Bike bums? Gonna do it up. | Squat the Planet

Bike bums? Gonna do it up.

DudeDuderton

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I've been traveling on and off the past 7 years, the majority of those 7 have been spent on the road. I've kind of been weird about posting online for travel companions because of bad experiences, not to mention the guff I've heard from people I have traveled with about rideshare boards, facebook, and StP's road dog board.. I guess you can say I've started ruling it out as an option, but I feel like this time it can't be avoided..

Unavoidable mostly because everyone I've traveled with in the past has always given me an odd look when I say I traveled by bike, as if it's only acceptable to hitch or hop a train or somethin.. Well, I wanna do it differently this time..

I'm not opposed to hitching now and then, but I wanna try and travel mostly on two wheels this time, with a FOLDING bike! Yeah, they fit in trunks. I'm kind of assuming that I'll be starting this journey alone, since the NE is a boring deadzone for travelers, but hey.. I'm throwing this out there.. Maybe someone in the NE has the same idea and would like some company. Warm weather is coming.
 

Matt Derrick

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i hear ya man, i wish there were more travelers willing to go the bike touring route. i made a big post about doing this a while back, but life happened and got in the way for a while, but goddamn if it hasn't been on my mind ever since. i think about doing it just about every day! in fact i've been struggling to decide whether i should get a van or just go bike around a few other countries that aren't the usa.
 

DudeDuderton

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You know what, Matt? If you wanna do it, do it.. Even alone.. I've accepted already that I may have to do it alone, and while that sucks, every adventure yields social contact.. If it's somethin' ya wanna do, ya just gotta do it..

Hopefully this spurs something, though. Because you're right in hearing me, bikes are just viewed as some silly option by most travelers.. Odd since it's not hard to move 30 miles a day on the things when there's nothing else to do, and you can walk your pack around on the rack, always nice.

Also, I'd say I'd join you but I can't afford to leave the US.. Haha.. Or you could always get a van, AND a bike, and do both, but bike the US, and r-tramp it after. Lol.
 
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Wawa

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Hey welcome here.

I get what you're saying. I lived on a bike for three year, and have a folding bike with me now, and even if I don't see it as my main form of transportation anymore, I still see it as them ost reliable... also kinda puts you on the outside, in a way. Most people I might have traveled with where either too bikey or not at all bikey.

For over a year, though, I was "on the road" without even realizing it was a thing to be on the road. I remember discovering in Quartzsite AZ that the "traveler community" was more then RV clubs. Nowadays I have a lot of arguments over the difference between bike touring and living on a bike.

Bla bla bla me talking about me.... and fuck yeah folding bikes.
 

DudeDuderton

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Haha, Folding bikes are the shit.. I wanna get an aluminum one if possible.. So nice cause if you run in to people who aren't biking that you wanna travel with, you can fold that shit up and put it in any trunk. I'm excited to try this method.
 
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liberationmoves

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Ya but what kind of travel do you want to do? Regional? Folding bikes are no good for long distance travel in my opinion. Even if you hitch and bike you then have a lot more to carry. How do you plan on using this? What kind of distance?
 

Wawa

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Folding bikes can be great, just fine, or shit for long distance travel. It depends on the bike. I have a Bike Friday with 20" wheels. It felt kinda twitchy for about two hours, now it just feels normal. As long as the gearing is set up right, its just like a normal bike it most ways.

The only real disadvantage I've found is that it is harder to control on rocky surfaces because the smaller wheel has a tighter angle when it hits... its worse with front panniers. A trailer balances the whole thing out real smooth, though.

Really, thing is, I'm not on a bike tour. I'm not following a daily plan and budget until I go back to wherever I came from. If I'm pushing the damn thing, Its still easier then walking with a big pack.


If this guy has been on the road for 7 years, I think he'll be fine with not flying like a lycra clad racer, if that is what you mean.
 

Wawa

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Actually, I'm not done yet.

A folding bike is GREAT for long distance travel. Its the best of everything. You can hitch easily, but you can also explore backroads with no traffic. You can ride through town, or load it up on public transit. It fits into a large home depot box, which counts as normal luggage on buses, amtrak, airplanes. You can throw it on a freight train, you can put it on a packraft. You can hoist it over fences, hide it easily. You can move like a cyclist but camp like a backpacker.

