I gonna ride my bike across the country

[Bearsy]

Fuck yeah!!! No joke. Either this spring/summer or next year. But it's happening. Who wants to join me?

[Taosaur]

Do I *want* to join? Hrrm, yesh. Can I join? Dunno so much. In the general questions category, have you done any long distance cycling? You'll need to train up both physically and in terms of cycle maintenance.

[Flashdance]

How much thought have you given to this idea?

[SkA_DaRk_Che]

I would caution you against taking up such a task without the proper training and conditioning. I used to jog everyday and do stuff like that. So I thought I could do "anything" too. However, one day a friend came over and said "Hey wanna go on a biking trip...." The village that we were going to bike to was about 10 miles one way and 10 miles back. So all together the trip was going to be around 20 miles. In addition to that the back road we took had some huge hills as it was near some mountains. So, I did it. I biked the 20 miles but when I got back I could barely stand and became pretty sick for the next couple days. Yeah 20 miles may not be a lot but when you are not in the right shape for it it can be a bitch. Even Lance Armstrong never tried doing the tour de france without any conditioning and training. What is the moral of the story? Know your limits and plan ahead (condition yourself) first.

[ninja9578]

Sounds like an excellent idea. I would do it if not for my job

[Catbus]

I'd love to if I was in the proper shape and new anything about repairing bicycles. Though I'd really like to unicycle across the country, but I don't know if that's possible.

[deepsleep]

Get in proper shape lol. You're NEVER going to survive that trip if you're not in shape. I road 25 miles on a bike before in the rain. I thought I was dying when I got home.

[DreamingGod]

I would love to be involved with something like this.

[Xei]

Cool, what kind of route are you taking?

[Xaqaria]

Are you going east-west, or west-east? East-west is much more difficult than the other way, due to prevailing winds. Do you have any experience with long distance biking? I would suggest taking a shorter trip, at least 100 miles before you try to go all the way across country if you don't have the experience. If you can, I'd suggest making it even longer. You should be confident in your ability to ride 50-80 miles a day at least 5 days a week if you want to make it across the country in under 3 months (including the inevitable week or so that you will either choose to stop or have to because you broke something you aren't carrying). Be sure that you have the proper tools, spare parts and know how to replace almost every part on your bike. This means at least 4 spare inner tubes, at least two replacements for every screw on the bike, spare axles, and a spare chain. If you don't think you will need all the spares, think again. During a 160 mile trip from my home in Burlington, Vt to Montreal and back, I went through 2 inner tubes 4 rack screws and a snapped an axle, and this was a 5 day trip (2 spent in the city).

[Bearsy]

When I'm riding daily, which I'm about to start next week when I get my bike out of storage, I can hit 30-40 miles a day comfortably just riding functionally around the city. I won't need to ride more than that a day. However, I just talked to my MD yesterday and she said she won't sign off on me doing this yet cause she doesn't think I'm fit enough, so if anything happens to me and I have to go to the hospital my insurance won't cover anything at all. So I'm postponing the trip to next summer 2011, but this whole next year will be devoted to training for it. And Xaq, I'll be going from Buffalo, NY, southwest to LA, then north up Pacific Highway 1 to Washington and then east, probably through the southern edge of Canada up to Wisconsin, and then loop around the Great lakes back home. Sort of a sideways triangle. But honestly I don't care about time. The 20s are the best time in ones life to take off and just live. So even if it takes me 5 months to just get to Vancouver, I'll be happy. Here's a (really shitty, not to scale or exact location) map of the desired route. The cities listed (and poorly located) are, in order of arrival... Denver Las Vegas Los Angeles Portland Seattle Vancouver Chicago Those are the cities that I have to go through. There's other ones that would be nice to go through, but those 7 are must-sees. I might try and get to Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg too, if they don't add too many miles to the trip. But what's another 500 on top of 4,000? I'm thinking maybe bike down to the "Official" DV meet up as a sort of practice run. That could be good.

[Spartiate]

Saskatoon and Winnipeg too Hahaha why?

[Bearsy]

I want to take in as much culture as I can, also big cities are good places to do my internetting, photo uploading, all that good stuff.

[AirRick101]

what kind of bicycle are you using?

[Clyde Machine]

I wish you luck in this endeavour. I can't do it because of my bike's condition, college, money. Otherwise I'd really consider this as an awesome life experience.

[Bearsy]

what kind of bicycle are you using? I have a mountain bike hybrid with a hardtail, but I am going to be using a road bike for the trip.

[Jeff777]

How much thought have you given to this idea? LOL! That made me laughed out loud IRL. xD Elis bro, how much money do you reckon you'd need for something like this and what spurred you on to complete such a feat?

[AirRick101]

I have a mountain bike hybrid with a hardtail, but I am going to be using a road bike for the trip. I was gonna say...using a mountain bike for this endeavor would be one helluva challenge, lol.

[Black_Eagle]

Epic idea, Elis. Remember: Don't make a plan unless you're prepared to carry it through. A lot of people like to talk about doing epic things, but they pussy out when the time comes to step up to the plate. That said, I'll keep in mind the dream of coming with you. Who knows, maybe it will become a reality.

[Beeyahoi]

Fuck yeah!!! No joke. Either this spring/summer or next year. But it's happening. Who wants to join me? If you do this, you are my hero.

[Bearsy]

Elis bro, how much money do you reckon you'd need for something like this and what spurred you on to complete such a feat? I don't really know what spurred it on. I was just sitting around one day and it popped into my head. I want to do it as a way to raise awareness for HAES. I'm a big guy but I'm as healthy as anyone else my age because I eat right and I'm more active than other people that are the same size as me. So I want to show people that you don't have to be skin and bones to be healthy as long as you live right. As for money, I'm gonna be saving up until next year and also I'll get some credit cards to pay for the rest of my way and worry about repaying it when I'm home. My mother said she'll back me financially as much as possible and I'm also going to try and get some sponsors from my area. Epic idea, Elis. Remember: Don't make a plan unless you're prepared to carry it through. A lot of people like to talk about doing epic things, but they pussy out when the time comes to step up to the plate. That said, I'll keep in mind the dream of coming with you. Who knows, maybe it will become a reality. Oh I'm definitely gonna do this. I plan on it happening next year, but I may have to wait to 2012, but it will happen. By this November I hope to be taking a ride down the I-95 along the East coast to visit family in Georgia/Florida as a prequel to this trip.

[Supernova]

HAES advocates generally do not believe that the same narrow weight range (or BMI range) is maximally healthy for every individual well IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME I'd love to do this, but even though I could be ready to go physically by then, I wouldn't be in the position to do something like that. Eventually, I'd really like to, but not that soon.

[Xei]

Have you done any practice at all yet though, Bearsy? Also, credit cards = terrible idea. Surely you can get enough money now, before the trip? You only need to pay for food and drink and repairs, with accommodation being optional. Just doing a basic job for a few months and you'll have enough. I want to take in as much culture as I can American culture lol :l

[Beeyahoi]

http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?47-Touring Bike forum about long-distance touring.

[Noogah]

American culture lol :l There's plenty of culture in America. Man! This sounds like a very fun idea. Would be very adventurous, probably pretty stressful too. But think of all the memories you'll be able to reflect on later. This is a candidate for my list of things to do before I die.