Happy Holidays! It’s been quiet on the blog for a few days but there’ll be a new update tomorrow.
For now though, here’s a bit of cycle-related inspiration for your Christmas day:
Categories
Happy Holidays! [video]
Tag: bike
Case of the manflu so it’s a rushed post – will put up video and more in-depth writing soon – this is a quick ride update.
Day 39 – Gainesville to Mayo, FL (66 miles)
The bike got a service. Yeah! Meant a late start but worth it to have a fresh bike. Sounds like the bottom bracket may not have too much life in it, but should be good for a while so it’ll be interesting to see if it holds up to San Diego.
Florida, without question, is the best state to cycle in so far. There’s a state law saying that cars have to leave 3ft between them and any cyclists and the road shoulders, on the whole, are huge.
After a great ride through farmland and rural Florida (the sound of donkeys is quite bizarre when you can’t see them) the day finished, after several hours of night riding, in Mayo at 10.00pm. And with no headwinds at all.
Day 40 – Mayo to Crawfordville, FL (80 miles)
What a road. It’s probably one of the best roads so far. The Coastal Highway.
Set off from Mayo at about midday. Simple cycling enjoying the long flat roads that stretch into the distance, yet again with no significant headwinds. Just turn off and pedal. The sunny day turned to an amazingly clear and starry night on the road. Here’s a couple of snaps:
At around 8pm, in the distance there were a couple of flickering lights on the other side of the road, and after a while there was the sound of blasting metal music. ‘Ey up, what’s this about? Turned out to be Simon and Mike, from Gainesville. Gainesville? Maybe they’d been out for a long day ride. Nope. Simon had been on the road for 18 months, after setting off from Gainesville, and had cycled (with a boom box – hence the music!) to Washington state and this was his final couple of days before returning home. Mike had joined the ride in Louisiana for the final part. It was enjoyable and insightful to chat with someone who’d been living the bike life for so long. It sounds fairly bloody epic, bears and all.
More night riding and a late finish in Crawfordville, where the wonderful people at The Inn At Wildwood sorted out a room for a couple of nights.
Day 41 – Crawfordville, FL
Today there’s been thunderstorms and heavy rain across Florida, and tomorrow it clears up again. The offer of indoor accommodation couldn’t have come at a better time. Happy coincidence there. This was earlier:
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Thanks again to The Inn At Wildwood – if you’re passing check it out. Great staff and an awesome place to hang out – especially when it’s pouring down! Onwards!
After spending day 36 off the bike in St A taking care of online stuff, followed by stealth camping in the least subtle place so far (about 15 metres away from the main road), on day 37 there was a definite renewed motivation to get moving. West we go.
Day 37: St Augustine to near Hawthorne, FL (51 miles)
A shoddy nights kip just off the road in St Augustine, packing up was sloth-like, but eventually everything was in the bags.
The roads out of St Augustine are a dream for a cyclist, on a Sunday at least. Cycle lanes, whoulda’ thought it? And quiet, well maintained roads. So far, Florida is definitely leading in the cycle lane and hassle-free roads league table. It was fairly easy through Palatka, then Interlachen – the GPS showing the longest single road navigation so far – 126 miles.
Because of a liberal start in the morning, it became dark around Palatka so on came the lights. On quiet roads, night riding can be a blast. Depending on where you are, it can be a bit spooky, but not so on this ride. Until Hawthorne that is.
After a good half-hour of hunting for a place to put up the tent, I actually cycled past a campground, by chance. Gated and fenced, I called the buzzer at the main entrance, to be greeted by an aggressive sounding chap, who could say nothing other than “WHO YA KNOW?!” and “WHAT YA WANT?!”. Well to camp, please sir. At the campground that you own. After an unsuccessful attempt I moved on, across the street and found a sandy, wooded area near the local church. The morning after:
Day 38: Hawthorne to Gainesville, FL (26 miles)
Another shoddy sleep. Consecutive rubbish sleeps have caught up. In the morning, drained would be an appropriate word. Groggy, another. I woke and just wasn’t into it – weak, lethargic, and not in any way keen. Jog on, Carpe diem.
On the bike, I usually carry two water bottles on the frame (with 2 more water-carriers available in the pannier bags which are kept empty until the more remote areas). Yesterday I must have left one of the main water bottles somewhere, or perhaps it fell out. Either way I woke up and didn’t have any water left, or food. So still half-asleep I set off and stopped at the first place that sold a source of sustenance. It didn’t come for about 18 miles on the outskirts of Gainesville. It was a frustrating morning, slowly pedalling away on long roads that stretched into the distance, hoping for something over the horizon, to then be greeted by more of the same.
