The weather is wonderful here in DC after a long hot summer, making it the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors with long bike rides, hikes, and runs.
This week, dedicated spinner Lina Khan inspires us with details of her upcoming 330 mile bike trip from Jacksonville, FL to Charleston, SC.
Want to plan a multi-day cycling trip of your own? Read on for some great tips from Lina about how she planned her trip–from researching itineraries to deciding what to bring. She departs this Saturday and will hopefully share the scoop–and photos–from her adventures when she’s back.
Thanks for sharing with us Lina!
What made you want to do a long cycling trip to begin with?
I started biking to get around the city about a year ago. The autonomy and ability to bypass traffic is thrilling, and now I find myself weighing whether it’s worth walking even five blocks. A good friend in New York had gotten really into biking too, so we just started throwing around the idea of a longer trip. This coincided with a sudden interest in exploring the south, so we decided to plan something out.
What websites have been helpful in your research (for locations, equipment, etc)?
There’s no shortage of stuff out there. For help in mapping out trips, we relied on Adventure Cycling Association, which has put together an extensive map of prime cycling routes across the country. Another site that is some combination of immensely helpful and endlessly quirky is CrazyGuyonaBike – kind of like an attic full of bike journals tracking people’s trips all over. You can get extremely detailed accounts of, say, how wide a shoulder is on some highway in Georgia, or a rogue encounter with chasing dogs. Both sites also have forum where people post equipment lists, like this,this, or this.
How/why did you choose your location, where are you going, and what’s your itinerary ?
A friend had told us that the coastal low country in Georgia and South Carolina is gorgeous in October, so we started exploring around there. For a while we had considered starting in Atlanta and riding west towards Alabama, but we’d been warned about a dramatic series of hills around there, and also needed a convenient way of getting back to DC and NY. We settled on a ~330 mile trip from Jacksonville, Fl to Charleston, SC, which roughly follows a segment of the ACA’s “Atlantic Coast” route.
We’ll be logging an average of 50 miles a day, though a bit lighter on our first day as we don’t arrive in Jacksonville till the afternoon. Our itinerary is:
SAT: Jacksonville, LF–Callahan–Hilliard, GA
SUN: Folkston–Nahunta—Patterson, GA
MON: Patterson-Reidsville, GA
TUES: Reidsville-Statesboro, GA
WEDS: Statesboro-Clyo-Ridgeland, SC
THURS: Ridgeland-Yemassee-Walterboro, SC
FRI: Walterboro-Charleston, SC
How are you getting to your starting point?
I’m taking an Amtrak from DC to Jacksonville. Amtrak allows you to check-in bikes on-board for $10, and an extra $15 for a bike box.
How did you select a bike for the trip?
I found some how-to guides that list the various criteria to consider (like this one, by The Bike House). I narrowed down by type (road bike with lower eyelets that can carry some weight) and a price range and then just visited bike shops around town to try some out. Staff at REI were especially helpful and keen to make sure I found the right bike. Once I started researching the quality of components, I found it’s easy to get caught up in very fine distinctions; so partly the challenge was just assessing which factors even matter for my riding purposes. I ended up asking several cyclist friends for their opinions, and decided on the Giant Avail 5, which has been terrific so far.
Aside from your bike, what equipment are you bringing–camping equipment, how many sets of clothes, food, etc?
-Basic camping equipment: a lightweight tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mats, stove, cooking pot, cutlery
-Bike tools: tire levels, hand pump, tubes, patch kit, chain lube, multi-tool
-Clothes: couple of riding shirts, long-sleeve shirt for cold, bike shorts, rain jacket, bike gloves
-Food: We’re bringing some energy bars, trail mix, and a jar of peanut butter. We figure we’ll make sandwiches along the way, and pick up some beans and vegetables to cook at night for dinner.
-Misc: flashlight, bug spray, band aids/mini first-aid kit.
Where will you stay along the way?
In our “super light-weight” (product terminology) tent! We’ve researched camp sites we hit along the way and have mapped out each day roughly according to where there are sites. We’ve also heard that southern churches can be gracious with their front lawns, for when there aren’t good camping sites in the vicinity.
What are you most excited about, nervous about, etc?
Most excited about the small towns we’ll be stopping through and the locals we’ll encounter. Also about how good meals taste once you’ve been riding all day, and about falling asleep outside for a week. Most nervous about getting hit by a truck.
How have you trained/prepared for the ride?
A few weekends ago I rode out to Brunswick, MD for the night and back the next day — a 120-mile trip in all. I’d never ridden more than 40 before, or with camping gear in tow, so it was a good test of endurance. Other than that I’ve been taking longer rides (Beach Drive, Mount Vernon) and spinning and running regularly.
What will you do in case of bad weather?
On the trip to Brunswick we encountered torrential rain and ended up just taking cover under a tarp for 30 minutes until it passed. Haven’t thought too extensively about the weather beyond that — at worst we’ll have to make up for lost miles on another day.
How has Spinning helped you prepare?
Spinning first got me comfortable with riding intensely for an hour or longer, and encouraged me to make the leap to taking more challenging rides outdoors. Definitely feel more able to tackle steep hills.
