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The Pedalshift Project 328: Midyear Bike Touring Goals Check-In

The Pedalshift Project 328: Midyear Bike Touring Goals Check-In

In January I set up some fitness and bike touring goals. Six months later, have I completed any of them or am I really behind?

The Pedalshift Project 328: Midyear Bike Touring Goals Check-In

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Midyear Bike Touring Goals Check-In

Health/Fitness
 
  • Drop the weight
HELL YES… not quite at full goal, but mostly there.
 
  • Weigh in at least every other day all year (unless traveling) and set a back on the wagon number
YES! Near daily even.
Back on the wagon weight also set. I’m getting below that number now
 
  • Fitness center plan
None, zero. I’ve only been cycling, but can revisit this on the back half of 2023
 
  • Dry  January Feb
YES – plus I’ve dramatically reduced drinking overall, if only for the calories.
The wonders of NA beer… is it as good? No. But is it a nice alternative? Yes.
 
Touring
 
  • 5 multi day tours in 2023
3 and counting, 4th is imminent, 5th I have an idea. Possiblity of more than that? Maybe.
 
  • At least one 7+ day tour
Preview episode coming soon!
 
  • At least one fully new-to-me trail or route
NOT YET, looking at the 5th tour for this
 
  • Cross a new state by bike
NOT YET, and may have to figure out an easy one 😉
 
Whacky things
 
  • A  heavily transit aided tour
Preview episode for the summer tour, coming soon 😉
 
  • A microcamper aided tour
NOT YET… might be a fall one? Or the state crosser?

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

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Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new solo album available NOW. Go listen to COMMON TONGUES wherever cool music is available! 

The Pedalshift Project 326: Return to the C&O - Takeaways

The Pedalshift Project 326: Return to the C&O – Takeaways

Another C&O bicycle adventure is in the books… but as always, I learn something with every tour. On this edition, the takeaways from the 2023 return to the C&O, plus a peek at what’s ahead this summer on The Pedalshift Project!

The Pedalshift Project 326: Return to the C&O - Takeaways

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Return to the C&O – Takeaways

1 – The C&O Naysayers have less to naysay as the surface improvement expands
 
2 – Get yourself a water purifier
 
3 – Sitting out vs. pedaling through bad weather
 
4 – Don’t wait to amass gear… get out there and ride with what you have
 
5 – I love we’re “back” but kind of low key missing the empty trail
 
6 – After the trip I checked out the road route from Point of Rocks to Leesburg. I can’t recommend it, except maybe the other way.
 
7 – Amtrak is such a good way to make this trip work, and there’s rumors we might get MARC out to Cumberland too
 

Transcript

Hey, I’m trying this out… if you like having a transcript (that I’m not really editing at this point), let me know!

Greetings and welcome to another edition of the Pedal Shift Project. The Pedal Shift Project is a series of conversations, thoughts, and experiments around the bike touring lifestyle from tips and tricks to ideas on how to ride your ride. Let’s shrink the world by bike. Show notes and more are available@pedalshift.net slash 3 2 6, and you can email the show pedal shift pedal shift.net, or text me at 2 0 2 9 3 0 11 0 9 and check pedal shift out on all the socials as well.

Hello everybody, and welcome to the 326th edition of the Pedal Shift Project. My name’s Tim Mooney. Thanks so much for joining on this edition. We are doing our patented takeaways episode for the return to the C&O tour, which was a lot of fun. I really, really ended up enjoying it. I hope that was apparent by the end of last week’s episode.

It’s always so great to get on that trail. I think it’s a crown jewel. I am a broken record on all of this. I have, let’s see, 1, 2, 3, 4. I have seven takeaways for this particular tour. And they are as always a no particular order. And I also am gonna wrap things up by taking a look ahead at what is to come this summer on the pedal ship project and actually the summer and beyond.

Stick around. We will get to that at the end of this here Program.

Takeaway 1

Number one takeaway from the return to the C&O 2023 tour. I think the C&O naysayers have a lot less to naysay as the surface improvement expands on this trail. The. The expansion of the new surface was I think, to some people, a little controversial, and I talked a little bit about this on the second and third days.

There were many folks, and I think me included, that were. I don’t know. , a little resistant to the, the new trail surface because there is a major historical element to the C&O towpath. For those of you who have not been with the show, who have not heard me talk about this endlessly, this was a major economic engine for the region back in, at the 18 hundreds or so, and the way that all of the goods were.

Literally pulled down this canal was with, pack animals and whatnot. And so there’s a real historical nature of it. Now, maybe I think there’s a piece of me that because of the fact that I grew up along the Erie Canal, that I see that that’s a big deal and the historical nature of it is, is important and preserving history can be important.

But I think I’ve changed my tune over the years. I don’t think it’s necessary that we have a. 18 hundreds era surface to a trail in order to appreciate what the towpath meant historically, especially now because there’s an overall evolution as to what this towpath means and what it means for each of these different regions.

