Bicycle Touring and Bikepacking

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For all the pedal pushers out there that love long distance cycling. There are no gear requirements and no 'minimum distances' here.

Have you ridden for a cheeky overnighter or a 3 year global trek? Doesn't matter, you're welcome here.

Have you got panniers, bikepacking bags or just a backpack with the essentials? Doesn't matter, you're welcome here.

Have you got the latest in carbon engineering or your dads old 10 speed from the 70's? Doesn't matter, you're welcome here.

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AchtungDrempels

Side Quests (self.bicycle_touring)

submitted 10 months ago by AchtungDrempels to c/bicycle_touring

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Always like having a good side quest. I usually just stumble into them along the way, i have a few more, but here are some:

Hit up all the pump tracks. That one i do on every tour really, kinda surprised about how many bike pump tracks or skateparks i come across.
I started playing "don't use the power bank" on a 2,5 week long tour. I lost this game on the 9th day, but only because i didn't know there was a cafe a couple hundred meters further down the road. After i lost i wasn't too keen on keeping on playing anymore, don't really remember.
"Guess the Italian" - In the border regions to Italy i tried to guess number plates of overtaking cars before i could see them. I had no false positives, but a few false negatives. I was impressed by my guessing skills, or by the consistency of italian drivers. This game then somehow faded out in somewhere Italy i guess.

Anybody else got some side quests / mini games they're playing?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I play "speed your distance": during km 1 you have to go at least 1km/h once (easy), during km 2 at least 2km/h (still easy)... Starting km 16 you have to hope to not hit a hard climb. Then I try to go as long as possible. There is a bit of luck involved... Maybe you get a descent on km 27 but frontwind on km 26. At some point you get less and less pauses as well. If you go to 20km you have around 3 minutes till the next km starts, but at 30 you only have 2 minutes! Sure you'll fall under that speed during the pause, but you still need like 300-400m to speed up. My trick is to do a sprint every 2 km, so check 21km/h at the end of km 21 and 22 at the beginning.

The great thing is you always get a chance to break your record the next day! Also the first 30km or so pass in a breeze.

[–] AchtungDrempels 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That sounds really good. I guess you then reset when taking a break?

I have no bicycle computer, so not the game for me i guess.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

You probably could, I just do it once a day. That way I don't feel pressure to go too fast all day long. It's usually good when you have a long day ahead of you, with nothing interesting along the way or with bad weather. If I know I have a lot of sightseeing or nice company, I try to focus on just enjoy the riding itself