One theme that pops out to me here is the reliance on other people being a positive experience for the author. In the software field, we tend to live pretty high up the economic value chain, which can abstract us a bit from participation in the more grassroots co-operative aspect of society. This can be alienating and warp worldview.
When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my paraglider, I have no say in who I'm going to be chatting with and feeling gratitude towards. Initially that feeling of being reliant on whoever comes my way was difficult to adjust to after the false sense of individualism that a high paying job in a bubble of similar people brings.
The benefit though is enormous. Now I stop to help anyone who's broken down on the side of the road despite the flash judgements their car or bumper stickers might bring. I'm much more aware of the value and interconnectedness of our society, and feel inspired to actively seek to contribute instead of remaining aloof. Most importantly, I realize that there's a whole lot of people out there looking to help people out at any turn, and that gives me a lot of faith.
schmookeeg 2 hours ago [-]
Thank you for this. You gelled several ideas I was ruminating on over my morning tea -- my aloofness and my sneaking suspicion that self-sufficiency is isolating from society at large.
I still pull over to help motorists. You've inspired me to look for more opportunities like those. :)
raffael_de 2 hours ago [-]
I made similar experiences - some also through hitch hiking. One major takeaway for me was how often my "flash judgements" are wrong or unfair. I'd also say that asking for help and trusting is more of a strength one has to develop and nurture than a sign of weakness, which is what I used to believe.
cynicalpeace 2 hours ago [-]
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.
soared 4 hours ago [-]
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 water needs in a barren stretch, a hole in your tire (not tube) and not knowing how to fix it, etc. it’s pure luck you didn’t not over exert a small muscle or ligament locking you out of cycling during recovery.
mturmon 3 hours ago [-]
Hmm, this take seems too all-or-nothing to me. (I made a similar trip with similar prep - bought the bike a month before going.)
The first chunk of the trip is very civilized, and you can use that to build skills before you get out in rural Utah.
If you have some experience with dry-country hiking, you understand about bringing water. That's the main threat. Most of the other mishaps you can think of are just inconvenient/unpleasant - "made poor time, got stuck at dusk in the middle of nowhere with only the snacks in my panniers, and had to camp by the roadside".
The author did prep for some other gotcha's, including having safety gear and doing some physical training in advance.
mauvehaus 1 hours ago [-]
I did 7,000 miles of touring in the US in 2006 without a cell phone, relying mostly on a paper Rand McNally road atlas and partially on Adventure Cycling's paper maps. I did most of the Western Express, and a good chunk of the Trans-Am between where they join and Missouri.
You are greatly overestimating the hazards associated with bike touring.
Folks are decent, and if you're on Adventure Cycling's routes, they are familiar with seeing cyclists. People offer help and stop to ask if you're ok. The route is well travelled by cars; if you passed out from heat exhaustion in the middle of the road, you'd be no more than an hour from being found, and in most places, a good deal less.
Water is pretty readily available, and most of the route passes through populated areas where you're a knock on a door away from a fillup if you're desperate. Mostly, I filled up with water at gas stations or where I camped in the evenings.
If you can ride a bike, fix a flat (you'll likely get a lot. I did), camp in a tent, and cook over a camp stove, you can do what the author of TFA did. Maybe a little/lot slower (75 miles a day is hauling ass fully loaded touring) but it's totally doable.
NB: Trek discontinued the 520 in 2023. Dozens of us are furious. The Surly Disc Trucker is well-recommended for touring, though I haven't been on one personally. Any bike that fits you with relaxed enough geometry, a long enough wheelbase, low enough gears, and the capacity to carry you and your gear will do.
JKCalhoun 2 hours ago [-]
I confess that I am in the camp that is inclined to say, fuck it, throw caution to the wind.
I reflect on the times in my life when I did just that and I have been amply rewarded with a life having been made just a little more worth having lived.
Seeing people holed up because of their fears makes me sad. I suppose the thing that I am most afraid of is finding out too late that I am too old to do these sort of things with the few years that I may have left in the world.
(And that goes as well to spending time with my daughters, wife, family.)
