Thanks for sharing.  Lovely coutryside.  My mother's from Wessex - Salisbury  (war bride and all.  I was born and raised in the States but get back to England on occasion.  Everytime I go to that part of the world, I'm astonished by the beauty of the countryside and of course, the history

I will be leaving on a cross country tour shortly starting in San Francisco and continuing west through Nevada, Utah, etc. to the east coast. I'm using the Adventure Cycling touring maps which seem to be quite good and detailed. However, I'm noticing that they don't show many - a few maybe, but not many - campgrounds until you get well past Sacremento and sort of into the Sierras. Is that a shortcoming in their maps or are there just not many campgrounds in the area. I realize it is highly urbanized but I'm hoping I don't have to resort to too many motels/hotels. Any other information you might want to share on biking and camping in the area woud be much appricated.

Thanks so much for your help and expertise.

Interesting place to ride a bike, I'll say that.

Thanks for sharing.

I'd go with the Banff to Seeley section as well.  Fantastic scenery and last year I talked to a friend who tried the secton south of Helea to Butte and said it was in terrible shape.  Busted his bike all up. Besides, that area is heavily mineralized and you'd be passing lots of old mining sites with tailings, washouts, dredged areas and the accompanying mess. In addition, that area has been heavily infested with the pine bark beetle and sadly, you'd be riding through miles and miles of dead brown pine trees. Not pretty and really, not very safe either.  That's just my take.

Well, you're a better man than me and probably a lot younger as well.   I wish you the best of luck.  That will be some hard riding.

A 100 miles a dayon the Great Divide?  I'm more of a road touring than a mountain biker so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but a 100 miles ad day seems wildly opptomistic to me.

Thanks for the advice  I'll certainly keep it in mind.

Although I'd prefer a handlebar or brake lever mounted mirror, for a variety of reason I've resigned myslef to using a rearview mirror that attaches to the helmet.  Anyone care to offer an opinion as which is the best one out there?

Thanks.

This is a followup on an earlier question.  I've discovered that my new Ortliebhandlebar bag will block my handlebar mounted headlight .  I know there are extensions out there that will take care of the problem but I'm wondering if it would just be more practical to use my backpacking headlamp on my helmet.  Any thoughts on this?  That is, is there any distinct advantage of a handlebar mounted bike light over a headlamp strapped on your helmet.  Right now I'm partial to my handlebar headlamp but have no real basis for this.  Your opinions are appreciated.

Thank you.

Thanks JRA for the kind words.

mjr5houses:  I'm really looking forward to this tour partly because after last summer I know a lot more of what to expect and partly because I really have all the time in the world to do it this year. My only time constrant is winter.  I vaguely plan on three months for now and plan on stopping and staying anywhere I please for as long as I please. I've routed myself so that I can stop and stay with friends - many of whom I haven't seen in years - in CA, CO, MO, TN and GA.  At the end of the trip, my wife will fly to Atlanta or D.C. and we'll spend some time sightseeing and being tourists before we return home to Montana.  Might even take the train up the Big Apple for a few days.  Looks to be the trip of a lifetime.  I'm hoping to leave in mid or late July and miss the worst of the midwest and southern heat.  I'm definitely excited.

I'll definitely check in when I return.  Thanks for the good thoughts.

Like wise.

That would be me. I see my reputation proceeds me.  Don't know it that's good or bad.

I have a set of both front and back Ortlieb panniers and a handlebar bag.  In all probability, I could get all my touring gear in the back panniers and the front handlebar bag.  However, conventional wisdom, as I understand it, recommends distributing the weight between front and rear paniers with the heavier items in the front panniers. The reasoning seems to be that you'll have enough weight over the back wheel what with the rider himself, the panniers and whatever you strap on your rear rack. The problem being, of couse, in that case you could over stress your back wheel and be much more prone to flats and broken spokes on the rear wheel. Any comments?  Should I just go with the handlebar bag and rear panniers?  Or should I take the front panniers even if I don't need them and distribute the weight more evenly between front and back?  BTW, total weight of all my gear minus water, would be about 36-38  lbs.  I weight 170 lbs myself.

Thanks much for you comments and advice.

This summer I'll be on a cross country tour and will be traveling through Nashville and down to Atlanta.  The ACA maps don't have a route here so I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice a bon a route tbetween these two great southern cities.

It would be much appreciated. Thanks much.

Wet wipes work well enough.  Although on a long tour on the road, I can generally find a place to a take a shower on a regular basis pretty easily.  Private campgrounds will often let you shower for a small fee even if you don't stay there.  College campuses often have showers you can poach.   Local swiming pools, especially in small towns, usually have showers you can use for nothing or next to nothing.  Then there are lakes and rivers. I really don't find it an issue.  On my las ttour, I don't think I went more than three days without a shower. If you're touring the backcountry, however, then it's pretty much the lakes and rivers thing along with wet wipes for long strtches between showers.

Billings, MT

Jerry here,

New to the forum but I've been cycling since I was a kid.  I'm 64 now and recently retired, which by the way is great.  I highly recommend you put it on your "to do"list.  I've always wanted to take a long tour, but marriage, kids, career and money always got in the way.  Last summer I was finally able to - a 2000 mile/6week tour of the norhtern Rockies.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  I ride a Kona Sutra touring bike, a Mercian Classic road bike, a GT I-drive moutain bike and a Cannondale H300 commuter.  This sumer I plan on a cross country tour from San Fransico to Savannah or D.C starting in late July. I learned a lot on the road last year but still have new questions all the time.  So I'll probably be checking in here quite often to tap in on your knowledge, advice and suggesions. 

Looking forward to talking to you in the future.

Help me out here, please.  I have an Ortlieb Plus 6 handlebar bag - very nice - which I will be using on an upcoming tour.  Unfortunately and as to be expected, I suppose, it blocks my headlamp which is mounted on the handlebars.  Any one have any quick fixes that will allow me to mount the healamp so it's not obstructed by the handlebar bag?  I've considered a head lamp, but that doesn't really appeal to me except as a last resort.

Thanks for you help.