Comments on: Two Wheels to Freedom Part I: Thoughts on Bike-Touring

By: ganesha

ganesha — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 23:44:59 +0000

la bicicleta es una PASION !!

By: Chris de Vidal

Chris de Vidal — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:12:19 +0000

“Well I’m going to go crap out my entire upper torso. I’ll be back after I’ve shattered some porcelain.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

By: Bryan Schatz

Bryan Schatz — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:12:19 +0000

@Kevin K – That’s pretty cool to hear that camping is widely available and the hotels are only around $30 a night over there. I’ve always heard about how tremendously expensive Japan is, but that makes it seem far more accessible. Austin – Have fun, sounds like a great plan.

@Briana – My sincerest condolences to your current constipation condition. Make that Nescafe as muddy as you can! Eastern Europe would be a fun place to tour, sounds like you are enjoying it.

By: Briana

Briana — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:53:34 +0000

I’m in the process of an epic journey across Eastern Europe, 1,200 km down and only a few hundred remain until we reach our destination in Romania. On the constipation factor I feel you, Bryan, but at least be thankful for the availability of real coffee and toilets in California. In the boonies of Romania I am afraid all I have are Nescafe and squatters.

By: Kevin K

Kevin K — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:50:22 +0000

@Austin

So we biked from Narita north to Nikko, then north again to Aizu Wakiamatsu then West to Nigata and South along the coast finally to Nagano.

We did not end up biking through any of the major cities, opting instead to have hotels hold our bikes for us outside the city, and enjoying Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo without the hassle of a bicycle. We were fully loaded touring, camping about 2/3 of the time. There are many campgrounds open in the Summer, but many of them close in early fall, so we squatted on the closed campgrounds sometimes. Hotels were always about $30+ per night.

Nikko is an awesome ancient city with lots of history to it, worth a trip if you make it that far north. The best biking we had was along the west coast from Nigata south, but I would imagine the biking is similar along the south-west coast. If you are bringing camping gear I would highly suggest camping there are lots of sites. There is an atlas published for motorcycle tourers with incredibly detailed information about camping and pretty much every convience store in Japan. If you can get your hands on a copy, do. Even if you don’t read Japanese it is helpful.

Enjoy your trip Japan is an awesome place to bike! And when you are in Tokyo don’t mis a ramen shop called Ramen Jiro. Literally the best food I have ever eaten. It’s just a small shack that serves Japanese businessmen lunch but it is world famous among foodies for having the best noodles on earth.

By: Austin

Austin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:44:24 +0000

Kevin K,

Where did you go in Japan? I’m teaching English in South Korea right now and my plan is to take the ferry from Busan to Fukuoka and bike to Tokyo. Any recommendations or time estimates? Budget perhaps?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 02:42:55 +0000

The touring cyclist is a completely different animal than the road-rider. Different equipment, different routes, different mindset, different goals.

I’ve done my miles along the California coast. Some of the best vacations I can remember. The feeling of freedom alone is restorative, not to mention self-sufficiency, problem-solving and appreciation of nature at a level one cannot attain at 65 mph.

You’ll like it.

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:26:37 +0000

Chip – I can only say that I think you completely, utterly and entirely missed the author’s point.

By: James

James — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 07:36:54 +0000

In most states cyclist have the same right to be on the road as cars in lack of a proper bike lane, and some states even allow more rights to cyclist who can ride through stop signs and slow at lights (being a clear intersection, of course). Momentum is the name of the game when riding the streets on a bike, and stopping at every intersection is superfluous. Saying that, any rider who throws themselves into a busy intersection has no one to blame but themselves for causing an accident, and riding more than 2 abreast is unnecessary, it’s a bike ride not social hour. Though, next time I ride to work if every car gave me my mandated 3 feet of clearance while passing I might consider moving closer to the shoulder. Until then, we share the road. Fair?
And, Harley’s do look nice, but my legs look better.

By: jon

jon — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:25:40 +0000

It’s more fun with multiple seats… :)

http://jon.limedaley.com/plog/post/2010-family-bike-trip-to-washington-dc-first-two-days