PaulDavisThe1st 1 hours ago [-]
2 years ago, I rode solo from Santa Fe to Seattle (about 1600 miles). The ride crossed some of the emptiest terrain in the lower 48 states of the USA. I have done several significant bike tours in the past, have travelled throughout the west in a powered vehicle and generally know how to look after myself in the wilderness.
I fully expected to face several significant sections where risks where high, notably from lack of water but also just general remoteness.
The reality was quite different. Just the distribution of gas stations meant that water supply was rarely a problem (though I did have a fancy australian 4 liter bottle on my bike and water bladder on my trailer). There was one day when I came close to running out and that was a little scary, but tiny sips and another 12 miles got me to a gas station.
But it wasn't just gas stations. There are not many places in the lower 48 where you can go 40 miles without passing some sort of human habitation if you're on a paved road. The Mojave and parts of Nevada might be an exception. I didn't need to get help from any such places, but I was always aware that I was passing by them.
In addition, sure, some of the most back- of the backroads I took got very little traffic, it was still the case that there would be at least a car every 2 hours or so.
My point is this: if you're travelling on paved roads in the lower 48, you are extremely unlikely to die from mistakes arising from unpreparedness. You might suffer a bit, but you will encounter someone who is very likely to be willing to help you.
One thing I would say, however: in years and decades past, I would never have had any hesitation riding or walking down a farm/ranch driveway if I needed water or help. News events over the last few years involving shootings of "strangers" in driveways now make me extremely reluctant to do such a thing. I contemplated this often on that ride, and if that situation had arisen, my plan was to stay on the road and make as much noise as I could before being OK'ed to cross their property line. A sad change for me, and for the country.
1024core 3 hours ago [-]
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.
18nleung 3 hours ago [-]
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
1024core 2 hours ago [-]
Ah OK! Thanks!
troutwine 44 minutes ago [-]
It's a fun route! If you give it a shot and have a bike that fits you good you'd be amazed at how quickly you can build up fitness for cycling, heavy or not.
kens 1 hours ago [-]
There's a separated bike/pedestrian path on the Dumbarton Bridge, although that's south of SF. (When I was working at Sun Microsystems nearby, I saw the pedestrian path and randomly decided to jog over the bridge. I discovered that the bridge is a lot higher in the middle when you're jogging than when you're driving, so there was a lot of uphill.)
zhivota 1 hours ago [-]
Life is risk. Compared to journeys undertaken by those in the past, this trip had an extremely minimal chance of disaster. I mean, the guy had a satellite phone! Unless he literally crashed his bike and died on the side of the road, the worst outcome here was a big bill from emergency services when they had to come rescue him from somewhere.
I rode my bike around Lake Erie back in 2007 without even a smart phone. I didn't have a map of places to stay, I just scoped out surreptitious camping sites mostly if I didn't happen past a campground at the right time of day.
xandrius 3 hours ago [-]
Just to be fair, Supertramps are not controversial for those very valid reasons; those reasons require thought, empathy and actual understanding of the situation they are in.
Those kinds of lifestyles generally create a knee-jerk reaction to people merely because they are different than the "normalcy". That is clear because, while some people are indeed being lucky/foolish in their endeavours (totally fine by me unless they don't directly hurt others with their choices), some other people have a pretty solid plan/foundation for being able to handle such a lifestyle and people still give them grief.
My lifestyle is far from an extreme one and I still get puzzled questions and the usual "oh, one day, you'll stop and grow up" kind of comments. Imagine if I had decided to drop everything and start cycling around the world.
pavel_lishin 3 hours ago [-]
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
dkarl 3 hours ago [-]
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.)
throwway120385 3 hours ago [-]
IME drivers are by far the biggest danger on the road.
potato3732842 2 hours ago [-]
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.
2 hours ago [-]
yunusabd 3 hours ago [-]
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?
pavel_lishin 3 hours ago [-]
It seems he was following a pre-set route that's been used for ... decades, now? I'm guessing it's optimized to keep cyclists out of high-traffic areas.
