im going to bike across the United States next summer..

[Piano Man]

Wait....I'm having a vision.................Your ass is going to be real sore next summer.

 

[narzy]

no your not...your gonna pedal 10 feet and fall over dead from a heart attack... your a geek, not a biker.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: dcdomain
Much props... I'd like to do this after I graduate college (next summer). Would be nice to find some people willing to go along with me. One thing I don't understand though... I know the highways are flat and all, but why would anyone want to ride on the highways? The pollution and the lack of sightseeing... which brings up my next question, why a road bike? It won't handle the trails well once you break off the roads to go sight seeing...

People use mtn. bikes, but IMHO, the riding position is to upright and doesn't have enough hand positions. More upright = more pressure on your ass and more wind resistance. Barends help the hand-position thing, but I'll take drop handlebars any day for road riding.

As far as off-road site seeing goes ... I doubt you'll get further into the bush then fire roads and such in which case a good touring set up ... maybe with cross tires, will do fine. I rode up & down Mt. Tam with mine.

 

[DrPizza]

An average of 50 miles a day sounds like a lot, but it's really not if you've been biking regularly. At a leisurely 10 mph, that's only 5 miles of biking. Probably take more time going uphills, but every time you go up, you get to go down. I think you'll probably end up averaging more than 50 miles per day, but it's best to plan your trip for more time than it will actually take. (wouldn't it suck to have to quit 150 miles short because your vacation ended).

I was going to suggest a West to East trip... Cali to Maine because of prevailing winds, but after reading ergeorge's post, it looks like you'd have to really take a closer look at which route you're taking. I've wanted to do this for years, and planned on doing it after I started teaching. So, in the next couple of years, I'll be doing the same.

If anyone has more links on the fundraising trips, I'm yet another person interested in that! It'd be soooo much easier to have someone carrying everyone's supplies in a vehicle while everyone just had their bikes... saves a lot of weight going up hills!

 

[DrPizza]

p.s. is your sister cute? I'll bike along with you guys then! Pics?


(j/k)

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Bootprint
Maybe you'll come across this Family.

HAHAHAA read

this go to the final entry.

 

[guapo337]

ergeorge. thanks for so much info. i have to eat now but i'll check out the link in a bit!

 

[guapo337]

how come my second post always kills my own threads?!?!?!

 

[slick230]

One bit of advice, if you're really gonna do this. Don't be like that asshat that tried to walk to the North Pole when the ice was breaking up, and called for help, thereby endangering those that had to go rescue his dumb ass. If it were me and I got the call, I would have pretended like it never happened and left his ass out there to die.

Make sure you are fully aware of what you are getting yourself into and that you can rely on your body to pull you through it. Otherwise, don't cry for help if you can't make it and find yourself in bumbfvck Egypt needing a rescue.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
An average of 50 miles a day sounds like a lot, but it's really not if you've been biking regularly. At a leisurely 10 mph, that's only 5 miles of biking. Probably take more time going uphills, but every time you go up, you get to go down. I think you'll probably end up averaging more than 50 miles per day, but it's best to plan your trip for more time than it will actually take. (wouldn't it suck to have to quit 150 miles short because your vacation ended).

Agreed. I'd plan on nearly 3 months ... get somebody to buy your tickets back via Priceline when your a few days out of your destination.

I was going to suggest a West to East trip... Cali to Maine because of prevailing winds, but after reading ergeorge's post, it looks like you'd have to really take a closer look at which route you're taking. I've wanted to do this for years, and planned on doing it after I started teaching. So, in the next couple of years, I'll be doing the same.

If anyone has more links on the fundraising trips, I'm yet another person interested in that! It'd be soooo much easier to have someone carrying everyone's supplies in a vehicle while everyone just had their bikes... saves a lot of weight going up hills!

