Well, here’s my latest challenge. I’m cycling 4500 miles across the United States of America. Sounds easy enough, but I suspect it might not be.

Now that I am unemployed / unemployable / semi-retired I have the time to undertake a challenge that has been on my list of things to do for many years. It’s now time I just got on and did it.

Cycling across America will be expensive and time-consuming. I don’t
know how much it’s going to cost - its probably best not to think about that bit too much - and will take approximately two months to complete. I could do it quicker, but I want to enjoy the ride and take the time to visit a few historic/scenic places on the way.

In total, I’ve estimated the whole challenge will take 66 days, which includes all the not-insignificant travelling to and from the States, but this is fluid and very dependent upon avoiding accidents and major mechanical or health problems. I estimate that it will take 62 days of actual cycling to cross America.

I will be utilising the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, which starts in Astoria,
Oregon and finishes in Yorktown, Virginia and will take me though the states of: Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia.

The official TransAmerica route length is 4,228 miles (6804.3 kms), although I plan on doing quite a few more miles whilst sight-seeing on the way. I’ve already spent weeks mapping out my route and have arrived at a provisional distance of 4,485.58 miles (7,219 kilometres) - give or take a yard or two.

I plan on cycling an average of 80 miles a day, although some days it will be a lot less and on others considerably more. Whilst cycling across the hot and very flat terrain of Kansas I want to bang-in a couple of 150 mile days if climatic conditions allow!

Apart from being eaten by bears, the big issues whilst cycling the route are the weight of my bike and the elevation gain each day.

In total, the elevation gain (or how much I have to cycle uphill) is 201,606 feet (61,450 metres) or, put another way, 38.18 vertical miles. Of course, there will be a bit of downhill freewheeling in there as well.

The real challenge is that I am undertaking this ride solo and unsupported, which means having to carry all my equipment, spare kit, emergency medical supplies, food and water on my bike.

The intention is to camp near the road each night and sleep in my one-man tent as often as possible to experience the thrill of the real outdoors. I guess the skill will be avoiding being eaten by bears or being “interfered with” by yokel rednecks.

I fly out to Seattle on 24^th June and have booked a flight home from Baltimore/Washington to the UK on 27^th August, although as mentioned previously this return date remains fluid.

The route goes through several national parks, such as Yellowstone and Grand Teton; small cities like Missoula, Montana, and Carbondale, Illinois; and a number of historical sites, especially in the Historic Triangle at the route’s end in Yorktown, Virginia.

The terrain of the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail varies from flat, straight roads in Kansas, to steep, windy pitches in Kentucky and will entail having to negotiate the Rocky and Appalachian Mountain ranges. The route will take me on mostly rural, two-lane highways to avoid traffic and big cities.