Homeward bound

After a shade under two months the States it's finally time to return to the UK! We've had the most relaxing week of chilling and partying in San Francisco- what an absolutely amazing city this is! We've crammed in a fair bit including a visit to Alcatraz, cycling the Golden Gate bridge and seeing the Giants lose a ballgame- a perfect place to end the trip really.
Thanks to everyone who has read and commented on our intermittent updates- your messages of support really have helped us keep going. Photos of our trip our now up here and donations to CLIC Sargent our still very much welcomed at our justgiving We may be past £3000 but there's no reason why we can't smash our target!

So all that remains to be said is a massive thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way. 3930 miles after Beverly Beach, Maryland it's time to pack those bikes up again! See you in the UK!

San Francisco at last!

Apologies for the long delay in posting to the blog. There was very limited internet access all across the Nevada desert, and by the time we got into California, we were just too focused on getting to San Francisco! But we have made it at last: we arrived in San Francisco yesterday after 49 days and over 3,900 miles on the road!

Day 40: Cedar Breaks, UT - Milford, UT (78 miles)
Day 41: Milford - Baker, NV (84 miles)
Day 42: Baker - Ely, NV (63 miles)
Day 43: Ely - Eureka, NV (79 miles)
Day 44: Eureka - Austin, NV (70 miles)
Day 45: Austin - Fallon, NV (112 miles)
Day 46: Fallon - Genoa, NV (93 miles)
Day 47: Genoa - Fair Play, CA (86 miles)
Day 48: Fair Play - Davis, CA (75 miles)
Day 49: Davis - San Francisco, CA (68 miles)

The long stretches between towns in western Utah and all the way across Nevada made this stretch incredibly tough. With no services for often over 70 or 80 miles, we had to carry lots of extra water and food. We also hit a lot of headwind and crosswind, which made the cycling very slow at times. The toughest day was into Austin where the winds were incredibly high, and it rained as we crossed the last mountain pass which meant we were all very cold and wet, so we decided to get a motel instead of camping!
Still, we had an enjoyable trip through Nevada - we even got to celebrate Sam's birthday in Ely at a great Mexican restaurant.
We enjoyed a run of luck in the last few days; when we arrived in Genoa, there were no campsites but the English owner of the B&B took pity on us and let us sleep on the floor of her living room and use the hot tub!
Then our next day into Fair Play we stopped at the Barkley Homestead Winery where the owners let us sleep in their lakehouse and sample their fantastic wines and beers!
And on our penultimate day we met Amy, a friend of Sam's from school, who is studying at the University of California in Davis, and let us stay in her apartment.
Yesterday we enjoyed our last day of cycling, taking a nice gentle pace all the way to Vallejo, only to miss the last ferry of the day by 15 minutes! Luckily we were able to catch a bus across the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco!
It's been a long and tiring trip, but it has been worth every second of it, we've all had such a fantastic time. We would like to thank all the kind people who have helped us along the way.
We will post some more photos soon!

Well that's most of the mountains done now...

While it may seem that we're trying to break the record for the longest time without posting to the blog, it turns out at the top of mountains and in the middle of deserts there isn't a lot of phone reception or super-fast internet readily available! I'm now writing this from Cedar City, Utah- about 150 miles from the Nevada border. Here's a run-down of what we have managed the last couple of weeks:

Day 29: Pueblo, CO - Westcliffe, CO (60 miles)
Day 30: Westcliffe - Garfield, CO (68 miles)
Day 31: Garfield - Sapinero, CO (70 miles) - Monarch Pass, elevation: 11312 feet
Day 32: Sapinero - Ridgway, CO (68 miles)
Day 33: Ridgway - Dolores, CO (99 miles) Dallas Divide, elevation 8983 feet; Lizard Head Pass, elevation: 10222 feet
Day 34: Dolores - Blanding, UT (82 miles)
Day 35: Blanding - Lake Powell, UT (98 miles)
Day 36: Lake Powell - Caineville, UT (68 miles)
Day 37: Caineville - Boulder, UT (70 miles)
Day 38: Boulder - Bryce Canyon, UT (80 miles)
Day 39: Bryce Canyon - Cedar Breaks, UT (71 miles)

