cycle across usa

cycleofusa2010

Hello

this summer doing a cycle across usa some 6,000 km in 50 days without luggage (it will be carried by driver)

need a bit of assistance with the following hopefully u guys can help

1.Type of bike i need?:any suggestions?thinking of buying over there rather than the hassle and cost of having to transport it over .but looking to eye up the bike on this side of the water before take the plunge and buy bike

2.Diet:what sort of diet should i be on at the moment.give me an example of an average day what should eat

also please give an examplee of what sort of food should be eating during the cycle

i have heard that can eat anything as i will be burning 1,000s of calories but at the same time do wanna eat healthy as possible

3.training.:can you recommend training i should be doing for oncoming months.am virtually starting from scratch.how many hours in gym must i be putting in

4.ATM CARDS in USA
this will be a costly trip and rather than bringing a wad of cash with me is there a bank account i can set up in ireland so that can take dollars out of atm without a huge transaction fee charge each time i do so

5.mobile phones in states:will need one to contact others.whom are best to buy form?prepaid?at&t

6.cycle clubs:what cycle clubs would you recommend i join?

Would appreciate any help can give:cool:

CheGuedara

Not going to lie to you here - you need to be training on a bike here before you go over. No ammount of training in a gym will properly see you in order IMHO.

But in short,

1. You will need a road bike, possibly a tourer (more upright cycling position), although you mention you won't be carrying luggage so a road bike *could* be OK. Buying now means you will be well used to the bike before you get there and may have made necessary changes to the setup before you go stateside - you don't want to be finding out the frame is too small/large/long/short for you or the saddle less than comfortable over the course of a 50 day ride @ 120km/day average ride
2. Diet at the moment depends on exertion but when you get over there it will be important to make sure you are adequately fueled and hydrated on the bike and that you take on enough protein and carbs each day to keep your muscles in good order and lay down more glycogen (muscle fuel souce) each following days exertion. If you will see high temperatures over the 50 days you would also do well to take electrolyes onboard in addition to you energy drinks etc (check out NUUN tabs, I've found them good)
3. Forget the gym. Get on the road, build up your milage, take in some sportives (google 'An Post Cycle Series' they're worth a look in) and try a multi day event to get the legs used to back to back days of cycling. The Tour de Munster is a fair example of an Irish multi day event, is for a good cause and the organisers are sound. It is also helpful to join a club - it'll give you training sessions to get to, give you a structured training base, expose you to more cycling knowledge and experience to learn from than you would do flying solo
4. Can't answer this one - Is there a banker in the house?!
5. I would suspect prepaid is the way to go - no point signing up to a bill pay phone for 50 days
6. Depends on where you live!:D If you're from near Tralee we're still taking members at the moment

Sounds like a great challenge though! Just a case of getting the prep time in the saddle and miles under the wheels in - everything else is just details

cycleofusa2010

re the type of bike .looking at getting road racer what specific bike would uo recommend?

also:
living dublin city centre area so can you guys tell me where nearest decent bike club is.

dave2pvd

My first impulse is to think you're trolling. But if not:

How are you going to deal with the temperatures and staying hydrated? Have you any experience with spending long periods of time in hot and humid climates, while expending large amounts of energy?

How will you manage sunburn? I assume you're Irish? Let me give you 1 piece of advice: don't take sunburn protection advice from Irish people! Leave the factor 15 at home. If you're like me, you'll almost need to wear an asbestos suit and a welders helmet.

What is your route? Even if it parallels, say, I-90, you're going to have heat/humidity issues.

What experience do you have climbing mountains on a bike? The Rockies are so tough, they'll blow your mind quads.

Phone: buy a prepaid over here. Eg: T-Mobile. Forget AT&T - expensive, poor customer service.

Diet: don't worry about it at the moment. Hold on: are you overweight?

Money: deposit a load of cash onto your credit card. There's plenty of advice on this subject in the Travel\North America forum.

You sure you really want to do this? In my opinion, you have no idea the enormity of this challenge. If you did, you'd be contemplating the trip in 2011, not 2010.

ednwireland

my guess is talk to people who have done it (google)
most people will give you advice, didnt sean kelly o it with a group a few years ago (i'm sure a club down on carrick on suir would know how to contact him)
i would be googleing and talking to anyone who i coul find who has done it before.

quick google found this guy
http://bikeacrossamerica.org/

trad

Sean Kelly did it a few uears ago with the National Council for the Blind's Blazing Saddles. I'd contact the NCB and I'm sure they'd help you out. There was a good tv programme about it.

http://www.ncbi.ie/support-us/fundraising-trips-and-events/cycling-blazing-saddles

CheGuedara

cycleofusa2010 wrote: »

re the type of bike .looking at getting road racer what specific bike would uo recommend?

also:
living dublin city centre area so can you guys tell me where nearest decent bike club is.