Erie Canal, in terms of New York and the C&O in terms of Maryland and dc. So I think that it’s fine to have an evolution of these types of things over time, especially as the uses evolve. The canal itself, it evolved over time. It was shallower for a while and then it was made deeper, and then they dug the papa tunnel and then all of these different types of things.

So I think if we keep frozen in Amber perspective on what history means, I think we’re ignoring. Well history. So I think that the surface improvement is a great idea and it certainly makes for better riding. I think it also means that when you make the investment on the surface, allowing it to drain better, allowing it to not get as rudded, it means that there’s fewer future maintenance costs, perhaps.

Now I don’t know the answer to that specifically, I’m just speculating on that, but I think that that’s probably something that’s a good investment for the future of the trail. In that respect as well. And oh, by the way, it rides really great. So that’s , a fantastic addition to making this a better experience for more people.

Now, I will say that I think that a lot of folks who are more on the backpacking or excuse, I keep saying, I keep doing that. Do you do this? I say backpacking instead of backpacking. When I mean backpacking. The folks that are into bike packing, I think many of them want a little more, I don’t know, gravelly experience, a little bit more of the traditional surface perhaps.

And, and tell me if you, you think I’m wrong on that? So by having a, a smoother ride, it maybe, I don’t know, takes away a little bit from some people’s notions of what. Bike packing means, and that’s fine. I mean, you know how I am on all of this. Ride your ride, go, go where you want, take, take the surfaces you want.

But I do think that the new surface expands the ability for more people to be able to enjoy the towpath. And the overall C&O experience, so you can have a more traditional bike touring set up, you could ride on this new surface on a Brompton for sure. There are just a lot more opportunities that are available.

It opens up the accessibility, but where I think that it might have been harder in other circumstances for other folks who are riding. So, I think that I always go back my avatar for the naysayer and, , I’ve mentioned this person before. It was on some kind of a forum. I can’t remember what it was.

It might have been Reddit, it might have been Facebook. I think it might have been Facebook. Cause it was years ago, somebody who referred to the C&Os surface as embarrassing or something like that. And it was just like a really very. Highly personal take on the whole thing, that it was just like, oh, it was terrible.

And, loading the, the gap over the C&O and, I’m, I’ve been team C&O forever, which is to take nothing away from the gap, but I’ve always been a little bit salty over. Had whole experience. And I think that the new surface really takes away those arguments quite a bit. But I guess in a, in a way, it capitulates to that argument.

So maybe I’m the one who’s changing too. But I, I do think that overall, just to go back to the, to the takeaway here, there are fewer and fewer reasons for someone to say no to riding on the C&O because I think that with the new surface for well over a third of the entire length, I think that it just makes it a lot easier and better.

And from everything that I understand, friend of the show Preston Piper mentioned that the expansion goes beyond where I had seen it goes, it goes further towards or past past mile marker 72. Sorry, I’m stammering away here cuz I’m trying to remember the names. Past Shepherdstown Go past Antum in that direction.

Into the mile marker eighties territory. I don’t think it’s quite getting there yet, but if they can connect up all the way to Lisport then, then we’re really starting to get to the point where now we’re closer to two thirds of the entire trail, which is, is pretty exciting. I think so. Fewer things for the naysayers to naysay about, I think and, and more reasons I think to ride on this trail.

Now, I will say the, the cl the part of the trail that I ride the most is here on the DC side. And man, it’s just, it’s a tooth Rattler at parts and I, I would really love for them to improve the surface down this direction as well. But as I mentioned in that last episode, the, the day three episode, I think that would be very tricky because it’s used as a commuter route for, for a large.

Portions of it, especially as you got closer to dc. So I, closing the trail to do this work, I think would be really challenging. So hopefully it’s part of the plans. I would love to see it.  I’m all on team resurface now.

Takeaway 2

All right. Take away number two. Get yourself a water purifier, especially if you’re riding on the cno.

I think that a water purifier I use the Sawyer models. There are a ton of different types out there. They’re really inexpensive, they’re really lightweight. There’s no reason for you, even with the most kind of minimalist packing to throw one of these into your gear, regardless of the type of bicycle adventuring that you’re doing.

If you’re riding the C&O, I think it’s now on the musts to carry now as well, because as we talked about before, it looks like the park service is now going to be permanently not treating the well water. Now, could you get away with drinking the well water untreated? Maybe? You’d be certainly taking a risk.

They, they treated it for a reason. The, these are old wells. I don’t know the nature of how the water feeds into these wells, but certainly there’s a possibility that there could be some pathogens and different types of things that would be problematic for you if you drank it. Maybe not gonna kill you, but certainly be.

Less fun. So, these types of, of devices are cheap, easy to get easy to use and way better than the iodine treatment that was being used previously for it. So w now all of that funding, and I understand it was pretty expensive for the park service to treat all those wells continuously.

