Conference noted::bicycle

    You need to have some idea of your route. Bikecentennial publishes
    adequate  maps of their roots, or you can plan your own. You don't
    need  permission  except if you plan to ride on interstates, which
    is  the  least  enjoyable  place  to  ride.  Most roads other than
    interstates allow bicycles, but you still want to try to avoid the
    heavily travelled ones.

    I wouldn't  advise  a long trip alone until you have a fair amount
    of  experience.  You  have  to be able to repair minor breakdowns,
    know  when you're too tired to push on, eat enough to keep up your
    energy  level,  and remember to look around and enjoy the scenery.
    Riding with someone for the first trip or two will help.

    As for   equipment,  you  have  several  choices.  You  can  carry
    everything  (a tent, a sleeping bag, stove ...) and stay primarily
    in  campsites. This requires large paniers, wide tires, and strong
    legs.  You  can  carry a few clothes and a credit card and stay in
    hotels  along the way. This requires less energy, alot more money,
    and  you  have to keep track of whether the next town has a hotel.
    If  you  have  your camping stuff you can stay in a hotel when you
    have  to, so you have more options, and less chance of not finding
    a place to stay.

    Start by  riding  a lot of day trips. Once you're comfortable with
    that, then think about a longer trip.

--David

    All sorts of people with varying abilities bicycle across the country.
    Last year my husband and I travelled across - most of the people
    we met that were also bicycling were men either alone or in groups
    of two or three.  We never did meet up with any of the large
    bikecentennial groups although we used many of their maps.  You
    do have to be able to fix your bike if something happens - however,
    we were able to stay on routes that were seldom remote so help was
    usually close at hand.
    
    I would strongly recommend doing some weekend and week long tours
    in Vermont, Berkshires, etc. to see how you enjoy varied terrain
    and biking for that period of time before I started a cross country
    tour.  Although we biked a lot and took numerous weekend/week trips
    in the years before our jaunt - it was still a different experience.
    Getting on the bike day after day did get old after awhile - I
    believe my rule to my husband now is that I refuse to plan another
    trip longer than 4 weeks.  There are numerous people here at DEC
    that have travelled cross country.  Talking to people that have
    done it before will be one of great value.  However, beware, looking
    back everyone remembers the great things about the trip and have
    a tendency to forget the unpleasant - like my 17 straight days of
    torrential rain, washed out bridges and roads and water rising around
    the bed in the motel where we took lodging to get out of the rain.
    One common demoninator everyone talks about though is the people
    they meet along the way - they are fabulous.  Maybe we were just
    lucky but we had no unpleasant people or animal experiences.  People
    were interested in what we were doing and always wanting to help
    -- Getting away from the hustle and bustle of the East/West Coast
    makes you realize there is another whole America out there.  It
    was great!!
    
    Join a bike club in the area - you will meet a lot of people willing
    to help you in what you need to plan an adventure like this.

    
    I rode X-country about 4 years ago with a friend, and as you'll
    hear from everyone else that's done it it's a great time!  We spent
    some of the nights camping, and some in hotels!  Hotels are certainly
    more enjoyable!!!  
    
    As for a route.  We made up our route as we went.  Before we left
    we went over the maps just to get a general idea of where we wanted
    to go, and then each night we would select the next days destination.
    Once you start to get to the more desolate areas I think it's a
    real good idea to ride the interstates.  We started riding them
    in Colorado, and followed them all the way to Calif.  Interstates
    out there are nothing like here in the east.  If you come across
    1 car a minute it's pretty busy....  Also, the interstates pass
    through the bigger cities/towns where you can get help/supplies
    if necessary.  You do NOT need permission to ride the interstates
    out there.  
    
    The main thing is.....  Have fun!
    
    Stew

    	I suggest going also to the library and reading about long
    	trips cyclists have taken. I just finished reading a book
    	by Barbara Savage about an around the world ride. Unfortunately,
    	just as the book was going to press, she was killed while
    	training for a triathlon.
    
    	I second all previous replies. Do some day trips, some week
    	trips, and join a bike club.
    
    	Scott

    RE .3
    
    I assume that Interstates out "west" are nothing like the Rt. 495,
    95, 128  that I am used to around here?  What type of roads can
    they be equated to?
    
    And a question for anyone who has done this so far. . .
    
    How long did it take? (As in, how much vacation time should I accrue
    before I go?)
    
    	-Nancy

>    I assume that Interstates out "west" are nothing like the Rt. 495,
>    95, 128  that I am used to around here?  What type of roads can
>    they be equated to?

