Ever dream of riding your bicycle a long distance? Perhaps even bicycling cross country, you know, bicycling across America or even across many continents? Sometimes our work schedule, family commitments, fear of what others may think or simply fear of striking out prevents us from living our dreams. Why do we have to settle? Why not take a chance and live life? This is exactly what happened to me a few years ago when the urge to embark on a bicycle tour of America consumed me. Believe me, it's a big step to commit to hop on a bike and ride to places you've never been before or even know if you can make it.
BicycleTrek.com is a site chronicling my cross-country bicycle tour across America. I'll share the experience I gained in how to plan a bike tour. The hows and personal reasons of doing a bike tour, how to choose the right touring bike, mapping a long distance bike tour and have included a travelogue featuring my daily bike ride journal / mileage log along with photos detailing the miles pedaled, routes and states I bicycled through.
This bicycle tour was an adventure of a lifetime and even now, years later, I feel the profound effect it has had on me. Some of the wonderful people I met during that journey have remained close friends. If you are sitting on the fence about doing a long distance bike tour-just do it
Start planning now. Your life will be changed for the better.
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one's feet.
- Lao Tsu: Tao Te Ching
As Featured in the book: The Art of Non-Conformity
What a nice surprise to see that my bicycling story and BicycleTrek.com were mentioned extensively in Chris Guillebeau's new book The Art of Non-Conformity. It's a wonderful book about living life on your terms and is very inspiring.
Navigating this site
Following my journey is simple as everything from the planning stage to actual biking is listed in chronological order. Just begin with the first article below by clicking the title or "read more" link and when done simply click the "back button" and continue on to the next page and so on. At the bottom of each day/page I encourage each of you to leave me a comment or even ask a question. Interaction is key and I will do my best to answer. Thank you for reading!
I am embarking on a cross country bicycle trip of the United States (US). It's a bicycle trip that will take me wherever I choose to pedal at whatever pace I dictate. I will leave my home state of New Jersey on a sunny morning (hopefully) to discover the true "me". It will be an exercise in discipline and determination. What my parents and life haven't taught me yet I will likely learn now. I will make mistakes, but I will correct them. I will fall down, but I'll get back up. I will be silent on some days and blabber on others. I'm just going to be me.
The Cross Country Bicycle Ride Idea
The idea to undertake this bicycle touring trip happened innocently enough on a Tuesday afternoon in January of 1997. For this time of the year it was very mild (around 40 degrees Fº). I had taken the bus to Jersey City to close out an old bank account. As I waited for the bus to take me back home to Fort Lee, New Jersey, I saw a minor fender bender. One car was exiting a driveway and the other was trying to enter. They both got into a heated argument and all I kept thinking was at least no one was hurt. It was obvious that the car trying to enter should have yeilded to the one exiting. At that point I had been waiting at least twenty minutes for my bus and seeing / hearing this commotion sparked me to forgo the bus ride and walk home instead. The walk only lasted an hour but it was a very productive hour. As I walked up Anderson Avenue through the towns of Fairview, Cliffside Park and Fort Lee I felt as if I had never walked through this area before. I had a fresh outlook on everything. Continuing on, the thought just popped in my head; a cross country bicycle trip - a bike tour of America! Not paying much attention to this I quickly dismissed the notion and continued on feeling alive and looking at everything such as cars, neon signs, billboards and all the shop windows I had never noticed before. It was invigorating. As I approached a corner my bus pulled up to the curb to let some passengers off and although I could have gotten on I let it go. There went my bus! "Who cares," is what I thought now. It's only a little more to go till I get home. If anything I wish the walk would last a little longer. It just felt so nice to be out and about like a stray dog.
Later that night the thought of the cross country bicycle tour odyssey resurfaced. It appeared as if I would not think of it again but, no, the next morning the same feelings overtook me. At this point I realized that I was going to take that bike ride. How did I know I was going? Because it was the same way I began many important things in my life. The thoughts, the feelings came up in the exact same way and then I became preoccupied into making them a reality. A popular music web site I had created back in 1996 is without a doubt my single biggest achievement. Up until then I always did things "half way". It would get started, but never completed. This seemed to be the case in just about every aspect of my life. The creation of that web site plays a very important part in the whole scheme of things.
When I decided to start the music website in September of 1996 I had only gotten an
Apple Mac computer a few months earlier in February of the same year. Before this I didn't know a thing about computers. No joke-not a thing. I made it a point to learn as much as I could in my spare time. Every night I would go home and play around and learn through trial and error. I would dream up something and then make it come true. I taught myself HTML and assorted programs and just loved it. A woman that I was briefly dating at the time was a graphic arts designer and she gave me some quick tips on using Photoshop and I was off.
