How to bike across the country • Hacker News Board

Re: How to bike across the country

#11

Post by 1024core » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 3:45 PM UTC

soared wrote: post #3

Props to the author for grinding through this, but I think a very strongly worded and formatted warning is needed at the top. Embarking on this trip with so little knowledge meant putting yourself far away from civilizations while criminally underprepared. I love the energy of Supertramps, but there is a reason they are controversial. It would be very easy to make a mistake and be in big trouble - underestimating wat…

Author was in the middle of prepping for the NYC marathon, so they were in decent shape physically.

My fat ass would have given up before I even reached the Bay Bridge.

That reminds me: the author did not mention how they crossed the Bay Bridge. There is no cycling path from SF to EB AFAICT.

Re: How to bike across the country

#12

Post by yunusabd » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 3:52 PM UTC

fifilura wrote: post #5

Some do this in 8 days https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Across_America But 51 days is also fantastic!

Your brother learned to read at the age of 4, but learning it at 7 1/2 is also fantastic!

Re: How to bike across the country

#13

Post by dkarl » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 3:55 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #8

soared wrote: post #3

Props to the author for grinding through this, but I think a very strongly worded and formatted warning is needed at the top. Embarking on this trip with so little knowledge meant putting yourself far away from civilizations while criminally underprepared. I love the energy of Supertramps, but there is a reason they are controversial. It would be very easy to make a mistake and be in big trouble - underestimating wat…

For what it's worth, he did carry a satellite phone. But I do agree - this felt like a wildly optimistic decision to make :P

He also had experience backpacking, so he had experience managing water and preparing for weather, so I would say it was optimistic, but not dangerous (except for the danger of getting killed by a driver.)

Re: How to bike across the country

#14

Post by 18nleung » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 3:57 PM UTC

1024core wrote: post #11

soared wrote: post #3

Props to the author for grinding through this, but I think a very strongly worded and formatted warning is needed at the top. Embarking on this trip with so little knowledge meant putting yourself far away from civilizations while criminally underprepared. I love the energy of Supertramps, but there is a reason they are controversial. It would be very easy to make a mistake and be in big trouble - underestimating wat…

Author was in the middle of prepping for the NYC marathon, so they were in decent shape physically. My fat ass would have given up before I even reached the Bay Bridge. That reminds me: the author did not mention how they crossed the Bay Bridge. There is no cycling path from SF to EB AFAICT.

I biked with the author from SF to Sacramento — we went up to Marin over GGB, then over the Richmond–San Rafael bridge to the EB

Re: How to bike across the country

#15

Post by towndrunk » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 3:57 PM UTC

There is a Japanese kid riding across the U.S. and documenting it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GcBzfu7u0nw

Re: How to bike across the country

#16

Post by throwway120385 » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

dkarl wrote: post #13

pavel_lishin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, he did carry a satellite phone. But I do agree - this felt like a wildly optimistic decision to make :P

He also had experience backpacking, so he had experience managing water and preparing for weather, so I would say it was optimistic, but not dangerous (except for the danger of getting killed by a driver.)

IME drivers are by far the biggest danger on the road.

Re: How to bike across the country

#17

Post by rd » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC

I'd love to do this one day! Curious - after reading, the part about wildlife scares me. Did you ever run into genuinely worrying situations with wildlife? Hearing about Black widow spiders alone makes me want to only do this with a van following behind me to sleep in at night!

Re: How to bike across the country

#18

Post by yunusabd » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

throwway120385 wrote: post #16

dkarl wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also had experience backpacking, so he had experience managing water and preparing for weather, so I would say it was optimistic, but not dangerous (except for the danger of getting killed by a driver.)

IME drivers are by far the biggest danger on the road.

I was wondering how it went for the author. Didn't see any mention of traffic in the article. Probably a lot of open roads, but at least in the populated areas traffic must have been a factor?

Re: How to bike across the country

#19

Post by wincy » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 4:10 PM UTC

rd wrote: post #17

I'd love to do this one day! Curious - after reading, the part about wildlife scares me. Did you ever run into genuinely worrying situations with wildlife? Hearing about Black widow spiders alone makes me want to only do this with a van following behind me to sleep in at night!

That black widow spider could be inside your house right now. Houses afford us protection but not immunity from these things. Spiders are notoriously resistant to pesticides as they require direct contact since they don’t clean themselves like insects do (thus not ingesting the poison on the floor or wherever they’re creeping along).

Re: How to bike across the country

#20

Post by carabiner » Mon, Apr 14, 2025, 4:11 PM UTC

Met an Austrian guy who biked from NYC to LA in the early '90s. He had a paper list of people across the country who were bike tourer friendly who could house him, and he'd call them on payphones. He didn't have a tent, so he'd also sleep in post offices.