By David Romanowski

Road Touring101

Map Meeting. Morning gatherings to discuss what ridersneed to know about the upcoming day’s ride are an impor-tant part of every Adventure Cycling Association course.

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The meal crew for this morning is upjust after 6:00 a.m., setting up stoves to heatwater for coffee and oatmeal and laying outfood for breakfast and lunch. The rest of usget to sleep in — until 6:20 or so. Breakfastis at 6:30, cleanup and inventory of what’sleft on the table after 7:00. Map meetingtakes place at 7:30, when our leader, ChipCoutts, reviews today’s route with us turnby turn. By 8:00 we are breaking camp, andthe first riders are heading out.

If you’re not an early riser, you becomeone.

The tightly paced morning schedule ismeant to introduce twelve neophytes to theroutines they would encounter on anAdventure Cycling expedition tour. It’s bootcamp for bicyclists, Adventure Cycling’s“Introduction to Road Touring” course.

A couple of months before the tour, Ireceive a booklet called Before You Go,which outlines what to expect on anAdventure Cycling tour, how to prepare forit, what to bring and how to pack, how totransport your bicycle, and more. Twoweeks before the tour, I receive a letter fromChip Coutes, the course’s instuctor, whointroduces himself and encourages each par-ticipant to contact him. He specifies how toget to the starting point, what to do once wearrive, and when and where the group willconvene.

The course takes place over six days atthe beginning of May. Our first meeting, ason an expedition tour, is at 7:00 p.m. onSaturday evening, after we’ve settled into ourcabins at Pocahontas State Park, southwestof Richmond, Virginia. We will spend thenext two days in the park learning aboutroad touring and establishing our group rou-

tines, then set out on a 100-mile, three-daytour that will end back at Pocahontas.Day 1: The Group Gathers

At our Saturday evening meeting, Chiphas us introduce ourselves, tell where we arefrom, why we are interested in touring, andwhat our best friend thinks of this. Our geo-graphical range is broad; participants hailfrom Connecticut, Massachusetts,Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee,Michigan, and California. Our ages spanfour decades, from twenty-seven to sixty-seven, with most people in their forties orfifties, a fairly typical mix. There are twowomen and ten men. Women usually makeup a third of an Adventure Cycling tourgroup, although Chip has led a tour onwhich women outnumbered men.

Our reasons for participating vary.Some are planning solo tours, one receivedthe course as a gift, all are eager to try out theconcept of fully-loaded touring. Reactionsfrom friends and loved ones range from awedadmiration or envy to “supportive but does-n’t really get it.” Chip, a veteran tour partic-ipant and leader who lives near Richmond,has taught several of these courses and ishere because he enjoys being among thosewho “get it.”

My inspiration for being here was abook I first read in 1996 called Over the Hills:A Midlife Escape Across America by Bicycle byDavid Lamb. A journalist in his early fiftieswhose cycling experience was limited tooccasional rides on local bike paths, Lambdecided he was tired of being “ordinary” and

wanted to do something extraordinary. Sohe undertook a solo tour from his home inAlexandria, Virginia, to Santa Monica Pier inCalifornia. A superb read, Over the Hillsinstantly became one of my favorite travelbooks. Each time I reread the book, I had thesame reaction. I thought, “I could do that.”

On my last reading, I looked up anorganization he mentioned —Bikecentennial — and discoveredAdventure Cycling and the whole touringsubculture. I immediately joined, researchedand bought a touring bike and panniers, andbegan considering a major trip — from myhome just outside Washington, DC, toFlorida, or down the West Coast, or evenacross the country — to celebrate my fiftiethbirthday. I’d never toured before, hadcamped maybe three nights in the last fifteenyears, had never biked fifty miles on twoconsecutive days. In short, I was woefullyinexperienced and not a little nervous aboutwhat I was getting myself into. My “signifi-cant other” worried about me committingmyself to some ill-conceived, grandiosescheme and convinced me to try out theconcept first on a more limited scale.

Thus, I found myself sitting hereamong a dozen other kindred spirits, readyand eager to learn.Days 2–3: Talking Touring

The dining hall, a short walk throughthe woods from our cabins, serves as ourmeeting and eating place for the next twodays. Although we aren’t traveling anywhereyet, we follow the schedule and basic rou-tines that we would follow during a tour.

