I guess I'm biking across the country!

Last month I decided to pull the trigger and commit to biking across the country. I have a bucket list goal of biking at least 50 miles in every state in the US and 6 years ago I biked the Pacific Coast (San Diego, CA to Anacortes, WA) and the Northern Tier (Anacortes, WA to Bar Harbor, ME). That trip was just under 7,000 miles and took me 95 days to complete. I decided it would be neat to complete the perimeter of the US and bike along the Atlantic Coast (Bar Harbor, ME to St Augustine, FL) and the Southern Tier (St Augustine, FL to San Diego, CA). The tour is substantially shorter than my last adventure at just above 5,000 miles, and I am hoping to be able to finish in 70-75 days (just in time for our biannual transportation conference in Asilomar that starts at the beginning of October).

Preparations have been pretty interesting...I originally booked a flight from LAX to Bar Harbor, the starting point of my trip, but upon receiving an e-mail confirmation I noticed that the connecting plane from Boston to Bar Harbor was a small Cessna prop plane. I inquired whether the plane would be able to fit a bike box and unfortunately they would not be able to accommodate luggage of that size! So instead, I'll simply be flying into Boston on July 21st and renting a car that I'll simply drive up to Maine. I've organized all of my gear and belongings that I'll be bringing along with me (as you can see sprawled out on my dining table). My bike has been tuned up and is ready to go, and while some purchases have been involved, it looks like I've got most of the gear I need from my last trip! As of this mornings weigh-ins, my bike is at 31.4 pounds and my five bags will be carrying about 56 pounds of luggage (sans food and water). Of course my fatty self will definitely be the heaviest thing I'll be lugging 😬

Unlike my last trip which happened right after getting my PhD, this time I am leaving among the many obligations of my current job. Over the last couple weeks I have been working late into the night every evening to try and finish as much work as possible before I leave--I feel as though I have completed several months of work over such a short period of time! Hopefully, most of that will be behind me soon enough and I'll be able to focus on pedaling my bike for a couple months...anyways, thanks for reading and looking forward to sharing my adventures with you!