On Friday, November 30, 2018 at 9:22:05 AM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/30/2018 7:57 AM, news18 wrote:
On Wed, 28 Nov 2018 14:46:47 -0500, Frank Krygowski wrote:


I once had an article published in _Bicycling_ magazine about using USGS
topo maps for cycling. A major theme was how to avoid hills.

But if you don't go up hills, there are no views.

Our first century ride took place on a rather flat route among the
Appalachian foothills. We had no major climbs, but had the view of the
hills all around us. I liked that quite a lot.

I think part of my dislike of climbing is the contour of the hills in
the area. I live where the glaciers stopped, so going south or east gets
into piles of short steep hills. They're often very tough to get up, and
the downhills are too fast and short to really enjoy. (We had similar
experiences cycling in Devon, UK many decades ago.)

Cycling in the western U.S. was different. We had low gears on our
touring bikes, so we'd just downshift and climb all day at maybe 8 to 10
mph. Once at the top of the pass, the rewards were great views and long,
long downhills.

BTW, we host Warm Showers touring cyclists. One couple retired in the
San Franscisco area, then rode to Maine to celebrate. Once in Maine they
decided they were having too much fun to quit so they headed southwest,
passing through western Pennsylvania.

When they checked into our house just over the border from Pennsylvania,
they said the hills of Western PA were the toughest riding they had ever
done.

I said "I know."


Wasn't Warm Showers part of the Steele Dossier? Totally OT, but I was riding across southern Illinois and stopped somewhere near Carbondale at a KOA or some camp-dump that was where we ran out of gas and figured we would stop.. The next morning, we ride maybe two or three miles east, through a pleasant neighborhood and there is a Grant Wood-esque husband and wife running a mini-hostel/shower facility for cyclists. He was on the front lawn when we rode by and corralled us into stopping for a sweet roll -- or part of one. As I recall, it was the sort of fare you got in the parish hall after Sunday service. Nice cozy home where we could have stayed instead of some miserable urban camp site. Pre-internet, I can only wonder how they informed riders of their operation. They weren't in our used Bikecentennial tour book..

-- Jay Beattie.