race across america (raam) started today. the participants of “the worlds toughest endurance bicycle race” have a maximum of 12 days to complete their 3000-mile journey from oceanside, california to annapolis, maryland. that math works out to riding 250 miles a day (without any breaks to eat or sleep) — and that’s the slowest possible speed to make it before the deadline. THAT’S INSANE.
some people think we’re insane. but we’re not that insane.
in 15 days, i’ll be the stoker on the back of a tandem bike bound for seattle. don’t know what those words mean or anything about tandem biking? we didn’t either until about march. since the hatching of this plan almost 10 months ago, it has slowly come to fruition. we’ve been doing tons of research (mostly david does the research and gives me the skimmed version) and gathering so so many things we didn’t know we needed.
the crucial step one in our plan was getting a tandem bike. thanks to dave and rhona in keyser, west virginia (and a very rainy drive there on a tuesday night), we’ll be riding a 1998 cannondale los dos tandem (we’ve named her nina). nina will be hauling two panniers and a trailer– we’re not exactly traveling in the most streamlined, aerodynamic fashion. we’ve gone on group rides and practice solo rides and lots of kids stare at us and point when we pass. with the trailer, our set-up is probably 20 feet long so it’s actually incredibly comical to see us biking down the streets of dc. 
instead of trying to make it across the country in 12 days like raam, we’re choosing to be homeless and jobless for 2 and a half months while we bike from washington, dc to seattle, washington. we’re just biking there because we thought that’d be the most exciting way to get there. when moving from one coast to the other, why not go by bike?! better yet, why not go by tandem bike?
are we insane? maybe a tiny bit…..
here is our route (for the most part). do you know anyone who lives on or near it? do they want to let us shower at their house or bring us lunch/dinner/a beer? we would love to meet them.
we’ve already met so many interesting and inspiring people on this journey and we haven’t even left dc yet. we’re excited to spend time in parts of the country we’ve never seen and learn how to be comfortable with strangers in unfamiliar places. we’re excited to be very much outside of our comfort zones (mentally and physically) and reliant on the generosity and compassion of others.
we (mostly me) will be updating as much as possible along the way — keep tabs on us and our progress!
xx
my version of the real world 