Used on recent transcontinental tour for 2.5 months. All original components, with new front and rear tires. Some minor scratches from normal wear and larger scratch on downtube.
Equipped as new. Jannd front rack added and included.

Please note that the Novara sizing is different. This bike fit a 5’8″ rider comfortably.
It is a 52 cm frame.

This is a great touring bicycle, but overkill for our current needs. Our old clunkers serve us fine for the type of riding that we are doing. Wish that we had another long tour on the calendar. Since we don’t we hate to see this bicycle sitting instead of touring.

$700 – local pickup or you pay shipping.

We haven’t done any touring since the big one, and barely any bicycling at all. But, that is all to change soon. Our next very short tour will be one along the Gulf Coast of Florida.
We had considered doing the Keys, but decided that a car would be better for touring in that area.

In searching for bike routes, I came across the Bike Florida site and saw that they had a ride in basically the area that we would be in. Their route uses several rail trails, which sound intriguing. We would be there earlier than this ride, so wouldn’t consider riding with them. We don’t particular like riding with hordes of other people whose riding styles we aren’t familiar with.

Cost is another issue for us. It would cost us $720 to camp and get fed for the week. This option is good for those who want somebody else to do the planning, a sag and luggage assistance. For those of use who have planned many a trip and are on a budget, we can resort to our own resources. We are pretty certain that we can eat and camp for five nights for less than $144 per night. In fact, we think that we can stay in motels for less than that amount.

While the Bike Florida route piqued our interest, it grew with the help of Gina who answered a request on phred.org board for assistance with route planning. It’s so nice that all of us who tour are so willing to offer our expertise to other touring cyclists. Gina may even ride with us for a day if our schedules work out.

I thanked Gina profusely for her help. Recently, I have put together detailed cycling routes with hotel suggestions for several people. I am happy to help anybody with route planning, but do wish that they might thank me for taking the time to help them. I also enjoy hearing how their trips went.

You might get the idea that I had abandoned the blog. Don’t worry. I was thinking the same thing, but have not abandoned the blog. Obviously the theme will change a bit as it will focus more on general bicycle touring rather than that so distant transcontinental adventure.

Shortly after that trip, we both vowed that we would never do anything that long again. We generalized and didn’t even bicycle for some time. But now, we are thinking of taking our bicycles down to Florida and doing a short tour. We will be there earlier than the Bicycle Florida organized trip, but since we will be in that general vicinity, we are thinking of replicating that ride.
The amount of rail trails appeals to us, but we know little about road conditions and traffic off the trails. Initial research doesn’t show too many map resources and certainly not a bike map of Florida.

It’s time to post to a touring board and get some input from members who have toured the area. Florida is a looooong drive from Upstate New York, but it’s easier to take our bikes with us in a car rather than packing them for a plane ride and paying the fees that almost amount to another passenger fare.

I am going to the Cruise3Sixty conference in Fort Lauderdale and then going on a cruise aboard MSC. After this, we will visit a friend who lives near Tampa and then go bicycling in that part of Florida.

Check out my newest blog and travel planning venture:

http://www.cruisebugchatter.com

http://www.cruisebugvacations.com

That’s how many miles we traveled from the beach in Warrenton, Oregon to Portland, Maine.
It took awhile for me to even check the computer. That’s sad, isn’t it? Even more impressive than the mileage, whether the mileage is impressive or not, is the total altitude gain. Gosh, now I need to look that up.

I am not sure that the altimeter worked properly. It seems that it should have been in the six-figure range for all the climbing we did. I read about a ride in NY that was only a few hours long that claimed to have a significant elevation gain in relatively few miles. That made me think that the folks who came up with the figures either exaggerated or maybe I just don’t have a concept of altitude gain. My thighs and lungs sure do.

It’s sad to note that after the trip, I didn’t ride my bicycle for a long while. In fact, I just got on it a few days ago to take a short spin-7 miles- down the bicycle trail. Because I used my hybrid, I had trouble adjusting to the toe clips. From habit, I tried twisting my foot out of the clips. A perfect way to topple the bike along with me on its side.

My ride was uneventful, but I felt that I hadn’t ridden for an eternity. Unleashed dogs along the way caused the nice scar on my knee to throb. Maybe those were Pavlov’s dogs on the trail.

I am as anxious now to go on a multi-day ride as I was to be finished with the trek across the country. Now that I am back into my same old daily routine, I am ready for a change. We are off to the UK and hope to do some cycling on the Isle of Man and in some other spots if we can find some bicycles for hire.