• Value for money under a grand - something like THIS; great starter bike, comfortable, durable, relatively lightweight.

• GREAT value for the money THIS; fastest, cheap way to get a reliable carbonfiber bike with decent components under your arse (runs and hides from ROK ON)

• Getting more expensive you face a law of deminishing returns - you'll find bikes weigh less & are higher performance but the difference between bikes becomes less and less as cost goes up from maybe €2k

As for clubs in Dublin - check out the clubs list on www.cyclingireland.ie see what ones are close to you and make a few phonecalls

blorg

Personally I agree, this is too much if you are genuinely starting from nothing and have not cycled (seriously) before. As suggested, 2011 would be a better goal with getting some long and multi-day cycles in first this year. Multi-day endurance takes a while to build up, you may be able to ride 120km a day for a week by the summer but you have to do it for 50 days (presuming no rest days!)

Is this an organised challenge or just something you are doing yourself- some background would be good. If organised I am sure they will have advice on what you need to do and whether you are ready.

On the heat issue when cycling in a hot climate best to get up before dawn so you have the cycling done by lunchtime when it starts getting hot.

Regarding food for long distances you generally need to eat continually on the bike, try to get something in every half hour or so after the first hour.

On the ATM front, when I was over the transaction fee was only $1 or $2 for withdrawing from an ATM. So would tend to withdraw around $200-300 each time.

cycleofusa2010

thanks lads for the advice

not over weight .there are 3 of us doing it and were cycling seattle to washington dc in 50 days

we are reasonably fit and 2 of the 3 have cycled around the circumfrance of ireland in about 2 weeks in 2007 and we play sports and cycle to work every day.

we arealise this is a lot more challenging

we are in logistics phase and our site which is under construction is www.cycleofamerica2010.com

We asre hoping to get a sponsor on board but have had no success on either side of the border to help cover some /any of the costs.this is a charity cycle in aid of cancer

u guys have any advice here?

blorg

Fair enough, from reading your website the team seems to have a fair bit of cycling experience. Cycling 1,400km around Ireland in two weeks is substantially easier than what you are attempting now, but it is not nothing either.

I am guessing you are William and have the least experience

August is sure to be hot though, have you considered that? I haven't cycled in the USA in August (only in May or June IIRC in New York, and christ that was hot enough.) On the other hand the further away the more time you have for training and maybe in September/October the weather starts to get stormy? I don't know anything about USA weather. I have cycled across northern Spain at the start of August though and I know it would have been a HELL of a lot easier had I done it at a different time.

Fair dues on you putting all donations directly to the charity too and not looking at this as a free holiday.

You will have to put in a fair effort training, I am with Orwell Wheelers myself and can certainly recommend them as a club. You would want to look at joining soon though as memberships are suspended when racing starts, until the autumn. Not 100% if it is still open but I can certainly find out, I think you would be OK if you move fast.

As well as that there is a Boards group heading out most Saturdays who you would be welcome to join. We generally go up the hills in Wicklow and do between 75-150km, more as the weather gets better.

To be honest I wouldn't bother with the triathlons, you need to develop your cycling for this and running and swimming are likely to be distractions and the former a potential source of injury. They are good for the off-season when you can't get out on the bike for whatever reason but for this I would put it all into the bike. To be honest this is a big goal and I think you need to focus on it 100% to the exclusion of anything else. If triathlon appeals train for that when you come back (perfect winter training) and give it a lash in 2011.

You should focus on what you are looking to do so that means multi-day repeated effort, build it up but try to fit in a few weeks where you do 120-150km each day for a whole week and see how you find it.

If joining a club, I wouldn't necessarily see it as a focus but racing does build fitness.

As regards bikes, as Che suggests you will not get a better bike than the Planet X. Anything more expensive will not provide any benefit to you whatsoever for this challenge.

cycleofusa2010

thanks blorg

we are aware this is a mammoth task were taking on but were up for the challenge

can anyone help with the weathr conditions

we are cycling seattle to washington dc due to the fact we would have been facing headwinds if we cycled the opposite direction

anyone have any advice on the weather?all we can do is prepare ourselves with best suncream?anyone help in this regard?

blorg we would be delighted to take you up on that offer regarding the cycle club

can you ask for us.we are just looking to join for the months March to end of July 2010

the planet x looks like fantastic bike.,is there anything cheaper?

we are thinking of buying stateside and eying it up here to avoid hassle of bringing bike over with us

any advice on training we should be doing?diet?

blorg

I would buy the bike(s) here and bring it over. Buying a bike in the US you can get a good deal but often not that much better than on the internet from here and it would be very foolish to set out on a ride like this on a bike you had not ridden a fair bit beforehand. You don't save as much money anyway at the lower end.

I checked the club membership, Orwell membership is open until March. Membership is for the year and starts at €50+10 Cycling Ireland license fee (e.g. €60 total) if you are not racing and have never held a CI license. You can come along on a spin first before you join to see if it suits you. If you want to race it is a bit more expensive, €50+30 club league fee+55 CI license (€135 total.)

With a club you will get good experience riding at a reasonable pace in a group and as I say racing is good training. League races are Thursday nights and between the cycle there and back and doing the race you will pack a hard 100km into as little as under three hours.

Having said that while very worthwhile club membership is not absolutely necessary for what you are attempting (I would say it is absolutely necessary for racing.)

There is cheaper than the Planet X but not very much cheaper and what you are getting drops off massively.

rottenhat

cycleofusa2010 wrote: »

can anyone help with the weathr conditions

we are cycling seattle to washington dc due to the fact we would have been facing headwinds if we cycled the opposite direction

anyone have any advice on the weather?all we can do is prepare ourselves with best suncream?anyone help in this regard?

DC in August means 90+ degrees every day. It will be hotter still away from the coasts. As Blorg says, you will want to avoid riding during the middle of the day - sunstroke and massive dehydration are serious possibilities. Ideally you would have the bulk of your cycling for the day done by eleven, and it doesn't really cool down much until four or five in the afternoon which would give you another three or four hours before dark. Bear in mind that in the middle of the US you can easily be forty or fifty miles from anything remotely resembling a town or village - it is emphatically not like Europe in this respect. You will have to plot your route quite carefully to make sure you end up somewhere you can stop both in the middle of the day and at night. Slather on sunblock, make sure you cover your head, and although it sounds counter-intuitive, you may be better off wearing a thin cotton long-sleeved shirt than a shortsleeved cycling jersey for sun protection. You're also likely to get caught in a few heavy storms along the way, which will be far more severe than anything you've seen here.

el tel

cycleofusa2010 wrote: »

we are cycling seattle to washington dc due to the fact we would have been facing headwinds if we cycled the opposite direction

You will face headwinds which ever direction you go in. You can't avoid them by electing to go west - east.

cycleofusa2010

true but in northern USA less headwinds by going west to east .lesser of two evils;)

gonna be a tough trip either way
whats this about severe storms?not liking that but we will carry the bikes on our backs if we must

weaselman

Hi cycleofusa2010, its an epic challenge and fair play for taking it on. I'm planning on something similar this summer in the opposite direction, and for similar reasons, to raise money for charity. I decided on the East to West course because I want to be strong enough to get over the Rockies which has already been mentioned will be tough. I was in a similar position to yourself a few months ago and siphoned some very good information from different threads here on boards. I'd suggest doing a search for touring on this forum and you'll find a lot of information.

The best advice I picked up was to buy the bike here and break it in properly. It really gives you a good chance to see if you need to change anything position or component wise. Bringing the bike over is a bit of hassle but at least you'll have some trust in what you're riding. Next, was to get out on the bike as much as possible. I think it was blorg who mentioned in the past that you not only need to get used to pedalling for up to 8 hours a day but you need to get used to sitting in the saddle for 8 hours also. It definitely takes time to get used to the mental side of things. I'm slowly building my way up to that point. Slowly! This leads nicely onto saddles, since you're going to be sitting on it for a long time get a good one. Advice from here and other touring forums led me to buy a brooks swift, a bit expensive but well worth extra cost...although as a caveat, a saddle is a very personal choice.

