After talking the other day about when we would do our cross country (XC) bike ride (Spring 2015 vs. Autumn 2015), I had it on my mind and my bi-weekly drive from CT to PA gave me a lot of time to brainstorm/daydream…

The other day I described to you how long the trip would take, based on a few factors.  In order to make the trip the most enjoyable, I think we should pick a set of destinations (general or specific), but then leave ourselves the flexibility to deviate later on as we go along.  I think we had agreed that riding a route that’s more Southern than the I-90 route we’ve driven several times (you several…. me just once).  That way we could get to know some new states, even through driving through doesn’t really mean you know a state.

Here’s a recap of what I had described the other night:

• 4,500 miles

• 75 miles/day average

• 5 riding days/week

• 60 days; 12 weeks

However, if we change from 5 days/week to 6… the trip would only require 10 weeks (not saying we should cut it short, just for reference).  Of course there are plenty of other factors that we should take into account.  A rest day doesn’t necessarily need to be a no-riding day, either, it could just be a less-riding day…  Either way, I think we should be flexible about our route and schedule.

Anyhow, I’ll start by sharing some destinations I thought of which gave me the ~4,500mi slightly meandering route mapped below… (may not be in order).  I don’t have any specific locations where I think we should start or end (besides Atlantic to Pacific), but I was thinking either Maine near Corey and Kate, or P-town to start… and then Northern California or somewhere in Oregon or Washington to end.

• Smoky Mountains
• Virginias (mainly interested in West Virginia… I’ve heard a lot of good things)
• Colorado
• Southern Utah – Moab
• Lake Tahoe
• Grand Canyon
• Yosemite
• Sierra Nevada
• Avenue of the Giants (Redwoods)

Something else I was thinking we should do during the ride, is daily posts to this site, so that friends and family can keep track of us/our trip (and to look back at afterwards, of course).  Depending on internet availability, we might not be able to post them every day, but we would at least need to make a record of the day, and we could alternate days to keep it interesting.

Daily post content

• Current location
• Day #
• Weather
• Picture(s)
• Summary of the day
• Daily highlight
• Daily lowlight
• Daily stats and trip stats (to date)
  
  • Miles ridden
  • Saddle time
  • Ascent

Some things we’ll need to aquire before the trip (obviously not complete, just a few things I was thinking of…)

• Touring bikes (w/ fenders, racks, panniers, etc.)
  • Trek 520
  • Surly Long Haul Trucker
  • Surly Disc Trucker
• Light 3 person, 3 season tent
  • Nemo Losi 3P

Okay – that’s it for now.  Hopefully this gets you thinking, I’d like to hear your thoughts on all of these ideas.  I just wanted to get all my thoughts on paper and start the process of slowly planning this exciting trip!