Re: your worst touring bike

Things that I always cringe when I hear them associated with touring

1) jeans

2) cigarettes

As one who used to smoke cigs "socially" (aka. chain smoke a pack in
an evening while having beers with friends)  I understand the draw of
cigs while touring. Touring can be stressful at times, bad roads,
traffic, etc. But still, one is all about lung power and the other
destroys lung capactity.

That said, on my January Blue Ridge trip I found a nice cheap cigar to
be an excellent way to wind down the end of the day in front of the
campfire after a long day of riding in the cold and snow.

One day... I think I may carry a pipe on tour.

-Mike



On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 1:24 PM, c. s. giscombe <csgiscombe-/[email protected]> wrot=
e:
> Worst touring bike?
>
> First hard trip out of town was on a Robin Hood 3-speed. =A0Climbed 30-so=
me odd
> miles from Albany, N.Y. east into the foothills of the Berkshires, 1971. =
=A0Amazed
> at how the road just kept going up. =A0(Amazed also that I actually made =
it to my
> friend's house on Horseheaven Road.)
>
> Did later trips on a green Schwinn Varsity 10 speed--upright handlebars, =
weighed
> a ton, a clunkier machine than the Robin Hood.
>
> I went out on the Schwinn (with a friend) from Albany to Saratoga Springs=
 one
> day in 1973. =A0We had no plan--just to go to Saratoga, camp someplace, a=
nd come
> back the next day; we were students at SUNY. =A0It was a glorious day all=
 the way
> up--we took many detours and stopped often to snack and smoke cigarettes.=
 =A0Made
> the thirty miles to Saratoga easily and so pushed on further north into t=
he
> unknown where darkness found us on a maze of dirt roads through a forest-=
-there
> were road signs but when we'd slow down to read them our generator lights=
 would
> go out. =A0Finally camped in what we realized in the morning was a rural =
cemetery.
>
>
> Sold the Schwinn and bought a Gitane (Grand Sport Deluxe? =A0Tour de Fran=
ce?) for
> $125 in 1973 from the Bike Rack in Ithaca (great store, still there), lea=
rned to
> tour on that, wobbly as it was, and sadly replaced it--in London, in 1984=
--with
> the Raleigh Record Ace I still ride every day (and on tours).
>
> Great days on all those bikes but I'm missing my Robin Hood this morning.
>
> CG =A0 =A0 ______________
> C. S. Giscombe
>
>
> csgiscombe-/[email protected]
>
>
> csgiscombe-TVLZxgkOlNX2fBVCVOL8/[email protected]
>
>
> telephone: 814-571-0429
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> _______________________________________________
> Touring mailing list
> [email protected]
> Browse and search the archives: http://search.bikelist.org
> Unsubscribe or list settings:
> http://www.phred.org/mailman/options/touring
>