Now all that funding could go to trail maintenance and to other things. And of course the park service is underfunded and the trail maintenance. Con, costs continue to climb as climate change hits and the storms do more damage to the trail and they gotta make sure they keep it clear and all that other kind of stuff.

So at least it’s able to move that funding to, is it more important stuff, I guess, to different things. Things that are, are equally important. But if you bring along water purifier, you’ve checked that box now, all of that, those water sources are available to you. And I think that’s a great thing. So for every single ride I do, from now on, I’m gonna be bringing my water purifier with me.

One thing that I think I may do is, I haven’t used mine in a very long time, and I actually need to do some research on this, but, you rely on that type of a thing, and I, I don’t think they go quote unquote, Old, but I would like to do some research on that. For those of you who have older water purifiers, I may just replace the one that I’ve gotten, get a brand new one.

I mean, they’re cheap enough, quite frankly, that you could probably have a new one for each season. I’m not into kind of over consumption of things, but at the very least, maybe replace the filter itself within the larger unit maybe every year. So that’s something I’m gonna be looking into more. And learning a little bit more.

I frankly don’t use mine very often because I don’t tend to go on adventures where I need it as much. I look at somebody like my buddy mysterious James, who is constantly going on adventures where, where water purifier is really his source of water. So, I, I need to start thinking about that more because I’m gonna now have what is one of my major.

Bike touring adventures, something where I’ll want to be carrying a water purifier with me. So get yourself a water purifier. There’s all sorts of different kinds. Maybe someday I’ll do a, an episode where I talk more about it. I, I did one years ago on various methods for water purification. I think that I’m now firmly in the camp of these relatively inexpensive higher tech kind of water purifiers.

Like the, the brands like Sawyer create. All right. That’s number two.

Takeaway 3

Number three, takeaway. Sitting out versus pedaling through bad weather. This is the. I don’t know. Is this, is this an every tour kind of a thing or is this a, this is a main topic of discussion. This is a, I think a, an issue that a lot of people face.

There are a lot of folks who don’t like cycling in anything but perfect weather, and I don’t begrudge you that point of view at all. When I look at a lot of group rides, And I don’t go on them very often cause I just don’t like cycling with, with others that much. It’s not that I, I shouldn’t say that.

I just, I prefer to cycle alone I think is ultimately , my thing. But when I look at a lot of the group rides that I’ll see on various different boards or in various different groups, they’ll say, well, we’re gonna meet here at this time, but if the weather forecast. Is for 30% chance of rain or more, it’s canceled automatically.

And I’ve often thought that’s a shame because while is it great riding through rain? No, not always, but I actually enjoy it from time to time. But there is a certain point where weather. Is a problem. Weather can be uncomfortable and then it can get to a point where it’s dangerous. And of course, on this particular trip, I decided to make a call to scuttle, sort of a big chunk of my day.

Two, because of the nature of the thunderstorms that were coming through, at least the forecast. And that was because it was easy for me to do. So, the opportunity cost was really low. I got to hang out at the cabin. I got to have more of a day with my partner, Kimberly. I got to hang out with the dogs. I got to eat better food.

All of these types of things. And oh, by the way, I didn’t have to ride in the rain and potentially the muck. But on a bigger tour, maybe a, the tour that I’m looking at doing later on this year, I’ve got a couple in mind actually. If I’m gonna be in a place where I don’t have that kind of support system and whatnot, I will frequently just say Throw on the rain gear and go for it.

But I’ve also made calls in the middle of larger tours where I’ve said, no, I’m taking a zero. I’m, I remember speaking of mysterious James a trip I believe it was on my Brompton. It was the Big Sur trip on my Brompton. There was a day where it was just absolutely nasty, nasty rain forecast, high winds, very heavy rains.

And I said, James, what do you think about just taking a zero? And he’s like, sure. And so we did and we had a wonderful day. I think you can listen back on past episodes where we talked about it. There was a couple in camp that pushed forward and they ended up calling it in the middle and ended up staying at this horrifically expensive hotel that’s in the middle of nowhere past the Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground area in the one town that’s there in this rather remote section of Highway one.

And so was that better for them or worse? It was certainly more expensive. We stayed at a $12 campsite and ended up hanging out in the lodge all day. It was great. I loved it. So, you gotta make the call based on what’s comfortable for you. I often stay, I. Well, in fact, I say it every episode, ride your ride.

And I don’t think it’s a problem to say, Hey, I’m gonna sit this one out. I’m gonna, I’m gonna wait out on this. I’m gonna take a fast forward, I’m gonna add an extra day. I’m gonna add extra miles to future days on my tour. I don’t think that’s a problem at all. Just you gotta go with what your gun is telling you.

And like I said, sometimes I. Power through things. Last year on that eerie canal trip, I just rode through a whole lot of rain without rain gear on, and just got hammered in parts. I sat under an underpass in Syracuse during a massive thunderstorm, and then I just kept going because, eh, I, that was my plan, that’s what I wanted to do.

