true but for some reason if you put synthetics in the drier they
retain smells for some reason. hence the line dry. if they line dry they
don't smell. but yes they do hold up in the drier, i've just heard enough
people complain about synthetics retaining odor that it's nice to let people
know WHY they are doing that.

> > don't get aluminum cooking utencles... it heats one spot in the pan but
> > leaves the rest cold or will burn one area while not cooking other

areas.
>
> Thats a problem with any lightweight cooking pots. You can't get better
> heat conduction per gram than aluminium.
> I use a trangia metho stove, which produces heat over a broad area.
>

i've seen those before. they look rather cool. i'll have to pick one up and
test it out sometime.


> > also things stick like no tomorrow

>
> Get non-stick coated aluminium pots, or better yet, the Trangia ones
> with a thin layer of stainless steel bonded on the inside.
>


don't like the non-sticks because if you accidentally scratch it you either
get non-stick peppered eggs or you get to throw em out. i'd rather deal w/
the extra weight and just have good pans. i use copper bottomed pans in my
own kitchen and when i go out just throw one or two in the bag. they seem to
hold up to my abuses... even when i forget i'm cooking something and get
whatever i was cooking welded to the bottoms. (head injuries are NOT our
friend)

> > i've heard titanum is good but have not tried it.

>
> A gimmick to save a few gramms. Like all uses for Ti :)
>

that's probably why i haven't tried them yet. i like my copper pans... heh

cheers
kat
 
"Vixen2yall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]

[...]

> don't like the non-sticks because if you accidentally scratch it you
> either get non-stick peppered eggs or you get to throw em out.


That's not true for the better ones like the better Tefal. You can use
supposedly metal implements on their non-stick pans although I still use
plastic ones as a matter of principle.

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"DRS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Vixen2yall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]
>
> [...]
>
> > don't like the non-sticks because if you accidentally scratch it you
> > either get non-stick peppered eggs or you get to throw em out.

>
> That's not true for the better ones like the better Tefal. You can use
> supposedly metal implements on their non-stick pans although I still use
> plastic ones as a matter of principle.
>



heh heh can't blame ya there, but i still don't trust non-stick... you have
to remember in my instance i'm not allowed to cook w/o supervision. i've
started a few kitchen fires because i forget i'm cooking something. (head
injury due to a pick up smacking me from behind at 70 mph, which is what 120
kmph.) and w/ non-stick i'm sure the messes i create would come off so much
faster, but i am also sure that the scraping i end up having to do w/ my
pans would tear even the sturdeous tefal off in no time. but then this is
me, not anyone else.

if you like tefal and you don't have my issues then go for it. just keep in
mind that's it's worth paying a little more for good stuff than having to
replace cheap buys.

cheers
kat

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Does anyone know where I can get a course profile type map of roads out
of Melbourne? Um, a topographic map(?) that has the height of hills and
shows how steep they are with the spaced lines...?

A map that covered the whole trip from Melb -> Mildura would be nifty.
I''ll try and find an RACV store soon but if their maps are geared for
cars, they're not gonna have topographical notes are they?

Need to be able to bring the bike and I back too.. will call VLine.

hippy
- I think I would fail an orienteering course right now..



--
 
I would hate to get all technical but if you see plenty of squiggly lines on your map, there'd be hills! :)

What bike and setup are you going to use for the trip Hippy?



--
 
"gescom" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I would hate to get all technical but if you see plenty of squiggly

lines on your map, there'd be hills! :)

Yeah, but I want the map that shows me the
squiggles that indicates the hills that I must
avoid :)

> What bike and setup are you going to use for the trip Hippy?


I'm thinking of taking the GTSS. I think it's silly enough me
doing this ride in the first place, let alone in winter, so I may
as well do it on a singlespeed as well.. unless the road fixie
is built by then...

I think I'll take the GTSS out this weekend and try for a
100k Beach Rd. ride on Sat and see if I can back it up with
a 150k ride on Sunday... if I can do that each weekend until
August I might actually make it!

I've got some cheap panniers/rack at home that I'll fit to
carry my gear. I'll either be doing the "tarp-tent trip" or
a credit card/pub stop adventure. They both have their
benefits..

I called VLine and it appears that they take bikes on trains
but for the bus leg (thanks Kennett for removing the train
to Mildura...) I'd have to box it all up and put it underneath.

What sort of spares should I be carrying on a trip like this?
I seem to remember the aussie audax site having some cool
tips.. I'll have a look over there..

hippy
 
hippy wrote:
> Does anyone know where I can get a course profile type map of roads out
> of Melbourne? Um, a topographic map(?) that has the height of hills and
> shows how steep they are with the spaced lines...?
> A map that covered the whole trip from Melb -> Mildura would be nifty.
> I''ll try and find an RACV store soon but if their maps are geared for
> cars, they're not gonna have topographical notes are they?
> Need to be able to bring the bike and I back too.. will call VLine.
> hippy
> - I think I would fail an orienteering course right now..




michelin make some great maps with topographical information. We have a
shop in perth called the map centre that stocks them, so im sure there
would be a shop in the big smoke.



--
 
"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]
> Does anyone know where I can get a course profile type map of roads
> out of Melbourne? Um, a topographic map(?) that has the height of
> hills and shows how steep they are with the spaced lines...?


When all else fails look for Army survey maps. They're top quality.

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