The I-system roads out west are exactly the same, as far as construction 
goes, in most places. What's different is the traffic load - I went to 
my folks' for Christmas one year and was driving around with a friend 
who stayed back there. We crested a hill and could see about 5 cars in a 
3 MILE stretch of I-94, to which my friend remarked (seriously!) "Sure a 
lot of traffic out today!". I think riding on the I-roads is up to the 
individual state, and in some cases (like where I was in the above 
story) the old road was destroyed in building the I and there was NO 
other way to get between some places on a road.
    
>    How long did it take? (As in, how much vacation time should I accrue
>    before I go?)
    
I haven't done it myself, but worked in a shop about mid-way across 
country and talked to LOTS of c-c tourers... most travel from west to 
east (you WERE planning that, right!) and had taken about 2 weeks to hit 
center, averaging about a C-ride per day. I'd suggest a bit more time, as 
some folks were a bit worn by this. 5-6 weeks for a crossing seems like 
a good pace to me, altho most planned a month. Be familiar with your own 
repairs, we had the first reasonable shop after about a 300 mile stretch 
(coming from the west) and folks with problems were MIGHTY glad to see 
us.
                                             ken

    Re .5
    
    Interstates our West are similar to Rt 495 - 4-8 lanes - divided
    with a shoulder.  The difference is the amount of traffic on them.
    However, it is officially illegal to ride your bicycle on them -
    I believe it has something to do with Federal funding for the actual
    building of the interstates.  Local police in areas where interstates
    are remote - and in fact the only way to get from one point to another
    - do not enforce the law.  We took the interstate across New Mexico
    (we did not use them prior to that - the old cross-country highways
    usually ran nearby and had little traffic except for local and had
    the more inexpensive motels and restaurants - in fact, at times
    I thought I had slipped back into the 1950's).  There literally,
    at least in our persual of the maps, was no way to get to Alberquerque
    without taking the interstate.  We have a photograph of our entering
    by the sign saying "no horses, bicycles, etc. 
    
    The time you need to plan on is based on your biking style.  Recognize
    that it will take 3400-4200 miles to go coast to coast (depending
    on route and meandering).  How many miles a day to you want to do
    and then be sure to factor in some days off - when you just don't
    want to bike, when you want to stay and explore an area, or for
    emergencies, i.e., pulled muscles, illness, major bike repairs.
    Most people I have talked to planned 6-8 weeks; most tours take
    closer to 10-12 weeks.  Of course, the RAAM only takes 9 days!

    In addition to .5
    What type of bicycle should I possess?  I have a ten-speed bike,
    is that good enough?  My bike is heavy, I get tired very fast with
    that monster.  I cover 25 miles or more in one hour and thirty minutes,
    am I in good shape to do the cross country.  By the way, I live
    in Colorado, and I ride my bike up and down hill a lot.
    
    

    
    	It is illegal to use the interstate with a bicycle if another
    road is available.    If another road is not available, then it
    *is* legal.    On the interstates out here in Colorado, in some
    places the signs on the entrance ramps read "no pedestrians or
    bicycles" and in other places where it is allowed, the sign reads
    only "no pedestrians".   Over some mountain passes, the freeway
    is in fact the only road.   But, for instance, one would not want
    to ride the freeway through Denver.    The alternate route, is,
    however, usually longer.

    							Alan.

    Bikecentennial should be your starting point for research on this
    subject.  If you are not a seasoned cyclist, their x-country tour
    or another outdoor club should be looked at closely. 
    Questions like "is it dangerous" is very subjective.  Many independent
    types do it alone, meeting people along the way, however at least
    one other person along would certainly make it safer.
    
    steve
    

The latest issue of the journal put out by L.A.W. had an article 
discussing the use of interstates. The law is set at the state level. 
There are a lot of states that allow limited access to the interstates. 
North Dakota is the only state that has no restrictions. They have a 
map in the article that specifies the states and their rules.

BTW they had a long discussion about New Mexico and the the no bicycle 
sign at the border.

JC    

    Whether or not Interstates can be ridden is, in all cases, governed
    by the states.  In some cases it is a matter of state law in others
    it is by law a matter of state regulation.
    
    While this seems like double talk, the latter is the better case
    because bicycle activist groups (such as the LAW, where I got this
    information) can usually work with the regulatory agencies to make
    exceptions to permit bicycles on various stretches of interstate where
    that is reasonable. 
    
    When the interstates are governed by state law the law is usually
    absolute and requires legislative action to get exceptions.  Such
    action means hearings before committees of cigar smoking overweight
    bureaucrats.
    