Do what makes sense for you and make sure you’re always doing it with an eye towards safety. For me on this trip, it was definitely an eye towards safety. There are lots of trees that are all ready to come down with the wrong gust of wind or maybe even a lightning strike on the C&O. And so, riding through a thunderstorm on that trail, It’s just not recommended.

I don’t think so. I’m, I feel real comfortable with the call. Is it a bummer? I didn’t cycle every single last centimeter of this trail? Yeah, sure. But you know what it’s gonna be for me next time. I’ll do another through ride at some point. Maybe this fall, maybe next year. But it’s definitely gonna be coming soon.

Takeaway 4

Alright, number four, takeaway. Don’t wait to amass the right gear. Get out there and ride with what you have on night. Zero I and, and day and the morning of day one, I encountered the group out of nearby here. I think they were from Fairfax or, or somewhere close in Northern Virginia. And and a group.

And there were a bunch of guys who clearly had, Classic bike packing gear, nice relatively expensive gear. And that was part of their setup. And then there was one person in their group, and my, my guy had old older gear that was not waterproof and was rocking some garbage bags.

And you know what? That’s the dude who was my favorite in some ways, because, It’s important I think, to go out there and enjoy the adventures. And if you’ve got gear that’s maybe from the nineties or something like that, I’m raising my hand cuz I got some gear from the nineties for a few things.

It’s fine. It’ll work, it’ll hold things. You can get it on your bike if it’s an older kind of canvas panier from back in the day. Yeah, it’ll, it’ll work fine. Will it keep your stuff waterproof? No, but you know what? You can put waterproof bags inside it and then go for it. So, ride with what you’ve got. Don’t let the adventures don’t delay your adventures because you don’t think you’ve got the right things. You can absolutely modify just about anything to be able to work on your bike. Bungees are great. Garbage bags are great. I, I would use something a little bit more.

Robust than a garbage bag. There. There are different opportunities out there that gar garbage bag, compressor bags, they’re just thicker outdoor material bags, things like that. That’s the kind of stuff that can be really, really helpful. Follow your f Our friends in the backpacking community, because they use all sorts of that kind of stuff inside of their, not really waterproof backpacks.

And it works out really good. Don’t worry about having the perfect bike. You know what most bikes can probably handle even the, the gnarliest of parts of the C&O, for instance. So get out there and just, enjoy your adventures. When things fail or when things aren’t as good for you as you would like, well that’s gonna be your first one, your first piece of gear, your first part of your bike to upgrade.

That’s how I did it. That’s how I recommend other people do it. And, I think it’s better to get out there and ride and enjoy the experience with the gear that you’ve got before you commit to hundreds or perhaps even thousands of dollars worth of gear. You can do it without it. All right, so that is point number four.

Takeaway number four.

Takeaway 5

How about number five? I love that we’re back. I’ll throw that into quotes, but I am low key, missing the empty trail during the pandemic. Let me start off. With this, the pandemic was terrible. There were a lot of people that lost livelihoods, that lost money, that lost their lives, that lost friends, that lost family.

The pandemic was not good. End, end of sentence, complete thought. However, there were some things that we got out of the pandemic that at least from bicycle touring perspective, we couldn’t travel away. I couldn’t go to the west coast. I couldn’t go to, Europe or Florida or whatever. But I had a pretty empty C&O for a couple of years there, and that was nice and I really enjoyed that.

When I go out, I really like the solitude. That’s not the case anymore. People are very much back particularly on nice weather weekends on the C&O. And you know what, that’s. Just part of the deal. So I like the fact that I get to go out and go to travel for conferences and yo, what did we do? We went to a jazz concert last night duke Ellington hundredth anniversary kind of thing.

My, my partner Kimberly, is into jazz and it, I was sitting there as we were listening to the music and amongst a whole bunch of people and, and just enjoying that whole experience, how that was really taken away from us during. During the pandemic and for very, very good reasons. We helped save each other by not going to these types of things.

And it’s nice that it’s back and it’s nice that lots of us get to travel now to do more bike adventures in more different places. Still low-key miss having an empty trail. I’m just, I’m not gonna lie, I like the empty trail. It was fun. It was really fun to feel like you were in the zombie apocalypse kind of a place and you were the only person out there.

And it was fun. And I also think back and, and you all were along for the ride, when you know they had. Sealed off the, the, the porta-potties. We had absolutely no idea how to deal with the virus, and we’re sort of like, oh God, the virus could get on the porta-potties, so we should, we should, we should seal them off and nobody should use ’em.

And now of course that seems quaint and funny because it was like, well, now we were outside and it was probably okay. Anyways, I’m on a, I’m on a major tangent here. I love that we’re back. I’m low key, missing some of the elements of an empty trail. That was takeaway number five. That was a bit of a rambler.

Sorry about that.

