What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by nodamage on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @08:56PM (#13711008)

Another good option if you're not interested in hiking is bicycle touring. A few years ago I spent a summer cycling across France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and it was an absolutely incredible experience. After cycling for roughly 6 hours per day over six weeks, I lost a ton of weight, despite eating anything and everything I wanted. (Which was more food than I would normally eat at home, considering you're burning thousands of calories per day in exercise alone.) Definitely would recommend to anyone interested in combining long, sustained periods of exercise with traveling.

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by the_cat_kittles on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @08:58PM (#13711016)

i biked the oregon coast with some friends. it was so fun, despite being a literal pain in the ass. also highly recommend! i was quite strong after just a week. the highlight of the summer for sure.

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by nodamage on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @09:19PM (#13711114)

> despite being a literal pain in the ass

A good saddle helps with that. :) My preference is the Brooks B-17.

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by stevenhubertron on Thursday February 23, 2017 @12:12AM (#13711804)

Such a heavy saddle but once you wear it in its the most comfortable ride out there.

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by tonyedgecombe on Thursday February 23, 2017 @11:53AM (#13715373)

I'm pretty sure I didn't wear mine in, rather it wore me in.

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by ska on Thursday February 23, 2017 @10:51AM (#13714825)

If you are touring with gear, that weight gain is a rounding error :)

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by kevin488 on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @10:11PM (#13711325)

I would love to hear a rough outline of your path. Were you mostly on roads with cars or is there a more established bike lane infrastructure? Any issues sharing the road with vehicles?

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by nodamage on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @10:45PM (#13711452)

We followed the Eurovelo 6 bicycle route (http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos/eurovelo-6). Fortunately Europe has great bicycle infrastructure so we were able to stay on dedicated cycle paths or at least bike lanes the majority of the time. In the instances where we did end up sharing the road with cars, it was not an issue, European drivers are in general very cycle friendly. (Especially in contrast with New Zealand which was frankly terrifying.)

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by kevin488 on Thursday February 23, 2017 @05:29PM (#13718464)

Awesome, thanks!

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by thebent on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @10:33PM (#13711410)

@kevin488 The Adventure Cycling Association is the de facto source for bike touring routes and maps: https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/

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Re:What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike by alexlrobertson on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @10:01PM (#13711281)

I'm just getting into touring, myself and it's quite awesome. You get the joys of cycling, treking through nature, and can pack a little more liberally than backpacking. The big limiting factor is finding suitable trails and roads.

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