Flea The Race

The Conception of a Daft Idea….

I’ve been toying with the idea of taking a road trip by bicycle to see some of Canada & America during my 4 months between jobs period. My primitive plan at this point in time is that I depart Dublin, Ireland on May 02nd bound for Vancouver, Canada with a 2 year working visa in my arse pocket.   I partake in the Vancouver Half Marathon on May 03rd and I have challenged my brother and his wife to run a half marathon with me in Wellington, New Zealand on July 05th, up until now this is all that I have set in stone.  I have my 2 fixed points of May 02nd and July 05th so now its time to pad out the inbetweeny bits.  This blog post sets out to help me decide and document what it is I should do with myself for this 2 month period.

My current position is I am living in Dublin City Centre working away as an Engineer with the same wireless product design company for the last 5 years, as I write I have 2 months and a day left before I depart.  I have 3 more weeks of work left before I hand in my notice of resignation, followed by 1 month to work out my notice, followed by 2 weeks to organise, plan and tie off loose ends before I head away and stamp my 2 year Canadian working visa into life.  I started selling off all my stuff 6 months ago and now most of the good stuff is gone, I’ve also completed most of the personal projects I had on the go so now I guess it’s time to knuckle down and start planning my trip.

Initially I was thinking of exploring Canada and areas of interest around Vancouver but I then cut this idea down and decided that I would have all the time in the world to do this when I base myself in Vancouver for work.  This week I flashed upon the idea of a cycling road trip in the US so I cracked open Google Maps and read some other travel posts about Californian travel highlights….anyway, with a little more mind drifting I ended up in Tijuana, Mexico, pondering the possibility of cycling from Canada to Mexico, or more specifically from Vancouver to Tijuana, some notion huh?  That’s pretty much where I’m at this past 3 days, deciphering the feasibility of this harebrained idea!

First things first, my Specialized Allez Comp road bike was up for sale and there was a guy coming to buy it yesterday so I needed to put a halt to this sale while I’m faffing about with my planning.  Had the guy came earlier in the week the bike would probably be gone as the idea wasn’t on my radar.

 

I should point out that I bought this bike on the 25th June 2012 so I have it over 2.5 years and have an odometer on it since day one.  The odometer currently reads 2207km, this is all I have cycled in 2.5 years and I’m planning to cycle 3000km in 2 months….this is still just an idea….I can back out at any time 😛

Now that the idea has hatched there are many topics to research over my remaining 2 months, these topics will mostly cover the following which I will post about as I get around to researching them.

Logistics
Getting my gear to Vancouver, do I buy stuff for the trip here and fly over with it ready to hit the ground peddling or do I buy it in Canada once I get there,   What do I do with my other belongings that I don’t need while on the road trip, how do I get my gear back to Vancouver from Mexico considering I have to hi-tail it off to New Zealand as soon as I get to Mexico (excuse this presumption!)

Bike Configuration
How do I cart what I need for 2 months worth of camping on a road bike that was designed for speed and not muling long haul cargo, bike gearing ratio may need to change to assist with the uphill cargo hauling, wheels and tyres might need an upgrade due to the extra weight so that I’m not popping spokes in every pothole (I’m sure there’s no potholes in the US!)

Route Planning
Where to stop off for rest days, what route to take, points of interest along the way,where to camp or stay along the way, how many km can I do per day, what is the road surface & topography like, where can I get a train if I want out, what bike resources are there along the way for repair supplies, where are the food stores situated in relation to camping grounds or hostels.

Gear
If camping then all the usual camping gear is required stove, cooking equipment, tent, sleeping bag.  This stuff needs to be light as possible which means it’s going to be bloody expensive so researching the right stuff here is going to take some time (and money).  What is the minimum amount of clothing I can get away with while remaining comfortable.  What weather can be expected on the US west coast for May/June.

More to come? … I hope so!