Everything Is Possible—An 8000 Mile Bike Ride Through North America

By Olov Giertz

This book is for you who wants inspiration by discovering the world for a shorter or longer time, and get new impressions every day by traveling, either in nature or by meeting people. Or those who want to know a little more about North America's continent (even if it is your home continent) or want inspiration to feel that everything you want to do is possible. I, Olov Giertz, and my friends, Karl Sitell, and Torbjrn Ekman saw new landscapes and talked to new people every day. Our physical performance was approximately equivalent to body work in eight hours a day. Most people can do this without any special training. We got a lot of experiences, we lived in tents and saw much wildlife and national parks. this book is based on diary notes and letters home from the 1991 trip, when we rode from Anchorage, Alaska, to Key West, Florida, a total of 8000 miles, one third of the Earth's perimeter at the equator. The Illustrating photos are my own. I hope you will enjoy your reading and think it's interesting!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Nov 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546285489

Book preview

1.     INTRODUCTIONS – THE ORIGINS OF THE TRIP

You’re probably wondering how anyone can come up with an idea to cycle through an entire continent for half a year.

When I was ten years old, I started touring bike with my dad. We bought a bike and decided to ride from the summer home near Dalarö in the Stockholm archipelago to Linköping where we lived. It was a distance of about 140 miles, and we camped and rode on the back roads where there was less traffic. My dad shouted car when a car was coming from behind, and then I stopped and waited for the car to pass. The trip took about a week, so we rode about 20 miles per day, camped and cooked on camp stoves. For example, I specifically remember semi-manufactured lapskaus. My dad had bought food for the entire trip on freeze-dried bags. I think we ate at a restaurant sometimes, and in Söderköping we visited a family, friends of my father. The man in the family is also a priest. Among all the experiences of the trip, I distinctly remember the ferry we rode at Skanssundet. But to discover that one actually can go bicycle this far if one just wants to, became an important and lasting experience. I think we also made a tour from Linköping to Askersund and around it, a few years later.

Right after my confirmation, I was with a Christian youth-group in Linköping and Bo the priest, Bo Björkman, an exuberant and youthful-minded man, took us young people on a bike ride around the island of Öland. After taking the train to Kalmar we picked up our polling discounted bikes and rode over the bridge. The ride went to the furthest north on Öland and then down to Borgholm. I remember that we lived in hostels every night and ate at restaurants during the days. This was a fun summer week, and even a happy bike memory.

I did some longer bike rides myself. Among other things, I cycled from Linköping to the yard Vårdnäs, a yard for Christian courses and camps. It was not so far but still a ride. I took a longer ride when I was 16 or 17 years old and wanted to visit my fellow confirmand, Karl Sitell, who lived in Växjö. That time I rode 168 miles Linköping -Växjö and back home on my three-speed Crescent. To avoid traffic, I started at 5-8 in the evening and arrived at 9-10 in the morning. It was during this visit Karl and I began to talk about a long journey.

Karl thought we should cycle to Turkey or more preferably to Kathmandu in Nepal, via Yemen, Iran and Iraq. However, we concluded that it should be the United States and Canada, because they have better roads, and we also were curious about that continent. We planned to go to Alaska, which I then barely knew existed, through Canada and the lower 48 to the West Coast to Florida and Key West, America’s southernmost tip. For a while, the plan was to rent a car, or drive a car from coast to coast for free. Rental Companies in the US allows individuals to transport cars from coast to coast for free, on some firm’s behalf. Some rental firms in the United States let people drive their cars for free, because they need to get the car transported to where someone is waiting to rent them. But we decided to ride bikes, and camp. Karl bought books on what we could stop for and watch, national parks and such. When the time of departure came closer, it turned out that a friend of Karl, Torbjörn Ekman, wanted to come with us. Both Karl and Torbjörn then read Applied Physics in Uppsala and I studied to become a data technical engineer, in Linköping. We decided to take a break from our studies between year two and year three. I was then about twenty-two years old.

We examined carefully what kind of bikes were most suitable for long-distance cycling with packing on both dirt roads and asphalt roads. We choosed Miyata Six Ten. Karl and Torbjörn trained hard to be in shape, they rode about 300-600 miles around Uppsala. I already felt in good shape, and I rode about six miles every day, but it was not more than 200 miles totally, before we traveled. We had bought rainproof jackets with ventilation zippers in the armpits, cycling shorts, cycling shoes and water bottles. And thin rain cover pants so we wouldn’t have to be bare-legged when it was cold. Karl had the brilliant idea to buy stockings and cut them down so that we could warm the legs. The stockings went from the knee to the foot. We also had bike gloves, because it chafes to hold the handlebars all day.

We planned to go to Alaska around Midsummer, because it can be quite cold there the rest of the year. We did not know at all how long the journey would take, but we would take a day at a time. When it started to become autumn, we would be in California so that it would not be too cold. The planning included that we would stay in several national parks, to see America’s nature and wildlife.

So, it was decided. We estimated that the trip would cost about SEK 50-60000 (about $7,500), since we cooked our own food and camped. It turned out that we got to spend a maximum of about ten dollars per day. It was mostly the flights to America and back, and the bikes, the tents, the camping stoves and gasoline to the camping stoves that costed.

The 16th June 1991, when I was 23 years old, we sat on the plane to London, to fly from London to Anchorage, Alaska, with our bikes in cartons in our luggage. It was I, Karl and Torbjörn…

2.     PREPARATIONS

How should you think and prepare when you plan to cycle 8,000 miles, 60-90 miles per day? Well, you take one step at a time. First, you need to check what bike is suitable. It was mostly Karl that researched which bikes were on the market, and we each bought a Miyata Six Ten, touring bike from Japan. They had three gears in the front and six in the back, a total of eighteen switches that you steered by two levers on the frame in front of the saddle. We equipped them with holders for panniers, two half-size front and the two larger bags back, which we attached with elastic bands. On the handle bar was another small bag, held in place by a metal holder. We had a wallet, a camera and some other small things in that bag. It was removable, so we could take it with us when we went into cafes and gas stations. We also acquired a wire to lock the wheels. On the frame we mounted two water bottle holders. And I think the support was not included in the original equipment. The tires were of a width of 1.5 inches (38 millimeters), and for the pedals, we had the so-called clips which we