Mile -1

Welcome to MileZer0. I am creating this blog to document the progress of an adventure I am planning to start in 7 weeks, riding a bike from one coast of this country to the other. I first had the desire to cycle across the country many years ago, but the real catalyst for the trip was a conversation I had with my grandmother three thanksgivings ago. I had mentioned to her that it was something I would like to do. She asked what was stopping me. I responded with the practical obstacles to such an endeavor: taking the time off of work and covering my bills at home while also paying the expenses of being on the road. She nodded and replied 'Ok. So what's stopping you?'

My grandmother is awesome.

So I spent the next year or so trying to figure out how to save enough to buy a good touring bike and all the associated accessories, cover my various student loans and rent, and what I would need to eat and sleep during the 9-10 weeks I expect it would take. Then, in April '08, inspiration struck me. Well, more precisely a car struck me.

I was riding up Manhattan Ave in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. I pulled up alongside a car at a red light, mere blocks from the car-free bliss of the Pulaski Bridge bike lane. The light turned green, so I started to go through the intersection. Without warning (or signaling) the driver turned right into me. He hit my front tire, throwing me over the hood and onto the pavement 20 feet away.

This incident that caused me such great pain and suffering nearly two years ago is finally paying off, of a sort. The ensuing lawsuit has been settled, and, as of this writing, am patiently awaiting the arrival of my compensation. One of the things I am doing with my recompense is taking this trip. The irony of this is not lost on me. If I hadn't been struck on my bike then, I wouldn't be able to take this biking tour now.

It sounds so simple. I'm going to fly out to San Fransisco and ride my bike home to Brooklyn. Well, I actually plan to stop a night in Brooklyn, then spend the last day of the trip with a pack of friends, riding to Montauk on the eastern end of Long Island. I'm getting help in route planning from my brother Dan, who is both great with maps and has extensive knowledge of the middle portion of this country due to all the tornado chasing he's done. (There is an implicit question there, which is crazier, driving as close as one can get to tornadoes or crossing the continent on a bike? Perhaps in a few months we'll know the answer to that.)

In the next couple of weeks I'm going to acquire the equipment I'll need and start with my training rides. Last summer I did four rides over 100 miles and half a dozen others over 50 miles, but have never come close to 3400 miles in one go. Once I'm underway, this will be a repository of the difficulties and successes I experience on the bike and, of course, lots of pictures. If I can figure out how to attach an interactive map, I'll do that too.

So welcome, enjoy, and good biking!