The past few days have been easily the toughest of the trip, but also by far the most rewarding in terms of scenery. Through the second half of Colorado we headed through the Rocky mountains. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed after Pueblo (before it had been flat plains since Missouri). As soon as we were past Pueblo, the climbing started- following a morning off to service the bikes etc we only managed 60-odd miles, including our first major climb. The next day, we attempted to tackle Monarch Pass- the highest point of the entire trip at over 11000 feet- we got to within 3 miles of the top when it got dark and we camped out at the roadside. While this seemed a good idea in the evening, it was so cold the next morning the idea of climbing another 1000 feet didn't seem very attractive! It was a pretty big sense of achievement once we got to the top however- everything had to be downhill from there!

The scenery continued to be pretty spectacular for the next couple of days as we wound our way round most of the major hills until day 33, when we left ourselves two big climbs and around 100 miles to do to get through the end of the major mountains. While it seemed daunting at the start we ended up breezing through, rewarded with stunning views and the last 50 miles (mainly downhill) cracked off in around 3 hours.

Our first day into Utah wasn't quite so pleasant however- steep rolling hills and massive crosswinds meant it was a really tough day into Blanding. At the end of the day, however, we met our first fellow west-bound crosscountry-ers: Greg and Bianca from New England who we ended up following for the next couple of days. It was nice to have a bit of a change of company for once! I think we're now around a day or so ahead of them, but we definitely hope to catch up when we get to California!

I think it's fair to say Utah has been the highlight of the trip so far; while Colorado was beautiful, the last few days has felt like we've been riding through the set of a western film. We've seen canyons and mountains, deserts and lakes- every day has seemed to hold something a bit different. We're now pretty close to Nevada- meaning we have around 800 miles still to cycle to get to San Francisco. Our target originally was to get there in around 50 days- something we're well on track to do- if we push we may even be there in 49!

Pretty sure this might be a bit of a long stretch without much more internet access, so this might be the last blog for a bit, although obviously we will update as often as possible! Wish us luck for the desert!

Some Colorado snaps so far...

We're in Gunnison, Colorado- on our 31st day, and have completed around 2400 miles. Got some time to kill in a library, so here are some of my favourite photos of our favourite state so far...

Colorado!

When we last posted to the blog, we had just finished the Ozark mountain range in Missouri, looking forward to an extended spell of flat riding. Well, that's all finished now- we're now in Pueblo, Colorado, and can see the Rocky mountains from our window- a little bit daunting! Here's a rundown on what we've managed in the last week or so:

Day 22: Pittsburg, KS - Yates Center, KS (60 miles)

Day 23: Yates Center, KS - El Dorado, KS (65 miles)

Day 24: El Dorado, Ks - Hutchinson, KS (75 miles)

Day 25: Hutchinson, KS - Kinsley, KS (88 miles)

Day 26: Kinsley, KS - Garden City, KS (90 miles)

Day 27: Garden City, KS - Lamar, Colorado (107 miles)

Day 28: Lamar, CO - Pueblo, CO (122 miles)

Our first full day in Kansas was also our first full day of horrible weather- persistent rain all day, combined with strong winds meant we sacked off camping for the night, and only managed 60 miles into Yates Center. From there, we pedalled to El Dorado, where we stayed with the Monroe family, who we had met way back on day 6 in Wythville, Virginia- they kindly offered us a place to stay if we were ever passing through Kansas- an offer to kind to refuse! To tie this in to our trip, we decided to venture off the officical TransAmerica route, and followed Route 50 all the way from Newton, KS through to where we are now in Pueblo. This has made our route far more direct, and to be honest, it's not like we missed out on many sights in Kansas!

From El Dorado, we headed to Hutchinson, where we were planning on camping. However, as we were checking the map for directions to our campground, we were again offered a place to stay for the night- thanks to Jason and Kalene Nisly for confirming that people in Kansas win the most friendly people in America so far award!