Oh, and headwinds. The arch nemesis of cyclists everywhere. They haven’t been a problem for the first month at all, and today they’ve been consistent all day. Guess that’s what happens with a shift of the direction. It’s slow progress, noticeably. I’m going to see how the next couple of days go and then perhaps send a bunch of stuff on to a maildrop to reduce some of the weight in the bags in preparation for the slogs.
I called it a day fairly early in Gainesville, having never really perked up since the morning. But this is the struggle. I signed up for the struggle, for the groggy days. The struggle is one of the best parts, retrospectively of course. So, embrace and crack on. Looking to do a sustained consecutive period of 50+ mile days for a while just to see a bit of Westward progress so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. Onwards and into the wind!
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Rough Map:
After setting up a mail drop for St Augustine, I’ve had the unusual task of maintaining a fixed schedule over the last few days. With the post not due to arrive in St A until Friday, it’s been a few days of light spins. Nothing too eventful has happened to be honest, but it does mark the end of stage one of the journey.
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Day 31 – Jesup to Nahunta, GA (28 miles)
Set off late after finishing the previous blog at 5.20pm! Bring on the night riding. It wasn’t a complicated day, just simple cycling on a quiet road with a nice shoulder to ride on. I was passing through Nahunta when Blanche, a local woman who owned the town’s hotel, offered camping space in the hotel grounds. Camping that’s allowed, as always, much more relaxing than being discreet. So it was with surprise at around 3am, getting woken by what sounded like the loudest foghorn ever made. In the morning, the cause became instantaneously obvious:
Day 32 – Nahunta, GA to Callahan, FL (48 miles)
An early start just to get away from that bloody noise. The 301S road totally quiet with huge straight sections that stretched right to the horizon. Plenty of this, and then eventually there was a river. St Mary’s River, which splits the state line. Florida, a new state, and the final state in stage one of the journey.
Pedalled on for a while to finish the day in Callahan, FL. After some very unenthusiastic, and unsuccessful, attempts to scout a spot to camp, I ended up in the most budget (for a reason) motel room. Anyone like bugs? You’da loved it.
Day 33 – Callahan, FL to Jacksonville, FL (22 miles)
Up and out of here, early start. Oh hang on, it’s pouring down. Tropical rain-style. I spent a while repacking the bike bags to make sure all the vitals were in drybags and safe from the rain, and saw a forecast that said there was to be heavy consistent rain all day. Spent the rest of the day getting soaked and attempting to avoid the heaviest of the downpours, with mixed success. Arrived in to Jacksonville in a heavy downpour as the light was disappearing – a very aesthetic nighttime skyline from the riverfront.
Day 34 – Jacksonville to St Augustine, FL (37 miles)
The simplest cycle ride possible. Essentially a straight road from Jacksonville right the way to St Augustine. Not overly visual or stunning roads or anything, but I found it very easy to get in to ‘the zone’ due to this being the last day of the first leg.
I pulled in to St Augustine and was very kindly offered a room at the Quality Inn – don’t worry there’ll be many more stealth camping stories soon enough!
Day 35 – St Augustine
Going to have a peruse of St Augustine today, so other than cycling around town there’s no miles today. So that’s it, the end of the first part of the journey. The first corner. It’s been an incredible experience already, and I’m excited to begin heading west, across the country tomorrow. Ready for a corny photo taken in the wind?
P.s. Just bumped into my first cycle tourers; Marcus and Yulanda from Switzerland who have been on the road for 5 months and head to Argentina on New Years Day for more touring, they’re loving it! More on that in another post. And also, a huge big up to my buddies Isaac and Sarah for sending a parcel rammed full of Campbell’s goodies, happy days – thanks guys!
Day 27: Savannah – Richmond Hill (23 miles)
The morning was spent having a look around Savannah, exploring the sights and drinking a lot of of orange juice. Interesting place with amazing historical sights and architecture, and typical college-town contrast – the quiet town I was in, surely in contrast to that when the student population returns after the holidays. It seemed to now be mainly tourists walking around the popular River St and Broughton St. There are a lot of cyclists cruising the streets, and well thought out lanes, which is unusual for many of the towns and cities visited on this trip so far. After a few hours of typical-tourist stuff in the town, I began cycling out of Savannah at around 3pm, keen to get cracking with the aim being to find somewhere to sleep. In Richmond Hill, outside of Savannah, nestled between a Church and a housing complex was a football-pitch-sized field. That’ll do.
