One of my brothers has been living out in Colorado for the past few years and although my sister and parents have gone out to see him, I haven’t had the chance to visit him yet. But this summer my brother Noah and I have decided that it is high time to get a move on it and go to the great state of Colorado to visit our brother. Since it is scientific fact that cycling is the best method of transportation, we are making preparations to bike out west. (You can’t argue against science after all!)
Today our maps came in the mail from the Adventure Cycling Association and I am beside myself with excitement. We are going to ride down to the Erie Canal trail and take it to Buffalo, then hop on the Underground Railroad route and follow it until we reach the Trans America. Then we will stay on the Trans America trail and eventually arrive in Colorado (if we manage to follow the maps properly). Here is a rough sketch of our planned route, starting from where we reach the Erie Canal.
We are expecting to leave at the tail end of May, so there is a lot of planning to do and much gear to buy. Is this actually happing? I think this is actually happing!
The maps for my trip came yesterday. I am psyched! Your trip sounds amazing. Good luck. Have a blast.
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Yay! Now we can both be psyched together…thank you for the well wishes, and the same to you my friend 🙂
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SO jealous!!!! You couldn’t make your rout further north and come through Iowa????? Have you joined Warmshowers.org yet?
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Sorry Dan, why couldn’t you make the TransAm go through Iowa, it’s 100% your own fault 😉 I haven’t joined warmshowers, cause I don’t know if I would ever be in a position to host cyclists on my end. I don’t want to take without being able to give back.
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Why strictly follow someone else’s route??
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Because I am chicken.
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You could stay with us anyway!!!
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Thank you! It would be awesome to meet you and Penny…it all depends whether we are brave enough to detour, by that time in the trip we could be either totally beat up or total beasts 😉
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Nice. I have my Southern Tier Map for my ride in October. We are touring animals we are.
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Enjoy! Looks like a great adventure 🙂
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Thank you 😀
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p.s. look on the right panel of my blog.
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Awesomeness, 2016 is the year alright!
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Blimey…how many miles will that be… Hope you have a blast…
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It is a lot of miles, 2000+, hopefully my little legs can stay afloat 😉
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Okay Missy, now I am baffled.. Your date is vague, but I will be heading east along your route as follows.. Leave.. 5/23 Austinburg Ohio 5/24 Westfield NY, 5/25 Buffalo NY, 5/26 Rochester, 5/27 Weedsport NY, 5/28 Utica. I will not be on the canal as it is loose pea gravel and not suitable for road bikes, but will be doing alot of parallel to it. I’ll be leaving Albany for Chicago on Amtrak on 5/13.
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That is so cool, there is a good chance we will bump into each other along the way! Sorry for the vagueness, my brother’s college classes end on 5/17 so we will be ending out sometime after that.
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That is so exciting! Happy planning 🙂
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Thank you, Taruza!
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Oh my gosh, that is so exciting!!!! Can’t wait to follow updates! 🙂
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There is a good video on Adventure Cycling Facebook that goes over the whole map reading. Lots of good info that explains the whole kit and caboodle.
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I will head over there and check it out, thanks John!
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“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that goes through Colorado, and that if you let it, it might take you to the Lonely Mountain or even further and to worse places?” (Perhaps even to an ocean so blue, such an expanse of waves and water and wind you’ll never find a way back. There are creatures the likes of which even I’ve never seen. Gobble you up in a single bite.)
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (but not in the parentheses)
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Haha, you have no idea how much this comment makes me smile. Hopefully our journey will be a little less eventful than Frodo’s though…
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Wow! That’s an epic adventure – you must be so excited. Cycle touring is so much fun. I think the only probablem I would have is stopping in Colorado – by the time you’ve got that far, San Francisco looks enticingly close 😉
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It sure does, doesn’t it! But there is a ridiculous amount of mountain ranges from Colorado to California so that will probably help us stay put 😉
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that is so cool! I want to start touring soon. We just got a BOB trailer, but I also want to do some bagging too.
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Exciting times! I am sure you will have a blast 😀
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That looks amazing Bri!
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I am so excited Gail!!!! 😀
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I can imagine! What a journey! I ‘m excited and I’m not even doing it! 😀
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Wow, sounds like an amazing opportunity. Stay safe and take care!
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Thanks Josh, at this point I am bursting at the seams with excitement 😀 Only 20ish more days to go! Hopefully we will be ready by then, hehe
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