It seems long ago that we rolled in to Reed Point Montana, but I still haven’t forgotten the strong crosswinds and the rain that we fought on the way into town. We stayed at the Old West style Hotel Montana where we got an overview of the annual Running of the Sheep, from owner, Russ.
This event happens in 2007 on Sunday, September 2, so if you are in the area – and nobody is inadvertently in that area – take a long drive out there to watch this quirky event. If you can’t make it, listen to Russ talk about the event, which he organized several years ago.

 

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The Trek 520(TM) is the touring model in the brand’s line. This particular model, purchased in April of 2007 is the 19″ size. I used it for about 3500 miles during a transcontinental cycling trip.
The bicycle is black as are all of the2007 models.

It comes equipped as described on the Trek page, with the exception of the saddle, which is NOT included.

The bike has some signs of normal wear and the downtube got scratched in the shipping process.
The brake levers are also scratched due to a crash that resulted from being attacked by a dog.

The rear tire has been replaced with one that is the same as the original and has zero miles on it. The rear brake pads are also new.

This is a great bike for somebody looking to tour.

$900
Buyer to pay for shipping or arrange pick-up in the Albany NY area.
Leave a posting in the comments section if you are interested in more details.

It’s been over a week since we’ve been home and not going anywhere by bike didn’t seem strange for the first few days home. But now, I am antsy to get on the bike and go somewhere. The problem is that I don’t really have a bike anymore. We decided that it wasn’t practical to let the expensive (at least for us) bikes just sit for months and wait to be ridden again. Our old bikes are perfectly good for the touring that we plan on doing. We have absolutely no plans for an extended tour like the one we just did.
For one, who can take off so much time? And who can afford it? Obviously, there are some people who can do this, but we see that some do this by begging. It’s seems logical that before one plans on such a tour, that they have the means to afford it, because it isn’t cheap. Yes, we have a donation button on our site and had some generous contributors and greatly appreciated their donations to the cause, but that button is also for those who enjoy reading the site and wish to contribute what they would spend for buying a magazine or other publication. We certainly never expected anybody to finance our trip as I see that some people with supposed causes are doing. That isn’t to say that there aren’t legitimate causes that use bicycle touring as a vehicle( no pun intended, really) to make the public aware of their message. But, then there are others who have thinly veiled their escape from the real world as a supposed cause. One particular case is one that I will avoid mentioning and avoid visiting because most of their posts spend inordinate amounts of time begging. I am evil, but don’t want to add to their hits as much as I would like to see how they have progressed, since their ride amounted to very few miles in very many days.

Back to those bikes for sale. My bike has no seat, but sure looks forlorn sitting in its corner with motionless wheels and unladen frame. My old Specialized will suffice for doing short tours and rides to our other house. I would never just take the Trek 520 for a short ride to the grocery store. If you know anybody looking for two nice touring bikes, we are in possession of them. Send a comment to us and we will get in touch.

Not hopping on the bike everyday didn’t phase me at all. I think that I was ready to be finished with the tour, but now I am getting antsy and am thinking of doing a short tour. Riding around Lake Champlain still appeals to me as does just doing a short overnight ride. We found an excellent route out of here to the east. As long as we don’t go beyond North Adams and up the hairpin hell, we are good.

Several people have asked if I will continue the blog. I certainly intend on posting regularly, although not on a daily basis. You might have noticed from reading the posts that I was often extremely tired, maybe so tired that the posting made little or now sense. I often remembered an incident that I meant to include in the post, but fatigue often won out, making me totally forget about an impressionable event of the day. Guess those events were so significant that I instantly forgot about them.

One point that I would like to emphasize is that although this trip seems incredible to some, that it was something we had always dreamed of doing. Many people thought that we were crazy. Guess that they know us well. For people used to bicycle touring, it definitely wasn’t an extreme event. Maybe if we had crossed the country in 30 days, we might be able to consider it extreme.

Our rate of travel wasn’t extraordinary at all, although sometimes the adverse conditions made it seem like an unattainable accomplishment. We did what we had to. When the hills came, we took them in stride, although I will never, ever enjoy hill climbing. The headwinds got annoying, especially since we wrongly figured that we would have some great headwinds that would increase our daily mileage to the 80′s and 90′s. That never happened either. We simply expected the wind in our faces and just dealt with it.

It’s hard to believe that just last week, we headed out for the final portion of our trip. The thought of bicycling for hours every single day is a remote one at this point. Despite our total lack of training, we managed quite well, considering our advanced ages and the toll that this constant exercise should have taken on our bodies. We both feel in very good shape and wonder about the necessity of serious training before such an endeavor. It proves to us that that mind over matter makes sense. That is not to say that our first days are easy, or that we would even recommend that anybody do such a thing without training beforehand. But, equally important is the fact that we would never recommend not doing something like this due to a lack of training. Training always starts somewhere, so just consider the first day of touring, the first day of training. There is something to be said for that Nike motto. If we all waited for the ideal conditions to do anything, it’s unlikely that anything would ever be accomplished.

