On 1st May I am off to the States to explore by bike until my lovely friend Ada joins me in Oregon in mid-August. I am starting in Virginia and following the trans-America cycle trail which is just like the UK coast to coast route but a little bit longer. There is a map below. The trail follows rural roads and is maintained by an America charity, Adventure Cycling.
https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/transamerica-trail/
I'm currently flitting between being very excited and very daunted. Things I am nervous of include:-
Getting chased by vicious dogs (some states have quite a reputation)
A bear wanting to share my tent
Really really big hills
Getting bike problems far from any help
Things I am most looking forward to include:-
Being outdoors all summer (hooray!)
Cycling through some amazing scenery
Meeting fellow cyclists on the trail
Getting lots of time to read in the evenings - so glad the kindle was invented
Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup (lots of)
I full intend to change my plans if I want to. The Midwest will be around 40C in the summer and cycling in that heat sounds like the opposite of fun. I'm used to English summers after all. If need be I'll get a one way car hire and move on a bit. I know from experience that the Pacific Northwest is cool and rainy - much more my cup of tea - so whilst I intend to cycle all summer I may change location.
Here's hoping there are no visa issues and me and my trusty bike make it to Virginia! The trip has been a long time in the planning so I'm ready to stop getting nervous and start cycling 😊
I'll have a GPS tracker and will post a link to it on the blog once the new site is set up. Oh and to answer my most FAQ...... the trans America trail is 4228miles long. I'll have around 100 days before meeting Ada at the Oregon coast. So I'll need to average 40-45 miles a day if I stick to that route. Being a well known cycle route I won't be the only one on the trail and there are plenty of campsites /hostels / motels / food shops / bike shops en route. There are certainly sections where things are more sparse and I'll have to make sure I carry enough food and water and plan where to sleep more carefully but that's part of the adventure.
I'll also have a US SIM card with data so assuming I can set it up on my phone ok I will be able to pop some pictures and any exciting tales from the road on this blog. It would be lovely to hear from you all via comments or email as I go along.
No comments:
Post a Comment