How to bike across the country

And I consider that people have been crossing the US by bike since at least as far back as the 1970's. In over half the time since then — no satellite phone.

I hitchhiked Mainland China in 2019, and it's true that you are constantly relying on the kindness of other people.

But I would argue that the type of person that does this kind of thing is very independent and thrives in an individualist environment.

After all- it's you that's inserting yourself into an environment of strangers.

When I was in China, people were bewildered as to why anyone would ever hitchhike. Whereas in America, a 5 year old knows what hitchhiking is.

I talked a friend into doing just the Katy trail across the state of Missouri a year ago. Like the author, I have a steel Trek 520. I did zero training — but the Katy trail is just one state.

I hated it every day — right up until we finished it. The boredom, the drudgery of every day. Now I can't wait to go again.

There was a weird thing that crept into my brain by about day 4 or so — I kind of didn't want to linger off the saddle for long. Strangely, I was starting to kind of prefer being on the saddle than to being off.

Also, having done a minimal of research, there were often unexpected happy surprises that would pop up from time to time — for example a sudden bar along the banks of the Missouri River (Cooper's Landing — not, you know, a sand bar).

I credit my friend being there for keeping me determined not to "puss out" and bail early. And he told me after he was waiting for me to bail so he could have an excuse to quit as well.

We met all manner of other riders: many, like us, on their first bike tour.

The six or so days on the saddle can be done, physically, by about anyone. I am almost 61 and over weight. I trained on the trail. I think if I had prepared before hand my ass might have been less sore — more "broken in". (It also would have been boring though.)

For the people who are wondering whether this is a good idea or not, lemme tell you about some x-country cyclists I met on a ride. 3 years ago in the middle of summer I was climbing Iron Springs Rd on the west side of Prescott AZ. 3 youngish cyclists were paused on the side of the road with an apparent mechanical. They had a modest amount of camping gear in their panniers. Turns out they were French, had the barest grasp of English (I have the barest grasp of French), and needed a derailleur adjusted (no gears, no climb). I fixed them up and of course I was damned curious about their situation. Turns out, they on a whim flew into NYC, bought some not serious bikes and camping gear, and... just started biking across the country! In the middle of summer! In the wrong direction! Going to LA! And their pins... NOT CYCLISTS.

The Iron Springs climb tops out at 6000' or so, the weather is awesome in summer. However that is the end of weather happiness for 300 miles or so, because it's a steady drop from there into the desert, all the way down to the Colorado River. Temps in the 100-115F range are normal. Water is scarcer there than on just about any roads in the country. I was pretty alarmed so I got it across that they needed to show me their route. As best I could I showed them the best way on maps to not die. I tried my damnedest to get across they should not bike in the afternoons. "extra chaud!" etc.

And off they went. Never found out if they made it or not, but... you just can't keep humans down. They will always find a way to do the craziest things.

The author engaged in a cross country road trip, not a daily bicycle commute in NYC. While I would be very surprised if your assertion wasn't statistically true it likely unwise to take what is typical and blindly apply it into a situation that is a massive outlier without specific reason to do so.