S24Os - planning ahead and inspiring others

[CommuterChick]

Last fall two coworkers and I tried our very first S24O -- in this case, with a fourth coworker, non-cyclist who wanted to go camping too, driving sag later in the day with LARGE tent, stove, etc. But we loaded our bikes with sleeping bags, pads, personal gear for our first attempts at working out the kinks. For those who know Boulder-Weld-Larimer counties, Colorado, we did a figure 8 route from Longmont up to Horsetooth Rez and back, about 85 miles RT.

Well, now we're planning a brainstorming session, inviting several other Awesome Babes on Bikes, see if they'd care to try the adventure, and come up with various destinations we could try throughout the summer and early fall.

As we are all newbies at the S24O drill, I would really welcome any suggestions y'all might have for our brainstorming session, and for keeping it realistic -- resources, tips, etc.. We're sending out the http://www.bikeovernights.org/ site, along with the Grant Petersen article http://www.adventurecycling.org/default/assets/resources/Petersen_S240s.pdf (of course, awesome pix from our adventure last fall, see attached for a Loveland lunch break shot)

All ideas welcome! And for those who know Colorado's mountain passes, we are NOT suggesting riding any of those, not on the menu this time around.

Thanks!

Marcy

[jobob]

I have no advice for you, I just wanted to thank you for the link to the bike overnights site. I wasn't aware of it, what a cool site!

Hope you have a great trip!

[Sky King]

A couple things to consider as you branch out and invite others. Keep the group small - 12 or less. If you are taking first time S24O riders consider keeping the distance somewhat short for that first time. We just did one where the actual "carrying the load" was only about 14 miles - it was all on dirt and gravel. Once we got to the destination we dropped our gear and then went on a nice ride, did the same thing the next day - went on a ride, came back to camp and loaded our gear for the ride back. One of the first timers said that mix really gave him confidence about his ability to tour. We have another route that is roughly 64 miles RT - Montour, see below (again on dirt) that seems to work well.

Encourage everyone to give it a try, you don't need to spend a ton of money on panniers. Just like Grant, we have done several S24O's with baskets zipped tied to our racks. Many in our wandering wheels group are fans of the Revelate seat bags and other revelate bags, for rackless riding.

Can't wait to see some photos, The Montour ride and the burgdorf ride are two we have submitted to bike overnight (http://www.bikeovernights.org/archives/category/idaho)

[MillieNZ]

Like Jobob.....thank you for the link! Been looking to do more bike touring instead of century rides and this is just the sort of information I was looking for ;-)