FLCC> FLCC Touring Group Meeting Summary

[Steven Powell]

A number of people have requested a summary of what was discussed on 
Friday evening May 2 at the FLCC Touring Group general 
interest/organizational meeting.  I'll attempt to hit the main points 
of the meeting so that anyone interested in the spring and summer 
tours has the latest information.

We had 24 people show up for the meeting at Andrejs house.  About 2/3 
said that they had previously done some form of overnight touring. 
Four handouts were prepared with details and suggestions for the bike 
tours.  (We will post the information from these handouts to the club 
website within the next few days.  I can also e-mail them to anyone 
-- just drop me a note).

We have 31 people signed up for the Cape Vincent tour over the 
Memorial Day weekend.  We've filled up the entire hostel with 26 
people, and the remainder are staying in other local accommodations. 
The handout provides info on local accommodations for those who would 
still like to come on the trip: you make your own accommodations 
reservations and then join us for the cycling.  We talked about 
bringing proper ID to get into and return from Canada (some of the 
rides will go into Canada, but we'll have an option to stay in the 
U.S. for those who prefer).  The State Department says a passport is 
the best form of ID.  If you don't have a passport then a drivers 
license and a birth certificate are required (both of these).  Marcie 
Robinson <malrobinson at verizon.net> is going to coordinate the group 
meals at the hostel.  She is planning to divide us up into teams to 
cover the preparation and cleanup for each of the 5 meals (Saturday 
breakfast and dinner, Sunday breakfast and dinner, Monday breakfast). 
The meals are a volunteer effort by us, so we all are going to help 
out.  Marcie will be sending an e-mail directly to everyone who's 
signed up for the trip with further info.  We're planning on arriving 
at the hostel between 5-9 pm on Friday May 23, and we'll have a 
meeting around 9 pm where will handout cue sheets and talk about the 
weekend cycling routes.

Our discussion then turned to the 2 Finger Lakes weekend bike tours. 
We'll be camping at Fillmore Glen State Park and Sampson State Park 
for the first trip (June 13-15) and Taughannock Falls State Park and 
Cayuga Lake State Park (July 25-27) for the second trip.  The 
reservations have already been made, and the cost is $6 per person, 
not including food.  The food cost is totally up to everyone 
individually: some people might want to stop at a diner or two, while 
others can pack food from home or stop for supplies in supermarkets 
or convenience stores along our route.  For those who can't get away 
early on Friday, there is an option to join each of these trips at 8 
am Saturday morning.  About 6 people so far have expressed interested 
in these two weekend trips, and our camping reservations are good for 
up to 12 people.

There was a discussion about carrying all of our gear on our bikes 
(fully loaded touring) versus providing a support vehicle to 
transport some of our gear.  Some people said they had tents that 
were too big or heavy to carry on there bikes and they'd like to have 
a vehicle carry some items.  Other people said that you could buy a 
cheap and small tent that would be good for bike camping.  It was 
pointed out that we're a pretty small group and it might be difficult 
to find volunteers with vehicles to transport our gear.  But, in the 
end, we agreed to try to find some volunteers with vehicles to help 
with camping gear transportation for 3 of our tours:  the 2 Finger 
Lakes weekend tours and the Lake Champlain tour.  In fact, Diana 
Ozolins has agreed to do the job for the Lake Champlain tour, so all 
we need are some volunteers with cars for the 2 Finger Lakes 
weekends.  Any volunteers or suggestions?

Laurie Shaver <laurie.shaver at gmail.com> from the Cayuga Ski and 
Cyclery talked about fully loaded bike touring and passed around 
several types of panniers and handlebar packs.  She showed us both 
waterproof packs and non-waterproof packs that use a separate outside 
cover.  Some of the rear panniers retail for as little as $50 for a 
pair.  Thanks Laurie for the presentation and for carrying all those 
bags to the meeting.

We talked about the July weeklong trip from Washington, DC to 
Pittsburgh, PA.  This will be fully loaded touring with no support 
vehicle since we will be staying at some unimproved camping areas 
that aren't accessible by vehicle.  Starting in Washington, DC we'll 
be following the C & O canal trail which have quite varied surface 
conditions, ranging from asphalt to crushed stone and dirt.  A 
touring bike with wide tires or a mountain bike would work well on 
this 350 mile trip.  We are planning to take the AMTRAK train back to 
Washington from Pittsburgh ($42).  Other costs for this trip are 
uncertain, since we haven't made any reservations yet.  We have a 
rough itinerary (which we handed out, and will post on the website 
soon).  It's tough to estimate the cost of the trip since we don't 
know where we are staying.  Most nights will be camping, so it will 
be inexpensive, but there will be some hotels (or hostel) in 
Washington and Pittsburgh at a minimum.  Food expense will be 
variable depending upon individual preferences.  We're not charging 
any fees for this trip (or any of our trips), so the cost is the 
actual expenses that you will incur.  So far we are up to 9 people 
for this trip, 5 are from our club, and 4 are from a club in 
California that is jointly organizing this tour.

We discussed the Lake Champlain tour that will take place in August 
and travel from NY, into Vermont, and back to NY.  Andrejs described 
the route and there were questions about how tough the climbs will be 
in Vermont.  I think that he assured us that there was nothing 
steeper than what you would find in Ithaca, just quite a bit longer. 
By the time August rolls around we'll all be in great shape and just 
dying to do more hills, right?  Exact itinerary hasn't been 
finalized, but we shouldn't be concerned because, as Andrejs put it, 
"it's all in my head".  The trip will include a layover in the 
Stowe/Smugglers Notch area of Vermont.

The meeting then turned into a series of smaller conversations 
including a trip out to Andrejs' garage where we examined several 
types of bike racks and trailers and looked over a couple of people's 
bikes and offered suggestions for rack installation.

Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting and also to everyone who 
has kept in touch via e-mail -- we are well on our way to an exciting 
season of overnight touring.

--Steve

P.S.  Keep an eye on the club website for updated overnight tour 
information:  flcycling.org/touringgroup

-- 
Steven Powell
Cornell University
School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
321 Rhodes Hall
Ithaca, NY  14853
Tel # 607-255-4551
Fax # 607-255-6236
e-mail: sp35 at cornell.edu