Hiya,
Myself and another list member rode it for the first time last year. He on
a Riv, me on my 83 Trek 620. (also another friend from Iowa and his dad).
We met a number of Riv-riders including Reginald along the way ;). Overall
it was a mixed bag. I never really got around to writing my scene report so
here goes the brain dump...
Logistics:
- We joined a small bike club based in Dubuque. We drove from Chicago to
Dubuque, then they carried our duffles and bikes across, chartered a bus,
and arranged with the organizers to secure a plot of land in each town for
the 30-40 people from the club. It was honestly pretty spartan and not all
that great. Part of the problem was that it was very hot almost the whole
week; so without a place to go to at the end of the day, we ended up having
to either kill time along the way, or immediately re-pack to ride to a
public pool or something. Just sitting in an open field in 90 degrees and
humid is not fun for me. As someone mentioned, everyone who I met along the
way that used Pork Belly loved it - they set up a tent for you, have
showers and beer and I think even entertainment. They're also very
well-connected to the organizers over many years and seemed to have the
prime locations. And yes, there are plenty of other companies including
portable AC'd huts if you want!
- If I were to do it again, I think I'd make arrangements with locals in
each town to camp on their lawn and bike pack (the organizers support a
message board to make arrangements). An idea I heard a number of times
which also seemed good if you can swing it: have a SAG vehicle shared
between a small crew. It can be a car, but prob would be what you would
drive to the start. Each day has a main lunch town/ meetup, about half way.
So in the car crew, one person misses a half day of riding, round robin.
The second half driver gets set up in the overnight town, everyone gets a
little AC as needed, and you can get around to stores and maybe even get
out of town a bit to beat the crowds if you want. Some people also rent RVs
and it seems like there are some designated places for them, but again you
need someone to drive.
- WRT to drunken shenanigans, honestly I didn't see much if any of it. The
rides were pretty brutal with the heat and elevation, so if you partied
hard the night before, I was probably way ahead the next day. We might have
had a couple beers in the shade here and there, but when there is still
miles 61 - 80 to go, and its 90 degrees, I think you'd be silly/dangerous
to hit it hard. Once in town, everyone was pretty spread out throughout, so
maybe I just missed it?
The Good:
- I've never really done any long bike touring before (maybe 3 days max) so
this was the longest number of days that all I had to do was ride! Almost
all of the roads are closed and the route obvious, so for 500 mile over 7
days, just wake up and keep pedaling. I could see why some might find the
terrain a bit same-y, but there was a ton of elevation change, really
pretty landscapes, and enough rivers and towns to keep me interested.
- the tech support was amazing. every town (? or most) had a service stop
with a number of very capable, approachable, and affordable crew for
repairs. I wore out a front derailer cable mid week (so many hills!), my
friend broke a spoke on a different day. In both cases it was like 30 min,
$20 and back on the road. Watching them lace up my old Suntour fd on the
'83 Trek, followed by a wireless rear on a carbon fiber '23 Trek for the
next person in line was pretty awesome (new battery for your rd? $60 fully
charged!).
- I thought my bike was perfect. I rode 650b x38 smooth gravel kings, 46-30
front and wide-ish rear, basic tektro brakes. I got a lot of comments both
snarky and fun (met more than one person that had done cross country rides
on 520s and 620s 'back in the day')
- I'm a pretty social person, but I met and rode with a lot of nice
strangers on interesting bikes (see above). Learned about some cool tours,
some cool bikes new and old. Despite the next section, I met quite a few
folks that were into the same things I am. You know the old Honda ads? "You
meet the nicest people on a Honda/ steel bike". As someone said, there is
also that overall good vibe of just nothing but bikers everywhere...
The Bad:
- it was really crowded. I know, of course I expected that, and it was the
50th anniversary, so it might have been particularly packed. For me there
were only a couple of rough patches where it was actually challenging to be
riding with so many people, trying to change lanes etc, and the biggest
headache was the swifties 'ON YOUR LEFT!' when it was crowded and I
couldn't go any more right. I think I had to dismount once owing to a crowd
going around a tight bend. But if you are planning to leave at a leisurely
sun-up time, and riding a modest pace, expect lines for everything (could
be like an hour for a beer or a