    Now if I could only remember what it said about which states
    permitted what.  Adam, do you have your back issues?
    
    ed    

Doing a cross-country trip will probably be one of the high points of your life,
but it is a *lot of effort*. Even a relatively direct trip is at least 3000
miles, so you need to do a lot of conditioning beforehand.

My personal suggestion is to do a "credit card" tour, rather than camp -- it's
more expensive, but less to carry. Also, your bike should be in top condition,
and you should know how to fix everything on it.

    Unless you just want to study your front wheel, you should plan to
    ride 6 days a week with one day to sight see, walk or just rest.

    As for  time:  Some  tours  plan 3 months, but 60 days seems quite
    reasonable.

    While there  are  advantages  to riding with an organized group, I
    recommend  avoiding Bikecentennial. I went on a tour with them and
    it  was awful. The budget didn't allow for enough food, the leader
    (who  taught  some of their other leaders) was unwilling to change
    plans  when  we  hit  really  awful  weather (sleet and hail). The
    advertising  said that we would stay in a hotel if the weather was
    bad,  but the leader was too macho for that. As a result, we had 3
    cases  of  hypothermia. Most of the problems stemmed from a budget
    that was too small because the overhead was very high.

--David

    About the bike again.  A true touring bike, not a combo sport/tour
    bike, would be prefered.  They usually have wider gearing, better
    load capacity for your gear, a longer wheelbase for a smoother ride,
    braze-ons for extra water, front and rear racks (or the mounts for).
    
    and so on.  I just bought the Trek '89 520 (21 speeds) at last years
    price from one bike shop ($575), there are several other very good
    bikes available as well in the touring class.  Several shop owners
    I have talked to have said that there is a rising interest in touring
    again, so more selections may be available when you get ready.
    
    You might also consider a trailer, Burly makes one that I know of.
    
    Also, the last years back issues of Bicycle Mag (the Littleton
    public library has them if your around here) had articles about
    touring, and I remember one special section on touring with advice
    on what to take.
    
    Dave

    West to East is the best direction because of prevailing winds.
    I would take as much vacation as possible, unless you are destination
    oriented and want the shortest/fastest route from A --> B.  I would
    say 60-90 days.
    Get a quality TOURING bike, or suitable mountain bike if you think
    unpaved roads are your future, and learn repairs.
    I personally would camp because it is cheaper and it seems easier
    to meet people, alternating with a couple of motels now and then
    as a personal treat/reward.  Same for restaurants and cooking your
    own food.
    Prepare yourself as best you can physically and mentally but don't
    hesitate, GO FOR IT!!!
    Take a camera.
    Keep a diary.
    Good Luck.
    Tom
    

    
    I took 6 weeks to cross when I did it.  When we rode we rode about
    100 miles a day and when we weren't riding we were sitting around
    a motel pool drinking beer!  (gotta have fun right??)
    
    There is ALOT to see. Pick some destinations that you'd like to
    and map your course around them.  You'll come accross some other
    stuff along the way...  Be flexible.
    
    I didn't do much training for the ride.  I found that after 2 weeks
    of riding every day I was getting used to it....  Whatever....
    
    Be prepared for some adversity!!!  It will find you!!!  There are
    some areas that are VERY desolate!!!  If the weather turns bad it
    can really bring down your attitude fast!!!
    
    Definitely know how to take your bike apart and put it back together!
    
    Bring a camera!
    
    Stew

    Yes, bike-access to interstates is up to the individual state.
    Oregon is another state where you are expected to use the
    interstate if there is no reasonable alternative.  (Good
    example: I-86 replaced (overlaid) US30 in the Columbia Gorge,
    because there was no extra space between the cliffs and the
    river to put a new road.  So you use I-86.  No problem.)
    
    The Colorado interstate policy is a bit more explicit, as
    mentioned: bikers are signposted on and off of I-70 for, say,
    5-mile segments where, again, the old road has been obliterated
    by the interstate.  In fact, old US-6 would be another way to
    get from Denver into the mountains, but it is barred to cyclists
    because of the many, many dark, narrow tunnels.  So the interstate
    *can* be officially and personally perferrable to other roads.
    
    Best to check at the welcome center upon entering a state, or
    when you write to them for info before your trip.
    
    -john

The latest issue of "Bicycle USA" Magazine (December Almanac issue) 
has a lot of good info on Biking on Interstates.  The have done much 
lobbing but, in the West, consider New Mexico to be a particular 
problem currently.

They also make a very good case for the arguement that biking on 
interstates is often safer than alternative routes (where there are 
alternatives).

BTW, if you want a good reference on most any aspect of cycling, the 
Almanac is a good starting point.  Touring contacts, books, 
organizations, information, legislation, etc.

	~Mike