I can answer some of your questions by telling you what I plan on doing.
Bike: I'll have panniers so other boardsies can give advice on a more suitable bike for your tour
Diet: Its still a work in progress for me but I read Food for Fitness by Chris Carmichael which is gives very in-depth info.
ATM: I'm loading up the credit card before I go and will work off of that.
Phone: Not going to bother, have a netbook laptop with skype and plan to use Starbucks or anywhere with free wifi if I need to make calls

I live in the city centre as well If you're looking for someone to go training with feel free to give me a shout. We can swap notes or something

papac

+1 on buying the bike here (and +1 0n the Planetx). You absolutely have to be sorted on your bike well before a trip like that.

+1 also on keeping training Cycling specific. Plenty of lsd and back to back long spins.A good core regime would be a help too imo.

It would be a great plus, imo, if at least one of your group had a good grasp of bike maintenance-otherwise a minor mechanical that takes a minute to fix yourself can lose you days.

Check out Gearoid Pierse.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/directory/?o=RrzKj&user=Irishman&v=B

He's on boards too. Username GearoidP. Might have some good advice for you.

Best of luck.

ROK ON

Best of lock on what sounds like an exciting adventure. Given how much time you will spend on the bike I think it is very important that you get a good bike fit. Get measured before you buy your bike and then experiment with saddle position stem height/length etc.
Try and get the miles into the legs. I have read that it is better for example to do several say 50k back to back rides say over two or three days than doing one 150k bike.
Then try build up milage. I would imagine that doing 50days of cycling that you can eat pretty much what you like :-)

Renno

Sorry, not coming at this from a cycling point of view, but did NY-Seattle last summer, and a few points that may be of use.

Weather - we did it (RV) in May/June and the weather ranged from 90's in upstate New York, to two feet of snow and below 30 in Wyoming (in early June). Throw in massive storms in the mid-west, and you get the idea.

ATM - totally concur with previous posters - load up the credit card

Phones - Did a massive amount of research before we went, and it was a waste of time. Once you're west of Michigan (or even before), you could be days without getting a signal of any kind. We were with Verizon, but for the amount we got to use them, it would have been cheaper to use Irish phones. I also assumed that we'd be able to find Starbucks, libraries and the like en route. However there aren't too many Starbucks in rural Wyoming (or South Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana for that matter)

BMW Mpower

Wow really would like to do this, Is it safe though? did anyone have any trouble while doing it??

blorg

BMW Mpower wrote: »

Wow really would like to do this, Is it safe though? did anyone have any trouble while doing it??

As long as you are prepared (epic thread)

weaselman

blorg wrote: »

As long as you are prepared (epic thread)

And there was me thinking bears might be a problem, turns out its some dude with gun shoved down his pants I need to watch out for. Is that a gun in your pants are you just happy to see....um.. oh crap.

JOHN_70

The website crazyguyonabike.com is worth a look. All sorts of bike tours documented including a lot of trans america trips. Many of the journals give day by day accounts including places to eat sleep and weather conditions.

ridertothesea_

I cycled Seattle to Boston in 2007. www.cyclingusa.blogspot.com

81 miles a day for 45 days - fully loaded on my own.

You dont need to be super human to do it but you do need to be trained, fit an prepared. Forget the gym, just get out on the bike. Cycle everywhere. Training wise keep doing longer spins at weekends & take the scenic route on your commutes.

I bought a Trek 520 over here. Excellent bike but they stop building them now.) I'd opt for a Surly Long Haul Trucker instead.

Most importnatly you need to do a lot of 'shake down' rides. Go over to some rain swept godforsaken remote part of the west of Ireland and spend a weekend cycling 70/80 miles a day for several days. Carry same amount of gear as you think you'll need on the bike. Food, tools, kit, water, money, sunscreen, maps, etc etc Any possible faults with your plans will quickly come to light.

Get to know the bike. Understand how to take it apart and put it back together again.

Lots of info out there. adventurecycling.com (google it) www.crazyguyonabike.com

Enjoy the ride. The planning is all part of the fun too. You can contact me if you need more info.

blorg

ridertothesea_ wrote: »

I bought a Trek 520 over here. Excellent bike but they stop building them now.) I'd opt for a Surly Long Haul Trucker instead.

They are still making them, indeed there is one hanging up directly inside the door in Joe Daly's. Lovely bike but if they have someone carrying their stuff they would be better off with a lightweight road bike. (I have two of them and a tourer myself.)

Completely agree they need to get out and do preparatory rides first, I would suggest they spend at least a full week on the bike doing the same sort of distances day after day.