Chip has laid out food for our firstbreakfast and lunch but, from then on, therest of us will make the meals. Learning theroutine for managing meals is important.Each touring day will be structured aroundplanning, preparing, and eating them. Theywill provide the fuel that will keep us pedal-ing down the road. A breakdown in the rou-tine can mean a bunch of famished, angrybicyclists.

Chip divides us into three-personteams, each of which will handle the shop-ping, preparation, and cleanup tasks for oneset of meals. On an expedition tour, mealduty rotates among teams of two. Heinstructs us on how to plan menus usingAdventure Cycling’s cookbook as a guide.

Dieters beware: the recipes tend to be carbo-hydrate-heavy. One of our group is a vege-tarian, also not unusual on a tour, so meatwill be prepared and served on the side. Chipwill accompany each team to the store toensure they buy adequate provisions.

After eating breakfast and packing ourlunches, we take inventory of the food that isleft and decide what to save or toss. Thenthe team that will cook dinner that daydetermines what they need to purchase.Chip, keeper of the group funds, hands them$120 — about ten dollars per person for aday’s food — and tells them to buy whatev-er they want “and bring me back somechange.” That afternoon, they will pedal offwith empty panniers to a supermarket sever-al miles away and fill those panniers withfood and drinks for that evening’s dinner,plus breakfast and lunch for the next day.

I’ve been feeling more anxious aboutbeing responsible for the appetites of a packof hungry bicyclists than about any otheraspect of this course. By luck of the draw, Iend up assigned to the final meal team. Wewill have the benefit of everyone else’s expe-rience before us, but we will have to do ourshopping at a pair of convenience stores —a lesson on how to make the best of whatev-er’s available.

From 8:00 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. onDay 2 and Day 3, we spend most of our timesitting in a circle discussing many aspects ofAdventure Cycling tours and touring in gen-eral. Chip goes over safety issues and rules ofthe road, how to read Adventure Cyclingmaps, and how Adventure Cycling tourswork. The tours are designed to be flexible.People can travel alone or in groups and asfast or as slowly as they want or need to.They can even elect to take side trips awayfrom the group for as long as three days.

With flexibility comes responsibility:for riding safely, staying on the route, andkeeping track of where you are. If you getlost, it’s up to you to find your way back tothe group. If you go AWOL for more thanthree days, you are regarded as having quitthe tour. For the group to function success-fully, everyone must adhere to rules and rou-tines, such as carrying your share of thegroup gear, doing your part on the meal rota-tion, getting into camp by 5:00 p.m. (earlierif you’re on dinner duty), and getting meals

ready on time. You have to continue to getalong with everyone else long after the initialthrill of the adventure has passed.

Communication among a group spreadout over many miles can be challenging.Riders must be able to contact the leader,

Roughing it. Camping is an essential element of many Adventure Cycling tours.

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and vice versa, in case someone gets waylaid,lost, or injured. Cell phones often don’twork in the hinterlands, so AdventureCycling has a toll-free phone number thatgroup members or their contacts at homecan use to leave messages for one another.Mail stops are arranged for longer trips soriders can receive packages from home orcritical parts for repairing a bike.

The notepads and pens Chip providedus get their heaviest use as he talks abouttouring bikes and gear. He deconstructs thepacking system he uses on his own touringbike, pulling out each article of clothing orgear from his panniers and explaining whatit’s for and where he packs it. He goesthrough the group tool kit he will carry, itemby item. He reveals how to replace a brokenrear-wheel spoke without removing the gearcassette. We practice doing a nine-pointcheck on each other’s bicycles to catch basicadjustment needs before they escalate intoproblems. We learn the virtues of pedalingat a high cadence, and one of our groupexplains the physiological reason why it pro-

vides greater endurance (you rely more onfatigue-resistant “slow-twitch” musclefibers). One evening after dinner, Chip evendemonstrates how to fix a flat. Even thoughI’ve repaired my share, I still learn a coupleof things.

Chip is proving to be an adept guide forthe uninitiated: knowledgeable, organized,and articulate; patient with the most basicquestions; tolerant but firm with the way-ward and unknowing. His easygoing man-ner, sense of humor, and deep hearty laughkeep the mood light. He keeps the group ontrack but also gives each of us the personalattention we need. Day by day, our self-con-fidence grows.

Before and after dinner, we kick backand relax. Some of us pack and repack ourgear, strum a guitar, play a flute, call lovedones at home. A few drive to the nearestbike and outdoor gear stores and put to usewhat we’ve just learned.

