Tag: TransAmerica
Six days into our TransAmerica bike tour, and we're already taking our first day off. The first five days have been a shakedown cruise — the last days of training and the first of our trip. I feel that our journey begins in earnest tomorrow.
After lolling around our hostess' apartment for a while, we boxed up some clothes to send back home. I sent back an extra sweater and other clothes that only filled space and added weight to my panniers.
Why did I pack so much crap? Maybe I can cheat gravity a little a we head into the Appalachians…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/05/18/1984-bike-tour-day-6-rest-day-mailing-gear-back-homethat-years-top-40/
After another breakfast of instant coffee, Pop-tarts and juice, we followed the campground owner's directions to the TransAmerica bicycle route via the historical Washington-Rochambeau route.
Today was chilly riding. Bruce wore polypro bottoms and tops, sweats, turtleneck, wool sweater, gloves and a hat under his helmet. Yesterday's warmish 80 degree high makes the weather today seem that much cooler….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/05/15/1984-bike-tour-day-3-still-a-shakedown-cruise/
We awoke to roosters crowing Monday morning. They walked down the hill from the house and strutted around our campsite.
Bruce and I climbed out of the tent at 5:45. It took us two hours to get ready, and most of that was just repacking our panniers so that the stuff we'd probably use first was at the top.
After pop tarts and coffee (the water heated on a one-burner Coleman stove), we were back on the road at 8. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/05/14/1984-bike-tour-day-2-first-roadside-attraction-shirley-plantation/
Sunday, May 13, 1984
Yorktown to Charles City, Va. 40 miles
Note: I’m republishing my journal from a transcontinental bicycle tour my friend Bruce and I took back in 1984. This tells what bike travel was like 36 years ago. No smart phones, no Garmins, no kevlar tires, no wifi. It took 10 weeks, …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/05/13/day-1-dude-wheres-my-campground/
You might remember that last summer some 45 bicyclists took off from Oregon for the first-ever self-contained cross-country bicycle race — The Trans Am Bike Race. No drafting. No sag wagons. No support teams.
Fortunately, a team of filmmakers followed some of them. Here’s a just-released trailer of their film, entitled “Inspired to Ride,” based on the race. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2015/03/25/trailer-for-trans-am-bike-race-film-inspired-to-ride/
As spring nears, it’s time to consider when and where you’ll set out for a bicycling adventure this summer. You might want to consider the mountains and valley of the Big Sky state.
A series of films posted at the Epic Montana site on Youtube is promoting the many outdoor pursuits in the state. Among …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2015/03/13/films-promote-montana-to-bicycle-travelers/
One of the best bicycling films I have had the pleasure of viewing is “Ride the Divide,” a documentary that captures the action and competitors in the grueling 2,700-mile Tour Divide mountain bike race.
Now that production team, including Mike Dion and Hunter Weeks, is getting together to film the inaugural Trans Am Bike Race, which takes …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2014/05/28/ride-the-divide-film-crew-returns-for-trans-am-bike-race/
My friend Bruce unearthed this old photo of us walking across the sand at Virginia Beach after dipping our rear tires in the Atlantic Ocean to start our cross-country bicycle tour in 1984.
After our ceremony, we climbed in a car with our girlfriends and drove to Yorktown, Va., where we actually started our 11-week …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2014/05/13/odd-memories-from-a-1984-bicycle-tour/
When Denise Blanchard lost control of her bicycle and fell hard on a gravel road in Kansas, she thought last year’s TransAmerica bicycle tour was over for her and her husband, Charles Coderre.
She wrote at her blog, CharDenVeloMonde (translated from French):
“I lose control of my bike completely and it is the fall! Ayayaye! It hurts! I …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2013/12/09/trail-angels-save-the-day-for-canadian-couple-on-bicycle-tour/
Plans are underway for next summer’s inaugural Trans Am Bike Race. The coast-to-coast self-supported bike race follows the Adventure Cycling Association’s TransAmerica Trail.
The rules for bicyclists competing in the 4,233-mile-long event are spelled out succinctly on the race poster:
“No outside support. No drafting. No entry fee. No prize money.”
That might be a …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2013/11/14/trans-am-bike-race-its-all-about-bragging-rights/
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