This example taught me that anything is possible if you so desire. The ability to bike across America under my own power-just me and my bicycle-is something I desire. I want it all. The internet immediately became my best friend as I researched all there was to know about bicycle touring, camping, how to select and buy the right touring bike and tent, planning my travel routes and reading about other bicyclist's experiences while doing long distance touring. The more I read the more I knew I had to take this trek / journey. I quickly joined Adventure Cycling (formerly Bike Centennial) for bicycling maps and Hostelling International USA for inexpensive accomodations. I only stayed at a hostel once while biking, but it was the most fun I had as I met up with some great people.
Storing My Belongings And Starting My Bicycle Ride Across America
As soon as I realized that I was going take the "crazy" challenge of biking across America, I broke the lease on my apartment and gave notice to my employer in New York City of almost eight years with whom I accrued a sizeable 401k nest egg. Giving notice to my employer didn't faze me, but giving up my beautiful apartment did. As a matter of fact, that was when I realized I had reached the point of no return-I no longer had a home and had to arrnage to stay with my brother and later on my mother till the start of the trip in May. I felt so nervous telling the management officer that I was giving up the apartment that I had just moved into a few months earlier. I felt like I would turn and run, but I didn't I told them straight out: "My last day will be . . . " I had to forfeit my security deposit, but my life and freedom was worth it. Also withdrew my entire 401k savings plan from work to get me through the months I would be without work.
I will travel and cycle on my own and completely self-supported. That means I will have camping, cooking, camera and other equipment to contend with while bicycling. Approximately sixty pounds of gear and luggage strapped onto my bike. I will be the Goldmund of the 1990s (a character in a Hermann Hesse novel). In fact it is the Hermann Hesse book Narcissus and Goldmund along with Siddhartha that planted the seed of taking a journey. I merely chose to do it with a bicycle. I will wander and search the world for...
Please read on to learn how I prepared for this solo bicycle tour and what touring equipment I chose. Everything is listed below in chronological order for easy browsing. Thank you for stopping by BicycleTrek.com and enjoy!
States That I Will Bike Through
The places listed below are not etched in stone, but I used the Adventure Cycling maps to plan out a rough route. As you continue reading my story, you will find out how things changed dramatically. For example, I always wanted to go see
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in western Pennsylvania so I altered my plans soon after to travel through southern Pennsylvania instead of the northern half that the Adventure Cycling maps would have put me. The maps only tell part of the story because one can't tell how congested, wide or well paved a road is until you actually try to bike it. It's surprising that what looks good on a map really isn't as far as bicycling is concerned and vice versa. Simply put: be prepared to alter your travel plans on a moment's notice-no exaggeration. I would say a good chunk of my travel on this solo bicycle tour was made up on the spot or through directions given by people I met along the way.
New Jersey (Start from North Bergen just a few miles outside New York City and head in a southwesterly direction)
Pennsylvania (Along the southern half to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater then head northwest)
Before I discovered Toga, every other bike shop tried to sell me a mountain bike because they didn't have access to real touring bicycles or didn't want to bother trying to get one. Toga special ordered my bike direct from Cannondale and it only took about a week to get so hold out for a REAL touring bike. Don't accept a mountain bike, a short wheelbase road bike, hybrid or sport bike as a substitute as they are not suitable for loaded bike touring no matter what the salesperson tries to have you believe.
Loaded long distance touring requires a long wheelbase frame that has plenty of braze-ons to mount racks for the panniers-both front and back along with three water bottles. Touring also requires beefier cantilever brakes and stronger 36 spoke wheels than your average road bike. I didn't realize until I undertook the trip how much abuse the bike would take even with my body weight of only around 160 pounds. My rear wheel, as beefy as it was, needed truing throughout the bike ride due to the extra weight being hauled and all the potholes.
Here are the items I ended up getting for the bike trip:
Cannondale: T2000 (T-2000) road touring bicycle with a gear range of 42/32/22 in front and 11-30 (8 speed cog) in the rear for a total of 24 speeds
Specialized: cyclometer, helmet and cycling shoes along with assorted cycling jerseys, tights and shorts
Last but not least: ME!
I've provided the above list to give prospective bike tourers an idea of some of the items required on a bicyle tour of this kind, but it is in no way complete or perfect. Please note that many of these items are discontinued now, but the above list will give yuu an idea. I spent a lot of time researching and a pretty penny by buying the above items new. If I had to do it again I would definitely consider buying used on eBay and save a huge amount of money.
Ever dream of riding your bicycle a long distance? Perhaps even bicycling cross country, you know, bicycling across America or even across many continents? Sometimes our work schedule, family commitments, fear of what others may think or simply fear of striking out prevents us from living our dreams. Why do we have to settle? Why not take a chance and live life? This is exactly what happened to me a few years ago when the urge to embark on a bicycle tour of America consumed me. Believe me, it's a big step to commit to hop on a bike and ride to places you've never been before or even know if you can make it.
