From May-September 2014 I traveled 4,200 miles from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast by bicycle. We rode through 12 states, and across 5 mountain ranges. This slideshow is an FAQ presentation I created to share my experience with some of my co-workers.

1. Cross-Country Bicycle Tour 2014

2. The plan!
• Tour overview
and FAQ
• Show and Tell
• Your Questions!

3. Tour Overview
So…. What exactly did you do?

4. We rode our bikes
across the country!
Where have you
been?!

5. More specifically we….
Started Memorial Day weekend by taking an Amtrak train from Oxnard to Seattle, WA
How was that, you ask?
….interesting
Fun facts: That train was 32 hours long! Which means we spent almost TWO DAYS on
an Amtrak train. Takeaway: Amtrak trains are like glorified grayhound buses.

8. How long did the trip take you?
• We rode coast to coast via bicycle in 117
days (or about 16 weeks)
Including…
• 2 days on an Amtrak
• 7 days in Seattle
• 2 days in Glacier NP
• 2 days in a UHaul
• 2 days in Interstate NP
• 10 days in Detroit
• 6 days in Vermont
• 3 days in Acadia NP
• …and days off here and there
whenever we needed them or
if we found something really special

9. How Many Miles Per Day? Total?
4,200 miles total, West to East!
About 60 miles per day – every day. On days with a headwind or a climb, maybe 35
miles. On flat days or tailwind days, upwards of 80.
One day we rode 90 miles!

10. States and Stats!
• We rode across 12 states
(including Ontatio as a “state” here)
• Crossed 5 mountain ranges
• Cascades in WA
• Rockies in MT
• Appalachian in NY
• Green in VT
• White in NH
• Crossed the Columbia River
Gorge and the Continental
Divide
• Rode along the Erie Canal
for three days in NY

11. What was it like climbing mountains??
Crazy!
• The highest elevation was Sherman
Pass, but Washington Pass was more
of an elevation gain
• The East Coast mountains in Vermont
are WAY harder than the West Coast
mountains in Washington!
• Some of the hardest “mountains”
were the dinky sideroads in the
Midwest and Vermont!
• We soared down the other side of
the mountains going 40 miles per
hour!

20. The Weather….

28. Weight? What Did You Carry?
We each carried about 70
pounds – including the weight
of our bikes.
This included:
• Bike weight (about 35 pounds)
• 35-40 pounds of stuff
• Tent + sleeping mats
• Clothes & rain gear
• (I had three shirts and three
pairs of socks!)
• Stove + cooking supplies
• Food + Water
• Everything you need to live!

29. Hobo
Bike…

31. Where Did You Sleep??
• Tent camping mostly
• Sometimes we stayed
with strangers using
the WarmShowers
Network
• Once a month (or so)
we’d get a motel

35. What Did you EAT??
Everything.
• Mostly a lot of junk.
(Too many Pop-Tarts!)
• Food you can find at a
gas station and cook
with boiled water.
• Lots of PB&J!
• Produce when
available.

46. ….. I don’t really recommend it.

47. How Did You Choose Your Route?

48. What Was Your Favorite Place?
Such a hard question!
Places I want to visit again:
• Adirondack Park, NY
• Glacier Park, MT
• Cascade Park, WA
• North Woods of WI
• White Mountains, NH
• Sandpoint, ID

67. We saw so many amazing plants
and animals!

81. Funny Stories?
This store. Which was pretty par
for the course in the middle of
nowhere.

82. Dustin rolled my glasses up in the tent TWO times. The second time it was raining and I
didn’t even notice until we were a couple miles down the road.
The glasses were not broken!

92. We saw SO MANY SILOS!

95. What Was The Worst Part?
Eastern Montana in June!!!
The mosquitoes very HORRIBLE and the wheatgrass just keep
on coming…

96. A panoramic of Eastern Montana… nothing but sky, dirt and grass for days.

97. Did You Get Any Flat Tires?

98. Did You Ever Want To Give Up?
I never wanted to “give up,” but once I
woke up in Ontario and thought…
“This. Sucks.”
We took 10 days off in Michigan and
we were tired and we still had 1,000
miles to go. That day felt discouraging.
But quitting wasn’t an option.

99. WHY Did You Want To Do This??

100. #YOLO!

101. Just Kidding.

102. Kind of.

107. Show and Tell + Your Questions!