This is all personal experience, except for the bike/train and raft/bike, but I'm doing those soon as I get back to the US.

Meh, I really want to post a picture but internet here is junk.
 

DudeDuderton

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Actually, I'm not done yet.

A folding bike is GREAT for long distance travel. Its the best of everything. You can hitch easily, but you can also explore backroads with no traffic. You can ride through town, or load it up on public transit. It fits into a large home depot box, which counts as normal luggage on buses, amtrak, airplanes. You can throw it on a freight train, you can put it on a packraft. You can hoist it over fences, hide it easily. You can move like a cyclist but camp like a backpacker.

This is all personal experience, except for the bike/train and raft/bike, but I'm doing those soon as I get back to the US.

Meh, I really want to post a picture but internet here is junk.
This guy sums it up perfectly.. Technically you can do it all with a folding bike, even hop a train.. I dunno if I'd try it, I mean what the hell, I can't say I wouldn't either.. I can be a risk taker. Though if I were to do it, it sure as hell probably wouldn't be on the fly.. Not to mention I never learned to identify where different cars are going or switching up.. So wether or not I hop a train depends on who I'm with..

I'm getting a 26'er, mostly because I've learned to travel light over the years and I can handle the extra size of the 6 inches on the tires, I even stopped using a pack and started using lashing straps and a tarp as a pack to eliminate the weight of the pack itself, the tarp and lashing straps obviously have multiple uses beyond being my pack, so that's a plus.. It has disadvantages like getting in and out of it fast, but what the fuck ever, I just keep most of my shit I wont need until night in there, and keep the rest of it in something else, like a regular old bookbag.

As for the travel I plan on doing, Lib.. Haha, we'll see, you never know what's gonna happen on the road, man. But I'm going the long haul.
 
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Psylock1045

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I live in Baltimore, MD. I have all my gear, but I'm having a little trouble getting out of the area. There's hills everywhere and they beat me down and kill my motivation. Would be nice to have someone else to ride with to help keep the motivation up.
 

DudeDuderton

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I live in Baltimore, MD. I have all my gear, but I'm having a little trouble getting out of the area. There's hills everywhere and they beat me down and kill my motivation. Would be nice to have someone else to ride with to help keep the motivation up.
Have you ever traveled before, or by any other method? I've been talking to a couple people here, gonna try and coordinate something over the next month, see if we can get everyone in one spot, if it all works out right, agree on a direction and start moving.

Don't worry about the hills man, it happens to all of us.. I'm out of shape now from sitting in a fucking apartment, lol, I'm sure I'll be walkin up a lot of hills, but it's not like any of us doing this have a job to get to.. Plenty of time to fuck around.
 
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Psylock1045

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Not exactly. I've tried a couple short weekend stints last year. Hitchhiked about 80 miles northwest of Baltimore, got stuck, turned around and came home. Also rode my bike up into PA for a couple days. Got just a few miles over the state line and stayed there for a bit then turned around
 

Tude

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@DudeDuderton Hey FYI - I also admin on a fb group - and have a kid out there now touring - he's in FL atm, made his own panniers/trunk - he has a nice set up. Want to touch base with him? I believe he started out from one of the carolinas.

image.jpg
 
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DudeDuderton

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I think Florida might be too far away, especially if he's getting around by bike, lol. Honestly I want to head west, by the time I got too far south it'd be getting hot as hell.

Someone messaged me about heading out, he wants to go south too for some reason. Waiting game engaged. Wish more people were in to bikes. Never met anyone traveling that thought it was a good idea to bring one.. Now I have this hair up my ass.
 

Psylock1045

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The trip to PA, I turned around because I had severely overpacked and couldn't pedal on level ground for more than a minute before I had to take a break.

The hitchhiking trip I got stuck in hagerstown, md. I couldn't get picked up for shit. Had horrible blisters and a too heavy pack, so I started walking towards frederick to greyhound it home.
 

Psylock1045

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Finally got picked up after I had walked from one side of hagerstown to the other....about 6 miles on already badly blistered feet. It sucked lol
 

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