Introduction: What?

You've either stumbled upon this blog because you searched for any of a number of different tags that are associated with my interests or because you were given this link to check out by myself or someone else familiar with it. Whoever you are, welcome, I'm glad you're here and I hope that you will allow me to share some joy with you. I also want to invite you to feel free to contact me as well. After all, why should I get to have all the say? My hope is for this to be an ongoing conversation with anybody who finds themselves interested so like I said, welcome my new (or old) friends.

I'll give you some information about who I am as well as those who will be joining me in another post, but I first want to explain to you WHAT we're going to be doing exactly.

We're going to ride our bikes.

We're going to ride our bikes a lot, in fact, we're going to ride our bikes across the United States from coast to coast. I should be upfront in saying that this is not quite as rare a feat as some may believe, but definitely rare enough that many people have not necessarily heard of a specific instance when it was done. Perhaps if you are a bit older than I am and you were around during the 70s you may be familiar with the Bikecentennial, a movement that pushed for getting people out on their bikes to see this great country of ours.

While many other countries around the globe have long been steeped in a rich tradition of cyclotouring, it was the Bikecentennial that really helped this niche market of tourism blossom in the states. The bike of choice during the time was the 10 speed. Equipped with a steel frame, drop handlebars (the kind that curl down so you can get low when the wind is hitting you), and 10 gears that allowed you to shift in order to climb hills or go fast on flat ground. If you grew up riding a 10 speed chances are that you more than likely had a favorable experience with them as they were solid built machines that were created for longevity in mind. Just check Craigslist sometime and you'll see that a good number of them from the 70s and 80s are still available, in good shape, and at a relatively high resale value if the owner knows much about what they have ($100-$300).

Still we won't be using 10 speeds. While those were built well, technology has advanced and bikes that are built to be more specific for touring are widely available for a (relatively) reasonable price. I personally will be using a bike sold by REI (rei.com) called the Novara Safari. There are more inexpensive touring bikes available than the Safari, but this bike performs well and is really in the entry level price range. Two of the others in my group will be riding Surly Long Haul Truckers (surlybikes.com) which are also in the entry level price range, but feature slightly better components and a more conventional touring bike style (resembles the 10 speed in many ways, just better). I can discuss more about the bikes and other gear we'll be using later, so fear not, I'll get to the trip itself.

We'll be starting on the Atlantic coast and working our way to the Pacific coast over the course of a little over two months by using a route that was established by the Adventure Cycling Association called the Northern Tier. This is not as popular at their original TransAmerican route that was the feature route of the Bikecentennial but it is a fairly widely used route nonetheless.

Due to time constraints I will be starting in the Annapolis, MD area, working my way toward Pittsburgh before heading to my native Cleveland where I will join the Northern Tier so my route will be a little bit different than the exact NT route. Others in the group will be starting near Maine and working their way across New York along the Canadian border where they will meet me in Cleveland. We plan to average 60 miles of riding each day while carrying everything we need to survive (tent, clothes, food, etc.) in bike bags called panniers. Carrying 50+ pounds of gear up major hills on a bike is considerably more difficult than riding a bike with nothing except yourself on it but thanks to the 27 gears our bikes have we will be able to "gear down" into our "granny gears" and slowly but (hopefully) steadily work our way up them.

We'll be living life in a very youthful way, but what I want to clarify is that this type of travel is not simply for the young. Cyclotouring is done by just about every kind of person you can imagine, young and old, short or tall, skinny or big, even people with back pain do it by using a special bike called a recumbent (look it up if you always thought biking would be fun minus the back pain you might experience). I would like to tell you that a trip across the country is one of the most difficult things a person can ever do, but I have yet to attempt it so I cannot say one way or the other. What I can tell you is that I have read countless journals of people of all types who have done it and are still doing it (check out crazyguyonabike.com to read them).

I should explain that this blog is named as it is only because I think that cyclotouring is not all that well known by young people in America and I really think it is a shame because while many students travel to Europe (a great experience I'm sure) I think there is much to be seen of this great country. I'll get more into why I named this site as I did later and why I am doing this trip, but for right now I just want it to be understood that anybody who thinks this could be a fulfilling experience should not fear that they are physically incapable because there are a great number of adaptations in cycling that help make it possible.

I hope you will continue to follow us on our journey through these posts and I encourage you, no more like beg you, to contact me if you have any questions or just want to talk about whatever. This site is made for you, whoever you are.