Why did you go coast-to-coast? Research for a book.

[Westinghouse]

I was able to recall three more influences in my life that drew me to transcontinental bicycle touring. In the 1980s, the early 1980s, maybe 1981, 82. By chance I saw a book in the Martin County library in Stuart Florida. I am not sure I can remember the exact title. It was something like... The great ride or something like that. It was the late 1800s. A man from California pedaled a bicycle from coastal California to New York City. Some of the best roads he had were like some of the worst roads we have today when it comes to road surfaces. It was one hell of a struggle for him. He must have gotten his frame rewelded a dozen times to keep it together. The weather was hell. I think he had to do a significant amount of walking.
I thought that was very interesting. That got me interested. After that I read a book on bicycle touring in particular. This book was also in the Martin County library in Stuart. According to the experienced tourist, 27x1 and 1/4 inch tires where they only way to go. I got a Schwinn Le tour bicycle and flew away to the United Kingdom.

The third influence entered my life after I had already completed two long tours by bicycle. This was also a book. Miles From Nowhere is the title.

[WVDave]

In 1996 at age 42, my wife and I rode  the Northern Tier route starting in Anacortes, but ending in Ocean City, NJ.  Ours wasn’t a group or actually solo as I rode a tandem with my wife. It was a long time ago, so I don’t clearly remember my motivation or what originally intrigued me with the idea of riding across the US.  I read a book titled (I think) “Hey Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across the US”, written by a teacher who rode with several of his fifth grade students. I knew I wouldn’t be happy being away from my wife for an extended period of time and it took me 10 years to talk her into doing it with me. We considered riding with a group but ultimately decided we didn’t want to be constrained by the demands of a group’s schedule. We were still working and I only had a limited vacation. My wife was worried about us riding by ourselves and as we approached a deadline for joining a group ride she decided to pray about it. While driving home from Sunday church she happened to see a touring cyclist who pulled into the town’s grocery store. She followed the guy into the store to question him. He turned out to be a seasonal worker from Yellowstone who was cycling home to New England (we live in West Virginia) and he assured her that we would be safe on our own. Since that ride, we have done several other long rides, including the Underground Railroad, which may be one of Adventure Cycling’s lesser known gems. We attempted the Continental Divide, but work schedules along with the challenging logistics  interfered and it looks like completing  that one will have to remain only a dream. 

[Westinghouse]

Trail cycling and gravel roads and single tracks such as you find on The Great divide bicycle route has never interested me. All my cycling was over the road. And as we all know, some roads are better than others. It is a fact that is multiplied many times on a bicycle. The impression is your crossing beginning around Anacortes Washington was well planned and organized. One thing I learned about long distance bicycle touring. Plans for the day might not reach fruition. They might exceed themselves, and then again fail. There are variables that force us to change our plans. Extreme weather is one variable.

[davidbonn]

There isn't just one unpaved cycling experience.  It can range to basically "pavement light" to hopelessly unrideable.  On the average in 2025 you will find less traffic and usually better wild camping opportunities on unpaved roads. 

[Westinghouse]

I did Oregon to Indiana 2226 miles in 22 days to visit my sister and sign some legal documents. Then did Indiana to Ohio and down to Georgia. About 3000 miles. I think coast to coast is a stunt. I generally have a destination in mind when I tour.

That is some hard pedaling. I did Stuart Florida to Bangor Maine in 22 days of cycling, with actually 20 days of pedaling and two days off because of inclement weather. I think it was about 1800 miles. I bicycled southeast coastal Florida to San Diego California in 54 days total, with 44 days of cycling and 10 days resting and recuperating in motels. I did 2600 miles of the Northern tier in 40 days or was it 35? ⁸

[rwbikeusa]

A belated thank you to everyone who replied.  Your responses were fantastic.  What's interesting is I shared many of your motivations for going cross country.  After 3+ years, the book is finally written.  I'm in the process of editing the beast now and will start to figure out a publishing strategy/option shortly. 

[Westinghouse]

A belated thank you to everyone who replied.  Your responses were fantastic.  What's interesting is I shared many of your motivations for going cross country.  After 3+ years, the book is finally written.  I'm in the process of editing the beast now and will start to figure out a publishing strategy/option shortly.