Takeaway 6

Takeaway number six, after the trip. I checked out the road route from point of rocks to Leesburg, and I can’t recommend it except maybe if you’re coming from Leesburg to point of rocks. Okay, let me, let me backtrack a little bit down here. Many of you have written me over the course of the last couple of years, whites Ferry.

The cable ferry is out, as I talked about on the, I think the day three episode. There is very little prospect of it coming back anytime soon. And, and I won’t go into all the details on all of that. You can listen back to that. You can do some Googling and see what’s going on with all of that.

Here’s the deal. The. The downside to that are for the folks who are not campers, the folks who are looking at end-to-end BnBs Hotels, whites Ferry was a major component for you because you crossed there, you were able to cycle just a few extra miles, and there were a couple of hotels that were really a.

Accessible to you on the Virginia side. The problem is, is that it’s almost impossible to get to that part of Virginia very easily from that part of the trail. Otherwise, the next bridge is Chain Bridge, which is all the way back down in dc. That’s, that’s your next opportunity to cross over. The next opportunity to cross over behind you is point of rocks, and as I’ve talked about before, and as I’m telling you right now it’s US 15 that takes you from that bridge on the Virginia side and there’s almost no shoulder going towards Leesburg.

There’s a major, I shouldn’t say major there, there’s a curving uphill slog. It’s, it’s, it’s a least a solid half mile, if not a mile. But my point of view, and you know me, I will cycle in a lot of very busy places. I just don’t think it’s very safe. I don’t think it’s meant for it’s certainly not built for cycling and I think that it’s a very busy crossing, especially now that the cable ferry is no longer there at Whites Ferry will.

Will you take your life in your hands? I don’t know. I think that if you did it early in the morning when there wasn’t much traffic, it would be fine. But you know, you may not be doing it early in the morning. You may be doing it at the end of the day. You may be doing it in close to rush hour in the middle of the week.

That’s just where I think that it’s not a particularly safe route. I talked about a few weeks ago, or maybe even a few months ago, about the idea of taking the Metro Silver Line, which is the newest metro rail here in Washington, dc. It goes all the way out to Dallas Airport and beyond. Now. And taking that and hooking up with a Washington Old Dominion Trail, and then eventually pushing through and, and getting to the C&O from there, crossing at point of rocks.

I think in that direction, it’s okay. There’s a little bit more of a shoulder going in that direction. I. And because you’re going downhill as you approach that bridge rather than uphill leaving the bridge, I think that it’s, it’s substantially safer for cycling. So I think that if your idea is that you’re gonna be maybe co going from DC to Cumberland and perhaps beyond, you’re gonna be doing the gap.

My recommendation would be not to do the C&O for your first day of riding. My recommendation would be for you to do the paved Washington and Old Dominion Trail on the Virginia side. And yeah, you’re gonna miss out on some stuff, but it’s a great trail and there’s actually some breweries along the way.

There’s a great adventuring that can happen on that trail. Do that, take that to Leesburg or wherever you’re gonna end up spending your first night. Stay at that hotel and then get up early in the morning. Make sure you do this on the early side, or maybe consider doing it after rush hour, but then go and cross over a point of rocks.

I would highly recommend you take a look at Google Earth and Google Maps and the street view and all that. Familiarize yourself with all of that. There’s decent shoulders leading up to that point, but then it starts to get rural and then you lose your shoulder. Can you take the lane? Sure. We’ll, will drivers respect you?

Hopefully, yes. But then you cross the bridge and then you hit the C&O and then you’re off to the races from there. That would be, for me, the only way that I would feel pr that all that safe. I may at some point test this out and, and of course document it and record it for everybody. And then maybe maybe do a full C&O ride from that point on, or maybe just end up going to Harpers Ferry and taking the train back.

There’s a variety of different things that you can do with all of that, but I do think that that’s a really interesting possibility. There’s, of course, also, as I mentioned before, the Silver Line as another opportunity to do a fast forward, to get you further up there. So, That’s what I wanna say here.

So, so, so again, to summarize here, I cannot recommend the road route coming from the Maryland side to the Virginia side, and then going to Leesburg using the point of rocks crossing. It just doesn’t feel very safe to me. I did, I, I looked at it in a car and it just did not seem very good.

Okay. That was the second to last one. That was the penultimate of our takeaways.

Takeaway 7

Here is the last of the takeaways, and number seven. Amtrak is such a good way to make this trip work. And there’s rumors that we might get another opportunity with rail and that is that the, the Maryland system for commuter rail, it’s the MARC.

I wish I could remember what the acronym is. It’s M A R C. It’s the Maryland Commuter Rail. It goes all the way out to. Martinsburg at this point. Martinsburg is actually the station that is closest to where my cabin is. Is it handy? It can be. It’s very limited. It’s basically does early morning stupidly, early morning roots from Martinsburg to DC cuz it’s a commuter rattle.

