Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 193: The Kessel Run Florida Bike Tour Preview (mp3).

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Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

Previewing the Kessel Run: A Central Florida Bike Tour

GREAT feedback on the month of MJ! I think the game format was a fun twist, so look for more of those down the line. Very open to rule tweak suggestions or even new formats. Lots of ways to run a draft and lots of ways to argue who won

The Journal

• Last year’s FL tour with a decidedly Star Wars twist
• Fly down and enjoy a day nerding out at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge flying the Falcon and enjoying a day
• THEN a tour on the Brompton from the Orlando area to the Tampa airport over two days
• Why? I wanted to center a bike tour around something cool so that the fun was front loaded and then the tour is the cherry on top
• Wanted to check a different route out of the Orlando area
• Doing all hotel and Airbnb stays (less gear)
• Shorter than I’d like but I’m hoping to get a longer tour in this spring
• What the heck’s a Kessel Run? What you’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. Go see Solo to see what the Kessel run is.

Gear Setup

• Brompton
• Front Ortlieb backroller, 2019 mod
• Phone holster
• Water bottle holder (note these have to be removed for a full fold)
• Rear rack will hold just my folded up duffel so I can fold the rear under
• Some kind of lock setup (post-recording update… I bought a new Ottolock)
• Water bottle
• Brompton toolkit + pump (integrated)
• Spare tube (perhaps overkill)
• New – a cheap adjustable crescent wrench (I’ve learned a lesson as we’ll chat about in a bit!)
• Going very limited on clothing for a such a short trip
• Rain gear going to be a must
• May only bring down one pair of pants, a couple of wicking base layers and a puffy vest to stay simple and extra light
• Trail shoes and wool socks
• Looking to replace my helmet so considering (maybe) getting one shipped to the hotel rather than carrying down?

Challenges

• An important element of my Brampton broke less than a week away! Fixed, but lesson learned on what the Brompton toolkit can do and what it cannot.
• Weather is a wild card – last year was stellar
• This year? It looks like there’s going to be rain at the tail end of my evening at Galaxy’s Edge, through the night into the morning. That might redouble my attitude of tapping the brakes on an early start, checking out as late as I can and maybe even waiting out the end of the rain at the hotel. 
• Temps look perfect… low 70s as highs, mid 50s as lows.
• Prevailing winds will be in my face this go-around. 
• I’m challenging myself to carry anything I purchase at Galaxy’s Edge with me. That might get interesting.
• Traffic around my first night stay near Plant City is a question mark since I’m deviating from the route there
• I have plenty of time, but there is a bit of a race on Sunday… my plane leaves with or without me!

Interesting Disney-specific bike logistics

• I mentioned riding at WDW is not in the cards, but due to poor planning on my part I’m splitting two nights there between hotels
• The Brompton will get transferred by Disney bell services while I’m in the park. 
• I plan to bring an IKEA Dimpa bag and have it very securely packed up since I don’t know what to expect
• Interesting possibility – if I check the bike on my flight down it can be picked up by Disney and brought to the hotel room directly… but I don’t love checking the bike and really don’t love the idea of trusting the handoff behind the scenes of bike to bus to hotel without me being there. If the bike isn’t there before I go to bed I may lose my mind

Fun

• I’ve been so focused on the Disney/Star Wars part of the trip I’m just now getting extra excited about the ride.
• A nice escape from DC.
• I know the Kessel Run element of this trip won’t appeal to many of you, so I’ll be focusing on the bike tour for the tour journal episodes BUT I plan on recording something for the Star Wars elements that I’ll make available outside of the feed and let folks know about it.
• Pedalshift Society folks – you’ll get the real time recordings in the bonus feed. You should have received an email from me with that. First audio will likely be coming out the 30th.

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 192: Bicycle Tour Route Full House (mp3).

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RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

Bicycle Tour Route Full House with MJ

Our Full House Hands

You have the rest of January eastern time to vote… who has the better tour route hand?

Coming up on the Pedalshift Project

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 191: The Pedalshift 2020 Bicycle Touring Draft (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Pedalshift 2020 Bicycle Touring Draft

The Draft results

You have the rest of January eastern time to vote… who has the better tour setup?

Coming up in January on the Pedalshift Project

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 190: A Decade of Bike Touring with Mysterious James (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Interview: A Decade of Bike Touring with MJ

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The The Pedalshift Project 189: The 44th Annual Award Show Holiday Spectacular (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
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Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

Live from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles California it’s the 44th Annual Pedalshift Holiday End-of-the-Year Spectacular Award Show!

44th Annual Pedalshift Holiday End-of-the-Year Spectacular Award Show

Guest of the year

Maggie Lonergan for Bikerafting Episode 164
Adele Dittus for Biking with Baby on Board Episode 179
Doug Riegner for Bicycling the GAP 2019 Episode 149
Kevin Mills for the Great American Rail Trail Episode 152

Best ‘Best Of’ of the year

Aaron Flores Episode 004
Guthrie Straw Episode 071
Cat Caperello-Snyder Episode 056
Surfing Tours and Pedaling Pugs Episode 012

Bicycle touring tip of the year

Emergency fixes episode 185
Cycling Italy episode 172
S24Os episode 180
Stealth camping episode 173

Bicycle touring route of the year

C&O
GAP
Central Florida
OTET
Oregon Coast

In Memoriam 2019

Tim’s U-lock
Cheap sunglasses #45-47
Orange bar tape
Shifty the Elf       [DUDE, I AM TOTALLY ALIVE! CLOONEY!!!!]

Best bar on meetups or tours

Wundergarden (DC)
Brewers on the Bay (Newport)
Thirsty Topher (Orlando)
Urban Tap (PGH)

Tour of the Year

Cross Florida
DC to Cincinnati
Oregon Coast Escape
Sweltering Summer on the C&O

On a serious note, THANK YOU all for listening and a big thank you to Pedalshift Society members for supporting the show this year. See you in 2020!

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 188: Grocery Store Strategies on Bike Tour (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

Grocery Store Strategies on Bike Tour

PREP

• Map them out ahead of time or at least scope them out the day of
• Have room in your bags or a strategy to get your food protected
• Know what meals you’re buying for (i.e. tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast and snack) if not a list

ARRIVING

• Scope out bicycle parking options
• Did you bring a lock?
• Should I be afraid people are going to rifle through my stuff?

IN STORE

• Check to see if they have wifi. Download/upload stuff while you shop
• Hit the bathroom – might be a nicer one than you’ve seen in a minute. Clean up as necessary.
• Start at one end of the store and sweep through to the other rather than aimlessly walking aisles
• Favor fresh food and veggies for the very next meal – it’ll keep
• Favor foods that can stand up to a little jostling over more fragile options (i.e. apples over berries)
• If the store has one, check out the hot bar or prepared foods deli for eating at the store
• Weird trick: least expensive and smallest bag of frozen veggies can keep beers cold
• After checkout, grab a seat if they have one. Look to charge up and eat while you continue to up/download

PACKING UP 

• Go directly to recycling (rare) or garbage bins outside the store
• Radically reduce bulk by removing dry items from boxes and discarding all unnecessary packaging.
• Sturdiest stuff on the bottom, most fragile/brusable on top
• Cold sinks, so put those frozen veggies on top of the beer
• Tie plastic bags to hang from rack if you need to, but that won’t stand up for more than a few miles.

BE A GOOD AMBASSADOR

• Don’t get in anyone’s way unreasonably
• Do not leave a mess
• Get to camp or wherever you’re ending the night and enjoy the spoils!

Hey it’s the direct download link for  The Pedalshift Project 187: Bicycle Touring NY and the First Tour of 2020 (Live) (mp3).

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

Bicycle touring WNY

• Want to see NYS? Do this.
• Don’t expect canal the whole way. Lots of road sections.
• Lots of small towns with charm.
• Fascinating infrastructure.
• Great history.
• Biking quality – pretty top notch. Trails are in excellent condition. The worst parts are still pretty great.
• Access to water/food – easy, but there are long stretches where there are no water sources directly on the trail. Didn’t carry food – picked up a spare meal as needed.
• Camping – more expensive generally than other options (C+O and west coast) and wild camping availability was a bit overstated in my opinion. Free camping on the lock properties was excellent.
• Good encounters – not a ton of bike tourists (although there were 600 two days behind me!). The ones I met were great.
• Prime time – Summer was a good time, but upstate NY can be muggy. The ideal time may be in September for warm days and cooler nights or October for foliage.
• check out this amazing Erie Canal cycling resource from FOTS and Pedalshift Society member Paul Mulvey.

My First 2020 Tour

• Tour Journals Volume 17 is…. The Kessel Run.
• What?
• Last year’s FL tour (Pedalshift 153, 154, 155, & 156) with a decidedly Star Wars twist
• Fly down and enjoy a day nerding out at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge flying the Falcon and enjoying a day
• THEN a tour on the Brompton from the Orlando area to the Tampa airport over two days
• Why? I wanted to center a bike tour around something cool so that the fun was front loaded and then the tour is the cherry on top
• Wanted to check a different route out of the Orlando area
• Doing all hotel and Airbnb stays (less gear)
• Shorter than I’d like but I’m hoping to get a longer tour in this spring
• What the heck’s a Kessel Run? What you’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. Go see Solo to see what the Kessel run is.
• Challenges: new route, west to east (against the wind), little clown bike with limited shoulders
• No, I won’t be biking on Disney property, ARE YOU INSANE? It’s literally the least safe biking in the country. Never seen a bike on the roads there and don’t want to be the vanguard.

AMA

Have you come across a good/recommended water filter system for making river/lake water potable? Something suitable for hiking would be great. – Quyen

If you were to get a new bike, what would you get? Would it be in addition to or replacing either one you have?

What do you think about e-bikes?

Cross country trip in the cards?

Episode 200 plans?