WHEN I WAS HALF my present age, perhaps less, it seemed it would be fun to ride across the country but life intervened and it never happened.  Now I’m undeniably, ahem, no longer young.  But the thought remains that a very long tour might still be entertaining and enjoyable, not to mention possibly beneficial.

In view of the fact that I’ll be in Bend, OR at the end of June 2022 for a family event, and that I am now retired and free of job-related demands on my time, it has occurred to me that perhaps that would be the best remaining opportunity to attempt to realize my notion of so long ago.  So, I’m planning to ride home afterward, back to Rockville MD where I live.

It’s been a very long time indeed since I last did any self-contained bicycle touring, and what I did manage “back in the day” was nowhere near the scale and duration of a transcontinental-scale trip.  So, although I have ridden tens of thousands of miles over an aggregate time totaling many months on supported tours, in reality I consider myself basically a neophyte in the sub-sub genre of extended self-organized, self-supported tours.  That gives me lots to learn.

One thing I have already decided: I’m starting alone.

The reason is simple, and selfish: when you choose to ride by prearrangement with anyone else you become accountable to them at some level, and answerable to their needs and desires as much as they are to yours.  That’s simply a responsibility I’m unwilling to take on.

This isn’t meant to say that I expect to be entirely solitary throughout the trip.  At least on the legs that follow the ACA TransAm and/or Lewis and Clark routes, there will doubtless be others whose schedule and timing coincide with mine for periods of time, which raises the possibility of at least momentary congenial companionship.  However, since I’ll be switching between various ACA routes at different points, it’s unlikely that I’ll end up riding with the same cadre for more than a couple weeks at most.  On the segments where I’m off the ACA network altogether, I expect even less company.  That’s fine, and doesn’t worry me.