Since Hutchinson, we have been gradually climbing uphill to Pueblo- we are now at just a shade under 5000 feet. However, the riding has not been especially tough- the main challenge has been just keeping going when there is really not much to distract you from the straight roads and flat farmland! The last couple of days have been our biggest two of the trip, as we tried to up our daily average- it's now up to 80 miles a day, meaning we have to hit 73 per day for the next three weeks to get to San Francisco on time in 50 days.

We've got the Rockies to start today, and there's no messing around- we have 25 miles of gradual uphill out of Pueblo before climbing up to 9000 feet today, followed by the highest point of the entire trip tomorrow- almost 12000 feet over Monarch pass! It's going to be a challenge, but we all feel in great condition to tackle it- a change of scenery will be nice at least!

Will post again soon- wish us luck! If you want to really show some support, don't forget this whole trip is for a very good cause: we are raising money for CLIC Sargent- a children's cancer and leukaemia charity back in the UK - donations to the cause can be made here

Flat(ish) for 1000 miles!

Since the last post (again, a bit too long ago) we have cycled across yet another state- I'm now writing this from Pittsburg, Kansas.

Day 17: Chester, Il - Farmington, Missouri (55 miles)
Day 18: Farmington, Mo - Owl's Bend, Mo (75 miles)
Day 19: Owl's Bend, Mo - Hartville, Mo (95 miles)
Day 20: Hartville, Mo - Ash Grove, Mo (75 miles)
Day 21 Ash Grove, Mo - Pittsburg, Kansas (70 miles)

From Chester, we crossed the Mississippi into Missouri. The first few miles were pleasant enough, but within about 45 minutes we were caught in another big thunderstorm, and had to take shelter in a local garage for a bit- a pattern that continued all day, hence the short 55 mile day into Farmington. The next couple of days after that were fantastic cycling however, as we entered the Ozark mountains in central Missouri- lots of beautiful rolling hills covered in pine forests. A particular highlight was our night on day 18: we camped next to a river which flowed off the mountains- we had a pretty nice (but cold) swim for a bit, perfect after a tough day's riding!

The next day we managed a good amount of miles into Hartville without too much alarm, and all was going well until about 3am when we were once again caught in a storm. This one was unlike anything we'd seen before, and due to us being in pretty flimsy tents, we decided the best thing to do was to ditch them and hide under a nearby porch until it blew over- it was pretty scary stuff! Didn't make for the best night's sleep either- we were all pretty knackered the next morning! Managed 75 into Ash Grove yesterday- nice town, made all the nicer by the Christensen family who saw it was a Sunday night in a sleepy town and kindly took us in for a couple of hours and fed us bacon and eggs for tea! It's things like that which are really making this trip special for us- random acts of kindness that we just wouldn't usually come across in the UK.

Now we've got the hills out of the way, we've just cracked through another 70-odd today, but in just over 4 hours of cycling- the lack of hills and a big tailwind help so much! Hopefully this bodes well for the rest of Kansas and we avoid the storms for a while now!

Missing you all lots

Sam, Hal & Dave

Another day, another state

Since the last update from Hindman we have made cracking progress! I'm writing this from a public library in Chester, Illinois- on the banks of the Mississippi river, about to cross the border into Missouri.

Day 10: Hindman, Ky - Booneville, Ky (67 miles)
Day 11: Booneville, Ky - Harrodsburg, Ky (102 miles)
Day 12: Harrodsburg, Ky - Hodgenville, Ky (96 miles)
Day 13 Hodgenville, Ky - Utica, Ky (104 miles)
Day 14: Utica, Ky - Marion, Ky (72 miles)
Day 15: Marion, Ky - Goreville, Il (80 miles)
Day 16: Goreville - Chester, Il (80 miles)

We have now covered just shy of 1250 miles, and once we cross the river, we'll be in our 6th State! The riding since Hindman has flattened out a bit; we've seen the end of the Appalachian mountains, and the terrain has given way to rolling farmland through the rest of Kentucky.

