Off on my first longish Catrike adventure

[Ming the Merciless]

Well done, and sounds like a wonderful first long tour

 

[cwskas]

As a matter of interest do you know if many people utilised that service?
And did everyone camp or was hotel/motel/inn options available?

For some reason I am not getting the quoted section which I posted when I try to Quote so here is what prompted the above question.

"No Drop Tours would have your tent already setup and your bags outside the door waiting on you."

I am not sure how many, but there were a lot, I would estimate over 100 for sure. Other than this 'Premium camping' option, everyone was basically on their own as to how they handled overnights. I would guess that about half as many riders setup their own tents as the premium folks. There were also a large group of riders who slept on the floor inside of some community provided area - a gym or schoolroom or church. On at least one night there were quite a few setup under a large covered concrete slab like might be used for a dance or a concert.

I would not be surprised to find that some stayed in hotels, but did not personally speak with anyone who did that.

There were also 15-20 riders who had family (presumably) members driving a motorhome or similar. And they would stay in that. I did not personally speak to anyone who did this, but did see them each night setup in a parking lot when we arrived.

As part of the support, No Drop Tours provided a large U-Haul truck which transported baggage to the next destination -- in the rider info described as no more than 2 large duffle bags weighing 40 pounds each. No additional cost for this, but each rider was responsible for having their bags at the truck by a certain time and for picking them up at a common drop off point at the destination. There was no accounting for luggage by the tour operator, simply transportation. They did provide nice sturdy bag tags.

That is what I did after breaking the spoke, even after getting the wheel fixed.

 

[cwskas]

On a different note did everyone do the full route or did some join "late" and depart before the finish?

When registering, riders could choose to ride only certain days. I would assume that there might have been people who lived in one of the host towns, who rode only on that particular day, but I did not speak with anyone that fit that description.

A friend told me the other day that the 96 year old gentlemen I spoke of rode each day, but not the full route each day. Not to his detriment, I just wanted to clarify that, so I asked.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If I’m still riding my bike at 96 I’ll be delighted, let alone able to ride some of a tour every day.

 

[cwskas]

As a concept, an annual (and different) route across the State is a great idea. There's potentially 43 different routes across the State (OK maybe the ones from 40 years ago need to be checked first) for potential bike tourists to choose. A standalone project this year but an addition to an ever growing list of routes.

Agreed. This was started to promote cycling and tourism in the smaller towns of Oklahoma. I was very impressed with the concept and the execution and it certainly made me feel quite comfortable with the idea of building my own tour in the future, using previous towns and routes as reference. I do not think there is a complete list of the routes online anywhere, but I have found some of them and they have a map of all of the towns used so far and which years they were visited.

Do the host cities/towns try to develop this with any permanent facilities for cyclists?
Oklahoma is probably too far, logistically, for you but does Texas do anything similar?

I did not notice any designated facilities for cyclist, but a general welcoming attitude and willingness to do whatever it took to accommodate this particular tour.

Texas, IMO, is so large and as a state not that prepared for cyclists. It has many State Parks that are very well equipped and relatively inexpensive, but I am unaware of specific, regular tours or routes other than the ACA southern tier route and the ACA Hill Country loop.

There are numerous organizations that are working to improve on this and many of the small towns which I have passed through traveling by car have designated free or inexpensive spots for motor homes and travel trailers.

There are a lot of 1 day organized rides around the state that occur yearly as fundraisers, but only a few which are multiple day rides.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

fewer changes of clothes. I only ended up using about 1/2 of what I carried.

I recall you taking a motel room a couple of nights in poor weather so remember that when that isn't an option that being able to get into some dry clothes after setting up a tent in the rain (and probably mud) is a gift from the Touring Gods!
Of course it means getting into the wet clothes again the next morning - a gift from the Touring Gremlins

How many t-shirts from sandwich places did you carry?

many of the small towns which I have passed through traveling by car have designated free or inexpensive spots for motor homes and travel trailers.

There are a lot of those in Spain too - and most are not tent friendly - in fact, tents are often prohibited.

Given the different to route every year, the option to carry baggage, the accommodation options (I'm surprised at the quantity of Premium Campers!!) and the flexibility of only doing a part of the route I can see huge potential for that concept to be copied but also a reason for the same people to return again and again.

Thanks for the detailed answers.

 

[cwskas]

I recall you taking a motel room a couple of nights in poor weather so remember that when that isn't an option that being able to get into some dry clothes after setting up a tent in the rain (and probably mud) is a gift from the Touring Gods!
Of course it means getting into the wet clothes again the next morning - a gift from the Touring Gremlins

Good point! Two mornings, I started in wet clothes because it was raining or rain was imminent and it made sense to me.

How many t-shirts from sandwich places did you carry?

i considered it, but resisted. I did eat at Schmaltz for lunch today with a grandson! Soooo good!