We gather together some great bicycle touring minds for the 100th edition of The Pedalshift Project! On this edition, it’s a roundtable talking about bicycle touring stories, and even touch on the future of bicycle touring. Read more
Tag: bike routes
The Pedalshift Project 096: Bicycling Oregon to San Francisco – Part 2
My fall 2017 Pacific Coast bicycle tour ended in San Francisco last week… On this episode, part two of my big tour bicycling Oregon to San Francisco featuring all the highlights, lowlights and takeaways from a really fun trip.
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The Pedalshift Project 095: Bicycling Oregon to San Francisco – Part 1
My fall 2017 Pacific Coast bicycle tour ended in San Francisco this week… On this episode, an interview with Daniel, the guy who ended up bicycling Oregon to San Francisco with me!
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The Pedalshift Project 094: Pacific Coast Bicycle Tour Preview
My fall 2017 Pacific Coast bicycle tour kicks off in less than a week! On this episode, a tour preview plus tips for working remotely on bike tour!
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The Pedalshift Project 093: Fast forward your bike tour with Brock Dittus
Friend of the show Brock Dittus chats about his latest adventure, giving us all tips on how to fast forward your bike tour with mass transit! Read more
The Pedalshift Project 092: Morning bicycle touring checklist
Breaking news on the personal front (all good for the pod, mind you!) plus a great morning bicycle touring checklist to give your ride a proper once-over before you get rolling! Read more
The Pedalshift Project 091: Your Summer Bicycle Tours 2017
As summer begins its slow wind down, let’s take a look back at some of your amazing summer bicycle tours of 2017! From Oregon to Iceland to Scotland to South Korea, Pedalshift listeners have certainly shrunk the world by bike! Plus, a special early preview of what’s in store for Pedalshift 100!
Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 091: Your Summer Bicycle Tours 2017 (mp3)
Subscribe to The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android
Reach out to the show via email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.
Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109.
Pedalshift Tour Journals Vol.8: Western Penn
Available now at Pedalshift Plus!
Hey I’m riding the Pacific Coast again!
I’m planning on an October tour from Newport, OR to San Francisco, revisiting a section of the 2014 full coast ride and one I just adore. Looking forward to sharing more details with you in a future pod!
The march to Pedalshift 100
I have something special lined up for episode 100. We’ll have friends of the show Brock and Aaron as special guests and we’ll chat all about the usual nonsense. But but but… there’s more. We’re looking to do a joint meet up slash holiday spectacular live and in person the first weekend in December in Portland, Oregon. Details to come…
The Journal: Your Summer Bicycle Tours 2017
Greg in Santa Cruz on credit card touring the Oregon Coast
Go read Greg’s Crazy Guy journal… it’s not super detailed, but that’s kind of its charm. He took Amtrak up from San Jose to Portland and saw some of the bikey podcast sites… SE Div and 12th… VeloCult… you know, the highlights. He also tackled the Portland to Tillamook ride which even most PDXers eschew in favor of taking the MAX out halfway. Good on ya Greg!
He rode a chunk of the coast I did last summer, so check out Pedalshift Tour Journals Vol 7: Oregon Coast for some audio on that ride to supplement your reading. I noticed Greg gave Pedalshift a shout out for naming “The Book” but I’m not sure I can really take credit for that, other than saying it 73 bajillion times on a pod.
Paul Staten on trail angels in Oregon
A couple months back, work took me to Portland for a science conference. I was itching to rent a bicycle and go for a longer ride up the Columbia River Gorge, but my conference ended in the evening one day, and I flew out the afternoon of the next, so I didn’t have a good, single block of time. But I just so happened to have a sleeping pad and blanket with me, and I’d recently started reading some of Tom Allen’s stuff, and decided to just ride up the canyon in the evening, and try really hard to make it back in time for my flight. (Worst case, I would have to eat a couple hundred bucks. And I decided I’d rather do that than always wonder what the adventure would have been like.)
I rented an old bike from the folks at Everybody’s Bike Rentals and Tours. It was about $50 overnight. The frame wasn’t long enough, the bike lights were cheap, and the saddle was terrible (and I was wearing basketball shorts), but the bike was sound. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep, but I took a train to the 99th street mall, and started biking east along the river from there. You sound like you’re pretty familiar with Portland and its surroundings, so you probably know all I saw on my way up past Multinomah falls. Beautiful, right? But it was already getting on towards dark by the time I got to the mouth of the Gorge (Troutdale, right?), so I was a little nervous; I kept looking for places I could tuck in and hide for the night.