Our first day in Illinois was one of the toughest of the trip so far, with steep rolling hills and 38 degree heat, IN THE SHADE! We also managed to take a wrong turn halfway through the day, meaning we had to take around a 15 mile detour at the end of the day- not really something to be doing after such a hard day in the saddle. In some ways it was worth it though- we stopped for pizza at the most stereotypical American bar, and were bought shots by some very friendly regulars. Sam even got his first phone number of the trip from one particularly attentive lady.....

Missouri should be nice riding, made a bit tougher by tackling the Ozark mountain range- this should mean more steep hills, but hopefully they'll be over in a few days time....once we're through there, it's on to Kansas- lovely flat roads, but probably tough in the wind!

Better dash now, got another 75 miles or so to crack out this afternoon- photos to come soon I promise!

Who knew the appalachians were so big?

For a mountain range none of us really knew much about, the Appalachian mountains which stretch between Virginia and Kentucky are proving to be surprisingly hard work! Since the last update, we have had three more days of tough riding.

Day 7: Wythville,VA - Damascus, VA (60 miles)
Day 8: Damascus - Elkhorn City, KY (86 miles)
Day 9: Elkhorn City - Hindman, KY (66 miles)

Riding here is really hard work- not only are the mountain climbs ridiculously steep, but it has also been up to 42 degrees at times- which has meant that today we were forced to take a two hour break in the middle of the day to lie around at the roadside while the sun went in! It's seeming like a long time ago that we were getting the subway out of Washington- despite the hard work and sore legs, we are all getting into the swing of it now, and will probably be in California before we know it!

We have left the big mountains behind for now, and now are going to go through a few days of steeply rolling hills, pretty draining in this heat. If all goes to plan we will be in Berea, Kentucky by tomorrow night- apparently a distance of well over 100 miles- unfortunately this is necessary if we want to keep our average mileage up...

Just want to mention a big thank you to Joe Bowen who helped us out big-time in Hindman today in finding our lodging for the evening- all those people who said "you can't miss it" were sorely mistaken! Joe has just written a book detailing his two 14000 mile bike rides around the USA and Canada- a pretty remarkable achievement, and something we'll definitely be reading once we get home.

That's all for now, hope to update again soon-maybe even the next state!

Hal, Sam & Dave

One week down!

Apologies for the length of time between updates, getting to internet out in redneck country is proving to be more difficult than anticipated! We're currently in Whythville, Virginia, about to start our seventh consecutive day of riding.

After flying into DC the other day, we made fairly slow progress for a couple of days from the Maryland coast, mainly as this involved cycling a fair way in the wrong direction to get there, and then staying in DC for a night as well. Once we got into the countryside a bit more, we have managed to get a lot more miles in- 95 into Charlottesville, and another 86 into Wytheville yesterday. We have also entered the Appalachian mountains- really tough riding, but fantastic views from the top (when we got there!) Today should be the last of the big peaks (over 3000ft), and then the terrain gradually levels out until we reach the plains in Missouri and Kansas.

To recap the first week, we have managed:
Day 1: Beverly Beach, MD - Washington, DC (37 miles)
Day 2: Washington, DC - Prince William Forest Park, VA (55)
Day 3: Prince William - Charlottesville, VA (95)
Day 4: Charlottesville - Vesuvius, VA (72)
Day 5: Vesuvius - Catawba, VA (76)
Day 6: Catawba - Wytheville, VA (87)
About 425 miles so far, so pretty much on track to make into San Francisco on time!
(Today should be a slightly smaller day into Damascus, VA - roughly 60 miles)

It's definitely been a bit of an eye-opener into how tough this trip is going to be- already gone through three punctures and a crash in the first week, not to mention a broken pannier rack and very tired legs! We're all absolutely loving it though, the scenery has been stunning, and the people here are so incredibly friendly- always stopping to chat and wish us good luck.

We will hopefully get some photos up soon- perhaps when we have a bit more time and a speedier internet connection! We'll also update this again as soon as we can.

That's all for now- don't forget to keep those donations coming in here- not far to go to reach our fundraising target!

Missing y'all lots.
Sam, Hal & Dave

Arrived!

We arrived in Washington DC yesterday afternoon after a 8 and a half hour flight from Heathrow. It's swelteringly hot here- is really going to make cycling long distances a bit trickier! Having got our bikes assembled last night (they survived the plane journey too!) we plan today on getting the metro to as near to the coast as we can, and then getting the obligatory photo of us as our start line! If all goes to plan we should be hitting Charlottesville, VA in a couple of days riding. Will post some more updates once we've actually got going, but keep checking back for updates!
Hal, Sam & Dave

All set for le grand depart....

After a year in the making, we finally leave for the States tomorrow! We fly from Heathrow to Washington Dulles tomorrow afternoon, and plan to stay the first night in a hostel just a few blocks from Capitol Hill - pretty good for sightseeing! From there, the plan becomes slightly hazy for a bit- we are now aiming to start from the Maryland coast just to the east of DC- this saves a lot of hassle trying to hire cars and the suchlike. The route will look something like this:

View TRANSUSA!!!! in a larger map

We will be travelling through 11 different states:
Maryland
District of Colombia
Virginia
Kentucky
Illinois
Missouri
Kansas
Colorado
Utah
Nevada
California

The route (assuming we don't get lost too much) should be a shade under 4000 miles (6500km) which we hope to cover in under two months - meaning an average of 80 mile days- allowing for a few rest days. Photos will be posted on http://picasaweb.google.com/halroberts87 and regular updates of how we're getting on will be on this very blog!

This last week has been a bit manic for all three of us, with trying to get everything organised- it turns out packing a bike and everything you need for two months into a box and two bags is pretty tricky! One highlight though was being interviewed on 10radio in Somerset on Friday morning- if anyone wants to listen to me doing my best to plug the trip, it can be heard again at the 10radio website.

One final note- our adventure is all for the purpose of raising money for the cause of CLIC Sargent. We aim to raise £3000 in order to ease the burden on families struggling with childhood cancer, and the good news is we are up to 70% of the way to this target! There is still a long way to go though- if you feel that you wish to donate anything to this worthy cause, please visit our fundraising page. Every penny goes straight to the charity, and every message we receive on there makes those miles a little bit less daunting; we really do appreciate your support!

I'd say that's a long enough entry to be getting on with, the next update should be from Washington DC- we'll be sure to say hello to Barack.

Thanks again for everyone's support and good wishes!

Hal, Sam & Dave

12 days and counting!

The rather exciting fact is that there is under two weeks until we fly Heathrow-Washington DC to start our adventure. It's all feeling pretty real now, and while the cycling is daunting and all, the organisation involved is pretty huge as well it turns out! While the original plan was to fly to Dulles airport and get the train down from Union Station, it turns out the time delay of faffing around waiting days for trains might be something we should avoid. I'm currently toying with the idea of hiring an SUV or something similar and driving down to the startling in Yorktown, VA-but this is also pretty complicated. All in all it's a bit frustrating running into issues before we've even started!

On a more positive note, our fundraising efforts really have taken off- with just £900 or so to go to reach our target of £3k, things really are looking up. If you want to support CLICSargent, as well as spurring us on, visit our fundraising page here

I'll post more details about the specifics of our route in the next couple of days, but in the meantime I had better get back to stressing out over transportation issues!

Some training photos so far

Click on the picture above to access some photos of our various training rides so far (ie Wales, the Lake District, the Peak District etc etc)

Just under four weeks to go!!!!

Halfway on the road to £3000

Thanks to a flurry of donations on our Justgiving account, we are now well on the way towards achieving our target of £3000 for CLIC Sargent. There is clearly a long way to go, so if you feel like donating to a fantastic cause, and spurring us on along our trip, any donations are very much appreciated.