Day 28: Richmond Hill (3 miles)
All set for the bigger miles today, I woke up early to get going. Unfortunately I’d pitched in an ants nest. Not the best of starts.
It wasn’t a very eventful day other than a chance meeting. Quick stop to pick up supplies, and I bumped in to two folks called Frank Thompson and Ty Stowe, both from out of town. They were intrigued by the bike outside, and after chatting about the Vague Direction project, they mentioned what they were in Richmond Hill for. An unusual invite, there was no way I was going to miss this, so plans for the days cycling were halted, because…
Day 29: Richmond Hill – Fort McAllister (9 miles)
It’s 1864, there’s cannons going off. It’s the civil war. Thousands of William Sherman’s Union forces are preparing to attack a small number of Confederate forces, to take the strategic position of Fort McAllister. Only kidding, no time travel here, it’s still 2012 of course. This is a civil war re-enactment held in the same location as the Battle of Fort McAllister in December 1864, nearly 150 years ago. And this is what Frank and Ty were in town for. They, and around a hundred others, are Civil War reenactors, and were in Fort McAllister to recreate those 1864 scenes, play-by-play and in real time.
Having never been to a reenactment before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it was epic and the people were so friendly. A complete range of men and women, from retirees through to workers to students. Even a heavy-metal / hardcore vocalist. Whole families as well as individuals. Large groups walking round with huge muskets, in genuine clothing, and speaking in traditional ways. Cannons going off. Huge flags being waved. Orders being shouted. Everyone was really happy to share the story and incredibly welcoming, and really enjoying the battle. What did surprise me though, was the amount of people laying on the grass having a nap in the sunshine. Everyone has to sleep, but whole groups having a nap in the midst of a battle?!
It seems like after chatting to many of the reenactors, it’s a hobby that runs through families, generation after generation – a lot of the people were born into it and often their direct relatives took part in the actual civil war. Here’s a quick video with Ty, Michael Croft and Lawson Owens – in the fort and the traditional campground, looking at how they got into this, and what they enjoy about it.
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After the battle was over, I spent time with some of the participants, which was great fun, and also some of the local people who had come to watch the Battle. Guns are common place in Georgia, so it was interesting to chat to one of audience members about personal security on this trip. He was shocked that I wasn’t carrying a firearm. And after explaining that in the UK guns aren’t common place, what followed was a slightly uncomfortable conversation about what positives carrying a gun can bring.
“You don’t carry a gun?! What if you have to defend yourself?”. He has a whole host of firearms, ranging from handguns that he keeps on him at all times, to shotguns and more. He mentioned that his house is covered in CCTV cameras, and he’s stockpiled ammunition in case one day it’s needed. I was hit by a sense that perhaps this all indicates an end-of-the-world paranoia, but perhaps the situation in the South is very different to that of the UK.
A unique and fun day nearly over, time spent with the reenactors was something I won’t forget. They were incredibly welcoming and once again it was a case of warm Southern hospitality. As the day came to a close, I found a park bench in the trees just outside Fort McAllister, and after the gun talk felt a sense of paranoia myself, with strange sounds (which turned out to be squirrels dropping stuff from the trees) and total darkness. Another night of spooky luxury!
Day 30: Fort McAllister – Jesup (56 miles)
Up at first light. Awful nights sleep. Bitten by bugs. Let’s go. Incredible empty roads to start the day’s pedalling.
But something was wrong with the bike. The chain was skipping every 7 pedal strokes. Strange, but something to take care of when stopped in a better place. Passing through Hinesville a little later, and getting annoyed by the skipping, the plan was to stop, get something to eat and then take care of the chain. So as I was pulling up to a shop, SNAAAP. Funny how things work. Chain snap number 2.
After a painless and relatively fast fix (and a thought that I really need to get the chain replaced asap), and now fuelled up, the next stop was Jesup after a few hours of easy riding on wide shoulders. The plan was to keep going further and to drop the miles to St Augustine, but after filling water I was offered a complimentary room at a local independent hotel, the Red Carpet Inn – can’t refuse that after the last few nights. People must really like bikes with a lotta’ bags.
It’s been a few days since the last blog, so this may turn into a fairly long post – sorry! (But it does involve alligators so all’s good). No interview video in this one and only phone snaps unfortunately but there’ll be plenty more video and photos soon.
