Bicycles

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Bravo4

Nomad
Apr 14, 2009
473
0
54
New Mexico, USA
If money were no object......I'd be bushcraft'n on Mars, in Amundsen's tent:cool:. Anyway, just one of the reasons that I'm into bikes is because they are cheap transportation and sort of a multi-tool for me, one that can be adapted for any terrain, and then some.

I sure have got alot out of this forum in the past year. I completely missed the Introduction section and have always felt a bit awkweird about that:eek:. By way of a late introduction and an attempt at what I hope is somehow a useful contribution to the BCUK forum, I would like to share a couple of stories.

First off, my name is Clint and I currently live in New Mexico, USA. Thank you folks for putting up with me.:)

Second, I did not write the following stories, a guy named Drew did. They were published in an obscure magazine, Adventure Cyclist, back when photographers shot slides. The picture quality in the pdf's is terrible, which is a shame. The slides themselves are outstanding.

At one point in the article below, Drew refers to himself as a "neophyte". He once rode across Australia from East to West, and then North to South. To get in shape he would commute 60 miles round trip into Washington DC, where he was a bicycle messenger. I first met Drew in a place called the Red Desert
He was riding north and I was riding south.
neophyte...:lmao:Drew, you're funny, drop me a line.

The Talkeetna Traverse, a taste of hellbiking in the Alaskan bush
http://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/talkeetna_traverse.pdf
All the nearby driftwood was soaked, and I
had to use about a third of our remaining stove fuel to get a
flame going. As I poured the gas out, I wondered if I was
endangering our survival.


This I beleive, is an attempt to educate/entertain an audience. Useful for selling stories but I'm pretty sure that's not exactly what happened. It's a good story though, and just one example of how a bike can be used.

Roman said that meeting the boats, instead of carrying rafts
on our backs, was a new luxury.
This was long before Alpacka packrafts became a household name. ;) Megamids too.

The Secret Loop
http://www.scribd.com/doc/28972537/Secret-Loop
There are a few things that didn't happen quite as Drew tells it; we did not "tote forty pounds of wood" and pretty much anything Clint(that's me) says, like "Are any of the campgrounds full?" or "The best", is pure fiction. I'm pretty sure I said, "There is no best", because I say that often.

Some "cyclists" will do this 110 miles in a day. It took us four. Looking back, we should have taken a week. Spent a week. The article was printed in July,2000 but it must have been January, 1998 when Drew and I rode the White Rim trail.

Also, I probably do alot of things
not
recommended
by the Park
Service.
Please keep that in mind (any advice I have given in the past, present, or future, may or may not be recommended by The United States National Park Service).
Thank you for reading and atb with your atb's
Bravo4
 

Bravo4

Nomad
Apr 14, 2009
473
0
54
New Mexico, USA
"Each rider carried a 10-pound blanket roll that included a shelter tent and poles, a set of underwear, two pairs of socks, a handkerchief, and toothbrush and powder. Properly packed, the roll fitted into a luggage carrier in front of the bicycle's handlebars. Each man also carried rations of bacon, bread, canned beef, baked beans, coffee, and sugar in hard leather cases attached to the bicycle frame. Every other man carried a towel and a bar of soap, and each squad chief carried a comb and brush and a box of matches. Fully loaded, the soldiers' bicycles weighed about 59 pounds each."
— The Wheels of War by Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer

1,900 miles, 41 days, from Missoula, Montana to St Louis, Missouri. Not too shabby for 1897.

A day by day account:
http://www.bicyclecorps.blogspot.com/

bicycle1L.jpg


"At the battle of San Juan, when numbers of the American bicycle corps were wounded, they would simply say, "I've got a puncture."
- Courage and Comfort, James Britton Cranfill
 

TREETOP

Forager
Mar 29, 2010
234
0
Here wishing i was out there
Hi Bravo4,
Interesting stories, the buffalo soldiers must have been hardy men to ride that distance every day on fixed speed bikes.
I'm looking at starting a tour of my own very soon but i'll be pulling a trailer with all my camping gear in.
 

bushcraftbob

Settler
Jun 1, 2007
845
0
41
Oxfordshire
I like to combine bushcraft and cycling quite a lot. I find a bike quite a quick and convenient way to get to places to practise bushcraft, and because its also silent you doont scare off lots of the wildlife.

I agree those cyclists must be hardy! I remember seeing an article a few years back about the russian army using bikes to travel around, carrying about 100lb of kit inc weapon, with no suspension and across all terrains! Hats off to them...!
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE