The idea to ride across the US had always been a dream of mine. Recently, Jere, a racer, came back from working in Germany and riding the Alps in his spare time. He got the bug to ride long and slow, having never done that before. He said he might like to ride across the US, which I quickly said; "Me too". Tim, overheard Jere and I bantering about the idea, and said he would be also be interested. In order to make the trip, Jere has to use vacation, sick, and personal days at work which constrains us to about 40 days, including weekends, to complete the trip. I have never been away from the office for longer than a week, so I too can not afford a longer trip. Tim, on the other hand, being a retiree has all the time in the world. Thus, the challenge is not only to ride 3,600 miles, but to do it in the allotted time. We will have to average 80 miles a day in order to complete the ride in the 40 days.
Jere's son, Josh graduates from college in May 2009. The plan is to pack the bikes and gear in Jere's van and send Josh and a friend out to San Francisco ahead of us. We plan to arrive in San Francisco on May 23rd and have Josh pick us up at the airport and drive us to the coast for the ceremonial wheel dip and photos before heading east. We will travel light with all the gear in the van. We anticipate only meeting up with Josh twice a day, once around lunch time and at the end of the day. Depending on where we are when we decide to call it a day, if there is not a hotel close by, we'll mark the road with an X, and cram into the van with the bikes and drive to the closest hotel. In the morning we'll drive back to the X and start riding. There will be no camping!
The route we are taking is published by Adventure Cycling Association so we do not have to reinvent the wheel. http://adventurecycling.org/ The organization has been making maps for bicyclists for over 30 years and has refined routes based off of feedback from thousands of riders. The route we choose actually combines two routes, the Western Express from San Francisco to Pueblo, Co. and the Transam East from Pueblo, Co. to Yorktown, Va.. The route is through the midsection of the country, and traverses the Rockies at the widest point.
So now you know the Why, When and Where. A future posting will give you the Who. Sam