Day 22 & 23 – Charleston (commuting miles – not many)
Charleston – it’s a cracking little place. Decided to stay longer than planned for a couple of reasons: 1) It’s ace and a day isn’t enough, and 2) I have an inflammed 5th metatarsal – yep. (Thanks to pals at The Body Rehab for the new lingo and the help!). Apparently this is fairly common when wearing cycling shoes for sustained periods, and can be remedied by standing on a golf ball and scrunching the underside of your foot.
Back to Charleston. There’s plenty to see and do, and it’s very accommodating to cyclists. There’s a lot of ’em wheeling about. All very welcoming, too. One of the downsides to this nomad-like style of living is being too focused on the travelling and missing stuff, so it was enjoyable to stay somewhere long enough to see the difference between night and day, literally. After walking over the bridge in the dark in the last post, I cycled over it a couple of times over these two days. And with an un-loaded bike. Holy smokes – what a difference a lightweight bike makes. You get used to a weighted bike and carrying a load, and then when you remove the weight, it’s feels like NASA’s new rocket. Twitchy and bizarre. Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge life on a weekend is thriving – there’s Marty McFly’s being pulled along on skateboards by dogs, about a million runners and ample cyclists out to get some fresh air.
To sum up the two days, it was typical-tourist really, exploring & chatting to / getting showed around by the locals (Whaddup’ Gabby, Bryan et al!). Good times which involved eating an incredibly unhealthy amount of chicken – always a bonus. I really recommend visiting Charleston if you get chance. Here’s three phone snaps for good measure – bikes, arty and sights:
Day 24 – Charleston – St John’s, SC (31 miles)
After a couple of days of not much cycling and chicken to act as fuel, it was time to head on, with another new state line within a couple of days riding distance. Those little dotted lines provide a boost of motivation.
This project’s now involved over three weeks of cycling, and the tyres on the bike seemed to be a little softer and riding felt more sluggish, so being in Charleston, a cycling hub, what better place to visit a local bike shop and borrow a track pump. Using Affordabike’s pump, I put some air in the front tyre. And then… PSSSSSSSS. Oops, too much. Split inner tube. It was always going to happen, so was good to get puncture #1 out of the way on a stunning day, rather than in the depths of a snowstorm.
After a quick fix the bike was running smoothly again, with much less rolling resitance – although there’s a chance that’s just a placebo effect. After cycling out of the city – the most hassle-free leaving-a-city-on-a-bike process so far – I was soon on the Savannah Highway. By this point it was getting on for 3ish, but I was keen on getting plenty more miles in, so ploughed on for a couple more hours.
As the sun was dropping, and the light was awesome, there was a couple of drivers who screamed past really close. All my lights were on, it couldn’t have been clearer that there was a cyclist on the road. You can be a safe as you like but an unattentive driver is just that. Then there was a sign… No literally, a sign that told of a State Park. I couldn’t hack cycling on a shoulder-less road after those close calls so took the sign as a ‘sign’ and got off that damn Highway, ending up camping behind the St John’s Fire Department just a mile-or-so off the road. It’s quite enjoyable stealth camping with prior approval (thanks St John’s!). Means you can use a headtorch and see what you’re doing which is novel.
The morning after:
Day 25 – St John’s – Hardeeville, SC (68 miles)
Early start and an opportunity to get some early miles in to avoid a similar situation to yesterday evening. The same road that caused frustration mere hours ago, now almost totally quiet, cars travelling by few and far between, the drivers usually decent enough to offer a full lane passing distance.
It’s hot, and it’s the first time on the trip experiencing salt sweats. Not pretty – maybe it’s the Charleston chicken. Imagine a salty waterfall riding a bike and it’d be a close fit. Eventually the route went through Beaufort, where there’s a big US Marine Corps Air Field. On the way there’d been several low flying F-18’s, performing crazy manoeuvres in sets of three, so that explains it.
I ended up in Hardeeville at around 10pm after a great night ride, with quiet roads and wide shoulders. It needed to be a fairly big day to time the next day, and ‘Alligator Alley’ up right. “Son you don’t wanna ride through there after dark – you’ll miss it”.
Day 26 – Hardeeville, SC – Savannah, GA (22 miles)
I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while, for a few reasons. Savannah’s been recommended several times, the route involves cycling through Alligator Alley and it means reaching a new state – Georgia. Visible progress on the map which is encouraging.
(Click on image to open full panorama)
Shortly after leaving Hardeeville, was a turn off onto the infamous ‘Alligator Alley’, which cuts right through the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, and is so called because from March – October, there’s loads of Alligators hanging out. In December, they’re usually only seen on hot days, like today, c’mon! It’s a short-ish ride, of around 6 miles, through swamp and forest, prime location for wildlife such as deer, wild hogs, a bunch of birds including eagles, and more.
I cycled ridiculously slowly keeping an eye on the water and banks around, hoping to catch a glimpse of a ‘gator. And after travelling about 3 miles, there it was in the creek. Excuse this description, but – so rad. There is an alligator in this photo if you look closely (bear in mind the photo is named ‘crap_alligator_photo’). Couldn’t get closer and travelling light means not carrying a telephoto lens and maxing out the zoom on my phone. But anyway there it was, probably only around 5ft long but an alligator nonetheless. Alligator Alley delivered!
Soon after, crossing the State Line into Georgia, it was a simple and generally flat few miles into Savannah. The next post will be about time spent in Savannah. Here’s a bridge into Savannah and a rough route from Charleston. Looking forward to continuing down the coast to near Brunswick in the next couple of days.
58 miles today. Late start leaving Ahoskie. Loaded up on Granola bars and soon got in to a rhythm, heading for the North Carolina 11 S route.
Today was the first day of really long straight roads, where you don’t have to do any navigation for basically most of the day. There was a point when I just had to ride down a single straight road for 38 miles. In many ways it’s quite enjoyable as you can turn on the music and audio books and it becomes very simple and almost meditative. ‘We Are Augustines – Rise Ye Sunken Ships’ was the highlight of todays music selection.
Click the images to open the full panoramic.
That state didn’t last too long. Had to do some obligatory mountain biking when, slightly ahead, one lorry was overtaking another. The overtaker pulled out in to the oncoming lane which was clear of cars, just not cyclists. No way was he going to stop the procedure so I promptly diverted to the grassy verge to avoid them.
Mind games have started to kick in too. Here’s one for you to try: How long can you ride whilst balancing on the white line on the side of the road? Oh the thrill! Another one is cat eye slalom. How long is this trip again?!
The ride was really great, passing through Martin County & Pitt County. Through a lot more cotton fields, and swamp land. Over the amazing Roanoke river, too. Via some awesomely aesthetic abandoned houses.
Stealth camped at a football complex 3 miles east of Greenville, near a place called Bradford Creek. Once again, not the stealthiest of spots but it seemed to work, hiding from road-visibility by bivying behind a platform.
Looking forward to riding to Wilmington, NC, arriving on most likely Saturday now. At the time of writing it’s 4pm and I’ve probably cycled about 3 miles today, so it’s not boding well for a big mileage day! It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow, so best get some food as everything closes later on today.
Oh, it was a really clear night whilst stealthing-it last night, here’s the sky:
Categories
Bicycle Touring: Spec
This is a post about the bicycle spec. To see more about other touring gear and equipment, see this post.
The bike is finally sorted. It’s changed a lot in the last few weeks, from something which was more ‘cycle-to-the-shop’ than ‘cycle-round-a-continent’ to something, I hope, a little more robust and up for the job.
It’s had a revamp: upgraded wheels, upgraded saddle, upgraded pannier rack.
Took it out for the first time fully loaded yesterday. It’s, umm, quite a shock to the system when it comes to ascending. Down hill and flat, it really doesn’t feel so bad at all. It was surprising how nimble and controllable it is. Up hill is a different kettle of fish altogether though, so that’ll be interesting.
Anyway for those into their gear specs, here it is:
- Trek 7.5FX frameset
- Bontrager Nebula carbon fork
- Tubus Smarti Front Pannier Rack
- Tubus Cargo Rear Pannier Rack
- Shimano Deore Groupset
- Shimano Dual-Sided SPD pedals
- Bontrager bar & stem
- Brooks Flyer Saddle
- Tioga bar ends for 3 handlebar positions.
- Wheelset – Shimano XT 36 hole hubs, Salsa Delgado Cross rims and DT double butted spokes w/ brass nipples. Both handbuilt by Ghyllside Cycles.
- Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tyres (honestly, don’t waste your time with any other tyres but these)
- Avid SD-3 brakes.
Accessory wise, there’s:
- Gemini Olympia LED light system.
- Met Stradivarius 2013 helmet.
- Ortlieb Pannier Bag Setup – Back Roller Classic’s | Front Roller Plus’s| Ultimate Bar Bag
- Magellan eXplorist 710 GPS