Pedal West: Chicago to San Francisco: The Idea and the Gear

For those of you that don't know me, my name is Miroslav Lysyuk. What makes me want to bike to San Francisco? Well, I've always wanted to take a road trip West. I've spent some time living in Seattle, but, otherwise, I haven't really been west of Colorado. Initially, I wanted to buy a motorcycle and do a tour West. However, seeing that I've just graduated and don't really have the resources, I decided I could make use of some of my new free time and freedom to take it slow and bike over to San Francisco.

I chose San Francisco because it's one of the cities I'm considering to move to once I start looking for work after the trip. It's also a place I've never been to and it's a good destination for a cross country bike trip because it's on the coast. And, of course, the road there will fluctuate from the corn fields and cities of the Midwest to the Great Plains, to the Rockies, the desserts of Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada, and the hills and coasts of California.

Biking is a great way to travel because it's faster than walking, but not as fast as motorized vehicles. The narrator in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance puts it well when he says that the difference between traveling in a car and a motorcycle is that looking through the window of a car is like watching the landscape through a television. Instead, being on a motorcycle (and on bike), you get to smell the air, deal with the heat/cold/weather, and you're generally more included in the landscape you're passing through.

As a bike tourer I'm trying to go as light as possible. My bike frame is an old Schwinn Le Tour that my roommate and I liberated from abandonment in front of our house the other year. I'll be doing the trip on a single speed fixed gear (yes).

Most bike tourers use multiple speed freewheel bikes, but I've decided to take it upon myself to attempt to do the trip on a single speed, fixed gear. Most would probably say it's pretty odd not to have gears- what about the hills? My gear ratio is set so I can go relatively fast (it takes a little bit of effort to start off- probably somewhere between a 3rd and 4th gear on a multi-speed bike), but also comfortable enough to take on hills (or so the few hills in Chicago I ride on make me believe). If I run into some extremely steep hills, I'll just walk them up; but otherwise, I don't see why some physical fitness can't compensate for not switching to a super low gear an a hill. The only concern is wear on knees, but I don't think it should be a problem, especially considering all of the flat plains I'll be covering most of the trip;)

Another catch to the trip is that I hope to be doing my work as I go. I'm currently doing a research assistant job that only requires having a computer and an internet connection. So I intend to stop in places with internet access at least a few days a week during the hottest parts of the day to do work. So, I'll essentially be paying for the trip as I go.

THE GEAR: