I don't post in here much, but when I do it's usually with n00b questions about an upcoming mini-tour (NYC to BOS). I feel like I've got a decent grip on my plans so far, but one thing I didn't even consider until now: do I need to look into new wheel sets geared towards touring? I've replaced the stock tires that come with the Cross Check, but everything else should be fine as far as handling the weight of a relatively lightweight tour, right? I remember seeing some tour where a dude was not prepared and his wheels sorta bent in mid-ride.
Hubs
Shimano HB-T610-L, QR. 32h. Black
Rims
Alex DH19 700c 32h doublewall, black w/ machined sidewall
Spokes
DT Swiss Champion, 14g
That's basically a mountain bike wheel. As long as the spokes have enough tension it should be quite tough.
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Sooooo monday/tuesday/wednesday I was out mini-touring northern Washington and southern British Columbia.
No front rack, about 24 pounds of stuff on the rear rack. All that weight strapped high up made things sort of unstable, bike kinda wobbled when I stood up and had my weight forward. Otherwise it was surprisingly nimble and felt basically normal. There was a shocking lack of unintentional wheelies.
Heading North through Skagit County, with Mount Baker in the background:
Not long after taking that photo, my front tube started losing air. Couldn't find the cause, but I'd gotten multiple flats recently on the tire... decided to throw a gatorskin on at the next LBS.
When I got to Burlington, I decided to take Chuckanut (SR11) to Bellingham. Was reasonably scenic, and it seems popular for touring; I saw a few other loaded bikes along the way.
I set up camp in Surrey BC.
On Tuesday, I decided to leave the camping stuff behind and go for a sort of day trip with just the pannier contents (a credit card touring setup, pretty much). Road my bike to Tsawwassen, which has a couple port thingies jutting out into the Straight. One of them is a ferry terminal which got me to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island, the other had cargo ships.
From Swartz Bay I went to Victoria and had some delicious naan and tomato-based chicken curry for lunch. Afterwards I headed back to Swartz Bay for the ferry back.
The Vancouver Island coast is nice. By the way, a theme of this mini-tour is that Mount Baker is visible from basically everywhere.
Mount Baker from the ferry at Swartz Bay just as we were starting to move back to Tsawwassen:
The last day I more or less retraced my path back home. One of the major differences is that I took I-5 from the Canadian border down to Bellingham. Normally cycling on the I-5 shoulder interests me about as much as cycling in a nuclear warzone, but on the way up, Google Maps had sent me on a zig-zagging path through ruts and chipseal bad enough to make me wish I was on my Stumpjumper.
And there were 15-20mph headwinds.
Oh well.
At least there was a decent view of Baker.
South of Bellingham, the hills of Chuckanut were very pleasant. Sunny, the wind didn't permeate them, just lots of scenic spinning.
Anyway, wound up being a decent 3 days of cycling. Covered somewhere in the ballpark of 280 miles, decent weather, lots of good curry, used the tour to justify stuffing my face with way too much food in the last 24 hours. All-in-all a pretty good deal.
