This was my longest tour since 1989. Maybe too long.

Trip statistics:

61 days

April 29 - June 28, 2010

43 nights camping, 17 nights in motels, 1 night home stay

2810 miles (4500 km)

Average daily cycling distance: 48.4 mi. (77.5 km), not counting 3 days I didn't bike at all.

Longest distance in one day: 93.5 miles (150 km) from the North Rim to Lee's Ferry on day 23.

118 mi. (189 km) of gravel/dirt roads

Hiked 81 miles (130 km)

155,000 feet of climbing (47,000 meters)

Average daily climbing: 2672 ft. (810 m)

Lowest elevation: 50 feet (15 m) in Sacramento.

Highest elevation on the bike: 12,183 ft. (3692 m) on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Highest elevation on foot: 12,370 ft. (3748 m) on the Tundra Communities trail in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Warmest temperature: Approx. 100F (38C) near Moab, Utah.

Coldest temperature: Approx. 20F (-7C) in Austin, Nevada.

Tailwinds 80% of the time.

4 flat tires

Traveled through 5 states:

3 days in California

10 days in Nevada

21 days in Utah

5 days in Arizona

22 days in Colorado

Things I lost during the tour:

1. Clip-on sunglasses left on a roadside boulder near Zion. Bought an expensive replacement at an optometrist shop in Kanab, Utah.

2. Rear view mirror. Lost at Zapata Falls. It probably fell out of my fanny pack when I pulled out my camera or food. Good thing I carry a spare.

3. Drain stopper left behind at a campground bathroom in Telluride, Colorado. Bought a replacement of much better quality at a hardware store.

Things that broke or wore out during the tour:

1. Velcro closure on camera case is falling apart.

2. Stove piezo igniter makes a visible spark but no longer ignites the fuel.

3. Another zipper slider on the inner tent went bad.

4. VDO cyclocomputer switches became unreliable. Switches sometimes close when I'm not touching it. Caused the computer to be almost unusable.

5. Bungee on both Keen sandals broke. Tied the broken bungee into a knot.

6. Rear brake became increasingly "pulsating" near the end of the tour. This indicates that the rim is close to structural failure. No crack yet, but the rim must be replaced.

7. Broken foot peg on the Topeak Turbo Morph pump.

8. Cleats worn down so they pop out of the pedals occasionally. Right pedal not always locking correctly.

I only used my portable shower on two occasions. Several places I would have used it if it wasn't too cold, too buggy, or not enough water was available. Generally I free-camped less on this tour than on previous tours. Sometimes free camping wasn't practical because of lack of water. In much of Colorado it was difficult to free camp because the land near the highway was fenced private property. Unlike the states further west, National Forest land in Colorado is usually miles away from the highway. Compared to recent tours, my overnights were more in towns on this tour. At first that was necessary because there was no other place with water. But later I got accustomed to having stores nearby and camped in town when I could have camped out of town.

Maps

During the tour I used 5 Adventure Cycling maps but only occasionally found the "map" side to be useful. The ACA maps provide essentially no information about surrounding attractions. The "back" side of the ACA maps is more useful with an elevation profile and listing of services. It was hard to get in the habit of using the ACA maps when nearly half the tour isn't on ACA routes. This was my first time to use ACA maps since 1989. My tours in the last 20 years hardly ever went on ACA routes.

GPS

My Nokia N810 Internet Tablet has a built-in GPS. But I can't use it often because it drains the battery in 4 hours. I only used the GPS once during the trip to help navigate a maze of back roads. 99.9% of the time I navigate with road signs and paper maps. My altimeter is also helpful for navigating.

Cyclocomputer

My VDO MC 1.0 cyclocomputer failed near the end of this tour. It seems that the culprit was blowing dust. The switches started to malfunction after several days with persistent blowing dust. It got to where the switches would close when I wasn't pressing any buttons. The computer would go into various calibrate modes and eventually lock up. The mounting bracket also started to fall apart. I wasn't able to fix the switches at home using contact cleaner and compressed air. So I bought a new identical model.

Stove

This was my first tour using a canister stove. The Snow Peak canister stove with windscreen and 2 fuel canisters weighs a pound less than my old Peak 1 stove with a quart of Coleman fuel. Fuel is more expensive but the canister stove is more convenient to use. I can light the stove with a push of a button and the stove can be safely used in a motel room.

Camera

This was my first tour with a new camera, a Canon S90. It's a high-end subcompact camera with a larger image sensor and faster F2.0 lens than most subcompact cameras. It also has manual controls like an SLR. I was pleased with the results.

Once again I want to thank my wife Karolyn for being so supportive about my bike tours. Not everybody is this lucky!