Planning Ahead

If you try to plan ahead for every little detail you’ll find it hard to ever get started, but if you don’t plan enough you’ll end up with one of those stories where you went to sleep hungry and almost froze to death sleeping outside in a thunder storm on top of a tick nest. A cool story to tell, but not so great to live through.

I planned this trip with a light hand and for enjoyment. There’s so many variables that could screw up a rigidly set itinerary, I think it is better to play things a bit loose. I’m staying in hotels after each day of riding which makes this a very luxurious “bike packing” trip… “bike o‘teling?” I’ve done some tours carrying camping gear for the true experience and that is fun in the right places, but it’s heavy and works better on a route more suited for camping then the one I’m taking. The main way I can justify taking a trip like this is by managing to get a bit of work done at the end of each day and having a desk and some wifi really helps. Also, a nice shower after a day of pedaling is how I want to live.

When I’m done riding, showered and relaxed I pull up a map and get an idea of how far I might want to ride the next day and maybe check the weather too. Then I’ll search for hotels in the area and see what’s available along my route. If you were to do a big hotel/ bike tour I suggest signing up for all the hotel points programs like I’ve done, and maybe even get a points credit card too. Generally the location of the next hotel options makes the decision about how far I’m riding the next day. I might find a hotel at 100 miles, 75 or 45 for example and pick what feels right. Weekends can get a bit more challenging, This Friday almost everywhere I wanted to stay was sold out or very expensive. This was a good time to turn in some hotel points instead of spending a fortune. There’s almost always something though if you check AirBNB or look for old school hotels in small towns that don’t show up on travel sites.

Generally I’m making plans for the next day the evening before. I want to be free to take it easy or maybe push hard if I know there is a rain day in the future. I have traveled with friends who truly don’t plan anything. Somehow things always seem to work out and we always found somewhere to sleep, but I imagine it would horrible to be riding around at night exhausted and unable to find anywhere to stay after a full day of pedaling. My back up plan was always to find a Walmart and buy a big sleeping bag for some impromptu camping somewhere random in the woods if everything fell apart. I ran into a Taxi driver today who said he’d picked up some guys deep on the trail I’m riding who were too tired to go on and hadn’t been able to find a place to stay. So, I guess in a developed area like upstate NY with cell phone coverage there is probably always a way even if your planning goes sour.

My point is, don’t let over planing spoil an adventure. That bit of unknown is the freedom to see and do the cool things you don’t yet know you want to experience. And seeing places by bikes is a great way to see things… that’s why I’m out here! If you’ve got the itch give it a try.

Yesterday the weather said 100% chance of severe thunderstorms at noon in my destination town of Amsterdam, NY. So my plan was to get an early 6am start to try and race the rain to my next stop. I tried very hard to stay focused on moving so that I could be at my next hotel before the thunderstorms started but they never did. I arrived at my hotel too early to check in and the sky was still sunny. The effort of mashing out the day as quick as I could tired me out and I didn’t manage to take in much of the scenery. I rode a lot more bike trails and around 6 miles on a very quiet road with cars but I couldn’t tell you much more. The only interesting thing that stands out is that I got a flat. Weirdly my valve stem was cracked and broke in half when I wiggled it. This actually kind of freaked me out since I was only carrying one extra tube and I hadn’t planned for this situation. I reckon myself pretty talented at tube patching so one extra tube seemed enough, but I don’t have any idea how I’d fix a broken off valve stem. I grabbed a couple more tubes today just incase.