JKCalhoun 2 hours ago [-]
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.
cynicalpeace 2 hours ago [-]
nope, you really don't need so much prep to do this type of thing. I've done these types of things multiple times and whenever I prepped too much, the experience was actually worse- heavier bags, less spontaneity, etc
AnotherGoodName 2 hours ago [-]
I'm from a part of the world where people regularly die by going for a walk unprepared (google 'tourist dies in outback' for a repeated history of such).
Having said that i cycled a fair way across Europe in my youth with nothing but a light bag, water bottle and wallet in my pocket.
So basically it depends. Yes you can get away with it in certain parts of the world but i would never argue for unpreparedness since it's way too common for people to die from lacking the basics of preparation.
JKCalhoun 2 hours ago [-]
Yep, met a guy who was dragging a whole trailer behind his already loaded bike. Another biker, seeing the setup, whispered to me, "You pack your fears."
zhivota 1 hours ago [-]
I did a bike tour way back when, I really liked using a BOB trailer. It kept the weight off the bike, so when you weren't going uphill, you almost didn't notice it was there. My bike was clean though, only water bottles on it basically.
blindstitch 3 hours ago [-]
I think that finding free camping outside when you are in some shit nothing town is probably the most important skill to have, which is easy with satellite maps. Once you get the hang of it you realize that every town has at least one site where you can definitely get away with pitching a tent for one night. I think I have camped this way about 80 times and have never even been asked what I'm doing. That said, state and national park campgrounds are a great deal and you sometimes meet other tourers there, so they're good for a day when you want to take it easy for a morning. I sometimes get a kick out of zooming in on nowhere, USA and looking for spots.
And some advice for anyone doing this for the first time and feels compelled to pay to camp - never stay at a KOA, consider them an absolute last resort. There is no bigger waste of money and RV culture is extremely cursed.
zhivota 1 hours ago [-]
I did it this way back in 2007 when I didn't even have a smartphone, you can develop an eye for it at the ground level as well. I camped 8 nights without paying once and never had an issue. The only time I had to resort to help was in suburban Cleveland area, it got dark and it was too built up to stealth camp anywhere, so I ended up stopping at the fire station and they let me camp in their yard. They are there all night anyway so they are usually fine with it.
The weirdest spot was in another suburban area, I camped behind a row of shrubs next to a cellphone tower installation haha. Wasn't the best setup but places like that usually don't get any traffic until business hours, so as long as you're in late and out early, you're fine.
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.
ch33zer 3 hours ago [-]
Congrats! It was super interesting to read about the western express, when I did this a few years ago I did the astoria route: https://blaise.bike/
Did you look into different tires? 8 flats seems like a lot. I got exactly one running schwalbe marathon plus tires.
Overall what was your favorite part of the trip?
benjbrooks 2 hours ago [-]
i didn't look into different tires. my hypothesis is that most of my flats can be attributed to all the weight being on the back tire.
favorite part was jumping into extended conversations with strangers. from a scenery perspective, coming down into Lake Tahoe from Eldorado was just absolutely stunning. same when I went past Bryce Canyon.
dmwiens 3 hours ago [-]
Not OP, but I also went across America along the Northern Tier in 2023 with Schwalbe Marathon Plus's. I think I got 9 flats total, 7 of which were in Montana for some reason. I always tried to investigate and eliminate the source of the flat, but sometimes you are just repeatedly unlucky (in my experience).
googlryas 2 hours ago [-]
After getting 4 flats in 4 days on a bike trip, I had good luck with anti-puncture kevlar tire liner tape.
floriannn 3 hours ago [-]
I have 2500 miles so far this year and could do a century any random day without preparation and I’m doubting whether or not I can do GDMBR, meanwhile this guy didn’t even own a bike, didn’t even do more than 30 miles once he did, and just set off across the country. I guess I should just do it.
hackingonempty 51 minutes ago [-]
If you haven't, check out Mat Ryder's videos on YouTube. He's newly retired guy in decent shape from jogging who buys a bike and does the GDMBR while making a bunch of videos. He shows everything and at the end talks about how much he spent and how much less he could have spent if he tried harder to be frugal. You can see how an average guy without any bikepacking experience do it. You can do it too!
At your fitness level, you're more than capable of doing a long bikepacking trail.
