Made the 26 mi round trip to the grocery store!

[johnny847]

I like to go to a Korean grocery store that's 13 miles away. Last month I bought a bike trailer (the one for kids) and I finally made it out there today! 26 mi round trip, total biking time was 2 hr 45 mins.

Dragging a trailer is harder than I thought. The last couple hills were killer, I almost wanted to give up.

I now have virtually no use for my car. Standard American grocery stores, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. are all within a couple miles.

[RH]

Very cool Johnny847. Now that you've done it once,  you'll always be able to do it.

[johnny847]

Those bike trailers are difficult to run on the main road down here in the south. Since it dosen't snow, the medians in my city are around 10 inches or shorter in some spots. So the trailer really sticks out into the road. I wouldn't want my groceries let alone kids getting clipped by cars. Ok for the bike path and side streets.

I'm not quite sure what you mean?

I always take a full lane when I'm cycling, unless there's a bike lane. It's much safer that way, because you're trying to force drivers to give you a full lane when passing. Some drivers don't do this, but since I was dragging a bike trailer designed for little kids, everybody gave me the full lane today.

[johnny847]

Very cool Johnny847. Now that you've done it once,  you'll always be able to do it.

Thanks! Yea the first time is the hardest, simply because of the psychological factor.

Incidentally, I saw some other people pull up on a bicycle. They had front and rear panniers though, no trailer

[johnny847]

We drive six hours, on dangerous highways, to the Korean grocery in the next city over. Last time their card reader was down and we couldn't pay for several hundred dollars worth of food already boxed up and in the car. The lady just smiled and gave us her bank details for a transfer the next day. Wow.

Wow! I'm surprised there wasn't a store policy against that (or she just ignored them, I suppose)

[Thegoblinchief]

Nice! My weekly grocery trip is 20 miles because all of the stores near me are really expensive for most items.

I've done it once on the bike, but it does take a very long time. Right now I've decided to stick with doing it by car so that I don't take away from my very limited time with my wife. When I quit next year, I might resume biking this.

The most badass thing I did was biking to Costco and back (26 miles RT) with my kids in the trailer. God that was an awful ride. Several quite long grades hauling 200 pounds of kids plus 50 in groceries...ugh. But I made it!

[johnny847]

Nice! My weekly grocery trip is 20 miles because all of the stores near me are really expensive for most items.

I've done it once on the bike, but it does take a very long time. Right now I've decided to stick with doing it by car so that I don't take away from my very limited time with my wife. When I quit next year, I might resume biking this.

The most badass thing I did was biking to Costco and back (26 miles RT) with my kids in the trailer. God that was an awful ride. Several quite long grades hauling 200 pounds of kids plus 50 in groceries...ugh. But I made it!

Yea it's certainly an easier decision for me to bike it considering it's still quite warm here, and I am single.

But damn dragging 250 lbs 26 miles RT is pretty badass. I was dragging oh I don't know, about 30 lbs of groceries, and that was tough for me (then again, it was my first time. I'm sure I'll get better at it).

[Dyk]

I like to go to a Korean grocery store that's 13 miles away. Last month I bought a bike trailer (the one for kids) and I finally made it out there today! 26 mi round trip, total biking time was 2 hr 45 mins.

Dragging a trailer is harder than I thought. The last couple hills were killer, I almost wanted to give up.

I now have virtually no use for my car. Standard American grocery stores, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. are all within a couple miles.

Well done!  'Virtually no use for my car' - I love it!

[enigmaT120]

You guys are making my legs hurt.  Somebody please post a profile map so I can feel a little better, as I have some big hills between me and the nearest town.  A big ridge.  The ride down is fun, though.  Probably jackknife a trailer, but I have enough panniers I would rarely need a trailer.

[johnny847]

You guys are making my legs hurt.  Somebody please post a profile map so I can feel a little better, as I have some big hills between me and the nearest town.  A big ridge.  The ride down is fun, though.  Probably jackknife a trailer, but I have enough panniers I would rarely need a trailer.

According to Google Maps, it's 400 ft elevation gain and 279 ft elevation drop on the way there (which means thankfully it's less uphill on the way back). I know that's nothing compared to some areas of the country.

What's a tad scary is that there is a short section where if I were to get a flat on it, there really isn't a way for me to pull off to the side. I'd have to go to the median, but to get there I'd have to cross two lanes. Speed limit is 40 or 45, so cars are probably going 50+ mph.

[Thegoblinchief]

Not sure how to make this bigger, but here's the route I did to Costco pulling the kids. Never doing it again (not with 3 kids behind me) but it was worth doing it once!

Pretty much every significant grade kicked me all the way down to 1-1 or 1-2 (smallest front, largest rear). I think it was at least 80F that day too.

