This is a blog of Chris Hill. Chris is taking time off work to bicycle across the USA. Chris will be biking from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia via the TransAmerican Cycling Route. This blog is a blend of blog entries that are written after the fact and transcriptions of entries within my paper ride diary.

A bunch of common questions:

How long is it?

The route is about 4,262 miles.

Damn, that’s freaking long. How long will that take?

My hope is that I can complete the journey in a little over 3 months. I’m not entirely sure what my stamina will be like, and so I’m scheduling a max time of 4 months, 1 week. People have completed this journey in much less time, but I’m no pro racer. I will be back by September 8th, as I have promised my girlfriend Paola. If you want to know why, you can ask her. 🙂

So are you staying in hotels or what? What’s your basic plan?

Currently the plan is to ride 3 days, rest one. When I’m riding I’ll be trying to camp as much as possible. When I’m resting I will try to stay in a hotel. When I ride I’ll try to average about 70 miles.

Are you going it alone?

Yep!

Don’t you want a gun or something?

I’m not the gun-toting type. I have pepper spray and a ratchet named ‘Eloy’ for fending off dogs.

That’s an interesting bike. What is that?

Check out my Gear page for more info.

Why are you doing this?

I guess I’m just a very curious guy, and I want answers to some questions. What are the limits of my abilities? What does the USA look like? Can I do this thing? What does it feel like to wander for a long time? Which will hurt the most: my legs, my back, or my ass?

I also really love to travel. I love to ride my bike. Seemed like a good idea to me. 🙂