THE PLAN        -        Its good to have a plan.

Like anything else in life, be it your personal life ambitions, education, business, sports, or bicycle touring, it’s always better to have a plan. Having always been a planner in my personal life, business practice, and having served on and chaired numerous Long Range Planning (the old name), Planning, (continuous planning) and Strategic Planning (the new name) Committees I have always found that the probability of attaining some goal or getting to some place is significantly enhanced, although not guaranteed, by setting the goals and considering the opportunities, obstacles, and alternatives before setting out on the path.

I usually continually think about a number of possibilities for the next year’s ride. I think about places that I have been, routes I think would be nice to ride, tours that will present a physical challenge and still be fun, places that I would like to see, states on the map that I would like to put a push pin in, etc. etc. etc. There are just so many good potential rides out there that the continual thinking helps prioritize the decision for the next big ride. The ideas come from a lot of places, like Adventure Cyclist Magazine, friends, family, fellow riders, and online logs that I read from time to time. I try to come to some kind of conclusion as to a route around the holidays in December which leaves the winter months for research and planning.

All that being said I had no ideas for a ride around the holidays and e-mailed Gary and asked him if he had any plans for a ride. He told me he was planning on riding from his home in St. Paul to his brothers home near Berea, KY. His brother built the home from materials on the property and Gary hasn't been there yet. Since that would only add one state push pin on my USA map that entire ride was not much interest to me. Looking at his route I saw that his route intersected the Advernture Cycling Association (ACA) Underground Railroad Route (UGRR) which I planned on riding some day so I decided make it this year. This is an established route with bicycling maps and GPS waypoints published by ACA. The UGRR route follows one of the routes that african americans took to escape slavery. As it works out Gary's dates and mine will allow us to hook up in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois on June 3 and ride together to his brothers's home. From there I will ride alone to the Charleston, WV which will add one more push pin on my map. I'll rent a car at the airport the drive home.

Here is a map of the route as planned. (Click Pic to Enlarge)

The UGRR is filled with history. Here is a link to the Adventure Cycling Association website where at the time of this writing you can read the UGRR brochure. It's a pdf document on the right appropriately named UGRR Brochure.

The Dates- May 18 to June 11, 2009 - This includes travel days.

Accommodations - I prefer to tour self contained, with a mostly camping and some cooking modus operandi. This means that the plan is to camp when the weather is good and there is a choice. Some cooking usually means cooking breakfast and the evening meals in camp. Other meals are eaten at eateries along the route. Sometimes in stretches where there are limited services this may involve packing a lunch and additional snacks.

Daily Mileage and Rest Days - There is plenty of time to smell the roses with the days allowed to complete this ride. I have it scheduled out with an average riding mileage of about 70 miles a day for 18 riding days for a total of about 1,300 miles give or take. There are two travel days (one flying out and one driving back). I have allowed more rest days in this trip than in any other tour that I have ridden. What usually happens when I tour is that a couple of really short days (under 40 miles) become rest days. There is no definate plan to stop at specific locations but I do plan to stop and see some attractions on the UGRR. The planned drive home day is a Friday so if I take an extra day from the plan, so be it. There will be some smelling of the roses on this ride.

Jim

Cycledog (Ride the extra mile!!)

© 2010 - JNS