By the end of Day 3, the intermittentlyrainy weather is lifting — which is a goodthing, because, as on an expedition tour, we

will ride tomorrow rain or shine. Althoughwe’ve enjoyed our discussions over the pasttwo days, we are all getting eager to get onour bikes and hit the road.Days 4–6: Fully Loaded and Loving It!

Weighed down with four loaded pan-niers and a handlebar bag, my Trek 520feels heavy and cumbersome, like I’m driv-ing a truck. But, once I get going, it handlesfine. The bike seems solid and stable — Imust have gotten the weight distributionreasonably balanced — and it doesn’t shim-my while going downhill. In fact, it hardlyseems like I’m coasting as fast as I am. I canmanage the up-hills, even the short, steepones, without much trouble, too.

Woohoo! I’m really doing this!Our bicycles are as individual and

diverse as we are. There are touring bikes,recumbents, hybrids, mountain bikes, evena road bike or two (which prove less suit-able). Two people pull trailers. The restcarry panniers, some rented or borrowed,some brand new.

The route we follow through the

Self-sufficiency. Participants learn the basics of bicycle repair and maintenance so they can deal with most impending problems.

Virginia countryside gives us a sense of dif-ferent kinds of conditions we will likely findon a typical tour: lots of miles on lovely ruralroads with little traffic; short stretches onbusy highways with narrow or no shouldersand high-speed access lanes; gently rollingterrain punctuated by sharp dips and climbs;and, of course, the occasional canine pur-suer.

Our daily distances are modest —about thirty miles the first day, forty the sec-ond, and thirty the third — but enough forus to get used to our fully loaded bicycles,adjust to the routines of touring and camp-ing, and see some sights along the way. Wespend a fair amount of time poking aroundPamplin Historical Park — site of a crucialCivil War engagement — and the NationalMuseum of the Civil War Soldier, withoutfeeling hurried. On our first night out, wecamp on the grounds of a small countrychurch; the next night, we’re at a big privatecampground.

I end up keeping company on the roadwith two other riders. We started out at thesame time and find that we ride at a similarpace and enjoy each other’s company.Sometimes we ride close together and chat;sometimes we separate for a fair distance,then close up or rendezvous at rest stops.We watch out for each other, making sureno one misses a turn. It’s a comfortablearrangement that we end up maintaining forthe rest of the tour. We meet up with otherriders from our group from time to time andhave lunch with them. The only one wenever run across until after we reach camp isChip. He’s bringing up the rear ridingsweep.

On the afternoon of Day 5, I empty mypanniers and ride with Chip and two othersa couple of miles to the pair of conveniencestores where we will do our meal shopping.We discover a pizzeria next door. Chip had-n’t told us about this! Unfortunately, today’slesson is about learning to make do so wedutifully pick up supplies for a rather basicspaghetti dinner and whatever we canscrounge for tomorrow’s breakfast andlunch. Our dinner isn’t as good as the mac-aroni and cheese, tacos and burritos, andpasta with veggies that previous teamscooked up, but we’re the first group to haveit ready right on time.

On the last day of the trip, my ridingtrio’s companionship pays off. About twomiles from Pocahontas State Park, I see mypartner ahead begin to slow, then “BANG!”— the rear tire sidewall on his new recum-bent blows out. He has never had to fix a flatbefore, and he has no spares. But our third

riding buddy, who pulls in behind us, doeshave the right size, so he and I coach ourcompanion through replacing the tire andtube — another small but empowering les-son.

Regrettably, I can’t attend the tradition-al celebration dinner late that afternoon, so Isay my goodbyes in the parking lot atPocahontas. We’ve all exchanged emailaddresses so we can keep in touch. One ofus is planning a solo bike trip to Florida,

another, across Massachusetts. Others arepreparing to buy new bikes or are lookingahead to their own new adventures. And, intwo weeks, Chip will introduce anothergroup of inexperienced newcomers to roadtouring.

As for me, I hope to take a short solo

trip, perhaps down Maryland’s 185-mileC&O Canal towpath or along AdventureCycling’s new Tidewater Potomac HeritageRoute, to find out how I like touring alone.After that, who knows? The open road beck-ons, and my bike and I are now ready to roll.

David Romanowski lives in Maryland and is currentlyout there pedaling away, enjoying his newfound touringskills.

A view from the rear. Sweep riding is often where you’ll find a tour leader.

Some are planning solo tours, one received thecourse as a gift, all are eager to try out the conceptof fully-loaded touring.

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