[Gus Riley]

We have zeroed into our start date for the TransAm trip. We will ride from Yorktown, Va to Florence, OR starting about the 3rd week of May 2009.

Planning for this trip has been in progress for a long time...7 years! After I retired from the USAF in Sept 2000, I planned to solo the TransAm. I purchased maps from Adventure Cycling and was making plans to ride starting the following May. I purchased things like a small light weight tent, a B.O.B. trailer, some cooking ware, and some other stuff I thought necessary for the trip. I was trained and set to go, I just had to wait for May 2001 to arrive.

Then my better half retired, then she said she wanted to ride too, and she wanted to ride it on the tandem. Okay. But she said she needed more time to train. Okay. Then her father passed away and we took in her mother who was suffering from early signs of Alzheimer’s. Then my mom passed away and we took in my 5 year old niece (mom was raising her). Okay.

Here is is eight years later and we're almost (finally) ready to go. Last year we purchased a triplet. We had previously thought we could take our tandem with a Piccollo attached. This planned worked really well except Jessie (niece) is now nine and growing like a weed! She has outgrown any chance at riding the Piccollo.

So a triplet it had to be. We looked high and low for an acceptable used triplet. New triplets are too expensive! We lucked out and were able to purchase a Santana from a family who had just finished a 9,000 mile ride. See their adventure at:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3Tzut&doc_id=1495&v=1lQ

Upon arrival I went pretty much bearing by bearing over this new (new to us) machine. It is a great bike! But I don't appreciate black too much so, it's getting repainted. We're going with a burnt orange. We have stripped it down to the frame and will bring it in Thursday for its new colors! Here are some "before" pictures. We'll post some "after" pix when they get done!

As we get closer to May 2009, we will open a journal in Crazy guy on a bike .com and keep it up to date with our progress to include daily pix of our trip. I will also post here.

We’re getting excited now!!

 

[MB1]

Great!

I'm looking forward to your reports.

 

[Gus Riley]

Sometime between now and lift off we hope to add a Garmin 705 Edge. The mapping is appealing to me. Kinda expensive though.

 

[rodar y rodar]

Wow, after so long "on hold", I bet you`re really chomping at the bit! Cool deal to wind up with that triplet too- It`s kind of historic in its own right. Good luck with your trip, it has to work out this time.

 

[JohnnyTooBad]

Sometime between now and lift off we hope to add a Garmin 705 Edge. The mapping is appealing to me. Kinda expensive though.

Considering the time, expense and effort involved in doing a TransAm, the 705 will be money well spent.

 

[T-shirt]

:2: Awesome! Congratulations and have fun.

:8: We look forward to hearing about your travels.

 

[Kerry Irons]

New maps

I purchased maps from Adventure Cycling and was making plans to ride starting the following May.

Be sure to get a new map set, or at least download all the addenda for your map set. There are constant route changes and updates of information, so a new map set is a worthwhile investment. Have a great trip.

 

[Mr. Versatile]

What a great adventure trip. I can't wait to read your reports.

 

[zeytin]

Wow, that sounds great. Another teacher at my school did it with her husband (also a teacher) a few years ago. It sounds wonderful, can wait to read and view updates on your progress.
Cheers,
Z

 

[Gus Riley]

Be sure to get a new map set, or at least download all the addenda for your map set. There are constant route changes and updates of information, so a new map set is a worthwhile investment. Have a great trip.

Great advice. We have been watching the changes/additions to the route from adventure cycling through the years. There are a bunch. I think we'll have to get a new set anyway.

We have routed each day on gmaps pedometer, and we plan to include each of those files with our daily reports. An example is our first day:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1499349

Our first day is around 56 miles. Yorktown to Glendale (Church). Our plans are mapped out, yet we remain flexible in that we don't feel restricted to them. We are also working on each days alternatives for camping/lodging ETC. This we have on an excel product and is about half finished. It really is surprising the number of possible overnight stays that are free.

 

[Gus Riley]

An update to the triplet:

We dropped it off last Thursday for its powder coating. We chose pumpkin orange. We called today and it is no longer black...it has been sandblasted. They estimate it being ready sometime later this week. Cool

We ordered new cables from Tandems East and new decals from Santana.

 

[thebadger]

That should be quite an experience. Have you had any experience yet in turning a bike that long? Just curious what it is like. Seems like it would require W I D E turns.

 

[Gus Riley]

... Have you had any experience yet in turning a bike that long? Just curious what it is like. Seems like it would require W I D E turns.

Of course! We ride it often. I can tell you the first time I jumped on it, I did so without stokers. As I rode out of my driveway and began my turn onto the road, it was so different that I promptly rode the triplet into the ditch (shallow) on the other side of the street! It was definitely a sensation I had not encountered previously.

My neighbor who is also an avid cyclist came over to see the new bike. I invited him to take it out for a test ride. He snapped up the offer and out he went. He repeated the same adventure to the ditch that I experienced.

It wasn't so much a feeling of wide turn as it was a sense of the thing "crabbing" while turning. Our cycling skills up to that point had no experience in dealing with the strange turn sensation. Once learned it never occurred again.

 

[Gus Riley]

Update:

We got our frame back from powder coating! We installed the decals purchased from Santana. Then I remembered I should take some pictures and get them on the board here before I got too far along...we are excited to see the whole bike put back together complete with its new color!! We love it!!!!

 

[FatTireFred]

how long is that thing? is it bigger than a car? granted it's in the background, but that tandem looks puny in comparison

 

[buck-50]

Good luck! that orange is a beautiful color.

Can't wait to read your updates- your patience is quite inspiring.

 

[Fixed]

recharge?

Sometime between now and lift off we hope to add a Garmin 705 Edge. The mapping is appealing to me. Kinda expensive though.

I thought the batteries in these things only lasted around 10 hours. How will you recharge?

 

[FatTireFred]

I thought the batteries in these things only lasted around 10 hours. How will you recharge?

you can get a solar charger... or maybe they will plug it in somewhere. I'd be more concerned about maxing out the memory. can't remember if that one has an sd card, but even with a plain old gps with aa batteries you can only store so many tracks

 

[T-shirt]

Update:

We got our frame back from powder coating! We installed the decals purchased from Santana. Then I remembered I should take some pictures and get them on the board here before I got too far along...we are excited to see the whole bike put back together complete with its new color!! We love it!!!!

Looks great. One step closer!

 

[Gus Riley]

I thought the batteries in these things only lasted around 10 hours. How will you recharge?

Good point. We'll have a charger and will charge as best we can. If we have SAG support we will charge with an inverter/van mix. If no support, well a Garmin might not be feasible.

I do believe the Garmin Edge 705 with bundle kit has an SD card with all of North America mapped on it.