I passed by a pair of cyclists who were shopping and waved hello, wondering if I should have stopped to chat. But, of course, I was nervous about stopping somewhere, and didn’t feel like pestering them about it. Later, while checking out some falls, they passed me. I noticed that they were slower than I was (they were packed for a few days), so I decided to try to catch up, ride close to their brighter lights, and ask where to camp. We chatted for a while, and they showed me up the canyon a good ways further than I would have dared to go in the dark on my own, right to a state park with one of Oregon’s amazing hiker-biker stops. Portland is great for cyclists; I didn’t realize that Oregon as a whole is incredible. I rolled out my mat, kept warm enough to sleep with my blanket, and made my mattress and the grass my bed.
I would expect a couple of women cyclists to be wary of a man catching up and being all friendly on the road, but they were totally cool. I had to leave camp early in the morning to catch my flight, and I didn’t wake them, but I wish I could thank Oregon riders Sally and Delta for being my “trail angels” and helping my out on my first S24O.
Oh and Paul has a question for the hive mind… anyone have a good S24O recommendation for Boulder? I assume there are tons, and CGOAB would be a good resource, but I know I have a bunch of Coloradans and Colorado-adjacent types out there. Shoot a note and we’ll pass it along!
Aizlynn Johnston and Pedalshift Society Member Caleb Jenkinson’s summer bicycle tours of England and Scotland
I thought you might like to know our method of getting out. It is not too dissimilar to your own. We live in North Yorkshire just outside of Leeds so we ride to York (25 miles), catch the train up to Edinburgh, change trains to Aberdeen, get the North Link Ferry to the Shetlands, spend 6 days in the Shetlands, get the ferry to the Orkneys, 3 days on Orkneys, ferry back to the mainland, train from Thurso down to Inverness, then Edinburgh, then York, then ride home. When you book train tickets you have to book spaces for your bikes (roll on service) and even then you have to get there early in case someone is there ahead of you. You can usually get on if you have booked the spot but some runs are first come first serve so it depends how pushy you are.
Rob calls in from South Korea!
Hey, Tim. My name is Rob. I’m calling out of South Korea. Currently. I’m doing the Korea cross country cycling road tore it consist of about 4 different major Rivers ranging from about I don’t know. 400 kilometers is 600 kilometers an h. I just wanted to thank you for putting on such a great show really enjoyed listening to it, and I just wanted to give you a shout out from way over here pretty hot. It’s about 35 degrees Celsius is about 80% humidity and it’s about 9 a.m.. 10 a.m.. So I was going to get hotter hope you have a good summer of rides and keep up the good work on the podcast. Thank you. Bye.
Mark Lendzion calls in about touring ICELAND!
Hey, Tim. This is Mark. Said in my review that I would call the number so I’m calling now. I’m leaving a voicemail about my trip to Iceland so I it’s sorry with three of us still in Iceland and actually service for of it’s all going nicely not stop by to do a month long tour of there, and then one of them dropped out like 2 months before scheduled departure no big deal and then. We the three of us with Iceland and we sent a few days together and the two other people decide that point not to want to cycle as much as well. I guess they were playing and it’s likely this much as I was playing on site where they wanted to do more. Bus transit and stuff like that, so everyone comma went their separate ways I said so anyways I ended up pretty much taurine Iceland my cell for the for the whole month except for the 3 days, but it was amazing. I mean it was a blast. I had a sap like it. So I was able to there’s no roads. Are you know route that was off limits? So it was it was really awesome in that aspect be able to go everywhere and have everything on what I need 18 it was more of a like a fight packing set up which I really I’m happy. I had that rather than the traditional can hear stuff because of the the wind the wind was insane it was the most windows ever been in my life and It that that’s the one thing. I will always remember about Iceland is it’s wendy and the weather is great. Never gets dark camping is expensive food is expensive everything expensive, so unless you’re independently wealthy I would not. Truly recommend it for anybody, but I would at the same time because it forces you really tighten up your blood jason figure out different ways to make it all work do more wild camping and not you so many resources. It’s taken off the deep fat a little bit, but just Iii awesome. Definitely got more to lose on my mind. I don’t know if my wife will let me do all or my job, but hopefully. The let me do at least a couple weeks in the future alone now the group because that diana. I just did not really work out that well this time. Did you would be the feature? It would be you know I got a little homesick when I was out there. So would be nice to do it with a with a group.
And there are still more to share!
So call in… write in… I really would love to share more of your stories from summer bicycle tours on top of the ones I have. More connections are rolling in and I have some super cool ones to share in a future pod! Thanks!
Pedalshift Society
Help support the show and join the Pedalshift Society with monthly or one-shot contributions!
Ethan Georgi
Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Josiah Matthews
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
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
Roxy Arning
Nathan Poulton
Harry Hugel
Ferguson Meek
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Ruth DeVorsey
Michelle Miller
Matthew Lewis
Michael Baker
Billy Crafton
Paul Culbertson
Scott Culbertson
Matt Perry
Danielle Jepson
Cody Floerchinger
And all anonymous and past contributors for helping make this show happen!
Music
You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. I got news for ya. New. Sunfields. Album. SEPTEMBER 15th. I’ve heard it. It’s top notch.
Check Jason and Sunfields on tour too:
09/02 Groningen, NL – Vera
09/08 London, UK – Biddle Bros
09/16 Montreal, QC – O Patro Vys (Pop Montreal)
10/20 Sherbrooke, QC – La Petite Boit Noire
The Pedalshift Project 090: A Southern Tier Bicycle Tour
Friend of the show and Pedalshift Society member Mark van Raam checked one off the bucket list this year… a cross country ride on the southern tier bicycle tour route across the US. From deserts, to mountains, to encounters in the deep south, this was a trip of a lifetime! On this episode of the pod, we chat with Mark and get his thoughts on the adventure, what it was like being in an organized tour, and what might be next.
Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 090: A Southern Tier Bicycle Tour (mp3)
Subscribe to The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android
Reach out to the show via email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.
Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109.
Pedalshift Tour Journals Vol.8: Western Penn
Available now at Pedalshift Plus!
Hey I’m riding the Pacific Coast again!
I’m planning on an October tour from Newport, OR to San Francisco, revisiting a section of the 2014 full coast ride and one I just adore. Looking forward to sharing more details with you in a future pod!
The Journal: A Southern Tier bicycle tour with Mark van Raam
- What was the drive behind biking across country? Did you choose the southern tier for a specific reason?
- You rode with a unique sounding tour leader… how did you get acquainted with Bubba?
- Your buddy Robb came along too. How important was it to have someone you knew ride with you from the start?
- You’re a fellow Novara Safari rider (let’s pour one out for this discontinued beauty!). How did it perform and would you recommend it for an organized tour where you ride less loaded than self-supported or would you have rather ridden a lighter bike?
- With nearly three weeks in one state… did Texas ever feel like it was going to end? I hear it’s big.
- You met some interesting people on the trip… astronauts, friends of Ray Charles… who was the one that stood out to you and why?
- What was the most challenging time on tour?
- We love each and every state in this fine country. But you had to have had a favorite one and one that wasn’t your favorite on this route… tell us each one and why.
- How long did it take to readjust to coming home afterwards?
- You’ve mentioned this is a one and done thing. What smaller routes are catching your eye for next tour?
- Marks’s tour was organized by Bubba’s Pampered Pedalers
Connections
Velo Cetera in Oz
Hi from Australia! Thanks heaps for your podcast, it’s my listening staple on my commute to and from work each week. Thought I’d share a video of my 9yo daughter’s first overnight bicycle trip here in Australia. She’s also a big fan of The Pedalshift Project – we listened to 7 hours worth of episodes last weekend on our road trip to and from the start point of our ride! 🚴♂️🚴♀️👍
More connections are rolling in and I have some super cool ones to share in a future pod!
Pedalshift Society
Help support the show and join the Pedalshift Society with monthly or one-shot contributions!
Ethan Georgi
Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Josiah Matthews
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
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
Roxy Arning
Nathan Poulton
Harry Hugel
Ferguson Meek
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Ruth DeVorsey
Michelle Miller
Matthew Lewis
Michael Baker
Billy Crafton
Paul Culbertson
Scott Culbertson
Matt Perry
Danielle Jepson
And all anonymous and past contributors for helping make this show happen!
Music
You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. I got news for ya. New. Sunfields. Album. SEPTEMBER 15th. I’ve heard it. It’s top notch.
The Pedalshift Project 084: Bicycling Western Pennsylvania
I had an amazing adventure bicycling western Pennsylvania last week…. and on this edition of the pod, I tell stories all about biking the Great Allegheny Passage, the Montour Trail and the Panhandle Trail. Spoiler alert: it was hot.
Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 084: Bicycling Western Pennsylvania (mp3)
Subscribe to The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android
Reach out to the show via email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.
Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109.
The Journal: Bicycling Western Pennsylvania
Route
A 5-day adventure that includes the full Montour trail, a hefty helping of the Panhandle Trail and a through-ride of the Great Allegheny Passage. Nearly 300 miles. It was hot.
Highlights
- Segment riding the Montour to completion
- Big help from Dave at The Tandem Connection in Hendersonville… huge help with a weird rear flat
- Through riding the GAP fro 150-0
- Wildlife, except the rattlesnake
- Exploring Pittsburgh off the beaten path
- Hammock lounging every night
- Camping every night (but getting showers the last 2!)
Lessons Learned
- Sugar isn’t always you friend, until it is.
- Hydrate and block the sun
- Lighter is better
- Frame bags are dope
Pedalshift Tour Journals Volume 8: Western Penn… coming soon!
Full gallery of pictures from biking Western Pennsylvania.
Gear Talk
Connections
Another 5 star review from @pedalingpair and feedback on the Ohio route from Pedalshift 082.
Pedalshift Society
Help support the show and join the Pedalshift Society with monthly or one-shot contributions!
Ethan Georgi
Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Josiah Matthews
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
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
Roxy Arning
Nathan Poulton
Harry Hugel
Ferguson Meek
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Ruth DeVorsey
Michelle Miller
And all anonymous and past contributors for helping make this show happen!
Music
You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for 79 fine episodes. I got news for ya. New. Sunfields. Album. This August.
The Pedalshift Project 077: Bike touring differently
Jeremy Mendelson joins the show to talk about his take on bike touring differently: from a bike touring focused lifestyle to vegan touring to riding little clown bikes and much more.
Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 077: Bike touring differently (mp3)
Subscribe to The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android
Reach out to the show via email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.
Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109.
The Interview: bike touring differently with Jeremy Mendelson
Jeremy Mendelson is a transit planner, geographer, traveler, bus driver, advocate and co-founder of TransitMatters in Boston. He’s currently working in Colorado for the winter season and as we’ll talk about in the interview, that’s more of a means to an end in his bike travel oriented life setup. Living a more nomadic life that serves his bike touring is just the tip of the iceberg for how Jeremy tours differently. He’s a longtime vegan, which we chat about, and a fan of touring on the little clown bike itself, the Brompton. Such a great discussion…
Questions
- So much to chat about, but I think we should start by talking about your lifestyle… you describe yourself as living a semi-nomadic lifestyle. What was your journey to end up there?
- How did you get into bike touring differently?
- How does your perspective being a geographer inform your bike touring? Do you think you tour differently because of that?
- Let’s dive into the vegan thing. I find everyone who is fully plant-based eaters or trending in that direction have a good story to tell about how they got there. What’s yours?
- My experience is it’s not hard to eat totally plant-based almost anyplace, but in parts of the country (and the world) the tradeoff tends to mean having to eat a lot of processed stuff or sugary foods I would rather avoid. What’s your experience like and what do you do in “food deserts” on tour?
- Having just finished a weekend tour, I found my ability to stick with my eating plan was always battered by (a) my sudden intense caloric needs, (b) my weird cravings and (c) availability. What’s your general plan when you tour to eat plant-based?
- One of the big benefits I see with plant based eating on tour is cost savings… can you chat a bit about that?
- Let’s shift gears and chat about your adventures touring on a Brompton. What’s your favorite part about touring on “the little clown bike”?
- What gear do you tend to leave at home or pare down on when on the Brompton and how do you split it all up on the bike?
- You’re a bus driver and transit enthusiast so you’re a natural to chat about fast forwards. How do you use them and what’s your favorite one you’ve ever done?
- What’s next for you?
- Read and listen more at criticaltransit.com.
Resources
- Some further reading on moving more towards plant-based eating, because it’s a really personal choice and the information load can be a bit overwhelming:
- Is a vegetarian diet really more environmentally friendly than eating meat? (CNN) – some shades of gray on the issue.
- Diet for a Small Planet
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma
If you want to hear more about touring on a Brompton, check out Pedalshift Tour Journals Vol. 5: California Coast. Can a loaded Brompton handle the hills of Big Sur? An hour and 46 minutes of touring stories for 10 bucks… and it helps support the show! Here’s a preview:
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Connections
Another 5-star review over on iTunes!
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
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
Roxy Arning
Nathan Poulton
And all anonymous and past contributors for helping make this show happen!
Music
You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for 77 fine episodes. I got news for ya. New. Sunfields. Album. This August.