A great conversation for your holiday travel! Keith Spangler and I chat about his bicycle touring adventures, starting with his state circumnavigation, to his epic Gulf Coast tour this year. We cover lessons learned, the kindness of people you meet along the way, and evaluating the decisions you made as you’re looking back.
My adventure bicycling crossing Missouri – 6 days, 300 miles from Lees Summit, MO to Kirkwood, MO in May 2018. This is a four-part video series that complements the audio journals in The Pedalshift Project 118-126. Read more
On this topic show, we tackle one of my favorites… how to fast forward your bike tour. It’s your ride… make it the best you can by bypassing parts you don’t want, catching up on a schedule or accommodating an extra day in a cool spot!
Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshiftproject@gmail.com or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109.
Fast forward your bike tour!
Fast forwards – it’s not cheating, it’s your tour
WHY? Why the hell not?
Avoiding weather
Avoiding climbs
Avoiding dodgy roads
Making up for zero mile days or staying on track during one
Skipping boring stretches to get to better ones
What works for fast forwarding?
Mass transit agencies
Regional rail
Amtrak
Intercity busses
Hitching
How?
Plan ahead – download all the schedules and store on your phone or (gasp!) print them out. Many transit agencies still print their maps and schedules and either post them at stops or you can pick them up in town.
Pro tip: know when some transit modes restrict bikes (hint: usually rush hour)
Ask around! You’ll learn a lot from transit pros in any given town.
Pedalshift Society
A big thank you to all of the monthly supporters of the show! If you like what you hear, you can help me keep the show listener-supported while expanding the offerings. Five bucks, two bucks or even 1 helps with the costs of hosting the podcast and the website, and you can do it for a bit and cancel anytime. One-shot support is welcome if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it out and join at pedalshift.net/society. And society members please go to pedalshift.net/stickers and let me know where to send some Pedalshift stickers to you! On to the Society!
Ethan Georgi
Matt Buker
Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Josiah Matthews
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Michael Riscica
Seth Krieger
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Noah Schroer
Harry Telgadas
John Sikorski
Richard Killian
Chris Barron
Scott Taylor
Brian Hren
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Paul Mulvey
Stuart Buchan
Todd Stutz
Mr. T
Roxanna Arning
And all anonymous and past contributors for helping make this show happen!
Music
The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his self-titled solo album. Check out his band Sunfields‘ latest release, Habitat, wherever cool music resides. And a little birdy tells me Jason’s recording some new music. More when I know…