FAQ

Why are you biking across the country?

I grew up very near Route 20 in upstate New York, the longest road in the US. My mother was particularly paranoid about us going near Route 20. “It goes all the way to Oregon!” she’d warn us, as though it were commonplace for serial killers and child molestors to go on a 3000 mile road trip to seek out their victims. As with many parental admonishments, her fear of Route 20 had the opposite effect on me—I developed a fascination with it. A while back I drove a particularly beautiful, desolate stretch of Route 20 in Eastern Oregon, and these days I live a stone’s throw from the start of Route 20 (Commonwealth Ave in Boston). I had an idea to bike the entire length of Route 20, writing and taking photos along the way, and publishing a coffee table book called “20” whose cover was simply the black and white Route 20 shield.

Well, Route 20 is not going to happen quite as I envisioned, since I’ll be leaving in the fall and need to take a southern route to avoid the cold. But I will spend the first week of my trip to Route 20 which will take me through Western Mass, Albany, and my hometown of Waterville NY. From there I’ll head south.

So, I’ve had the dream for a while, and suddenly I have the opportunity too. I own my own company, and have an awesome business partner I can trust to run things while I'm gone. I’m not married. I don’t have kids. I’m not tied down. I’m in reasonable physical condition for such an undertaking. Now is the time.

Do you have your route planned out?

It depends how you define “planned.” For any sort of travel, I’m big fan of loose planning: pick a few things you care about and leave the rest open-ended. The things I care about are as follows:

  • Going south before it gets too cold.
  • Visiting as many towns named "Hot Springs" as possible, and soaking in said hot springs.
  • My friend’s uncles’ climbing gym in Albany NY.
  • The Petrified Creatures museum in upstate NY. I've driven past it countless times and never went in.
  • Spending a couple days with my family in Waterville, NY.
  • West Virginia, just because I’ve never been and John Denver makes it sound nice.
  • The Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock (I saw a PBS special about it once with Bill himself. I like the architecture).
  • Paris, Texas. One of my favorite movies.
  • The Grand Canyon.
  • Joshua Tree National Forest.
  • And, the official finish line, the Santa Monica Pier.

So, connect those dots and that’s my route. In between, anything goes.

How long will it take?

The whole trip will take exactly 126 days. I know this because I have already purchased my return flight from LA for January 2. I hope I’ll have actually made it to LA by then, but if not, I still need to come back and get to work.

How many miles a day will you travel?

I plan to average about 30 miles a day, which is pretty leisurely. I’ll take days off here and there if the weather’s bad or I just need to rest.

Where will you stay?

I will stay with friends, family, friends of friends, acquaintances, and people on the CouchSurfing community whenever possible. Otherwise, I’ll camp out or splurge on the occasional inexpensive motel.

What kind of bike and accessories and gear do you have?

This has been tricky since I have only ever ridden mountain bikes and know nothing about road bikes. After much research online, talking to bike store dudes (and dudettes), and shopping around, I settled on a used steel-frame touring bike with the delightful Japanese name of Kuwuhara Super Tour.

To that bike, which was lovingly rebuilt by Bikes Not Bombs in JP and already has what seem to be the right kind of gears, wheels, and tires, I added the components that I hear are important for a tour of this duration:

  • A Brooks saddle (everyone tells me they are the most comfortable, since they are leather and will actually conform to the shape of your butt over time). The guy at BNB also suggested this wax called Proofide that you can slather all over it to break it in faster.
  • Fenders to keep the rain and mud off.
  • A really strong rear rack and waterproof Ortlieb BikeTourer panniers.
  • Wider handlebars and top brake levers – maybe this is me being used to mountain bikes, but the handlebars the bike came with seemed narrow which caused the steering of the bike to feel a bit skittish.
  • Metal pedals. Nothing special, just the flat kind so I can wear any kind of shoes.
  • Bike computer to keep track of distances – the cheapo Sigma one. I really don’t need it to speak 7 languages and to measure my cadence.

I made the highly controversial decision not to get clipless pedals and cycling shoes after readying this article, "The Shoes Ruse." Granted, these guys also say you don't need padded bike shorts, which I do not buy, but the shoes argument kinda made sense to me.

Oh yeah, and here's my packing list.

How are you training?

I don’t own a car, so my routine biking for transportation normally ends up being about 40-60 miles a week. I live on top of the tallest hill in Boston so I get plenty of practice on hills.

Now that I’ve bought the touring bike I’ll be kicking it up a notch. I’ll do 3-5 long rides a week and gradually build up the mileage to 200 miles a week. Toward the end of August, I’ll also fill the panniers and practice carrying the extra weight around.