FAQ: Cycling/Trip Planning
As we prepare for our upcoming cross-country cycling journey, we often discuss our plans with friends and family. They love the idea of our trip, but many also ask us questions about our plans and how we hope to accomplish such a challenging journey. There are definitely lots of things to consider as we plan, and we’d like to answer as many questions as we can. Here are our most frequently asked questions:
Why are you bicycling across the country, rather than driving your car?
When we began discussing the idea of traveling all over the country, our first plans involved filling Andrea’s Mazda3 with camping gear and driving from farm to farm. After much discussion, however, we realized that driving a car wasn’t going to work for us. One of the reasons that we are journeying across the country is to learn how to live more sustainably, and driving a car is just not environmentally friendly. Not only does it burn gasoline, but it creates waste in the form of worn-out tires, replacement parts, and various fluids (motor oil, brake fluid, etc.) that go into the car. If our goal is to minimize our environmental impact as we travel, then driving a car is actually counterproductive to that goal.
Another thing we had to consider was the cost of travel. We are planning to travel with a very small budget, and it was not going to be substantial enough to afford a cross-country road trip by car. There are a lot of costs involved in car ownership, such as car registration, insurance, gas, maintenance, and parts, and those costs add up when the car is being driven for thousands of miles. After much deliberation, we determined that the money we would use on a car could be better spent on our other needs for the trip. But then, how best to travel the country?
We did a lot of research, and determined that the mode of transportation that would best fit our needs was a bicycle. Bicycles don’t have many parts, and most are easy enough to replace that we can do it ourselves, and they don’t cost much. They are very environmentally friendly as compared to cars, and we would get lots of exercise by cycling rather than just sitting as we travel. We can each carry a substantial amount of weight on our bicycles, and we can travel 50-100 miles a day, which is much faster than walking, but still allows us to really experience every mile of our travels. And should we get tired or injured, or just want a break, bicycles can be brought onto buses and trains, so that we can travel more quickly on short notice.
But, what if someone steals your bike, or the gear on your bike?
That would be quite unfortunate, and is definitely something we will keep in mind as we travel. Fortunately, we have locks, and since there are two of us, often one of us can stay with the bikes while the other is away. However, if our bikes or gear are stolen, we will find a way. We can always obtain another bike, buy more gear, or just end the trip if we are out of other options.
Do you think you’ll be able to make it across the country on a bicycle? How do you know that you can do it?
Travelling long distances by bicycle does seem like quite a big challenge, and we have had to really mentally prepare ourselves just to undertake the journey. Thankfully, there are many accounts of others who have traveled not only across the country, but even around the world on their bicycles. Reading about their journeys has been a great inspiration to us, and helps us believe that we can successfully cycle around the country ourselves!
We were greatly inspired by the following bicycle tourists, and hope that you’ll read their stories and find inspiration in them as well:
Rob Greenfield’s Off the Grid Across America - http://robgreenfield.tv/off-the-grid-across-america/
The Travelling Two, Friedel and Andrew - http://travellingtwo.com/about-us
Bicycle Touring Pro, Darren Alff - http://bicycletouringpro.com/start/
How are you training to ride 50-100 miles a day?
The best way to train for long bike rides is by riding long distances on bikes. When we have access to our bikes, we do training rides averaging 20 miles nearly every day. When we don’t have access to our bicycles, we have been riding stationary bikes indoors. Ultimately, however, many bicycle tourists say that the best training is actually going on a bicycle tour, as nothing else quite compares to it. We’ll see how well our training has served us once we’re on the road!
How are you planning your route?
We will be riding through a lot of states we’ve never been to, and wouldn’t know the first thing about the roads and which are best to ride. Thankfully, we don’t have to plan a detailed route ourselves, as there is an organization called the Adventure Cycling Association, which has sets of maps designed specifically for bicyclists to traverse the United States. For the first leg of our tour, from Jacksonville, FL to New York City, we will be using the ACA’s Atlantic Coast map set. For the second leg of the tour, from New York City to Seattle, WA, we will be riding with a group, the Green Riders Across America. We are currently planning the route as a group, and will ride across the country as a group, supporting each other as we ride. We will also supplement our route with Google Maps as needed, should we have to veer from the planned route.
There are many more questions that we are asked and would like to answer, so we will continue this F.A.Q. in at least one more post. If you have any questions about our trip, please ask them in the comment section below!
