Transcontinental Bike Trip

Summary
I plan on sharing my daily journal entries from the cross-country bicycle trip I completed in 1994. Unfortunately, the original journal entries were lost during the several moves I’ve made over the years. However, the experience is still fresh in my mind after all these years. Other entries will have more of a “topical theme” rather than being a typical daily journal entry. One thing that I still have is all of the "technical" data from my trip such as weather info, maximum and average speed, distance travelled, and elevation climbed. I hope to include photographs of pictures taken during my trip as well.

Why I did it…
I knew I was never going to compete in the Tour de France so riding my bicycle cross-country was probably the biggest cycling achievement I could realistically accomplish. Then there's the whole metaphor of connecting two oceans, crossing the country the way the pioneers did, and all that "gay" stuff. And there's always the obvious reason - "to see the country".

There are many tour companies that organize cross-country bicycle tours. I ended up doing my tour with a company called Wandering Wheels. Even though they are a “Christian” company, I chose them primarily because they were the least expensive. It was about $2,500 + airfare. The duration and time period of the trip fit well too. It was 6 weeks from June 26 thru August 8. It was the summer between my junior and senior year at Clarkson University (I was 21 years old). I had the time, I had the money, and I knew that if I didn’t do it then, I would never end up doing it at all because I’d soon have a job and eventually a family. It's pretty difficult to take 6-weeks off from your job and family.

Logistics
Wandering Wheels (WW) organized the route and set the dates for the trip. The trip started on June 26 in Seattle, WA and ended on August 8 in Rehoboth Beach, DE. There were 63 people on the trip ranging in age from 13 to 67. There was a fair balance of men and women. Many of us were students. Others were teachers and of occupations that typically had the summer off. Others simply just took 6-weeks vacation from work. They provided two meals per day (typically breakfast and lunch) which were served from a mobile "soup kitchen". WW had a large moving van which carried everyone’s bags and necessary equipment for the group. They also had a couple cargo vans that acted as sag wagons. Everyone was given a large "hockey-size" duffle bag to carry all their stuff in. Given the limited amount of stuff you could bring, you had to choose what you wanted to bring carefully. Because WW carries your stuff, all the rider has to do is ride from Point A to Point B.

One of the reasons why the trip was so inexpensive is because we stayed at churches, schools, and campgrounds. I purchased a really nice sleeping bag (one that would keep me warm and would compact to a small size) prior to the trip. Daily mileage would vary from as little as 30 miles to as much as 130 miles. It all depended on the route and the cities we stopped in. There were three "rest days" over the course of the trip.

Moving forward
In future posts, I will talk about the couple days preceeding the trip and then start in on the journal entries.