From the coast to the end of the trail – endless
Average speed – Not important

That massage yesterday at the Cliff House worked wonders. I figured that I might be just a bit too relaxed to bicycle, but that wasn’t really the case. I will be heading to the massage school in Albany when I get back – not to become a therapist, but to get some of my muscles de-stressed. I can’t say that I am really sore, but that could be just because I have gotten used to it and don’t notice it so much.

We slept with the patio doors open last night so that we could enjoy the waves crashing on the rocks and lulling us to sleep. You might not think that crashing waves are ideal for inducing sleep, but after a stressful day of cycling, just about any repetitive sounds induces sleep.

We found some decent cycling routes today, mostly using the Eastern Trail(ET), which avoids busy roads, but adds lots of mileage as it darts in and out from the coast. It also means that we drop to the ocean and then climb back up into the interior several times. Part of our route took us on a freshly paved road, which was a real treat considering the road conditions of the past few days.

A nice short cut through the marsh near Scarsborough saved us some mileage and took us into a popular area frequented by nature lovers, fishermen, cyclists and herons who took advantage of this special landscape. It was here that I got bitten by a huge black fly. Guess that I can’t be in Maine without escaping the bite of one of these annoying pests.

The shoreline trail in Portland was torn up a bit, but we made our way to the East End Beach where we were greeted by a welcoming committee organized by Hilary.

Elizabeth and her daughter, Harriet were there, as was Erin, who bicycled with us in the Yucatan long ago. Hilary’s friend showed up as well and we discussed our next adventure, which I think might be hiking El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which she had done parts of. The friendly folks from the Portland CVB also welcomed us, thanking us for choosing Portland as our endpoint. Little did they know that Portsmouth was sounding really good as the spot to dip the wheels.
Wende couldn’t attend, but sent a balloon bouquet. The group supplied champagne, cider and cupcakes. It was really a treat to have these people waiting for us at the end.

We dipped our wheels from the boat ramp, trying hard not to slip on the green slime.

After the group dispersed we had lunch at Gritty McDuff’s and then headed on our way to Bethel to meet Wende. After a too short visit, we continued on to Chatham, NH to meet with our friends, Sue and Tom, whom we hadn’t seen for a long time.

To say the least, our last day was full of excitement, but in some ways the end of the trip was anti-climactic. Maybe it was because the ocean had been right alongside of us for a few days. Or maybe it was because the entire trip seemed a distant(no pun intended) memory. That chilly day dipping the wheels at the state park in Oregon was just a few months ago, but seems either like just yesterday or eons ago.

Sandown to Neddick – 45 miles
Average Speed – 13.1 mph

We headed downhill this morning, which was a nice change to the start of the day, although a short-lived change. We got onto Route 11 with nice wide shoulders hoping that the route would remain like this until Portsmouth. We need to be more realistic. As soon as we turned toward Exeter, the shoulder became nearly non-existent and the road started seriously climbing, which our host had warned us about.

When we reached Exeter, we had to stop to fix Robert’s fourth flat in his front tire. It’s unusual to get flats in a front tire and to get so many is even stranger. We have each had four flats. Mine have all been rear flats.

Exeter is a pleasant town where we found a bike shop to see if we could get a map. Printing out maps doesn’t always work so well as they are often illegible. We asked about some of the roads on our map and they weren’t familiar with them all. The were out of the state bicycling map, which we hoped to find in hard copy. We crossed the street and went to the chamber of commerce where the very helpful people dug a bicycling map out of a special place. This was he highpoint of the day and the exact map that we were looking for. We discussed the different suggested routes and decided on the best one. The ride from Exeter to Portsmouth was pleasant, even along Route 33 due to its wide shoulders. Those shoulders ended for a short stretch near town. We stopped just outside a cemetery to figure out how to get through town and a man appeared out of nowhere to see if he could help us. We reviewed the map once again and headed on our way.

I really thought that I could smell salt air today. It may have been a Pavlovian response from seeing the mileage sign to Hampton Beach or it may have just been the salt that I was excreting
getting blown into my face. (Yep, another head wind today.)

We found a “Mexican” place for lunch, which served burritos and quesadillas and was right before we crossed the bridge into Maine. Once we crossed over, we knew that the traffic and our route would be less than ideal and that was definitely true. Originally, we had planned a different route and had no intention of riding along the coast. We would have approached Portland from the west. That would have eliminated the temptation to dip the wheels in the ocean for the next miles until Portland.

We are staying at the Cliff House in Ogunquit. The balcony overlooks the ocean. I could just toss the bike over the rail for a less-than-traditional dipping. That wouldn’t be so fun.

Tomorrow, we have just a short ride to Portland and the finish. I can’t wait.