Rough Draft of Routing finished

So a little bit earlier than expected, the rough draft of my route is set. It looks a little something like this:

San Diego CA - Tempe AZ 411 miles
Tempe AZ - Fort Collins CO 861 Miles
Fort Collins CO - Alexander KS 440 Miles
Alexander KS - Girard KS 335 Miles
Girard KS - Murphysboro IL 411 Miles
Murphyboro IL - Berea KY 410 Miles
Berea KY - Norristown PA 667 Miles
Norristown PA to Windsor CT 317 Miles
Windsor CT - Boston MA 104 Miles

Total = 3956 goddamn miles.

Or, according to Google, 32,000 Furlongs. Or 6.808972e-10 light years.

San Diego to Tempe, Alexander all the way to Berea, and Norristown to Windsor are all ACA approved and mapped routes, so I'll have nicely laminated maps that show me where I can reasonably expect to camp for the night.

Tempe to Fort Collins, Fort Collins to Alexander, Berea to Norristown, and Windsor to Boston are a little more dicey. As of right now I'm going with a simple Google mapping with the option for "Avoid Highways" selected. This means I'm going to have to get a bit more creative with my camping and stopping options. My fervent hope is that somewhere in Fort Collins and Alexander I'll come across some dilapidated farmhouse where the kindly ranch hands offer me a place to stay, while being expressly forbidden to nail the farmer's beautiful daughter. From my vast experience watching TV, this situation always ends well for everyone.

The ride from Tempe to Fort Collins is going to be a nightmare in its own right that I'll address in some other post when I feel braver. Even thinking about it terrifies me right now.

4000 miles is more than I had originally planned, I'd originally figured I'd go with a straight route where I just go from point A to B. This changed for a couple of reasons. A few people have offered to put me up for the night along the way, so with a quick and minor detour in their direction, I'll have a warm bed, a shower, and with the exception of crashing in Fort Collins, the oppurtunity to steal something cool.

There's benefits to be had here, though. People at the Bike Forums rave about the ACA maps and how easy they make it to plan your day. I'll be able to have the company and support of other bikers as well, BUT I'll have nice extended breaks from well-worn biking routes and the people who frequent them. If I'm any indication, bicyclists are arrogant, obnoxious douchebags who are only bearable in the smallest of doses, so I don't want to surround myself with them ALL the time.

It's not the distance that worries me, it's the time crunch. 4000 miles over 59 days works out to be roughly 67 miles per day, which is a pretty easygoing average ride. However, I can't simply bike every single day. I'm going to need the occasional day off. So I'm roughly planning on this schedule:

Crash in Tempe/Phoenix for 1 day.
Crash in Fort Collins for 2 days
Crash in Girard for 1 day
Crash in Berea for 1 day
Crash in Windsor for 1 day
Spend 3 days in Boston visiting friends and family
Spend 2 days at home recovering and peeing blood.

So that's 11 rest days, out of 59 total, which is roughly 1 rest day every six days. That, again, is a pretty normal ratio from what I've been learning. However now we're talking about doing this over 48 travel days, which works out to 82.5 miles per day.

82 miles per day on average is a VERY high number. There are some freaks who can probably do that while weaving a basket with one hand, but for an out of shape slob like myself that's going to be cutting it extremely close. I can shave off a rest day or two here and there, but there's not much wiggle room in that list.

This is a problem I'm not 100% sure I know how to fix. It's an agressive pace, but not insanely so, so I can't just abandon this route and start over. But I'll have no way of knowing if I'm in shape enough to handle it or not until I'm basically out there. In the end though, I think I have to err on the side of Boldness. Worst case scenario if I scrap this route and start over is that the new route is completely unacceptable for unforseeable reasons. The good part of this proposed routing is that most of it is VERY well travelled by bicycle folks and known to be workable. The worst case scenario if I just say "Fuck it" and go with this route is that I go to hell because I swear too much. The second worst scenario is that I run out of time in like PA or something and have to take the train the rest of the way home. It'd suck, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.