Now exams are all out of the way (which all went pretty well I think!) we can start concentrating on training and preparation. A few weeks back, the three of us pedalled from Liverpool to Derby and back again (around 85 miles each way) to see Mark Beaumont give a talk about his adventures around the world and the Americas. It was a good evening, but the ride was very tough- a couple of very big climbs in the Peak District.



There are photos of our training up on Picasa which can be accessed here, and this will be updated up until we leave.

If anyone has any comments or advice for us, please leave a comment!

Under 6 weeks to go...

Degrees getting in the way of excitement!

Everything is moving on pretty sedately at the moment- despite the sun coming out for a bit over the last few weeks, end of term means exam season at uni unfortunately! Still, it's only a month or so til it's all over for the summer and then the serious business of getting ready for the trip can start...

We're finally managing to get all three of us out on a ride at the weekend- we're going to be riding the 160-odd mile round trip between Liverpool and Derbyshire (Sam's house) on Friday and Saturday, and are going to see Mark Beaumont give a talk on Friday night in Derby. (For those who don't know, Mark holds the world record for the fastest round-the-world bike trip and recently cycled from the top of Alaska to the bottom of Argentina for a BBC TV series- a few tips should be gained I would hope!)

We've had a bit of a flurry of donations in the last couple of weeks at our JustGiving site-all very much appreciated as we head up towards 50% of our £3000 target for CLIC Sargent. If anyone reading about our trip feels compelled to donate, every penny really will make a difference- and all straight to a fantastic cause.

More updates will be on their way, only 77 days to go!

First proper training....

The real training for America is finally underway! This week, Hal and Sam set out for the Lake District in search of some proper hills to ride up, and defiinitely found them. We got the train early Tuesday morning from Liverpool to Kendal, with the weather actually seeming to be OK at this stage...

This being the first time we'd actually done any cycling with all our camping gear, the logical thing to do was to find the highest mountain road in the Lakes, Kirkstone Pass, which is 1500 feet above sea level at the summit. While that doesn't sound huge, I can assure you that cycling from the bottom with 25kg of kit on the back of your bike makes it a bit harder!

Once down the other side and after lunch, the weather really turned bad- heavy rain and strong winds meant our stop at Ullswater was pretty brief, and by the time we got to Grasmere the prospect of cycling another pass to set up tents etc was not appealing in the slightest, so we checked into a b&b.

Luckily, Wednesday was a much better day weather-wise, and having got through as much of the breakfast as possible, we set off at around 9.30, aiming to make it the 90-odd miles back to Liverpool. Despite it being twice the distance of the day before, we both found this much easier (although admittedly there were hardly any mountains to go over...)

It's all coming together (apart from the tonsillitis...)

Happy New Year to everybody! (I realise it's a little late, but this is the first time I've been able to get round to this what with exams and coursework and the distraction of doing a degree- it just gets in the way!)

Well, I'm in a bit of a celebratory mood- I've just ordered myself a shiny new bike- a 2010 Ridgeback Panorama which should be with me in March sometime- quite an investment, but if all goes to plan then its not going to fall apart any time soon! Dave has gone for a Dawes Galaxy while Sam has gone all out for a Dawes SUPER Galaxy. So to justify all this expense it seems like we're going to have to do the trip now!

Now exams are pretty much out of the way, the plan is to ratchet up the training in a big way, although this has been scuppered momentarily by Sam going out and getting tonsillitis again- get well soon! So far training has consisted of a few rides into the Lancashire countryside-although the last couple of rides have been spoiled a bit by my flimsy road tires being attracted to various sharp objects and not having sufficient amounts of spare inner tubes or repair kits-must be more organised in future!

The fundraising has made a steady start on the road to £3000, many thanks to those of you who have dug deep so far- anyone who wants to donate to the worthy cause of CLIC SARGENT, please visit our donations site at http://www.justgiving.com/TransUSA - every penny raised will be donated to the charity and really will make a difference to those who really need it, as well as making all our hard work worthwhile!

Keep your eyes peeled for more updates here and on Facebook.

Much love

Hal