Buy a bike. Just do it.

The weapons of our choices are picked.....well bought it is.
After some consideration we decided to go with Trek Checkpoint, models AL4 for my co-cyclist and ALR 5 for me.
Felt really good trying them out at trekstoregbg, though just on a short section of flat bike lane.
They will be delievered in a few weeks time and we’re like children waiting for christmas.

Learn from the pros

Doing this kind of adventure takes a lot of preparation, and a lot of it you can learn online on various sites, faceboook-groups etc but getting to listen to it live and direct from a real adventurer must be the best.

And this tuesday we got the opportunity to listen to some real great stories and experiences from a former colleague of mine at Nordic Wellness gym, Amanda Follin. (Btw, give her a follow on Instagram at @endorfinkliniken)
She rode her bike this past summer from Borås to Åre in the north....ah well...middle of Sweden, but it´s a 1000 km.
We were at a wildlife and adventure store called "Vildland" here in Borås and I must say I was really  impressed by both Amanda and "Vildland". There will be more visits to that place.

Amanda told the audience about her experiences when doing this bike-ride. Anything from having the right mind-set to fixing flats and what equipment you might need...or might not need.
She even explained that Compeed can fix saddle sores. Uselful information!
"You never told me it can hurt like that" my girlfriend an co-cyclist said afterwards...eh...well...no...because it´s like 30 years since I last had a really bad saddle sore.

If you get used to sitting on a saddle and equip yourself with the best possible bibshorts I guess things like that could be avoided.
 

Physical setbacks a k a coughing and snoring

 

Yes, it’s that time if the year when getting hit by various bugs and viruses is unavoidable(?).
So the plan to work on some basic fitness have been forced to be put back a couple of weeks. (Even the blogging has suffered the last two weeks.)

But STILL! The commuting by bicycle is ongoing despite this!
Every day, today was day 70 (well, almost every day, unfortuntely had to use the car to work for 3 days since August).

Creating a habit of just get up and ride the bike despite what the body tells you, whatever the weather throws at you, will be vital once the big ride across the USA is underway. This idea of creating habits is also scientifically proved:

Old Habits Die Hard. This is because the area of the brain where many habits are formed, called the basal ganglia, remembers pathways that nerves fire on. ... This is one reason why habits can be so difficult to break: even after years, the right trigger will set a broken habitpattern into motion.

Hunger flat/Hungerhammare...

Do as Bauke Mollema and my brother, eat regularly
to avoid getting hunger flat.

...is another name for getting very VERY hungry while out (or indoors for that matter) cycling.
Today it happened to me when I instructed a cycling class at the gym.
It´s not pleasant at all to feel all the power you have in your legs and body disappear in just a few seconds and sometimes almost getting dizzy.

I imagine while riding 5000 km across America there will be plenty of opportunities to have hungerflats if we don´t eat and drink properly. 

If that happens here at home, the proper way to deal with it is to turn around and go back home as quickly as possible and refill on energy.
Or...if you´re not very close to home, stop at the nearest store and buy a fair amount of Coca-Cola and candy and just eat like there is no tomorrow.
Or..as today, if you´re indoors I got rescued by a kind participant who handed me a bar right after the class ended. THANK YOU!

BUT, what if it happens in the middle of....let´s say Nebraska...what the heck do we do??
Well, we will for sure carry food on our bikes and a lot of snacks (with a lot of sugar in it), just to avoid those scary moments when you feel all your strength just fade away.
So to just stop and have a feast of whatever we can put in our mouths will be top priority.

And from what I´ve learnt about our route through the US so far, there won´t be many parts where food and snacks will be unaivalable. The areas we will ride through will be populated, maybe not like here in Sweden but we will (I think) pass cities or villages almost every day.
Otherwise we´ll just carry enough until next opportunity to re-stock.

Though, even if we carry enough food, eating it on a regular basis is also (of course) a priority.
Waiting until you feel hungry and...BOOOM....the hunger flat might be coming.

It´s all ´bout the....

money...?
Or is it on an cyclingadventure like this? Naahh...it will all be about having as much fun as possible of course!

And naaahh again if you ask this guy as well, which I did on Facebook yesterday:

"You COULD do it on 10-15 dollars a day. That's IF you are very frugal. You could do it for nothing really if you ate from dumpsters. It's been done."

Well, not really how we plan to do it. 

And not doing it by splashing out hundreds of dollars on hotels and eating out at restaurants every week either.

We plan on cooking most breakfasts and evening meals by ourselves and camp for free or as cheap as possible to keep spendings down.

But without being greedy to the absurd. A night or two in a hotel won´t do any harm and on-bike-meals will probably be had at the closest "establishment" possible. The daily dose of Coca-Cola will also dig a whole (at least in) my wallet.

Well, budget-wise, I think for the moment, with 20-ish months left, we´ll go with the simple advice from a famous Swedish adventurer: "Start saving", and keep looking for good advice.

Probably we will be enlightened in the end, like we will be by this light on dark nights in the tent.

  

New design and links to interesting peoole

Some changes done last night in the tired haze after a 12 hour working day, two bike rides and a 3 km walk.
Changed the theme to a proper one for this kind of adventure.
I also added links to some very inspiring people whose blogs are well worth a visit.
Got any blogs/vlogs/sites you think I should add? Tell me!

A challenge me and my colleague took on right after our vacation ended was to start commuting to work by bicycle. Our aim was to keep riding until another colleague started working after her parental leave ended, on what I thought was October 31st....apparently it was Oct. 1st😁
But I’m still riding. Today was day 52/59. Next friday the challenge ends but it’s possible I’ll keep riding....
Good to build some character for the US adventure I guess.

Btw, here’s a photo of me and my girlfriend and companion on the bicycle ride across America.
She rode 5 km last night.
One second I was so tempted to say ”Add 999 rides like that and then you’re across the US.”
I kept my mouth shut though!

Internet..what a thing, and camping...in my own livingroom!

I´m so glad that the Swedish government official Ines Uusman who (or was it the journalist who wanted a smashing headline?), back in the 90´s in an interview branded internet as a temporary phenomenon that would soon disappear, was wrong. 

Otherwise I´m not sure this bicycleride across america would ever have come to my mind.....at least, my guess is that the thought of it would´ve been a lot less likely to appear.

I mean, without the internet we wouldn´t have stumbled across Ryan Van Duzer´s DuzerTV with the awesome videos who really made and impression and had this crazy idea take shape.

You can also say what you want about Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but I´ve hooked up with several experienced cyclists on those "channels" that is helping out with useful tips and tricks.

So, what else has happened since my last post....well, one thing I did last week was to put up the tent, in my own livingroom. It was really easy both to set up and then disassemble.

As I had it standing there I thought, why not sleep in it tonight...so I spent the night camping....in my own livingroom. 

Now it´s almost time to go to sleep...in bed this time though :-)

 

Contemplation and clothing sponsor

Watching the Youtube clips that made the thought of crossing USA on a bicycle enter my head and I´m thinking....what is happening?!?

One thing is to decide an early morning last august to go by car to Jönköping and ride all alone around Vättern (300 km).

Now we´re going to go across a whole continent with all that comes with it.

We and the bikes has to get there, we´re gonna bike 5000 km-ish, all of them within a time limit of 90 days.

But when something like this has gone this far into my mind, why hesitate? 

Just Do It they said?

Well, some times doubts also enters my mind.

One moment it seems like a great and fantastic idea and the other second you think of everything that can go wrong. (But what the heck! Up to this point in 2019 I´ve ridden almost 10000 km with, what I can recall, only one flat tire, one broken front derailleur and no crashes. 

The worst thing I can come up with is (besides some mechanical failure) sitting in a puddle of mud in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska eating black beans and soaking wet tortillas.

But hey, then at least we´ll have a view of a lifetime to remember.

Surely it´s mostly gonna be 20-30 degrees C and riding a bicycle in that weather is awesome. Especially as I´m entitled to drink 50 cl of Coke every 50 km...or is it every 100 km?

Whatever....it´s gonna be great fun cause my girlfriend Veronika is joining me...and it´ll be GREAT!

Right now she thinks riding 5 km is a challenge but with the mindset she has when it comes to sports and games she´ll be doing just fine! 

Check her blog on https://nouw.com/visstkanjag 

Ah yeah...clothing sponsor it was. Just some details left as it is called.

Then there will be more info but it sure is going to be a cool co-op. 

Some more sponsorships/co-operations is also about to be worked out in the future.

Got any good ideas, prospositions, or just feel like following this "project", we´re on social media.

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.johansson.1238

https://www.facebook.com/VeronikaRH75

instagram:

@cyklistendaniel

@veronikarahm

Twitter:

@danbanan31

TWO sleepingbags?!

Well...what am I supposed to do with two sleepingbags?!
I am tall....but am I tall enough to be in need of two bags?
Nope! I am not! The reason is that I get a companion on the ride across the continent.
And not any company, my girlfriend Veronika will join forces with me on this adventure.

Link to her blog: https://nouw.com/visstkanjag

She’s not that experienced in cycling but with 20 months still to go and a competitive mind out of this world she sure as h*** is going to make it.
Gonna be awesome!!👍

Testing testing

Always nice with new equipment to try out.
Yesterday we made ourselves some cups of damn fine coffee outdoors.

Next week I’m gonna put the sleeping mat and maybe the tent to test.
Have to use my old sleeping bag that can stand lower temps though.

The plan was to camp out this week but as I have a paper that is supposed to be finished sunday and my always time optimistic mind plans had to be changed.

Might seem a bit early to behin with these kind of preparations but to get used to sleeping out in any condition and the equipment I feel it’s better to be an early bird.

Kul med nya prylar att testa.
Igår blev det några koppar kaffe i skogen.

Nästa vecka ska liggunderlaget och ev. tältet få bekänna lite färg. Sovsäckarna är gjorda för varmare temperaturer så det får bli den ”gamla” som klarar kyla.
Tänkte egentligen sovit ute natten som kommer men p g a inlämningsuppgift som ska vara inlämnad på söndag och att jag väntar med sånt till sista minuten för jag har ju såååååå gott om tid, skjuts allt framåt lite.

Kan tyckas vara tidigt att börja med sån- här aktiviteter redan nu, men det gäller att sätta standarden och få in vanan samt att inte backa för något. Inte ens köldgrader (som jag iof sig inte tror blir en faktor i skarpt läge 2021).

Delievery

Already a small delievery with some equipment to try out arrived today. Time for testing begins!

Tent ✅

Sleeping mat✅

Sleeping bag✅

2021

2021 it is! June until September it is. (Unspecified exact dates)
Let’s go! Vamos! Vai vai vai! Venga venga!

Budget....

Hur lägger man en budget för ett sånt här okänt äventyr?
Med budget menar jag från kilometer 0, Stilla Havs-kusten i Astoria, OR - New York då framhjulet doppar sig i Atlanten. Det är ju inte direkt som att cykla 150 km, fika lite på vägen och sen dricka några cola utanför den lokala servicebutiken.
(Flyg, utrustning etc "går på ett annat konto". Coca-Cola kommer även det ligga separat....antagligen den största utgiftsposten:-)  )

Det jag gjort hittills är att leta upp andra som gjort samma resa och läst mig till/frågat hur deras kostnader såg ut.
Jag kan säga att det varierar hiskeligt, en del ligger väldigt lågt medan en del ligger väldigt högt, mest beroende på hur de valt att äta och bo vilket såklart blir de största kostnaderna.
Hiskelig variation betyder i det här fallet från $7 - över $100/dag. 

Grundtanken i det här "projektet" är att klara sig på så lite $/dag som möjligt utan att för den sakens skull vara dumsnål.
Det betyder att fri-campa så mycket det bara är tillåtet och laga den mesta maten själv.

Sökandet efter den "perfekta" budgeten kommer fortsätta....och efter det här äventyret ska jag gå upp till kommunpolitikerna och visa hur en slipsten ska dras.....alltså....att inte vara dumsnål.

Lokalsinne?

Den tänkta färdvägen (om färden blir av...fast..Just do it är ju mantrat så...) över kontinenten ser ju på håll ganska rak ut men i detalj kan den på sina ställen vara lite knixig såg jag i helgen.
Mest genom städer såklart, men det löser sig. Väl? Har ju en klocka med kompass och Google Maps på mobilen.
Lokalbefolkningen verkar även hjälpsam så luktar man inte alltför mycket svett kanske de kan bistå också.

Tanken är att undvika alltför stora vägar och cykla så mycket små asfaltsvägar, grusvägar och trails som möjligt.
Ryan van Duzer cyklade närmare 1000 miles grusväg/trails.
Trail uppfattar jag i det här sammanhanget som "typ" gamla banvallar och liknande.

Med andra ord blir det inte en landsvägshoj som mitt "prefered weapon of choice".
Återkommer till cykelval i senare inlägg men har redan några uppslag.

Den tänkta färdvägen

Den tänkta färdvägen across America. Direkt kopierad från Ryan Van Duzers och Ali Geisers cykeltur förra sommaren. 

Sträckan blir runt 500 mil och terrängen varierad. Enkelt uttryckt så är det uppförsbacke fram till ”the Continental divide”, sedan nedförsbacke till New York. Enkelt uttryckt alltså.

Etta på bollen

Söndags kväll - kollade potentiella flyg till USAs västkust.

Måndags kväll - kollade efter utrustning, bl a tält, liggunderlag, kläder, sovsäck.

Tisdags kväll - kollade olika förslag på färdväg. 

Onsdags kväll - köpte potentiella energibars att testa. 

Ingen tvåa på bollen här inte!

Det föddes en tanke....

Ett litet försök att blogga om en möjlig cykeltur över en kontinent....som kanske bara stannar vid en tanke. Men man vet aldrig....

Det började lite lätt i våras när en köpte sig en packväska till cykeln o sen i juli på Jula i Partille när ett Primus-kök införskaffades. Det kan ju vara kul att ha och ta små helgturer på gravelbiken. Väl?
Packväskan har använts en gång, köket aldrig. Bra köp!

I söndags tog allt en vändning, och tankar på att slita ut packväska och primus-kök föddes
efter att näst intill sträckkollat 37 avsnitt av Ryan Van Duzers och Ali Geisers 3500 Miles "cykeltur" tvärs över USA. Väl värt en titt.
#LoveCycles