TOURING WITH THE
ADVENTURE
CYCLING ASSOCIATION
by David Hunt, OBS Member
Have you ever wondered about riding your bike out the front door, heading down the street, out of town and not stopping until you reached the East or West Coast? Think of it, cross-country travel at your own pace, wherever you want to go, completely self-contained and self-reliant. Now that’s freedom. On the other hand, as fantasy turns to possibility, you begin to ask the many questions: What sort of bike, how much gear, what about food, is it safe, where would you stop along the way? Enter the Adventure Cycling Association. This non-profit group, based in Missoula, Montana, is dedicated to helping its 40,000 members travel via bicycle. In addition to providing cycling specific cross-country route maps and sponsoring organized tours, the ACA also conducts “how-to” seminars for aspiring road and mountain bike tourists.
Recently I attended the organization’s Intro to Road Touring course near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Built around a format of 2 days in an open air classroom and 3 days on tour, this seminar is designed to give a cyclist everything he or she needs to travel from coast to coast, completely self-contained. Subjects included budgeting, trip planning, equipment, camping, food, personal safety, illness, weather, repairs, packing and riding techniques. After two days of intensive, but fascinating instruction in these and other areas, our group left base camp on a 3 day tour, each carrying about 70 pounds of bike and gear. Although total riding was limited to about 100 miles, the mini-tour was designed to represent the full range of riding and camping conditions one would expect on a cross-country trip. We traveled on rural county roads, city streets, the shoulder of a busy U.S. highway and sections of unpaved farm roads. Terrain varied from flat, to rolling, to one mountainous day with a cumulative 4,000 feet climb topping out at 8,000 feet. Camping facilities included one commercial site, a County fairgrounds and a City park.
Overall the 5-day course delivered everything it promised, doing so in a hands-on way in a very enjoyable environment. Needless to say the surroundings were tremendous, as were the Adventure Cycling instructor and the other riders who made up our temporary cycling family. For those of you who might be thinking about a self-contained bike tour generally, or the Intro to Road Touring course specifically, here are a few of the high points.
Anatomy of a Self-Contained Tour
Touring with a group offers certain advantages, whether a commercial guided tour or a self-designed trip among friends. Obvious benefits include greater safety, camaraderie and a sort of minimalist SAG support that goes along with traveling in a pack. Beyond that, group touring can significantly decrease overall costs. A simple example happens with any of the OBS weekend campouts throughout the year. Typically 2 or 3 club members will share a single tent campsite. The math is simple: you save up to 2/3rds on camping fees.
Now take that concept an additional step and pool resources for all expenses of the tour, especially food and supplies. Appoint a group treasurer and use group funds to make one trip to the grocery store, rather than separate shopping trips for every member of the group. Adventure Cycling Association estimates that across the board, meals and camping cost each rider $15 per day when managed with group resources. Camping is $4, with $11 allotted for food: $2 for breakfast, $3 for lunch and $6 for dinner. Our six-member tour group had a rotation of two cooks/shoppers each day. When we arrived in camp at the end of the riding day, those two rode to the grocery and bought food for that night’s dinner, plus the next day’s breakfast and lunch. They had $66 to work with (6 group members at $11 each), which was always plenty. They prepared the evening meal and set up the hot water and fixings for the next morning’s breakfast. As we finished breakfast, each group member prepared his or her own lunch. Leftover groceries were carried by various group members when feasible, discarded if not. The following day’s rotation of cooks/shoppers took inventory of leftover groceries and supplies, then supplemented those on the next grocery trip.
Camping fees likewise were handled by the group treasury. The fees in the commercial campground were expensive at $22 per site per night, even allowing 3 tents per site. However, camping at the fairgrounds and city park were free. Both no-cost sites had good restrooms and picnic tables. The fairgrounds even had showers. Given the mix of commercial and free campsites, the $4 a person per day for camping was more than enough.
Let’s slow down for a moment. A really fun bike tour is not only about riding, eating and sleeping—there have to be a few diversions along the way. When pooling group funds, there also should be a component for entertainment. Adventure Cycling calls this part of the group’s money “play dough.” Its purpose is to finance a trip to the movies, a museum or anything the group decides to do together. In our case, one of the riders knew about an outdoor public hot springs near Steamboat, located several miles off the main route and up a narrow fire road. What a great way to unwind and loosen up those muscles after a day’s riding in the mountains. Since we happened to be at base camp that particular day, we took advantage of an available minivan and made the trip off the beaten path and up to this secluded spot. Group funds paid everyone’s admission, we got into our swimsuits and settled into the hot waters of the natural spring. We congratulated ourselves, living the good life in the warmth of the hot springs, with the mountain air chilling our surroundings as it got closer to dusk. What we did not realize was that this particular spa became “clothing optional” when the sun set. There we sat, minding our own business as it were, as the tops and bottoms began to come off all around us. No kidding. By the way, it really is fair to say that the truly devoted nudists are not necessarily the folks you would want to see that way. After just a few minutes of testing and proving this hypothesis, we decided to give the springs back to the nature lovers and head back to camp. What an experience. Doesn’t “play dough” sound like a great component in the group dynamic?
Stop Reading and Go Ride
Don’t be content reading about my strange misadventures. The best kind of cycling is that which you experience for yourself. However, if you are like me and need a little help from someone who knows what’s what before taking off across the country, go to Adventure Cycling’s website at www.adventurecycling.org for more information. Their Intro to Road Touring or Mountain Bike Touring courses cost $550 and include personalized instruction, food and camping accommodations, i.e., your share of group money and “play dough.” The instructors are imminently qualified. Our group’s instructor has led several road and mountain tours, intro courses and is a veteran of a solo coast-to-coast tour of his own.
Even if you would rather not spend the time or money on a touring specific seminar, take advantage of ACA’s free archive of articles on all aspects of bicycle touring, including bike and equipment selection, planning, techniques, nutrition, specific tours, how-to’s and many other subjects of interest. Membership in the Adventure Cycling Association is $30 per year and includes a subscription to Adventure Cyclist magazine. Now get out there and live large on your own cycling odyssey.
Oklahoma Bicycle Society:
ACA Tour
created by John Wente
last modified:
February 24, 2007
URL: http://www.OklahomaBicycleSociety.com