Bike tour

I'm planning a bike tour.

It's not going to be anything like a 3 week trek through some foreign country our anything.  it's going to be 3 or 4 days and maybe cover 300 miles max.  Considering that I ride about 300 miles in a month, I think that this is an ambitious goal for a first time tour.  I have a buddy who lives in the Bay Area who will be going with me.  I'm not sure any of the other riders that I know would be up for something like this so it will probably be just the two of us.  However I think this may be the best way to go since I think the idea behind a bike tour is not worrying about making anybody happy except yourself which is pretty hard to do when you have a big group of people going with you.

I got the idea from the most recent issue of the Bicycle Times.  In it they talk to some of the staff writers and discuss what they typically take along with them on a tour.  This story coupled with an article in Bike Magazine about a railroad bike tour really got my juices going about grabbing the bike, getting enough stuff for a few days, and riding as far as the bike will take me.

Something about that just seems like a fun thing to do.  Being on the road with your thoughts and your bike.  I'm the kind of guy who prefers to ride without headphones on so being in the middle of nowhere while on a bike sounds like it's something I will remember for the rest of my life.

At this point, there are no set plans.  We are shooting for going in September when were planning on going up to the Bay Area so my kids can visit their grandma on their mom's side of the family.  I think we will go light with one bike trailer full of stuff between the two of us.  A few changes of clothes, some spare bike parts, some food for the road, a camera and not much else.  We have a few different destinations in mind: Santa Cruz, Davis, Sonora, or whatever else sounds good to us.  

I'll be posting more info as the plans develop.  If you have any suggestions on touring essentials drop me a line of leave a comment below.