Getting the bike was only the beginning.  Once I got the bike, I had to get it ready to carry all of my ‘stuff’, i.e. camping gear, clothes, tools, etc, etc.  I ordered and installed Tubus racks front and back.  And then I had to figure out what kind of bags (panniers) that I was going to use.  After a little on line research I opted for Ortlieb panniers.  Ortlieb is a German company and they have a reputation for making good, durable waterproof panniers.   I was considering Arkel panniers as they are well known but ultimately went with the Ortlieb bags.  Once the racks and bags were installed – now what?

Once I decided to do the trip, I knew I was going to need a new bike – a touring bike.  I’ve been a road bike guy for my entire life and, in fact, I just recently purchased a new road bike – a Cannondale CAAD 12 aluminum frame.  (I was actually forced to buy a new bike because the frame on my old bike cracked!!)

I did quite a bit of research on touring bikes and finally settled on a Surly Long Haul Trucker.  It is a bike that has been around a while and has been designed from the ground up to carry a lot of gear and ‘keep on truckin’!   It has a steel frame, wide tires, three chain rings to include low ‘grandma gears’ for grunting up those hills with a load and lot of ‘braze ons’ for attaching racks, etc.

I went to Topanga Creek Outpost to get fitted for my bike and I must say, it is an awesome bike store for touring and mountain bikes.  It is a very unique bike store but these guys know their stuff – and they have a cool dog named Rover!!  So, now I have a new bike but as I found out, getting the bike was just the beginning of a long list of things needed to make this trip a reality.

 

The Idea

I’ve wanted to do a cross country bike ride since I was a kid but for one reason or another it just never happened.  Now that I am retired it seemed like the perfect time.  My original ‘dream ride’ was to ride across the Northern part of the US – coast to coast.  But the opportunity arose to undertake this ride so I signed up.  My daughter is heading off to NYU this September so the timing is perfect.

Ride Overview

 

Route 66 from its origin in Chicago to its terminus at Santa Monica Pier (just a few miles from my home in Marina del Rey.

About 2500 miles; 55 days (47 riding days, 8 rest days); average of 55 miles per day

Entirely self-contained, i.e. we will be carrying all of our gear with us – tents, sleeping bags, clothes, etc, etc.  There will be no vans or other support

Company:  Adventure Cycling – based in Missoula, Montana

Number of riders:  Total of 15 – 1 tour leader and 14 riders  (either 14 new best friends or 14 people I will never want to see again after this ride!  :0) )

Cooking and meals:  Shared rotating cooking duties; at the end of every day, the ‘meal’ crew will go buy groceries and prepare meals for the group.