A sag supported trip sounds very enticing .... but the big draw for me at least is the complete independence. If you're going with a supported trip, you have to conform to their schedule, you ride when and where they ride, stay where they stay, etc. I rode solo, although I hooked up with various other solo riders and small groups along the way for various lengths of time. But in general, if I felt like a short day, I took a short day, or didn't ride at all. If I felt like a long day, so be it. I took side trips in to mamoth caverns in Ky, into Denver from Fairplay to see a college roommate, and from there to the top of Mt. Evans (insanity). I took several days in Yellowstone, and rode 4 centuries straight going across Kansas (tailwind and a good paceline ) I met tour groups along the way ... some were happy, but many were complaining alot about all sorts of things ... at least one commercial tour was in the process of fragmenting. I'd consider going sagged or with a largish group for short tours, but a long tour is more like a lifestyle and I wouldn't give up the freedom.

 

[Joony]

Definitely invest into portable GPS units by Garmin such as the Etrex Legend. Maybe some 2-way radios by Motorola such as the T6400

 

[Armitage]

I doubt the GPS will really be useful if you get a good set of maps, although if you plan your own route it might be. Just more weight. Those little two way radios would be cool though, especially if he and his sister don't ride at the same pace.

 

[Joony]

infact, a better idea, Garmin has a new product called the Rino 120, its a built in GPS unit AND 2-way radio, you can beam each others locations if you are within range in terms of radio. Quite amazing

http://www.garmin.com/products/rino120/

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Bootprint
Maybe you'll come across this Family.

HAHAHAA read

this go to the final entry.

Ow, that's sad
I think 11 is a bit young though, especially on her own bike. Maybe on a tandem.

 

[CrazyPerson]

enjoy

 

[AdvancedRobotics]

GL Tim

Last summer I did Burlington (to Miane then down) to Boston. About 50 miles/day and took around a week. Not really that hard--XC was good training--though the hills were a killer in NH and falling down on mah bike and going to the hospital wasn't a highlight either

I'll give you some tips: get a camelback (if you dun already have one) and eat lots of food. Seriously. You will constantly burn calories/fat while biking. I ate something everytime we stopped and waited for teh slow pokes (which was once over 2 hours...).

Anyways, hope you and Heather can make it

If you want, i can give you the number of the guy whom I did the Burlington to Boston trip. He's biked from east to west coast before and would definitely have some tips for you and places to stay if you are really interested in ddoing this.

--aR Labs

 

[goldboyd]

Just wanted to bump this back to life and see if anybody else out there has any information or links or anything. This is something I want to do sometime in my life when i can get that much time off...although being in the IT industry you never know when that could happen

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I would have loved to have done this. Not enough time now, so it will never happen for me. Do it now while you can

 

[Hector13]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: guapo337
can anyone point me to routes? my sister and i are so serious about doing this. we're gonna start planning soon.

we figure 50 miles/day (probably more). any ideas on this? food? where to stay? point me to routes? where on the west coast should my destination be? we're leaving from maine.

50 miles a day is.. alot. You've got to be in really good shape to do it, all the power to ya though.

i was thinking the exact opposite. At 50 miles a day, the trip will take you close to 2 months. And assuming you are going at a decent speed, 50 miles should take you about 3 - 3.5 hours. Granted, I don't know how much gear you will be carrying, but you can probably squeeze a bit more into each day to reduce the number of days it takes you.

 

[bigrash]

I've been planning on doing a trip like this from NY to the west coast. I wanna do it soon, but I don't know anyone else around here that would do it. None of my friends have enough guts for this.

 

[T3C]

Originally posted by: guapo337
can anyone point me to routes? my sister and i are so serious about doing this. we're gonna start planning soon.

we figure 50 miles/day (probably more). any ideas on this? food? where to stay? point me to routes? where on the west coast should my destination be? we're leaving from maine.

good luck

 

[Krassus]

If i were to do this, i wouldn't plan at all. Just my destination. I'd leave the rest to chance. That would make the trip a lot more fun! Last thing you want is to spend a sum of dozens of hours looking through maps during the trip.

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: SammySon
Start with a map, move on from there.

Great advice.

 

[MrCookie]

check out bikefriday.com they have an extensive group of customers and enthusiasts that have done the coast to coast. I am sure that Hans or Lynette can point you towards someone that can advise you.

 

[idNut]

Originally posted by: Piano Man
Wait....I'm having a vision.................Your ass is going to be real sore next summer.

Screw my ass, ah my balls.

(Heh, no pun intended)