About

I grew up as a military brat, and had a career as a petroleum geologist, so I've lived in a number of states (mostly in the northeast and the south) and in Germany, the Philippines, and Norway. I've travelled to all 50 states, a good bit of Europe, Russia, and Central Asia. All of my riding has been in the USA, though not in every state (yet).

I've ridden a few dozen weeklong supported tours over the past twenty years, but I am new to self-supported bike touring. I've had the idea in the back of my head of a coast-to-coast bike tour ever since I bought ACA's book Bicycling the Lewis and Clark Trail 20 years ago. So now it's a bucket list item (I'll be 70 when I start my ride in May 2023). As part of my prep I've made two self-supported shakedown tours, 340 miles in 2021 around southern Lake Michigan, and 840 miles in 2022 around northern Lake Michigan.

For self-supported touring I ride a Surly Long Haul Trucker. About half of the 8400 miles I rode in the past two years were on the Trucker, and the rest were on a Masi carbon fiber road bike. I liken the comparison between the two bikes to riding a plow horse versus a race horse. They each have their time and place.

My brother and I will be riding east to west, starting on the TransAm Eastern Express in D.C., joining the traditional TransAm in Walden, CO to Missoula, then on to Seaside, OR on the Lewis and Clark Trail. The plan is to take about 12 weeks, including a rest day every 7 or 8 days.

I'm so tired of researching the route for the past year or more.  I'm ready to get out there and let serendipity take over.