Sailed Atlantic, riding across America, need help/bike.

General Pub
1

Hi all,

As some of you may, or may not know, I’ve successfully crossed the Atlantic singlehanded to the Caribbean, and have now sailed up to New York, as part of my attempt to sail back home to Australia from Europe. The plan from here, is to have my boat trucked to San Francisco, from where I’ll continue sailing. As I will not be in the truck, I’ve decided to ride a bicycle from New York to San Francisco and meet my boat on the other side - This means my trip around the world (2/3rds of it anyway) will be entirely wind & human powered, which is quite a rare feat.

I’m hoping to leave New York on a bike on the 12th of October, which is very soon considering all the organisation that’s required - The only problem is, I don’t have a bike, nor any other cycling equipment… So I guess I’m here to see if any of you guys have any strong contacts with bike stores, or even have a touring bike you’d lend. I only need it for this one trip, and then I’ll either give it back, or sell it and donate the money to charity. On route I’ll be doing Habitat for Humanity, which is an American organisation that builds houses for low income families - I’ll stop once a week and help build. I’ll also be doing talks at landlocked schools along the way about the sea and my trip so far.

If any of you guys have thoughts or ideas of ways I can make this happen… That would be incredible. If all fails, I’ll go down to the op shop and buy a $10 banger and go anyway, but it would be nice to ride something built for the job…

Anyone interested in my trip so far can see what I’ve been up to on www.bigoceans.com

Cheers! nick

2

I’ve dealt with Mark Thomas from http://www.sammamishcycle.com/ over the web. They do a lot of touring bikes as well.

http://www.rusa.org/ might be a good organisation to get in touch with. Some of their members might be able to help you out.

Best of luck. Well done on the journey so far

3

hey, i’ve been following your blog,
i spent a lot of time sailing as a teenager, and have been thinking about buying a boat and cruising round europe sometime in the faraway future, so your updates have all been mighty interesting.

i wonder how your legs going to adapt after many months of not riding a bike.

maybe you could find a bike builder who would comp you a touring bike to show off their product. someone like ANT but more touring oriented

4

problem solved =D

5

Ha! You know… If it wasn’t headwinds all the way to San Fran, that would be a really neat idea…

Still on the lookout for bike tips for the big trip… Post here if you have any more!

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that would be a really neat idea…

“Neat”?!

I think you’ve been in The States too long or been watching to many episodes of ‘Leave It To Beaver’.

7

Hah :slight_smile:

I meant to say: That thing is fully sick mate, I’d give it a burl!

Hey, someone has offered me a Trek 1000 to tour on. It’s a fairly standard road bike - Anyone have any comments on touring with one - Ie. its ability to carry loaded panniers etc?