[johnny847]

You guys are making my legs hurt.  Somebody please post a profile map so I can feel a little better, as I have some big hills between me and the nearest town.  A big ridge.  The ride down is fun, though.  Probably jackknife a trailer, but I have enough panniers I would rarely need a trailer.

If you ever want to consider a trailer in the future, I wouldn't worry too much about jackknifing it. My trailer says don't go faster than 10 mph, but I go way faster than that going downhill (I'm sure the warning is more meant for when there are actually kids in the trailer, which I do not). I just keep in mind that my braking distance is now way longer than it used to be, and brake earlier. As long as you plan ahead (and there aren't any drivers that suddenly mess up your intended cycling direction, which I realize isn't in your control), you should be fine.

[Thegoblinchief]

You guys are making my legs hurt.  Somebody please post a profile map so I can feel a little better, as I have some big hills between me and the nearest town.  A big ridge.  The ride down is fun, though.  Probably jackknife a trailer, but I have enough panniers I would rarely need a trailer.

If you ever want to consider a trailer in the future, I wouldn't worry too much about jackknifing it. My trailer says don't go faster than 10 mph, but I go way faster than that going downhill (I'm sure the warning is more meant for when there are actually kids in the trailer, which I do not). I just keep in mind that my braking distance is now way longer than it used to be, and brake earlier. As long as you plan ahead (and there aren't any drivers that suddenly mess up your intended cycling direction, which I realize isn't in your control), you should be fine.

I've been at least 25, possibly over 30mph with my kids in it (downhill) and never had issues with handling. I have rim brakes and with good pads (Koolstop Salmon) my braking distance is still pretty damn good.

[johnny847]

You guys are making my legs hurt.  Somebody please post a profile map so I can feel a little better, as I have some big hills between me and the nearest town.  A big ridge.  The ride down is fun, though.  Probably jackknife a trailer, but I have enough panniers I would rarely need a trailer.

If you ever want to consider a trailer in the future, I wouldn't worry too much about jackknifing it. My trailer says don't go faster than 10 mph, but I go way faster than that going downhill (I'm sure the warning is more meant for when there are actually kids in the trailer, which I do not). I just keep in mind that my braking distance is now way longer than it used to be, and brake earlier. As long as you plan ahead (and there aren't any drivers that suddenly mess up your intended cycling direction, which I realize isn't in your control), you should be fine.

I've been at least 25, possibly over 30mph with my kids in it (downhill) and never had issues with handling. I have rim brakes and with good pads (Koolstop Salmon) my braking distance is still pretty damn good.

Yea I think part of my problem is my brake pads are pretty worn, and my brakes aren't adjusted properly at the moment. I should probably tune it before my next trip to this grocery store.

[Fodder]

Damn!  That is badass!  The most badass thing I've done is the 3 miles back from daycare/school with the kids in the trailer.  It's not a steep uphill by any means, but the entire thing is uphill, and with 75 lbs of kids and 30+lbs of stuff, man, you feel even the smallest of weenie uphills.

I also biked back the 10 miles from a friends place at midnight once.  So dark and spooky riding back through the woods (and a brief standoff with a stubborn deer).  Probably not going to make a habit of that.

[johnny847]

I don't know, I found for me that it was more of a psychological barrier than anything else to biking longer distances. One time on a recreational ride I took a detour and ended up biking 22 miles. Once I did that, I realized that if I worked a bit more, I could make a 26 mile RT grocery run with a trailer. So I biked 41 miles one day, without a trailer (though I did sorta bonk and had to stop for food), and figured I probably have the strength/endurance to do this grocery trip.

Then again, I wasn't horrendously out of shape to start or anything like that.


Biking in the dark does not sound fun, especially in the woods! I bike at night on occasion, but on reasonably lit city roads.
Incidentally one of the people in the cycling challenge said he almost ran over a deer. Or was it the other way around? =)

[enigmaT120]

My commute has been dark in the morning for some time, and is now dark by the time I get home.  But I have a generator hub and a good head and tail light setup, and blinkies, and a Blackburn Flea for my helmet.  I ride this rural back road through the woods.  Monday night I saw 5 deer on my ride home, and had to slow down for a couple of them, but it wasn't really a close call.

But I don't haul groceries, and this morning I couldn't even make myself head out in the downpour on my bike.  (Punches self in face!)  I guess I'll go running after work. 

[Beric01]

Congrats! You may soon find that "virtually no use for my car" becomes "no use for a car at all".

My longest fairly regular trip is visiting my parents, who live around 10 miles away. The first time riding was brutal, but now I can get over there barely breaking a sweat. Work is 2 miles away, as are groceries. I sold my car and am not looking back. SO much money saved each year!

[okashira]

We drive six hours, on dangerous highways, to the Korean grocery in the next city over. Last time their card reader was down and we couldn't pay for several hundred dollars worth of food already boxed up and in the car. The lady just smiled and gave us her bank details for a transfer the next day. Wow.

They box everything up in your car before checkout?!?