Be careful and have FUN!
Sweet bike. I wish I had one. If I wear out my Aventon Level.2, that's at the top of my list.Thanks so much for the checklist items. Good idea. Not sure of the bike luggage yet. Still a ways off, not till September this year. My wife and I have Priority Currents. We are only planning about 30-35 miles a day, about 7 nights starting from Clinton, MO and ending in St. Charles near St. Louis. We are both retiring this summer and this will be our first retirement adventure, but not our last.
I have a Topeak Super Tourist rack on my Current. It has the slide on top to hold a Topeak trunk bag or basket or whatever, but the double rails on the side let me hang Ortlieb roll top bags on either side along with the Topeak item on the slide. The regular Topeak rack doesn't let you use both at the same time. My CPAP is not a small travel one, but fits just fine in the Ortlieb with room for other stuff. In the fold down panniers from the Topeak trunk bag the CPAP case fits, but just barely with no room for anything else.
"Need?" Doesn't your mountain bike have nice low gears, so you could just pedal at walking speed if you ran out of juice? I think if I were attempting this on your island, I would plan to use minimal pedal assist climbing and turn it off for descending. (and there's no much flat, if I understand correctly)
It's a machine that helps folks breathe at night who have sleep apnea. (where they stop breathing otherwise)
"could require" an additional battery, that "needs" recharging. The problem is that here is VERY hilly, and the friction and the additional baggage weight would make pedaling exhausting on steep tracks with the engine off. I tried and for example coming up to my home would be impossible for me.
Thanks for the input. Very interesting. Is this the Topeak MTX rack you are referring to?Sweet bike. I wish I had one. If I wear out my Aventon Level.2, that's at the top of my list.
For luggage, you might consider adding a Topeak MTX rack to each bike. It has a rail and Topeak has different options for attachments. I have their trunk bag with fold-out panniers. They are not full size panniers*, but each one is big enough to hold either a 4 lb. bag of broccoli from Costco or a 5 qt. oil jug. Then, the trunk is smaller, big enough for lunch and a pair of warm winter mittens. It expands a bit in case you underestimate how bulky your shopping was:
Here are a couple views of it.
The trunk bag portion is expanded too, in this photo:
View attachment 12931View attachment 12932
When you get home and decide that may be a bit much luggage for your daily needs, Topeak also makes a basket and a fold-up crate that go on the same mount.
One thing you should also shake down before a multi-day trip like that is comfort of your underparts. Are those seats going to be comfortable for back-to-back 30-40 mile days? Will your butts have the necessary endurance? (believe it or not, our butts need to be accustomed too...) You might also consider a suspension seatpost. A good quality one that's not too expensive is the Suntour NCX; you can just see it in some of my pix. Even if you do nothing else though, DO buy a couple pair of padded bike shorts. That padding in the right spot does a huge amount for comfort over the longer rides. The Baleaf and Sponeed ones from Amazon are good quality at fair prices, if you can handle the obnoxious branding.
CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. It's used for treating sleep apnea, a condition where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep which isn't healthy. The machine supports the natural breathing process rather than breathing for the person. Here is a photo of what it looks like.
They make several models that look similar. The one I’m referring to has fold-down panniers from the side pouches; I can’t tell if that one has them or not, but it looks just like mine, with the expandable top.
Will you be towing a trailer or using bike bags? I’m gearing up for a bike camping trip. I picked up a Schwinn trailer to carry the gear that will not fit into my bike bags.
Hi Ronnie, You will enjoy the Katy. I have ridden it twice. It is beautiful, especially the area around Rocheport where you get to ride on the trail with bluffs on one side and the river on the other. You will need panniers for your bikes to carry your overnight stuff. My advice is not to overpack. get a few of those waterproof squish down stuff sacks, REI has them, to keep stuff dry. Nothing worse to have wet clothes when you finish riding for the day. I would also suggest joining Adventure Cycling Association for guidance on future trips and ideas for you and your wife!!
Hello pagheca, This last summer I added an extra back-up battery to my set up on the bike. I did a multi-day tour this last summer on the Erie Canal and it was a super peace of mind to have that. I could charge every night but there were a couple of 60 mile days and made for a great ride experience to not have charge anxiety. I'm retiring this spring a heading out on a longer tour for the month of May.Great!
Hoping for further suggestions shared. I am planning something similar as soon as I have time, but shorter (and off-road wherever possible). My main problem is the range in this very mountainous island, that could require a backup battery (4 kg more) and the need to recharge it too. I am putting together all the pieces and hope to start with a short 3 or 4 days trip in May.
Security side, I suggest you to buy a satellite localizer (I have a Spot Gen3, a bit old but very well done) that would allow you to ask for rescue even if the area is not covered by internet or phone network, and to send your position's updates automatically every set minutes to a few people that can easily find you in case of a problem. Overall costs is worth the effort, in my opinion. I never ever go out with my ebike (or for work, as I drive on a quite dangerous and exposed road) without it switched on.
A little OT: Just yesterday I met a guy on a bicycle loaded with stuff at my "place of work," an astronomical observatory at 2200 m of altitude. I chatted with him for a while and he told me that he has been traveling for a year and a half, covering all of Europe and now the Canary Islands, sleeping in sleeping bags wherever he happens to be, which is the biggest limitation, in my opinion of ebikes as they need to be recharged overnight.
I have met many people like him in my life, independent traveler eagers just to go as a free soul. Both here or in the most isolated locations in Chile and other countries, no ties, no youtube video or blog behind them. A former colleague of mine in Cardiff went with a pretty old and rundown bicycle from UK all the way to Sydney, returning later from South America up to Florida, where unfortunately he got involved in an accident (and broke his arm).
Why I tell you about it??? Because I die of envy when I talk to these people, damn them!!!
