Tours de Jour

I’ve been thinking about my first tour for years, but now that I don’t have the excuse of not having a suitable bicycle, it’s time to start thinking about this for real.  That’s scary.

There are plenty of tours I’d like to do.  The top of the list is probably the Blue Ridge Parkway, 469 miles of slowly moving traffic from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  It has lots of climbing and lots of history, and it passes through one of my favorite places in the East: Asheville, North Carolina.  The Smokies have a lot of personal history with me, including my first hike with my father (Abrams Falls) and more trips than I can count on the Appalachian Trail from Cosby to Mt. Cammerer.

Closer to home is the Natchez Trace Parkway, 444 miles through Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.  It’s really a shame that I live to close and I’ve never even gone out there for a day.  They say it’s spectacualr…and grossly underused.

Third on the list is the C&O Towpath and the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, combining together to make a 388-mile trail from Washington, D.C. to the outskirts of Pittsburgh.  I spent a month in Pittsburgh one weekend, and I’d like to relive it.  (Old joke, I know.)  My supervisor at the community college has done the trail, and he gave me some literature that makes me want to leave tomorrow.  One drawback is that the trail is mainly gravel, not paved, but I don’t think this will be a problem with the 32mm tires on my new bike (as compared to the 23mm tires on the Guerciotti.)

Of course, with the help of the Adventure Cycling Association (if you’re not a member, join now), I could do any of the cross-country tours listed on their excellent frequently updated maps.  The newest trail, the Underground Railroad, running from Mobile, Alabama, to Erie Pennsylvania, is particularly intriguing because of the history.  From the buzz among the cycling community (and yes, we have a community — won’t you sit down and have some coffee?), this is the perfect trail for a multi-day tour.

Out west there’s the Pacific Coast Highway, 800 miles of Coastal California (and Oregon).  I think this is the trip of a lifetime.  I’ll be sure to do it before the big quake comes and the entire country west of Utah disappears.

I’ve never heard of anyone else doing it, but I’d love to ride US. 50, “The Loneliest Road in America,” also known as the “Extraterrestrial Highway.” A nice base of operations might be Las Vegas.  I’d love to ride to Rachel, Nevada, and observe the government keeping secrets from us at Area 51. I’ve been there, just not on a bike.  Considering I got my rental Chevy Cavalier up to 95 miles an hour (thanks, Alamo!) and didn’t see another car for most of the trip, I think this might make a good cycling destination.  Then again, there’s the heat of the Mohave Desert, but it’s a dry heat, and dry heats apparently don’t even count.

If I wanted something more suported, I’d love to take one of the cross-country rides organized by America by Bicycle.  One of their tour leaders is Mike Munk, a heckuva nice guy and member of the Montgomery Bike Club who taught me, in a safety course, how to ride 50 yards while looking backwards.  That’s a skill that might someday come in handy.

So, I guess the easy part was getting the bike.  The hard part is going to be choosing a destination.  I think that’s a good problem to have.