This document is being automatically published here as my friends and I roll out on an bicycle camping overnight trip.

For me both Randonneuring and bicycle touring are very similar activities. Last year I played randonneuring mentor by encouraging some friends to test the waters of brevet riding, they liked it. Recently I've been doing the same with bicycle touring. Today two of my cycling friends will be joining me on their first bicycle camping overnighter, Virgins. I hope they enjoy it the same way I do. I did give them some tips but hope they discover the important details and joys of touring on their own.

I am looking forward to introducing my friends to bicycle touring; part of my advice:
Don't over-pack, you'll have to haul all that crap
Don't under-pack you'll be uncomfortable without that key piece of crap.

 I have enjoyed bicycle touring for many years now. I love loading a bike with whatever I think I would need on the road an go. I usually tour overseas but also every year I enjoy one more cycling overnight trips that start form my own garage door. I like the little planing an overnighter needs, just grab a change of clothes (so I don't stink the second day) some camping things and go. Simple, easy and lots of fun. I never bring cooking stuff, to much to plan for my taste, I just stop along the way and buy whatever I'll be eating that afternoon, evening and sometimes next breakfast. The next morning as soon as I wake up I start packing things up and in less than one hour I am back on the road, simple and efficient.

How fun this group touring will be for me is hard to tell. Again I am used to doing touring alone or with my lovely wife. I have never done it with others so in that sense I am a virgin. I think the hardest part of doing short overnight touring on a group is getting everybody ready to roll at the same time. On a longer multi day tour I would think you just get up and go and others do the same at their own pace, meeting you sometime later in the day; what would be the etiquette on an overnighter? We'll figure that as we go...
(First posted August-31-2007 at 04:07 pm)