Mike I have been silently following your journey, I do thank you for sharing. I truly envy your ability to do these trips Sir.
Thanks T, I will say that bicycles are awesome. With my knees I can't hardly run down the block yet I can cycle across a continent. The bike frame is steel, usual in touring bikes as it gives a much softer ride tho at the expense of weight and a lack of rigidity, both of which are premiums among the ordinary road bike crowd.
The bike weighs 33 pounds, about double what a good road bike would, on top of that I was hauling about 35 pounds of laptop, locks, pump, tubes, tools, clothes, sleeping bag, food, tent, water etc.. for an all up weight of around 70 pounds. How cycling a 70 pound bike is possible is the gearset, I got gears so low I can practically climb walls.
Likewise I am completely indifferent to speed, doesn't matter how fast you are going long as the wheels are rolling, and the overriding principle for me is to preserve the knees. Most of my time was spent at a leisurely 8 to 12 mph, slower than that uphill, faster down. Slow enough that I could actually take in the scenery. If you actually get physically tired on a bike expedition you are doing it wrong.
Brooks saddles cost around $130 and are made of leather, hard as a rock when new but they soon break in to your own butt. Because I'm using a Brooks saddle I can dispense with those absolutely horrible lycra/spandex bicycle clothes and padded crotches.
I wear just a single layer of loose-fitting nylon; oversize Magellan fishing shirts, loose-fitting pants from REI. Nylon doesn't hold moisture, you can sweat right through it, and it keeps its UPF rating even when wet, so if ya wear a broad-brimmed hat on sunny days with long sleeves and long pants ya don't need sunblock either.
Same thing with the pedals; I use ordinary platform pedals, no clips or special bicycle shoes. What this allows me to do is move my feet on the pedals if I start to get sore knees; change the angle of load on your knees and the pain subsides, or does for me. Plus I get to wear ordinary, functional footwear. I did this whole 1,400 mile trip in Crocs, the 2,000 mile NY trip two years back I did in slip-on sandals. My pants tuck into my ordinary socks.
Longest day with this set-up when I was actually trying to cover ground was 75 miles on my first day in France, shortest day was less than 40 miles of crossing a series of very steep-sided valleys in the Pennines when I was coming back north up England.
The trick is a comfortable bike, and patience. The hardest part is setting aside the time to do it. TX to NY took me a month. I set aside 42 days for this shorter, slower trip. I did it in 40.
It also saves ya a LOT of money if you can sleep outside on the ground. Actually I brung an air mattress on this trip, mostly to lift me up out of any puddles in the tent. Never used it.
I gotta say I suspect most people could do a trip like this, easier than they know.
Birdwatcher
