How many miles a day? 70 to 80, though the calculator shows less than that because when we hit New England, we were significantly ahead of schedule thanks to the shorter "kilometers" in Canada (which we'd planned for as "miles"!), so we just took our time. When I was by myself I averaged significantly longer days (and more rest days!) than when I was with the girls.
How many miles total? 4500.
How many times across the continental divide? 9 times, 7 of which were serious passes.
What was your longest day? 167 miles, and, believe it or not, I had a serious headwind for 50 of them, and NO tailwind! To be honest, it was a mistake... It was July 4th and I got myself into a stretch of Montana where everything was closed. I was not about to stop for the night without dinner... So I rode from Havre all the way to Glasgow, where, as an added bonus, I met up with the girls again and got to see fireworks!
What was your average and top speeds? When I started out, I considered a true (by the bike computer) average speed of 12mph to be a reasonable day (no headwinds)... 8mph was my goal for the mountain passes. By the middle of the trip, my average was 15mph in the hills... By the end (in the smaller hills of the East), that went up to 17mph... On the sprints we'd maintain 20mph comfortably (say, outrunning a storm!!!). My full day peak was 22mph rolling in to Toronto as fast as we could in a three person draft line (with Jen and Tree) and no headwind... (You punch a HUGE hole in the wind with four panniers, tents, thermarests, etc.!)
How did you train for the trip? I didn't. The only way to train is to ride every day, and if you're riding every day, you might as well be on the trip! I did start out slow, with my highest pass of the entire trip on day 2. My bike, at least, got some training with a fully loaded shakedown ride the day before I left... Just in case...
Did your resting heart rate change? When I left, it was ~60. When I got back it was ~50.
Did your butt hurt? Moderately, on and off, for the first two weeks. Nothing unbearable.
Anything else hurt? My knee hurt a LOT for the second week. I got anti-inflams from the ER in Rawlins, WY and they worked miracles. I wore a neoprene knee brace for much of the trip after that (to keep the knee warm, mostly, believe it or not!).
Do you feel stronger? I am certain that I am. By the middle of the trip I was routinely pulling triple centuries (in three days -- not one!) with a headwind, even in the hills of the U.P... By the time we made it to the dreaded White Mountains, we didn't even bother worrying about the hills people warned us about -- we did not even notice the Kancamangus Pass...
Did you loose weight? Four pounds, over the entire trip.
Did you get bored? Never once. Not even for a minute.
Why did you go alone? Because I wanted the freedom to stop in places I liked, or to do things with people I liked, and to never worry about a schedule or commitment... As it was, this was the best decision I could have ever made, because had I not been alone, I doubt I would have been able to hook up with Ralph or the girls like I did!
Were you ever lonely? Nope. Not even once. I met dozens of people each day and had people to talk to almost every evening -- even before I hooked up with Ralph and the girls... Of course, once I hooked up with them, I was just about the happiest person on the planet!
Where was your most memorable stop? The lighthouse hostel just as we entered NY state.
Favorite state? Either the U.P. of Michigan or Vermont. Ontario was also right up there.
Least favorite state? Wisconsin. Crowded roads, no shoulders, oblivious drivers, etc.
Would you do it again? Yes. In a heartbeat.
What was the weather like? We hit every kind of weather, from beautiful scorching sun to gale force winds, to hail, to torrential rain, to snow... About the only weather we never hit was mythical tailwind we all read about that propels you at 20 mph without pedaling...
How were the winds? I had a small handful of light tailwinds. I had two dozen days of heavy headwinds -- one day was easily 40+ mph in my face!!! Most days, however, we had cross winds, which when they were not excessive, were nice because they keep you cool... Some days they were so strong, however, that you swerve nearly uncontrollably when you hit the wind shadow of a vehicle passing you... Scary. Contrary to popular belief, the "prevailing winds" do not always go from West to East... They go from West to East for MOST of the Continental US, but actually go from East to West for the North-Central US... And, even though the "prevailing winds" go from West to East or East to West, the MAJORITY of the wind days for nearly the whole route I took alternate from the North or South... (This is actually from a book, not just from my practical experience, which did agree...)
Did the roads have shoulders? Mostly, yes. Wyoming gets my vote for the most courteous drivers who always pull to the far lane to give you whatever shoulder there was... NY State gets my vote for the widest shoulders -- wider than the lanes that the cars drive in!!! And all perfectly smooth... A biker's heaven. Wisconsin, on the other hand, quite simply sucked.
What was your longest climb? On day 2, I had the 60 miles and 5000 feet of Poudre Canyon... I averaged 8 mph up the whole way, with one overnight stop, one jacket break, and one photo break... And then one heck of a lunch at the top!!! In Glacier National Park, we did Going To The Sun Road, a relentless 12 mile 3000 foot climb... With rock walls instead of shoulders... It was a challenge!
Where did you sleep? For the first part of the trip (Northwest to Glacier), I stayed mostly in motels. For the second part of the trip (East to Maine), we stayed mostly in campgrounds (moteling one day in four or five). When we hit New York and New England, campgrounds got scarce so we stayed in yards, woods, etc.
