The Itinerary

April 24, 2016

This weekend was dedicated to two Passover seders and a nice weekend with family. However late in the day on Friday I received the “Tour Kit” from ABB which included, among other information, the day-by-day itinerary for their Across America North itinerary.  As you can see from the details below, this is a trip that crosses the country, and Southern Ontario, Canada, avoiding, for the most part and of the major metropolitan areas where the majority of us now live.   

The 51 days of the tour start with a short day of riding from the hotel to the Pacific Ocean to do the ceremonial wheel dip in the water.  Then over the next seven weeks there will be 45 days of riding, four rest days off the bike and one day spent on a steam powered ferry crossing Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan.  There are a total of seven “centuries” (100 miles or more in a day) and six rides of over 90 miles, meaning that more than a quarter of all riding days are long miles.  Day 18 (actually the 19th day on the bike counting the short ride on “Day 0”) is the longest day of the tour—119 miles!  Here’s the itinerary that I received over the weekend:

                  Across America North 2016

                                                              
             DATE              CITY                  DAILY MI.      TOTAL MI.

0     Sun   June 19     Astoria, OR                   29                        29

1     Mon   June 20     St. Helens, OR             69                        98

2     Tues June 21     Welches, OR                 75                       173

3     Wed   June 22     Kah-Nee-Ta, OR         66                       239

4     Thur June 23     Prineville, OR               60                       299

5     Fri   June 24     John Day, OR              117                       416

6     Sat   June 25     Baker City, OR              81                      497

7     Sun   June 26     Ontario, OR                  83                      580

8     Mon   June 27     Boise, ID                     64                      644

9     Tues June 28     Boise, ID (Rest Day)                                     

10    Wed   June 29     Mountain Home,ID    53                      697

11    Thur June 30     Twin Falls, ID              97                      794

12    Fri   July 1      Burley, ID                       39                      833

13    Sat   July 2      Pocatello, ID                  85                       918

14    Sun   July 3      Idaho Falls, ID              66                       984

15    Mon   July 4      Jackson, WY                91                    1,075

16    Tues July 5      Dubois, WY                   86                    1,161

17    Wed   July 6      Riverton, WY               79                    1,240

18    Thur July 7      Casper, WY                  119                    1,359

19    Fri   July 8      Casper, WY  (Rest Day)                                                                       

20    Sat   July 9      Lusk, WY                      106                    1,465

21    Sun   July 10     Hot Springs, SD             93                   1,558

22    Mon   July 11     Rapid City, SD             74                   1,632

23    Tues July 12     Wall, SD                         58                   1,690

24    Wed   July 13     Kadoka, SD                   58                   1,748

25    Thur July 14     Chamberlain, SD          114                   1,862

26    Fri   July 15     Mitchell, SD                    71                    1,933

27    Sat   July 16     Sioux Falls, SD               73                    2,006

28    Sun   July 17     Sioux Falls, SD (Rest Day)                            

29    Mon   July 18     Worthington, MN         71                    2,077

30    Tues July 19     Mankato, MN               110                    2,187

31    Wed   July 20     Rochester, MN              98                    2,285

32    Thur July 21     La Crosse, WI                 88                    2,373

33    Fri   July 22     Mauston, WI                    75                    2,448

34    Sat   July 23     Fond du Lac, WI              92                    2,540

35    Sun   July 24     Manitowoc, WI               58                    2,598

36    Mon   July 25     Ludington MI (Ferry )     6                    2,604

37    Tues July 26     Mount Pleasant, MI       112                    2,716

38    Wed   July 27     Birch Run, MI                74                    2,790

39    Thur July 28     Port Huron, MI                87                    2,877

40    Fri   July 29     London, Ontario               83                    2,960

41    Sat   July 30     Brantford, Ontario           69                     3,029

42    Sun   July 31     Niagara Falls, NY           74                     3,103

43    Mon   Aug 1             Niagara Falls, NY (Rest Day)                  

44    Tues Aug 2             Rochester, NY           87                     3,190

45    Wed   Aug 3             Liverpool, NY          91                     3,281

46    Thur Aug 4             Little Falls, NY          79                     3,360

47    Fri   Aug 5             Latham, NY                74                     3,434

48    Sat   Aug 6             Brattleboro, VT          79                     3,513

49    Sun   Aug 7             Manchester, NH        77                     3,590

50    Mon   Aug 8             Portsmouth, NH       60                     3,650

The only downside to doing this cross the continent trip is that on July 24, when I am riding only 58 miles from Fond du Lac to Manitowoc,Wisconsin, I will miss my daughter Marci doing Ironman Lake Placid in upstate New York.  She’ll ride twice as many miles as me, swim 2.1 miles and run a marathon.  Marci took up triathlon in college, and has completed two Ironman’s.  However, several years ago she was unable to finish Ironman Lake Placid—so her tackling it this year is “unfinished business” for her.  I regret that I won’t be there, but fortunately that day is a short riding day so I should be done in plenty of time to follow her on ironman.com and get updates from  her longtime friend Jane who is coming up from Texas to cheer her on.  She’ll also have the members of her triathlon team there to support her.

Tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid-80’s around the DC Area.  Looking at the number of long biking days I’m going to have this summer, tomorrow is going to be a day to take advantage of the warm weather and knock off at least 60 miles.  After all, there’s now less than two months to go!