There’s no doubt about it. Scouting for new places to paddle can be exciting. Occasionally, though, the excitement gets out of hand. A lot of less-traveled ways to the water are old carriage roads or overgrown jeep trails. These aren’t always kind to cars, and breaking down in the middle of nowhere isn’t everybody’s idea of a good time. Sometimes it pays to scout by bike.

Bikes can go almost anywhere. Better yet, once you get your road legs, bikes eat up the miles at a surprisingly fast clip. There’s no better way to explore your neighborhood. How big is your neighborhood? Well, how strong are your legs? For most of us, fifty-mile round trips are within reach: twenty-five out and twenty-five back. This makes your “neighborhood” something like 1 million acres. Hardy folks may find they can go twice as far in a day. Their neighborhood is four times as large. Cycling is a great exercise, too, targeting the very muscles that don’t get much of a workout on the water.

In short, scouting by bike lets you check out nearby waterways without risking your family car or handing over all your paycheck to Big Oil. And it’s fun, into the bargain. You can even haul a boat to the water with a bike. But you have to have the right boat — and the right bike. Old carriage roads and muddy jeep trails aren’t for fine-boned thoroughbreds. A stocky, sturdy carthorse is what you want. You need a steed that can take a licking and keep on tick-tick-ticking along. And then hit the road in search of waters new! Read more…

Tags: & Sit-on-Topping, amphibious paddling, bikes, cycling, Kayaking, Let's Paddle! Canoeing