And then evening after work routes from DC back to Martinsburg. There are rumors and it’s more, I think, than just rumors. There’s actual. Movement to expand either the offerings so that there’s more of them, and that would be good because if you can get to Harpers Ferry or to Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry is very easy to get to the trail.

Martinsburg, it is possible. It’s a little bit rough with the road riding, but yeah, you can get to the trail that way too. But more importantly, they’re actually looking at potentially expanding the MARC service beyond Martinsburg, all the way to Cumberland. And that is huge because as of right now, we have one bit at the Apple to get from DC to Cumberland, and that is on the Amtrak Capital Limited.

If MARC expands its service there, we will have. At least a couple of extra trains, perhaps up to three additional trains that would get us all the way out there. That is really fantastic. MARC does allow bikes on all of its route now. So I think that, that they would have an eye towards that, that of the bicycle adventuring opportunities that would be there for folks.

It also would be a much cheaper setup. Right now when you’re buying a ticket to Cumberland, that’s usually somewhere in the 20 to 30 to $40 range. Depends on when you buy the ticket and whatnot, but your bike is always an extra 20 bucks as well. So I’m usually not getting a, a train out to Cumberland from DC for anything less than 40 bucks as just a starting point.

If MARC makes its service available, it would be substantially cheaper and more frequent, so that’s pretty good. Oh, by the way, you wouldn’t need a reservation for your bike, which I know is a major limiting. Factor for folks as well. So I, I’m really keeping my fingers crossed. I’ll keep an eye on this as well, but I think that this would be another huge, huge boon for folks who are looking to try to do the C&O coming from Cumberland, DC or otherwise doing some kind of, A train element to your riding.

Some of you may be like, you know what, Tim, I know you’re huge on the cno, but I just wanna get to Cumberland and get on the gap and go, well, this would be another opportunity for you if you’re coming from DC or if you’re finishing up your Pittsburgh to Cumberland ride. It would be an opportunity, more of an opportunity to get back to DC by rail.

So, More to come on that. I’ll, I’ll keep, I’ll keep my eye on that. But that was another huge thing that actually I discovered as I was riding on this return to C&O 2023, and I’m really looking forward to potentially giving you more updates on all of that. Alright, so those are my takeaways for this trip.

Number one, C&O, naysayers, you have less de naysay. Number two, get yourself a water purifier. Number three, sitting out versus pedaling through bad weather. Yeah, make your call. Number four, don’t wait to amass your gear. Ride your ride with what you got. Number five. I love that we’re back, but I’m low key, missing the empty C&O number six.

Can’t really recommend the point of rocks crossing going from Maryland to the Virginia side. And number seven, let’s keep an eye on what’s going on with the Maryland commuter rail. All right. Those are the takeaways.

This summer on The Pedalshift Project

Now, as promised, let’s look ahead to summer on the Pedal shift project. I am mindful that most of the show for this year has basically been tour journals and.

While I’m sure a lot of you really dig that, I really dig it because it’s, frankly, it’s a little bit easier in terms of production for me, although, there’s, there’s a lot of kind of stuff that I have to piece together. It’s just in terms of like a massing content, it’s a little bit easier for me.

It’s usually weeks if not months of content that I do, that I create in basically a few days. On the editing side, it’s a little more difficult than an episode like this where I just sit in front of a mic. But don’t worry about that. That’s sausage making. We don’t talk about making of podcasts on the show except when we do, but I’m, I’m excited to talk about some topical shows, some of the old school shows that we used to do back in the day more frequently.

We’ve got some episodes coming up in the next few weeks that I think you’re gonna like, I’m excited about them. In upcoming episodes are gonna include as I scroll through my editorial calendar. Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Oh, yeah, yeah. Next week episode 3 27. The. Evolution of bike touring gear from the 1970s to the present.

A little bit of history, but a little bit of just looking back from where we came. Some of you who listened to the show, I know you go back to those bike centennial days back in the mid 1970s. Some of you are younger listeners and you know nothing but bike packing gear. Interesting to just see the evolution of things.

So we’re gonna do a whole episode on that. The episode after that. Number 3 28 bicycle touring goals. Check in. Do you remember we did the bike touring goals way, way back in January episode 3 0 9. Well, here we’re gonna be 19 episodes later and I’m gonna check in and see how I’m doing on those goals.

I haven’t looked yet. I’m a little nervous. It’s exactly the half year point. So I’ve got six more months if I’ve been really bad on some of them. And I know I’m thinking of one that I absolutely have not done and I have no actual plans to do yet. So I gotta make sure I do plans for them. So anyways, bicycle touring goals.

Check in episode 3 28 and then we got some more stuff coming in terms of topical episodes as well before we hit. The big thing, the fun thing, the thing that I think is going to be dominating my well dominating your listening for the summer, and that is the big summer tour. I have got a summer tour all figured out.

