Meet the Team

It’s a warm, overcast day in Portland, OR, and my first day of cycling is less than 24 hours away.

The bike has been checked over and serviced, the first month’s motels are booked, and all the admin is done. A new mini lap top has been purchased and left overnight with my old heavy laptop to communicate, compare scars and birth marks, share stories of teenage japes, first kisses and other secrets, and beep to say that the data transfer is complete.

There are still a few things to do, including the small matter of jettisoning the non-essentials from the pile of possessions before the final pack of the panniers (the hot pink hair straightners are still and always will be essential), and the downloading and tweaking of the route for Day 1.

And yet I’m feeling strangely calm.

Perhaps it’s because over the last few days I have realized that, although I am doing this tour from the West Coast of the US to the East Coast solo and unsupported, I am not really going to be alone. And I’m not just talking about the friends and family dotted all around the world who I know are cheering me on.

It’s also the non-human characters that will be accompanying me on my trip, without whom I would not be able to complete it. It is they to whom I will be nattering away when I roll into these small US towns and villages over the next few weeks and hear the locals muttering about these mad women cyclists who talk to themselves.

So… let’s meet the team.

Steed: the main player, this solid, reliable beast has already covered over 13,000 miles in the US on a previous trip, so he is an old-timer, and a faithful one at that.

Panni-A and Pann-B: two more veterans who have lived to tell the tale, albeit a little worn and faded by the sun, they are more than up to the job.

Annette: a late joiner, useful in an emergency when the panniers are full to the brim.

Oscar:  the earnest handlebar bag “a hhhhandlebar bag?”

Not to forget the Mirror Man, to show me the huge logging trucks approaching at high-speed from behind in time for me to get the f*** out of the way.

And the youngest member of the team, my brand spanking new Garmin, who is yet to be named… watch this space.

To find out about my route, click on the interactive map to the right of this blog and select "TransAmerica Trail". 

If you want to know more about what led me to want to undertake this crazy trip on my own, and try to raise some money for charity along the way, then click on one of the charity links also to the right of this blog, and please donate if you would like to do so. 

So, a proper action blog tomorrow… I hope you will keep reading and join me on my adventure. 

In the meantime, a huge, massive, bigger-than-you-can-possibly-imagine thank you to Valerie and Paul for their wonderful hospitality with all the added extras of getting me fully prepared for the trip, feeding me and entertaining me and generally being the best hosts ever… I’ll be back in October!!!

Me x