The Bike - a four year old Raliegh C-30 hybrid. This is not a very fancy bike, but it is not exactly a thrift store special either. I think I paid about $300 for it. Lots of parts have been replaced over the years but mostly just because I wore them out. Chicago winters are hard on moving parts.

I did replace the rear wheel with a tandem rim because the stock rim didn't like to stay true for my 200 pounds.

For this trip I salvaged the some toe-clips and bar-ends from my trusty old Ross moutain bike. I would suggest that these are nearly essential for a long ride.

I only got one flat tire, which for a 500 mile trip seems pretty remarkable. I think the fact that over half of these miles were on off-road trails helped a lot. I did not see very much broken glass on these trails. Other usual flat tire culprits such as the odd chunk of motor vehicle detritus were absent as well. I used a regular tube without any additional flat protection.

Speaking of flats, this is the first trip on which I brought a spare tube. Previously I would just bring a patch kit. That is clearly insane. Swapping in a tube takes a few minutes while finding a leak and patching it in the field can often be an ordeal.

The Weather - My first full day of riding was also the autumnal equinox. I can't express in words how great it is to take a long ride in the fall as opposed to the height of summer. It it just entirely comfortable. Tempuratures ranged from 40 to 70 F or so and the humidity levels were ideal. Not a drop of rain fell on me, although the dew was very heavy every morning.

Daylight - The downside of an autumn ride of course is the limited hours of daylight. I had to stop riding by 7:00 pm or so, which reduced the total number of miles I could ride in a day. This might have been a blessing for me in this case. Since I did not bother to train for this trip, I'm not sure I was up for very many 150 mile days anyway.

Food - in an effort to minimize costs, I bought a couple boxes of granola bars, and made a large batch of trail-mix (just raisins and peanuts). On previous trips I remember buying a lot of these kinds of items at gas stations and convenience stores, and paying gas station and convenience store prices for them. I'm sure I saved some money, but I also carried several unecessary extra pounds for hundreds of miles. Next time I'll try to remember that there are grocery stores outside of Chicago.

Beverages - I need to give credit to someone on the BIKE-CHI mailing list for this great idea - but I can't recall who it was: watered down fruit juice! My bike has two water bottle cages. In one cage I kept a bottle of water and in the other, a mixture of about 10 to 30 percent fruit juice mixed with water. It really seems to help in an expensive sport drink kind of way to get a little boost of sugar.

Doping - I confess to drinking a couple of colas as well. And of course I managed to find some coffee every morning. On the morning after my camping night, I rode for about ten miles before having any caffeine. At a gas station I mixed coffee, ice and pepsi in a large cup. It tasted like crap but it got the job done.

Other Trips -
This was not my first long distance bicycle trip. I'll list the others here Real Soon Now...

speaking of which - This document, like the site itself is subject to more editing and additions. This page in particular is not at all done yet.

Sections I plan to add to this page:

Lodging -
Packing List -
Music -

Stuff I need to mention somewhere:
People -
Critters -
Something about Galena and other towns-

last revised:12 October, 2002