Reluctantly, I think I'm forced to admit that the answer is, yes, it's a little crazy. But I think we are all crazy in our own little ways. For me that manifests as a need to get out and do things like this. And I'm not alone. In fact there is a website called Crazy Guy on a Bike that was started by someone like me and which now has over 12000 journals of people doing long-distance bike tours.
My riding partner, Tom, and I have been talking about doing this for years. Neither of us is getting younger. So when he retired last year, we did not waste any time getting things...ahem...rolling:
We're calling it BRATUS, which of course stands for: "Bike Ride Across The United States."
It's a long way across the US. It's a long time to be away from work, and from our wives. So the concept is to do it as quickly as we can. We will be using our regular road bikes and staying in hotels rather than camping. That means we can pack "ultra light", and make higher daily mileage. We've also chosen a route that's on the short side (more on that later). We hope to average 80-100 miles per day, covering 3300 miles in about 38 days of riding. At least that's the theory.
The route starts in Charleston, South Carolina, and finishes in San Francisco. We are using routes pre-planned by the Adventure Cycling Association, except for the eastern section where are creating our own. We have a detailed route map here.
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| It doesn't look that far -- at this scale |
I plan to post a couple more times before we go, and will try to have regular updates along the way.
Thanks for reading, and we'll see you on the road!
-Alan