I have written at least 2 million words, taught writing for academic purposes, and studied editing and revision. If you need any assistance, or some proof-reading, I might be able to help.

[rwbikeusa]

Thank you very much.  I'm to the point where I've done an edit on all of the individual chapters--twice.  Am now piecing together the full manuscript so I can do a full read through.  I sit on a few boards which keeps me far too busy than I should be in retirement so none of this goes as fast as I'd like.  Hope to have something in the next few weeks.  Would love to reach out then.

[Westinghouse]

I have several journals of my bicycling tours around the world. One of them is about 180,000 words. I revise, and reread, and revise, and reread and I keep finding grammatical errors and misspellings. For editing you eliminate first large bits of information that are not necessary for the central meaning. Then smaller bits of information. Then paragraphs and sentences. It's really easy to make and miss grammatical errors.

[Westinghouse]

If you wrote long hand field notes, you used stream of consciousness. After it is written you might have to change the sequence of sentences and paragraphs to keep Central ideas flowing and unbroken.

[Westinghouse]

When you first write it is just to get the ideas and descriptions on paper. After you have eliminated large and other bits of information not central to the main points, you can start on sentences. You can rewrite sentences using stronger verbs and more descriptive vocabulary. You cannot always think about things like that when you are writing in the field. When you're at home revising a manuscript and using a thesaurus you can come up with all kinds of flashy descriptive articulate vocabulary that make the reading more engaging. If there are too many long sentences, make some of them shorter. They say having long sentences in some parts and going from that to shorter sentences engages the eyes and mind more than all long or all short sentences.

[SwampYankee]

At the risk of being perceived as obnoxiously self-promoting, I'll offer that I wrote and published a book after my cross-country tour and in Chapter 1 titled Knowing Why, I wrote:

"All extended travel is a quest. For me, this was not an expedition to find something; rather, it was a journey to let go, to put distance between what I have been and what I will become in the final third of my life. The potter Brother Thomas Bezanson said: "Life, really living, is always a willingness to end and let go and then to begin again." That sums up this trip's mission well."

If it's in bad taste to mention this, forgive me. The book is Across A Continent; Across A Life, Cycling Across America Into Non-retirement -its available on amazon or indepentent book sellers from Ingram.

I would encourage you to write your book, to explore why, and do the hard work to make that experience useful to all of us who love to read about the experiences of others as they travel the world on two-wheels.

[Westinghouse]

Exactly what kind of contribution that would be to humanity, I do not know. It would be a chronicle of human experience. People would read about it. They might pick up a little information. There was a famous English writer. He was from England. One of his final books was Summing UP. He said he had always read widely and well. He said you never know when a little bit of out of the way information can become useful.

[Westinghouse]

I just read that post by BB, bikelicious babe. What a close call. Problems with the health can hit anytime, especially the older one gets.

[Westinghouse]

I am getting near the end of my final revisions of my my manuscript. It comes out to about 101,000 words. It is a bear to revise and find all those little grammaticals and commas out of place and missing periods. The plan is to publish it on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble and other platforms. I have no illusions that it will become a best seller. Actually, I will be surprised if anyone buys it at all. It is about an 11 country tour that starts in France in Paris and goes across France, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, the east coast of Italy from brindisi to Milano, and New York City to Southeast coastal Florida. This book contains no fluff anywhere. It is all hard reality and graphic detailed descriptions of life in the former Soviet Union shortly after the fall of communism. People lived exactly the same as they had lived when communism was in full force. They had no way to change to any other way of life. I have everything in graphic descriptive detail everyday of the trip. You talk about it difference in standards of living. You crossed the border from West Germany into the Czech Republic and you enter into another world, and underworld that only gets worse the farther east you go. I have it all on paper. One of these days in the not too distant future it should be on the market. I think I am calling it The Great bicycle ride. Originally I named it and titled it the last great bicycling tour. But then I changed the name because the title letters spelled out LGBT which was not intended. I did not want any association connected to that so I changed it to the great bicycling tour. As a matter of fact the name of the book was titled long before that four letter expression ever made it into the popular vernacular. But because of it I changed the name of the book and I might change it again to move it even farther away from possibly being identified with that movement. I have spent so much time revising this manuscript I am sick of looking at it. It will never be revised to the point that I wanted to be and I cannot afford to hire a professional proofreader and editor.