Adventure Cycling Maps

On my first real tour I rose with a group of guys that worked in bike shops like I did. At the time I worked at a great shop in San Francisco called Nomad Cyclery. The shop still exists. It's on the corner of 27th and Irving. In the sunset district. Roger Cook is still the owner and he runs a pretty right ship. I loved those days and think back on them really fondly.

I was doing a ride from Sam Fran to San Antonio Texas. One of the guys that was riding with us had family in San Antonio so hat was our destination.

This entry is about the maps. Adventure cycling seems to be the leader in cycling specific maps. I've been looking for a better option but don't seem to have found any. If any of you out the have any Infiniti would be really interested in hearing from you

It seems to me that they are pretty comprehensive and are well detailed.

I have read some reviews that are less than favorable. Mainly concerning that some of the details of the route are a little hazy. Or that a road that wasn't mentioned really was there.

My experience with these maps has been that they are really great.

On that SF to San Antonio tour we used them and apart from one road that seemed to turn into a storm drain that we rode for an hour , they were accurate and very helpful.

On the upcoming California Coast tour we will be using these maps and gps on iPhone to navigate our way south. I know that we could probably find out way to LA without maps entirely but I'm looking forward to using them.

THe FSA Gossamer crank set has arrived!!!!!

We ordered the FSA Gossamer tandem crankset a couple of weeks ago. They arrived the other day. Beautiful crank. Its a road set up with 172.5 mm crank arm length. The chainrings are 53/39/30 with a 42 tooth chainring on the opposite side. Do I call that the non drove side? Im still learning some Tandem terminology.

These babies are really well built and include the integrated BB spindle. The BB itself is a tough looking one. Sealed outboard bearings. We haven't yet decided on the rest of the kit for the Tandem but this crank is now for certain.

Now we need to order the captain crank set.

Welcome to our blog.

It is the day after Christmas 2011 and my wife Jane and I are sitting on the couch in our loft in Brooklyn. We had a great holiday where we just stayed at home and had a quiet night watching football and eating homemade pizza.

This blog will be a simple dedication to the travels and places we traverse throughout our new life together.

Jane and I were married in June of this year in Texas and we went to Aruba for our honey moon.

I decided to begin this blog firstly to document us and then to document the bicycle tour that we are about to undertake this coming year.

We will be buying a Co-Motion tandem and riding the California coast from somewhere around Crescent City Ca to Los Angeles Ca where we will be meeting up with all of our friends in the LA area for a huge dance party to celebrate our arrival. And to celebrate our first long distance tour.

I have done several tours in this country and I did a 3 month tour from London to Morrocco  in 2004.

My love for the slow paced tour has continued. Janes love for the bicycle has grown since I built her a bike in grad school. Ive always wanted to go on a tour with Jane ever since we started dating in 2008 but with work and grad school it has not yet happened. We have decided to buy "the family car" from Co-Motion and make this dream a reality.

The idea to buy a tandem came up when we were talking about what bike Jane would ride as I already have a 700c Bob Jackson touring bike that I've used in the past.

When we thought of the possibility of Jane falling off the pace on her own bike and meeting me at the campsite when she could catch up, it was an obvious choice to ride on one bike.

Im so glad to be blogging and so glad that you are here with us and that you are reading this.