The hard part isn't really fitness (for any moderately experienced biker unless your trip has a specific time or FKT goal), it's the logistics of food + shelter, the mental grind, and dealing with possible repairs.
floriannn 55 minutes ago [-]
Yeah I have done some trips before, max was 8 days with 85-100 miles each day, some decent elevation (max 11k feet in a day, but others around 5-6k) pretty bad weather, mix of paved and gravel. No chance I’m coming anywhere close to Lachlan’s time on GDMBR but I do need to finish in under 40 days.
This guy was using Rockbros bags and rack and I’m wondering if I should swap out my Tailfin for a more durable OMM rack…
limaoscarjuliet 3 hours ago [-]
I did the same, the opposite direction. If you are interested, there is a whole community of people that do this called Crazy Guy on a Bike.
I've done a much shorter route, but still long with a similar amount of preparation - Port Angeles, WA to San Francisco, CA
I can not recommend it highly enough. It took us 2 weeks which is a much more reasonable amount of time to take off. I wasn't really prepped and not in great physical shape, which made it more difficult, but it was so rewarding. That route is very popular and there are hiker / biker camp sites every 30 miles or so. About half the people you see each night are going the same direction as you, so you probably saw them last night.
I would strongly recommend the paper maps from ACA. They are fantastic, and you can get a holder that goes between your handlebars. It's really hard to use your phone as a GPS when you're out of power.
I also broke a spoke on my wheel and it wasn't a very common wheel type. The person I went with had to go 20 miles back to a bike shop and ended up buying me a whole new wheel. So getting bog-standard equipment is very helpful.
bryanlarsen 4 hours ago [-]
Another way to do it is the way my cousin did: do it over a period of 15 years. She took a week of vacation time during most of those years to do a chunk of the route.
ghaff 3 hours ago [-]
Section hiking on long distance trails is pretty common as well. Most people aren’t in a position to just take off and do the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail in one shot.
mturmon 3 hours ago [-]
Very nice summary. I did a similar cross-country trip and 100% endorse many of the conclusions at the end. (The Kansas winds and the hills of the Ozarks (central Missouri) were both surprisingly challenging and demoralizing, even after the continental divide.)
JKCalhoun 2 hours ago [-]
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.)
billsmithaustin 2 hours ago [-]
Congrats to the author. I plan to do Oregon -> Virginia next year but I'll take more like 80 days than the author's 51.
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!
bluGill 2 hours ago [-]
Most wildlife is somewhat afraid of humans so long as they are not taught otherwise. They know you are big and don't know if you are going to eat them so they stay away. Mountain lions are the only possible exception. So long as you don't get close and don't give them reason to get close they will generally leave you alone.
The above is why it is critical to keep food either hung in a tree or in bear proof containers. So long as bears don't see humans and think "I've found food near them" they will stay away - but once they realize humans mean food there is trouble. Wild areas rarely have problems - causal campers don't realize how important proper bear protection is and over time bears have figured it out.
The black widow and a few other spiders and insects are exceptions - they will target you. (though mostly spiders leave you alone)
wincy 3 hours ago [-]
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).
JKCalhoun 2 hours ago [-]
Ha ha, I felt like you did when I moved to California and found them everywhere when I started looking for them. Never got bit in the 26 years I lived among them.
And people there were freaked out when they heard I was from Kansas and thought little of having grown up around the perhaps more frightening Brown Recluse.
You'll be fine.
benjbrooks 2 hours ago [-]
i was a little worried about bears for the night or two i was in bear country but my fear of cars and weather was far more top of mind
googlryas 2 hours ago [-]
I bike packed 2000 miles around Europe, and one time in the mountains outside San Sebastian I was chased by a black bear. Weird people were probably the most dangerous wildlife, but like OP, basically every interaction with strangers I had was positive. But, I did move my tent a few times after setting it up upon realizing that the weird person I interacted with earlier knew where I was sleeping.
seizethecheese 3 hours ago [-]
Of interest for the HN audience: the founder of grubhub has a memoir that tells the stories of biking across the country and starting grubhub in parallel. I found it an enjoyable read.
