Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I’ve added a few links in the right sidebar to some of the blogs by some of the people who have inspired, educated and directly and indirectly helped me with my planned ride. If you’d like to read about some of their adventures, plan on spending some time, but they’re worth it.

One is still on the road. Cycling The Globe is about Thomas, a Danish Ham who is on his way from Denmark to Australia. Short on words, but full of excellent photographs.

Two are on hiatus for the winter. Dean McCollum writes The Lemonade Magnate’s Trans America. He has stopped for the winter, but read his introduction about how he came up with the Lemonade Magnate title. Coincidentally, he is also a Ham Radio Operator.

The other one on hiatus is Jen and Ken Ballantine, responsible for three of the links at the bottom of the list. They’ve completed the first season trip by reaching the West coast in Oregon after starting in North Carolina. They plan to continue riding in the spring, but are lucky enough to have been offered what I called “Living the Dream” jobs at a snowshoe rental [and cabin rental] place in Colorado that includes a place to stay and plenty of opportunities to ski.

Two of the remaining blogs are also found at the Crazy Guy On A Bike site, which offers space to people doing extended rides to keep a journal. They were completed a few years ago, but were so entertaining and informative, I enjoyed them a lot. Both North to Alaska and Back Again and Riding the Great Divide were written by Heidi Domeisen from North Carolina.

The oldest of the list is the Nomadic Research Labs link, one of several places you can read about Steve Roberts high-tech nomadic life. Steve rode a recumbent bike pulling a trailer and outfitted with more electronics than I would want to maintain around the country back in the late 80’s. His book Computing Across America tells the story of his first trip. He’s gone through several iterations of human powered transport that include a couple bikes, a kayak and now is about to head out around the world in a sailboat. Steve has become an expert at “taking it with you” by living a minimalist life without giving up the technology he loves.

If that’s not enough, take some time and poke around at the Crazy Guy On a Bike site. There are hundreds of stories there.

Here’s a composite of three photos showing the general idea. I couldn’t twist a solar panel to fit, so you’ll have to imagine that in back!

Add the solar panel over the trailer and put my panniers on and you’ll have the picture.

I’m working on a project that I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I’ve mentioned it to a few close friends and my wife thinks I’m nuts, I’m sure, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

What is it? To do a long-distance cycling trip.

So, before I go off and do it, I’m going to put out my idea before everyone here in the hinternets so you’ll know what I’m doing, maybe understand it a bit and follow along as I progress.

I don’t yet know where I am going. I don’t know if I’ll ever know that, or if I’ll just wander. I have several directions I’d like to go. Some are shorter and may make sense as a first trip. Others are more ambitious.

Where would I want to go? Continue Reading…

I finally got the trike out for an overnight trip. I heard about a thing called the Niagara Velomobile Happening and found out that there was free camping for those attending. Seemed like something interesting and a good way to do a shakedown cruise with the gear on the Trike.

I’m usually the ‘cycle that gets the comments and stares whenever I go out for a ride, but with this group, I was the conservative one. In case you haven’t heard the term velomobile before, it refers to a vehicle that is usually based on some form of human-powered vehicle and often has a full body, or at least some windscreen.

These enthusiasts took that to heart and many velos there were fully enclosed and electric motors to assist pedaling were very common as well. Some were home made, some were commercial products. They were pretty much all very interesting.

Like going to a robotics event, the same concept often resulted in a wide variety of solutions, some odd at first, some elegant, but all original and very cool. In this crew, my basic trike was boring… Continue Reading…