Transamerica Trail

[Artemis Windsong]

I doubt there are any adventure riders on this forum since they are out riding!  They are easy to spot in town.  An off road motorcycle, minimal gear and covered in dust.

Here is the beginning!

www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/sam-correro-built-the-transamerica-trail-on-accident-and-with-a-lot-of-work/ar-AAKxhTY?li=BBnb7Kz

My H. reads a lot of travel journals on their website.  I don't have a link to it.  The stories are adventuresome and well written.  The stories also have helpful hints.  A few are written by solo riding ladies.

[Tennesseer]

Came across this video on YouTube about six months ago.  It's not about motorcycle riding but of railbiking through Patagonia.

I meant to send it to my sister but forgot all about it until you started this thread.  My sister's two sons are into stuff like this.

I also meant to post it for billisonboard as he likes stuff like this too.

Video is about 25 minutes long if you care to watch it all.

[billisonboard]

Thanks for sharing. That was interesting. I watched and read. Didn't have sound up except a couple times and it was just music. Might have missed answers. Why did they ride on different rails? With that ugly headwind they could have drafted, taking turns at the lead. Also the idea of not knowing how far they traveled because of varying speeds makes no sense. One rotation of the tire is "x" distance. A sensor on the fork, one on a spoke, and a computer on the handlebars does the trick (technology I used last century). Not being sure how far apart the towns were as the track laid, that would make sense. And final negative comment is that I wouldn't go into that level of backcountry without at least a rudimentary knowledge of the local language which they didn't seem to have. Hey, but otherwise it looked like a lot of fun.

[Tennesseer]

May 30, 2021 21:30:01 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Thanks for sharing. That was interesting. I watched and read. Didn't have sound up except a couple times and it was just music. Might have missed answers. Why did they ride on different rails? With that ugly headwind they could have drafted, taking turns at the lead. Also the idea of not knowing how far they traveled because of varying speeds makes no sense. One rotation of the tire is "x" distance. A sensor on the fork, one on a spoke, and a computer on the handlebars does the trick (technology I used last century). Not being sure how far apart the towns were as the track laid, that would make sense. And final negative comment is that I wouldn't go into that level of backcountry without at least a rudimentary knowledge of the local language which they didn't seem to have. Hey, but otherwise it looked like a lot of fun.

Not sure what you mean by different rails. Near the end of the video the two rails do get further apart so they had to adjust their bikes for that.

As I am not a bike rider anymore (I think the last time I was on my own bike/a bike was 55 years ago), I can't answer your bike questions.

And yes, it would have been nice if at least one of the riders was fluent in Spanish.

Maybe there is railbiking here in the States.

[billisonboard]

May 30, 2021 21:38:52 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

May 30, 2021 21:30:01 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Thanks for sharing. That was interesting. I watched and read. Didn't have sound up except a couple times and it was just music. Might have missed answers. Why did they ride on different rails? With that ugly headwind they could have drafted, taking turns at the lead. Also the idea of not knowing how far they traveled because of varying speeds makes no sense. One rotation of the tire is "x" distance. A sensor on the fork, one on a spoke, and a computer on the handlebars does the trick (technology I used last century). Not being sure how far apart the towns were as the track laid, that would make sense. And final negative comment is that I wouldn't go into that level of backcountry without at least a rudimentary knowledge of the local language which they didn't seem to have. Hey, but otherwise it looked like a lot of fun.

Not sure what you mean by different rails. Near the end of the video the two rails do get further apart so they had to adjust their bikes for that.

As I am not a bike rider anymore (I think the last time I was on my own bike/a bike was 55 years ago), I can't answer your bike questions.

And yes, it would have been nice if at least one of the riders was fluent in Spanish.

Maybe there is railbiking here in the States.

One rider was above the left side rail with the balance wheel on the right. The other rider was above the right side rail with the balance wheel on the left. That means the headwind hit both full in the chest. Same side and right on the back wheel and only one is breaking the wind and the other is pulled along in an air pocket. It is an amazingly intense feeling to be going twenty-five miles per hour pedaling lightly six/twelve inches off the back tire of the bike in front of you.

[Artemis Windsong]

I ride bicycle short distances. If I didn't play other sports, I would ride more. My other sports are more with other people.


Danny Macaskill: The Ridge - extreme mountain biking.

[billisonboard]

May 31, 2021 7:19:15 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

I ride bicycle short distances. If I didn't play other sports, I would ride more. My other sports are more with other people.


Danny Macaskill: The Ridge - extreme mountain biking.

Wow! That is some talented confident riding. I did some trail riding along with a lot of road biking. Never anything even close to that extreme. When I started I kept flying over the handbars until my ex pointed out I was pulling hard on my front brake with my left hand. She had read that motorcycle riders tend to do that since that is the clutch on a motor bike. All it took for me to correct it was awareness. I hear others reverse the brakes on their trail bikes. I still never developed the confidence to push it too far. One hike using the bike as a crutch was enough for me.

My favorite ride included a part where you broke out of large rock formations to a high field covered with wild flowers (in season) and right in front of you was an unblocked view of Mt. Adams about fifty miles away. At the far end of the field you dove down into woods for three miles of serious descent. Fun.

[Artemis Windsong]

Sounds wonderful!

[kadee79]

Here's something my son sent me some years ago....runners/walkers....From Mexico City to Canada...filming 1 second per day. 


www.runnersworld.com/trail-running/a20865508/continental-divide-in-4-minutes/

[billisonboard]

May 31, 2021 12:57:54 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Here's something my son sent me some years ago....runners/walkers....From Mexico City to Canada...filming 1 second per day. 


www.runnersworld.com/trail-running/a20865508/continental-divide-in-4-minutes/

Great video.

Also it lead to: The Pacific Crest Trail in Three Minutes

Didn't do the whole thing but did the 500 miles of the Washington section in parts over 4 summers. Have a picture in my living room of me standing by that post marking the Canadian border. Great memory.