How did you do laundry? Every week or two we hit a Laundromat. Between those stops we washed clothes in the showers (or sinks) and dried them on the bike the next day...
What did you eat? Everything in sight!!! We ate out almost every breakfast, about two hours into the day... Lunch was typically PBJ sandwiches at a park, and a ton of Gatorade... Dinner was either noodles on a campstove and bread and butter (!!!) in the campground or out at a diner when we were moteling it... At least once a day, one of us vowed never to eat again -- ever!
How much food and water did you carry? Usually a bunch of candy bars and munchies for emergencies (of which I had a couple on the trip, where I ran out of food!) and sometimes a few sandwiches (if I was thinking ahead). Always two water bottles and often another bottle of Gatorade to drink... We drank over a gallon a day during the hot part of the summer!
How did you pay your bills? Every month, I called the 800 numbers, got my credit card and bill balances, and mailed checks!
Did your cell phone work? Quite often (AT&T wireless, BTW). Always in Analog mode until we got to Ontario, and then it went Digital the whole time! (Louise had a cell phone as well, which hardly ever worked, and when it did, she had to bill her calls to her credit card!)
What time did you get up and go to bed? When I was alone, I was on the rode by 6AM every day. I was usually at my destination by 2PM to 4PM. A short day of riding was 6 hours in the saddle. A medium day was 8; a long day was 10. My longest day (that nearly killed me) was 11.5 hours in the saddle (about 14 hours on the road). I was usually in bed by 9PM. With the girls, our schedule shifted a bit... We tried to be on the rode near 7AM or 8AM, we took more breaks during the day, and usually got into camp just before dark -- 7PM to 8PM.
Did you lock your bike? At night, we'd remove all the gear from our bikes and often lock them together. During the day, with all of the gear on the bikes, we'd rarely lock them. Besides, the dirty laundry drying on the handlebars and rear paniers was, we suspected, enough of a deterrent to all but the most hardened criminals.
What did the bike weigh? 100 pounds, including my fanny pack.
How many flats? 4 in 4500 miles. All were "tuffy flats" where the tuffy liner slowly abrades on the tube until it wears thru... (So, all could have been avoided if I'd diligently rotated my tuffy liners...) The girls had five times as many flats (and were having 3 a DAY before they got tuffy liners...).
How many worn tires? I got a metal shard in one tire, so I replaced it and kept it as a spare (it was still usable, as the hole was backed by the tuffy liner, still). Both of my tires (Conti Top Touring) would have lasted the whole trip with plenty of tread if I'd rotated them once... As it was, the one with the hole was a bit bare when I turned it into my spare at 4000 miles.
How many broken spokes? Two, both rear on the chain side... I knew this would be a problem since before I left on the trip, my chain had hopped off once and scarred the spokes... I carried spares, so this was no problem... Tracy broke one spoke, as well.
What other mechanical failures? I had my wheel bearings seize because some idiots in a bike shop in Mackinac Island (the only bike shop -- avoid it!!!) repacked them wrong... It was the half way for me, so I decided to do some preventative maintenance... Anyway, to make a long story short, we got bearings from wheels in a junk yard, did the work ourselves, and they lasted for the rest of the trip! I avoided bike shops for the rest of the trip -- even to the point of not using my rear brakes for the last 500 miles because my rear rim had a huge kink at the seam...
What kind of bike did you ride? Cannondale M700 -- 8 years old; mountain bike; low pressure tires (which I'd do again in a heartbeat -- even the girls decided that it is better to be able to jump off the road if you have to than to get the slightly easier pedaling associated with a road bike and high pressure tires...)
Good components? Shimano rules, no matter what anybody says... The components were reliable, readily available, and easy to adjust and jury rig on the road. Power grips are also the best thing to happen to a pedal since bearings... My Jandd Panniers were rock solid and survived the trip 100% unscathed. The Conti Top Touring tires were a blessing. My bar-end Zefal mirror was a lifesaver (bar-end mirrors have a tough life, in case you don't know...).
Bad components? Can you say, "REI Panniers"??? Within a week, one snap broke. By the end of the trip, the bungies were all that were holding them on...
Did you visit any bike shops? Yes -- twice, and I won't ever again on a long trip... Both shops did inexcusable work. One was outside Jackson Wyoming and the other was on Mackinac Island... Beware. By the end of the trip, I was doing ALL my own work with the limited tools I had (I actually had 5 pounds more tools when I got back than when I left!).
How many sets of bike clothes? Two full sets of riding clothes. I also had some city clothes (including jeans!) and some evening clothes (fleeces, etc.).
What did you carry that you never used? The only thing was my GPS... I thought I would be mountain biking in VT at the end of the trip... That was why I had it... We blew thru VT in one day on the way to Maine... So much for that plan...
Any hostile experiences? None. Not one.
Did you see wildlife? Being on the road at 6AM every day, I saw almost everything! Deer, elk, moose, rabbits, antelope, coyotes... Basically everything Yellowstone had to offer! I even saw a bear run RIGHT ACROS THE ROAD, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, in the U.P. of Michigan... If he'd been running towards me, I'd have been history...