This blog is about a cross continent bike trip I am planning for this summer (2015).  I am currently in the planning phase.  That involves buying a bike, selecting gear, laying out a route, and arranging to meet friends who will join me on portions of the trip.

 The first step was buying a bike, which I did last summer.  It’s a Cannondale Synapse Alloy 7, a bike optimized for touring.  For gear heads, it has an aluminum frame and carbon blade fork, with a design that reduces vibration for comfort on long rides.  Importantly it has a triple crankset (50/39/30) and came with a 12-28 cassette for low gears to climb hills.  It uses decent quality Shimano Sora components.  The bike weighs only a little over 20 pounds, which is pretty amazing considering it is a relatively cheap, entry level machine.  I have actually purchased a broader range cassette to get even lower gearing (this required a new rear derailleur too).  I will be crossing the Rockies, after all.  I’ve been on many 20 – 30 mile rides on it and like it a lot.

I plan to stay in motels and not camp, and that will allow me to keep my load very light.  I am a bit of a fanatic about this, and my goal is to keep my gear and the bag(s) I carry it in under 10 pounds, not counting food, water, or clothes I wear.  I already bought and installed the lightest rear rack made, the titanium Tubus Airy, a 7 oz miracle.  I’m using a 12 oz backpack to hold my gear, and it will be lashed to the top of the rack.  I plan to bring a single change of clothes, all synthetics that can be washed in a sink and dry overnight.  I’ll post the complete list at some point.

My route is from east to west, even though that means having the wind more in my face than at my back.  The idea of finishing the trip in the east was just not appealing.  The route passes through Ithaca on its way below the Finger Lakes to Niagara Falls (the American bride’s second biggest disappointment).  From there I enter Canada and head toward the Bruce Peninsula which lies between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario.  I’ll take a ferry to Manitoulin Island (world’s largest

Bruce Peninsula (in red)

freshwater island!).  Then things are a little tricky.  I need to get from the western tip of Manitoulin to Drummond Island back in the US.  There is no regular air or boat service, and I am looking for a “ferry godmother” to carry me across, someone with a private boat and a sense of adventure.  Once on the mainland I’ll travel west across the upper peninsula of Michigan, through Wisconsin, and on toward Minneapolis.  From there the route makes a bee line for the Black Hills of South Dakota.  That’s a long stretch of the Great Plains, and a little desolate.  From there I’ll head across northern Wyoming to the Yellowstone area.  There are sections here with no lodging for nearly 100 miles.  Next I work my way across Idaho and Oregon, ending at the Pacific Ocean.  I’m still working out the route details.  In Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon there are relatively few roads, so my choices are limited, but it’s all beautiful country.