dude forget eating and sleeping man, my biggest concern is pooping. I need atleast 1 gallon of water everytime I hit the washroom to clean myself as I require portable bidets to clean the area in squat position thanks to some crazy medical history. How do you manage such a condition and travelling with the fact that I also need to drink atleast half a gallon of water, piss 10 times a day at the minimum. I am not exaggerating even once bit. Seriously, how do you manage traveling with this kinda stuff
yapyap 1 hours ago [-]
tip: include which country in the title, “the country” doesnt tell the reader much.
mrcwinn 3 hours ago [-]
Unreal. Great achievement!
carabiner 3 hours ago [-]
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.
googlryas 2 hours ago [-]
I never slept in a post office, but rural firefighters were always very good to me on bikepacking trips. Plying me with food and letting me sleep in their gym or somewhere around the station.
Rendered at 18:58:22 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
When I'm hitchhiking to support packrafting trips or get back to where I launched my paraglider, I have no say in who I'm going to be chatting with and feeling gratitude towards. Initially that feeling of being reliant on whoever comes my way was difficult to adjust to after the false sense of individualism that a high paying job in a bubble of similar people brings.
The benefit though is enormous. Now I stop to help anyone who's broken down on the side of the road despite the flash judgements their car or bumper stickers might bring. I'm much more aware of the value and interconnectedness of our society, and feel inspired to actively seek to contribute instead of remaining aloof. Most importantly, I realize that there's a whole lot of people out there looking to help people out at any turn, and that gives me a lot of faith.
I still pull over to help motorists. You've inspired me to look for more opportunities like those. :)
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 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 water needs in a barren stretch, a hole in your tire (not tube) and not knowing how to fix it, etc. it’s pure luck you didn’t not over exert a small muscle or ligament locking you out of cycling during recovery.
The first chunk of the trip is very civilized, and you can use that to build skills before you get out in rural Utah.
If you have some experience with dry-country hiking, you understand about bringing water. That's the main threat. Most of the other mishaps you can think of are just inconvenient/unpleasant - "made poor time, got stuck at dusk in the middle of nowhere with only the snacks in my panniers, and had to camp by the roadside".
The author did prep for some other gotcha's, including having safety gear and doing some physical training in advance.
You are greatly overestimating the hazards associated with bike touring.
Folks are decent, and if you're on Adventure Cycling's routes, they are familiar with seeing cyclists. People offer help and stop to ask if you're ok. The route is well travelled by cars; if you passed out from heat exhaustion in the middle of the road, you'd be no more than an hour from being found, and in most places, a good deal less.
Water is pretty readily available, and most of the route passes through populated areas where you're a knock on a door away from a fillup if you're desperate. Mostly, I filled up with water at gas stations or where I camped in the evenings.
If you can ride a bike, fix a flat (you'll likely get a lot. I did), camp in a tent, and cook over a camp stove, you can do what the author of TFA did. Maybe a little/lot slower (75 miles a day is hauling ass fully loaded touring) but it's totally doable.
NB: Trek discontinued the 520 in 2023. Dozens of us are furious. The Surly Disc Trucker is well-recommended for touring, though I haven't been on one personally. Any bike that fits you with relaxed enough geometry, a long enough wheelbase, low enough gears, and the capacity to carry you and your gear will do.
I reflect on the times in my life when I did just that and I have been amply rewarded with a life having been made just a little more worth having lived.
Seeing people holed up because of their fears makes me sad. I suppose the thing that I am most afraid of is finding out too late that I am too old to do these sort of things with the few years that I may have left in the world.
(And that goes as well to spending time with my daughters, wife, family.)
I fully expected to face several significant sections where risks where high, notably from lack of water but also just general remoteness.
The reality was quite different. Just the distribution of gas stations meant that water supply was rarely a problem (though I did have a fancy australian 4 liter bottle on my bike and water bladder on my trailer). There was one day when I came close to running out and that was a little scary, but tiny sips and another 12 miles got me to a gas station.
But it wasn't just gas stations. There are not many places in the lower 48 where you can go 40 miles without passing some sort of human habitation if you're on a paved road. The Mojave and parts of Nevada might be an exception. I didn't need to get help from any such places, but I was always aware that I was passing by them.
