T-minus 1 day

So excited to start this blog and my bicycle tour across the US. I'll be leaving with my friend Ryan tomorrow, May 9th from our local coffee shop MUD in the east village, NYC. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I've left my job, learned all about bicycle touring, geared up for the trip and squeezed in as much time for friends and family as possible. Yesterday Ryan and I took a spin out to Coney Island to dip our back tires in the Atlantic Ocean. In 4500 miles or so will have the honor of dipping our front tires in the Pacific.

We will be riding the trans-America trail for most of our trip, a route created for the bikentennial ride in '76 by George Sipel. The official course starts in the West and ends in the East, taking advantage of the prevailing westerly winds. This won't be the case for us as we leave New York and end in Oregon. To me, there is something a little more magical about stepping out of your apartment and just pedaling off.

We will be heading over the GWB bridge into New Jersey and then heading south to Philly PA. I am hoping to ride along part of the Peter Odell Memorial route, a bicycle ride my girlfriend's father created, which is still held annually in his honor. In PA we'll follow the southern boundary of the state taking advantage of the Bicycle Tour Route S the state has listed on their website. About three quarters the length of the state just past the shared border with Maryland we'll turn south into West VA heading into Monongahla National Forest for some good camping I hope. Our strategy is to avoid the Appalachian mountains as we haven't trained and we will still be early in our tour. Depending on difficulty we may continue south back into VA to pass through the Washington and Jefferson National Forests. Just south of the Jefferson National Forest is Christiansburg VA, where we can pick up the official Trans-America trail. If this proves too difficult will stay in West VA, continuing west of the Monongahla National Forest range and enter VA and the western tip to connect onto the trail. From here the trail continues west through VA, KY, IL, MO, KS and CO. In Colorado the trail turns north west up through the state into Wyoming and Montana, passing through Yellowstone National Park, west into Idaho and into Oregon. By many accounts this is the prettiest part of the trail. We'll also have the option of skipping this part and saving 1000 miles by continuing due west in Colorado and summitting the Rockies by gaining 11,000 ft of altitude and continuing through Utah, Nevada and into California.

That is the theroy at least. Now back to the "by bicycle" option in google maps.