I'd like to go on a bike tour in august

[amyp]

I would like to plan a bike tour for ~7-12 days down to san fran with some stops on the way and probably taking the train back.
I wonder if I could do it on my Terry Tailwind road bike with a trailer or should I get a touring specific bicycle?
What touring bike would you recommend? I am a shorty - 4'11! I tried the LHT and the reach felt really far.
I am going with two friends. I will be the only girl in the group.

I follow a few blogs and read a few books on bike touring. Any important things I should know/keep in mind?

[shootingstar]

I've never had a touring bike..but I've gone on bike tours for several weeks and cycled with my loaded panniers (sometimes 2 panniers, other trips there are 4 on my bike). On a hybrid and other trips on a folding bike (with 20 inch wheels, not the smaller ones). We've done our own bike tours over the past 2 decades. My partner has done way more solo lengthy bike tours. I ride with him.
Are you camping?

There is no real need to pull a trailer for the length of your trip. But you do have to train yourself locally by riding lots with groceries, etc. Try a 1-2 overnight short trip, to understand stuff that you want to pack.

I am aware that some roadies just aren't used to/don't like hauling alot of baggage weight on their bike.

I suppose if you're with men, they will all have touring bikes or road bikes or whatever? I'm just wondering since being the only woman you might want to feel better on a bike where you feel strongest and one that can carry weight which means your bike rack must be rated to take alot of pannier weight. Do you normally ride with these men at all? If they are friends and don't have big egos, then they would be good riders with you on a group tour. For road tires, I would not use narrow road slicks for touring. Nope.

I have Schwable Marathon tires that aren't mountain bike chunky but definitely wider than slicks. For your panniers, line them with plastic bags or have pannier covers for rain. I carry only 1 extra pr. of shoes and become extremely efficient in number of clothing pieces that I haul around.

I am 5'1". I have a good cycling friend who has done bike touring several times with her own pannier weight and she is 4'11". She uses her folding bike.

[Irulan]

where are you starting from? Did I miss that?

[amyp]

Oh! I didn't state where I am starting. Im starting in Portland, OR. Yes, we are planning on camping and I have done overnight camping/tour with a friend once.

Ya, I usually commute by bike to the grocery store and such but probably have never carried a lot of weight. I've never had to use front panniers. I mostly carry a backpack and I've carried up to 20lbs during the school year.

My friends are nice when I start to slow down on a group ride. They stick with me so I think I will be fine. I need to look for tires as well. I hope they have options for 650 wheels.

Well I have 2 months until august!

[shootingstar]

I would never want to go on a bike tour and ride for several hrs. every day for a week @ 50-120 km. each day with a backpack of weighted stuff on my back.

Front panniers make sense when you also have rear panniers so that you're more balanced on the bike. It takes minor adjustment for first few spins on bike to have weight on your front. It's not a big deal. Your trip sounds short enough that your total required weight for whole trip is not like cycle touring for several months where one may need to cycle with more belongings/gear.

[Becky]

The Serfas Urbana is one of the widest 650c tires I've seen. It could be an option if there's enough clearance in your bike.

[goldfinch]

The Serfas Urbana is one of the widest 650c tires I've seen. It could be an option if there's enough clearance in your bike.

Terry also sells a 650c x 28. I have never found or heard of anything any wider. I owned a Terry Symmetry for a while and it had the 650 x 28's on it.

[shootingstar]

Let us know how your trip goes. I'm sure you'll have a great trip. Usually with friends it always is.

[Sky King]

Here is what I ride - 650B X 42 Grand Bois Hetre You would be hard pressed to convince me of a better touring tire. I have about 2,000 miles on my set.
Just got home from our 2nd annual Owyhee Scenic Byway ride - 104 miles on dirt & gravel roads on a fully loaded bike, they perform like a champ. One of our fellow riders commented that
he thinks he should trade out his Schwalbe Marathon Mondials as I was rolling faster than he was (nah, I just have stronger legs, hee hee) Anyway I would certainly recommend them
if they will fit your fork and brakes. I do run them with a "Mr Tuffy" style liner as we have so many goathead thorns here but I don't notice that slowing me down.

[shootingstar]

That's great these tires work for you.

No, most of our cycle touring trips have been on paved highways, roads and paths.

Marathon Schwable (there are different types) is what I've been using for past 3 years. My partner uses them also. He is more of a solo, full-loading bike touring pro than I....he has done bike trips over 3,000 km. across the Canadian western provinces and U.S. (Montana, Idaho, Washington State, Oregon, California (Santa Barbara) and back north to Vancouver, BC....in 1 trip last year over 2.5 months). I go very much by his experience because he also rode in France and Spain 2 yrs. ago on his own.

This is someone who has cycled across Canada ...twice. 4,000 km. from Vancouver to Toronto. That's how much I trust his bike touring experience..at least for paved surface cycling. I dislike cycling on gravel roads with heavy loaded panniers and if I have front loaded panniers, I dislike it even more because of the need stay balanced with the weight.

I don't hear much from him complaining about a need for speed..it's very dependent on a person's strength, stamina and mental fitness also. One isn't worrying so much about speed vs. just planning well /enough so that one has enough energy and strength for each daily destination especially if one is not familiar with terrain, nature of destinations, available services along the way and dealing with unexpected heavy headwinds, etc.

So one does need to "train" before embarking on longer trips with significantly heavier pannier weight.

[Sky King]

Amyp,
Back to the bike... Have you researched if you can mount racks? I only looked at your bike on the Terry site and it looked like putting racks on may be a challenge. I know Arkel sells a light touring rack that attaches to the seat post and nitto makes a front rack that uses clamps to attach to the fork. Personally I don't like a front handlebar bag that attaches to the handlebars as it affects how the bike handles so I use a front rack that the weight of the bag rests on. Perhaps taking the bike to the LBS that carry's touring gear is in order. Best of luck. The trip sounds like a great time and as there will be tons of towns you won't need to carry much in the food department so the Arkel or a Revelate bag would fit the bill. (look at the Pika)