In addition, sure, some of the most back- of the backroads I took got very little traffic, it was still the case that there would be at least a car every 2 hours or so.
My point is this: if you're travelling on paved roads in the lower 48, you are extremely unlikely to die from mistakes arising from unpreparedness. You might suffer a bit, but you will encounter someone who is very likely to be willing to help you.
One thing I would say, however: in years and decades past, I would never have had any hesitation riding or walking down a farm/ranch driveway if I needed water or help. News events over the last few years involving shootings of "strangers" in driveways now make me extremely reluctant to do such a thing. I contemplated this often on that ride, and if that situation had arisen, my plan was to stay on the road and make as much noise as I could before being OK'ed to cross their property line. A sad change for me, and for the country.
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 rode my bike around Lake Erie back in 2007 without even a smart phone. I didn't have a map of places to stay, I just scoped out surreptitious camping sites mostly if I didn't happen past a campground at the right time of day.
Those kinds of lifestyles generally create a knee-jerk reaction to people merely because they are different than the "normalcy". That is clear because, while some people are indeed being lucky/foolish in their endeavours (totally fine by me unless they don't directly hurt others with their choices), some other people have a pretty solid plan/foundation for being able to handle such a lifestyle and people still give them grief.
My lifestyle is far from an extreme one and I still get puzzled questions and the usual "oh, one day, you'll stop and grow up" kind of comments. Imagine if I had decided to drop everything and start cycling around the world.
Having said that i cycled a fair way across Europe in my youth with nothing but a light bag, water bottle and wallet in my pocket.
So basically it depends. Yes you can get away with it in certain parts of the world but i would never argue for unpreparedness since it's way too common for people to die from lacking the basics of preparation.
And some advice for anyone doing this for the first time and feels compelled to pay to camp - never stay at a KOA, consider them an absolute last resort. There is no bigger waste of money and RV culture is extremely cursed.
The weirdest spot was in another suburban area, I camped behind a row of shrubs next to a cellphone tower installation haha. Wasn't the best setup but places like that usually don't get any traffic until business hours, so as long as you're in late and out early, you're fine.
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.
Did you look into different tires? 8 flats seems like a lot. I got exactly one running schwalbe marathon plus tires.
Overall what was your favorite part of the trip?
favorite part was jumping into extended conversations with strangers. from a scenery perspective, coming down into Lake Tahoe from Eldorado was just absolutely stunning. same when I went past Bryce Canyon.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3-zVwEVdJ-UbC1DT4tSG...
The hard part isn't really fitness (for any moderately experienced biker unless your trip has a specific time or FKT goal), it's the logistics of food + shelter, the mental grind, and dealing with possible repairs.
This guy was using Rockbros bags and rack and I’m wondering if I should swap out my Tailfin for a more durable OMM rack…
My Trip: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=10372&v=2E
I can not recommend it highly enough. It took us 2 weeks which is a much more reasonable amount of time to take off. I wasn't really prepped and not in great physical shape, which made it more difficult, but it was so rewarding. That route is very popular and there are hiker / biker camp sites every 30 miles or so. About half the people you see each night are going the same direction as you, so you probably saw them last night.
I would strongly recommend the paper maps from ACA. They are fantastic, and you can get a holder that goes between your handlebars. It's really hard to use your phone as a GPS when you're out of power.
I also broke a spoke on my wheel and it wasn't a very common wheel type. The person I went with had to go 20 miles back to a bike shop and ended up buying me a whole new wheel. So getting bog-standard equipment is very helpful.
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.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Across_America
But 51 days is also fantastic!
The above is why it is critical to keep food either hung in a tree or in bear proof containers. So long as bears don't see humans and think "I've found food near them" they will stay away - but once they realize humans mean food there is trouble. Wild areas rarely have problems - causal campers don't realize how important proper bear protection is and over time bears have figured it out.
The black widow and a few other spiders and insects are exceptions - they will target you. (though mostly spiders leave you alone)
And people there were freaked out when they heard I was from Kansas and thought little of having grown up around the perhaps more frightening Brown Recluse.
You'll be fine.