Bicycle Touring With A Canoe

Every once and a while I’ll get an email from someone who has just returned from a recent bicycle tour and they want to share a couple quick pics from their journey with me. This was the case recently when I received an email from BicycleTouringPro.com reader, Mike Gutierrez. This is what he had to say:

Darren,

I wanted to share a few of pictures from my recent ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway (I hope that’s ok). I rode all 469 miles in 7 days. The bike is a Surly Big Dummy. Bike weight 41 pounds, gear and food 45 pounds, a lot of weight to haul up 48,601 feet + 1390 feet to the top of Mount Mitchell, but it was worth it.

Thanks for all the great info you share with all of us.

I then wrote Mike back and said:

Hey Mike,

Thanks so much for sending me these pictures from your bike tour. The Blue Ridge Parkway looks beautiful.

What was the best part of the bike tour for you? And where/when do you think you’ll be going on your next bicycle touring adventure?

Mike then responded… and sent me two additional photos (photos that I just had to share with you!):

Darren,

I think the best part was sleeping on Mount Mitchel in 19 degree weather with a wind chill below zero, but the best stories are always about the people you meet and the stories they have to tell.

I’m not sure what my next trip will be. I like to do something different every year (for the big trip) and I’m not sure what I will do in 2012. I have decided to sell the big dummy and buy or build a bike that I can travel with. I’m looking at the Surly with S&S fittings or possibly the Dahon Tournado, can you recommend a bike?

Attached are 2 pics of my 2010 trip. My good friend Omar and I circled the Ocala National Forest in Central Florida. We paddled a total of 6 rivers and portaged the canoe for 48 miles (one shot) all in 4 days. As you can see it was totally self-supported. The trailer, gear, food, and bikes were carried in the canoe.

Thanks,

Mike

Awesome… right?!