It is all planned, it is all ready to roll. And I’m gonna be revealing that in a future episode in mid-July, mid-July is when that is gonna be coming down. And then it’s gonna be immediately followed by, The adventure, and if it goes the way that I’d like it to, it’s gonna largely fill up the pod for the entire rest of the summer and into the fall.

It’s gonna be that long. It’s really fun. It’s quirky and at the same time, I think it’s it, it, it’s just great. I’m, I’m, I cannot tell you how excited I am for it, but I’m not gonna ruin the surprise it’s gonna be coming in about a month or so is when, from where I’m sitting down recording this.

And if you’re listening to the show when it first comes out, it’s gonna be coming out in mid-July is the preview episode, and then we’re just gonna get rolling from there. All right. Lots of fun stuff coming ahead for you on the Pedal Shift project. Excited for the topical shows. Excited for the new adventures, and I’m glad to take you along, as always, for the ride.

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new solo album available NOW. Go listen to COMMON TONGUES wherever cool music is available! 

The Pedalshift Project 325: Return to the C&O - Day 3

The Pedalshift Project 325: Return to the C&O – Day 3

After a restful night at Huckleberry Hill, it was time to ride back to DC. But a beautiful Sunday on the C&O usually means a crowded trail… would that slow down my ability to get home?

The Pedalshift Project 325: Return to the C&O - Day 3

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 325: Return to the C&O – Day 3.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

Return to the C&O – Day 3

Statistics
Miles biked 64
Gnats consumed 8000
Pennyfarthing encounters 2
Low water crossings crossed 1
Flats 0

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new solo album available NOW. Go listen to COMMON TONGUES wherever cool music is available! 

The Pedalshift Project 324: Return to the C&O - Day 2

The Pedalshift Project 324: Return to the C&O – Day 2

After a nice night at the cabin, the second day looked to be a wet one… with forecasts of dangerous winds whipping the trail. Calling an audible seems to be the plan, but would there be another more mechanical issue that might be an impediment to making the final camp of the trip?

The Pedalshift Project 324: Return to the C&O - Day 2

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 324: Return to the C&O – Day 2.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

Return to the C&O – Day 2

Statistics
Miles biked 10
Downed trees avoided – way fewer than I thought
Missing bolts in my racks 2
Tensile strength of my front brake cable – enough, thankfully
Huckleberry Hills reached 1
Flats 0

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen! 

The Pedalshift Project 323: Return to the C&O - Day 1

The Pedalshift Project 323: Return to the C&O – Day 1

Kicking off the spring 2023 ride of the C&O towpath, we have stelar conditions for riding. But the Paw Paw tunnel is closed, and the trail poses a hefty challenge for someone with a fully loaded bike to push. But the Park Service says there’s a shuttle, right?

The Pedalshift Project 323: Return to the C&O - Day 1

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 323: Return to the C&O – Day 1.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

Return to the C&O – Day 1

The Pedalshift Project 323: Return to the C&O - Day 1
Statistics
Miles biked 54ish
Miles hiked 1.5
Elevation gain and loss 900
Sandwiches consumed 1
Pop tarts consumed 2
Goslings 4
Flats 0

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen! 

The Pedalshift Project 322: Return to the C&O - Preview + Day 0

The Pedalshift Project 322: Return to the C&O – Preview + Day 0

We’re baaaaack! Our old friend the C&O Towpath has been waiting on another through ride, so let’s take advantage of some nice weather and do an early spring ride! On this edition, we preview the ride then just go ahead and share Day 0’s train to the trailhead in Cumberland and the post-sunset ride to our first camp!

The Pedalshift Project 322: Return to the C&O - Preview + Day 0

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 322: Return to the C&O – Preview + Day 0.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

Return to the C&O – Preview + Day 0

The ride preview

3 days, 184.5 miles – Cumberland to DC
Amtrak to Cumberland and ride back
Fully loaded on the Safari
2 nights camping, 1 night roofed at the cabin
Day 0 plans are up in the air for camping
Cabin night 1 with a pickup in Hancock
Harpers Ferry/Huckleberry Hill night 2
Weather looks hot to start, more unstable and cooler later
Biggest barrier is the tunnel outage in Paw Paw, but the construction crew is supposed to have a shuttle (which is new). I’m skeptical… we’ll see!
New panniers! End of an era with the orange ones moving to Brompton only, but a new one begins with the blue ones!
 

Statistics

Miles trained 140ish
Miles biked 7?
Touring group encounters 1
Weird dudes on trail 1
C&O rides ready to roll 1
Flats 0

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen! 

The Pedalshift Project 321: Bicycle Adventuring on the East Coast Greenway

The Pedalshift Project 321: Bicycle Adventuring on the East Coast Greenway

Despite living on the east coast, we spend a whole heck of a lot of attention on bicycle adventures on the west coast, right? Well, it’s time we changed that! On this episode, we chat with Regina Yan about the East Coast Greenway, her epic trip and how she and the East Coast Greenway Alliance is making this route a contender for all of our future cycling adventures!

The Pedalshift Project 321: Bicycle Adventuring on the East Coast Greenway

Hey it’s the direct download link for  .

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

Bicycle Adventuring on the East Coast Greenway

Hey, want to watch an actual video of us talking? Check it out!

Regina Yan is a UX designer and artist based in Washington DC. She grew up in Kansas and was a very “indoorsy” child, but fell in love with the outdoors after going to school in New Hampshire. When the pandemic hit, she got into cycling and immediately fell loved the way biking expanded her world. So much so, in the fall of 2021, kind of on a whim decided to try biking the East Coast Greenway from ME to Key West, FL  completing the 3,000 miles trip in an intensely compact 29 days, experiencing all the ups and downs of a bike touring lifestyle.

Regina Yan

What made you to choose the ECG for your trip over another route?

You described it as response to a “quarter life crisis” – did the ride help that or prompt more introspection on where you’re at in life?

Your film did a great job of sharing the lows as much as the highs… sometimes when I look back on lows of my tours, I look back on them more as the “type 2 fun” we all talk about in the bike travel community. How do you assess your lows now – any one stand out?

With such an aggressive schedule, the mechanicals you had were extra disruptive but you still persevered! Did you have any takeaways from them for future tours?

One small part of your film that stuck with me was learning how to eat on tour, watching you pull what looked like frosted shredded wheat from a baggy… was that one of the solutions for you? What did you learn as you rode about all of this?

What bike did you ride and outside of the mechanicals did you like how it performed? Considering any changes to gearing or anything like that?

Do you have another long distance trip in mind?

You’re now a board trustee for the ECG Alliance, which lets me put on my nonprofit lawyer hat for once on this pod… what’s your experience been like serving in that role and what’s the organization aiming at in the short and long term to support the Greenway?

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen! 

The Pedalshift Project 320: California 2023 Takeaways

The Pedalshift Project 320: California 2023 Takeaways

The Southern California Adventures are in the rear view mirror… what did I learn from this tour that I’ll take with me on future trips?

The Pedalshift Project 320: California 2023 Takeaways

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 320: California 2023 Takeaways (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

California 2023 Takeaways

Chapter 1’s Takeaway – Be prepared for the unexpected
Weather prep
Transit expectations
 
Chapter 2’s Takeaway – SoCal trails and transit fast forwards
 
Chapter 3’s Takeaway – Pushing through challenges versus taking dumb risks
 
Chapter 4’s Takeaway – Gate checking the Brompton… is it better than the overhead?

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen! 

The Pedalshift Project 319: California 2023 Chapter 4 - The Mileage Run

The Pedalshift Project 319: California 2023 Chapter 4 – The Mileage Run

Chapter 4 of the 2023 California Adventure wraps up the trip in a unique way… an overnight in San Jose as a way of getting from San Diego back to Los Angeles and test how well gate checking works for the Brompton. Did the bike get banged around by baggage handlers?

The Pedalshift Project 319: California 2023 Chapter 4 - The Mileage Run

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 319: California 2023 Chapter 4 – The Mileage Run (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

California 2023: Chapter 4 – The Mileage Run

Statistics

Modalities used 2 (bike, plane)
CO2 offset 1.2 metric tons
Airports biked to and from 2 (SAN, SJC)
Miles biked in this chapter 5 or 6?
Brompton survival rate 100%
Flats 0

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen! 

The Pedalshift Project 318: California 2023 Chapter 3 - Border Run Loop

The Pedalshift Project 318: California 2023 Chapter 3 – Border Run Loop

Chapter 3 of the 2023 California Adventure was a new approach to an old triumph… revisiting the end of the 2014 Pacific Coast tour at the Mexican border. But would the remnants of the storm that gave me windy conditions and overflowing rivers throughout southern CA stand in the way of this chapter’s goal?

The Pedalshift Project 318: California 2023 Chapter 3 - Border Run Loop

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 318: California 2023 Chapter 3 – Border Run Loop (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSSiTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – StitcherTuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, 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

California 2023: Chapter 3 – Border Run Loop

Statistics

Transportation modes 2 (bike, ferry)
Miles ferried 5ish?
Miles biked 33.7
Number of brutally shanked golf shots observed followed by an internal sarcastic yell of “good ball!” 1
Fish tacos 2
Flooded roads crossed 2
Flooded roads not crossed 1
Borders seen 1
Flats 0

For pics, including the mug… click through to Ride With GPS below…

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this summer’s upcoming bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart, RIP
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil
Matthew Sponseller
Chad Reno
Spartan Dale
Carolyn Ferguson
Peggy Littlefield
Lauren Allansmith
Eric Burns
Thomas Pearl
Darrin McKibben
Richard Stewart
Dave Fletcher
Jack Smith
Luke Parkinson
Ryan Patterson
Cyrus Farivar
John Gardiner
Sam Scruggs

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Jason has a new track available NOW, and a new album dropping very soon AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen!