BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Heh...was just talking about this the other day.

For my 40th (2016), I've promised myself a trip across a continent. Haven't picked the continent yet, though.

Not a ride, but I'm trying to convince my dad to go to Yosemite and do the Half Dome hike for his 60thm and my 30th. Neither of us are hikers or climbers, he just made the mistake of telling me as a kid that someday when I was older we could do that... We're both older.

@reddan, I'd LOVE to do a continent (or sub-continent for that matter)... but I'm having problems figuring how I'm going to get the time off for a 400 mile ride... much less a 1,000+ mile ride.

I'm currently reading "The Lost Cyclist" and am finding myself so jealous of these folks who has the leisure time to circle the globe.

myddrin - in life, all you have is time. If you don't plan it, it will be very difficult to accomplish! Go ahead and plan a continental cross - maybe a little one, like Europe or something

My dream ride is me and hubby, on cargo bikes, probably hauling a trailer or two, with all our (few in number) worldly possessions, two cats and probably by then a dog, heading west and north for Vancouver Islands. One way trip.

My realistic dream ride is White Rock -> Vancouver -> Sea to Sky Highway -> Pemberton and back for the summer after we get there. Seeing appropriate stripes on that pavement last summer literally made me cry.

Relatively unrelated travel trivia: something I noticed with some recent geneology completion on either side - nobody in my entire family for the past 200 years on one side, 240 on the other, ever did even just any two of the following in the same county (or location, if counties didn't exist): was born, married, gave birth, died. Before then, records get spotty. So it's weird that I want to go back to Vancouver, a genetic anomoly among nomads.

Not a bike ride, but I want to drive my 1974 VW Bus on the Lincoln Highway all the way across the county to Lincoln Park SF and back next year…

Edit – I’m sure I’ll have a bike or 2 with me!

Took my dream ride from Seattle to San Francisco many years ago- no bugs, daily tailwinds, never used a tent or campground. i don't even ever remember it raining, but I tend to forget unleasantries.

I started to plan a trip to Buffalo two years ago, but lacked a lot of things, so never followed through. I've never even done a century, let alone two, let alone four or five by the time I get from here to there and back.

Maybe an easier trip would be to circumnavigate Letchworth State Park on the Genesee River, south of Rochester. Probably could be done in a day without too much trouble (60ish miles), but it would be more fun to take two or three days, camp out, and look at everything along the way.

Galicia. (Spain).

Stu, have you ever been to Letchworth? Or have only seen and heard of it? It's absolutely gorgeous up there..I moved here 2 years ago from near Buffalo.(Olean) which is right on the border of PA and NY..I've been up there many times..If anyone on here ever feels like driving up for a weekend and taking me, i would be more than willing to go on this ride! Haha.

Olean. Too close to Wellsville to be near Bliss. But not far from that town where everyone has red hair. Yes, I've been there.

i would also love to do a letchworth ride. i spent a good deal of time in buffalo this summer (i'm also from the area--depew) and thought about heading out that way for a ride, but never got around to it. it's been years and years since i've been to letchworth.

also: i've done the ride from here to buffalo. i did it in two days, and was not in my best shape at the time, nor did i have as much comfort gear (e.g. i carried a backpack the whole way), and i've continually tuned my bike for comfort since then, so i would love to do it again. in fact, i plan to do it again this summer. i could be convinced to do an extra day, though.

I went to nearby SUNY Geneseo for undergrad and grew up around East Aurora. I won't say I know every inch of Letchworth, but I've been to it or through it or past it easily 40 to 50 times, in every season.

I unicycled atop Pinnacle Rock by Lower Falls. Need I say more? OK, I will. I unicycled atop Pinnacle Rock with 12 other people up there with me.

Yeah, I'd love to get back up there again.

My dream ride was the DC C&O/GAP trail, but I've checked that box. "If you will it, it is no dream."

In the medium- to long-term, I'd like to do the Camino de Santiago in Spain. I met a guy who walked the whole camino who said there were a lot of cyclists doing the route (and also that the walkers kind of hated them for "cheating" on the medieval pilgrimage). But I think it'd be fun.

And actually, add to the list longer-distance rides anywhere in Europe.

Ian, you'll have to tell me about this camino thing sometime, something, anything, in Spain is definitely on my bucket list.

The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage route to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, considered in the medieval era one of the major destinations for pilgrims, after Jerusalem and Rome. Today, pilgrims still walk the route, for religious reasons and also as tourists. The most popular route starts in the southwest corner of France and runs along the northern coast of Spain. I don't know all the details but there's some info at these and various other sites.

http://www.americanpilgrims.com/camino/faqs.html#cyclists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James

wow, i really want to do this. hmmmm, maybe something to plan for june 2012...

[edit]@myddrin: I'm having problems figuring how I'm going to get the time off for a 400 mile ride.

If you can swing it financially, I've found several of my past employers pretty open to "leave without pay." There are a lot of details to work out (eg how does it impact benefits, seniority, specialized tasks &tc). But, I've been pleasantly surprised a few times & have been able to extend vacations or do special projects. //Just a suggestion.

@Pseudacris, thanks. A high school friend of mine did that...took 6 months off to hike, rock climb and ride all over the country...she just rented an RV and headed out.

Right now I can't swing it... just bought a house, wedding coming up, and all that. But, in the last two years everything in my life has changed...so who knows where I'll be in another two!

I'd love to do the etape de tour some year, as Quizbot did this year, but I think my dream ride, my one day dream ride anwyay, would be the Milan-San Remo course. 300K,

the pros do it in 7 hours, so it ought to be doable in a day.

Like Reddan I'd love to do the trans-continental pedal some day, maybe for my 60th I'll consider the TransAm or the Northern Tier. My 40th was nine years ago and if I do a 50th trip I'll hope to go to Europe.