January 4, 2015 – Within Biking Distance

… and a happy late New Year!

January 4, 2015 in Uncategorized by withinbikingdistance

Flashback to 2012. Heather and Lizzy enjoying a break from a long and chilly afternoon on the Oregon coast

It is already 2015! I can’t believe it. When we started planning this tour a few years back it seemed like 2015 was merely a figment of future imagination, but now its here. A lot of people have wondered about the WBD planning process–myself included. All I can say is, when you have enough time you can plan anything. Whether that plan works is up to the field test, in our case that means we are going to throw a bunch of junk on our bikes and pedal off into the wilderness (more or less). If you want to take up bike touring I think you should do it. If you are the flexible type, and have the gumption, then you are a perfect candidate for a successful tour. This particular tour began back in 2012 when Lizzy, my sister Heather, and I were on biking down hwy 101 to Napa, CA. We decided that a one month tour was too short, also, we decided that we wanted to go coast to coast. From there, the 48 state idea was the logical next step, and though we initially thought we should be gone a year, I think 6-9 months is quite enough time for a solid adventure. From that summer on, I started tearing the weather maps out of the backs of USA Today newspapers and plotting potential routes on the United States map during my lunch. The tricky thing was to find a route that would efficiently hit all states and bring us home before the ice and snow. I suppose we’ll have to see how well we did. It was Lizzy that found Watsi, and we are both so glad she did. I can’t say enough how great Watsi is, and how wonderful it is to be working with them. If you haven’t visited the Watsi Website please, please, pretty please do it–right now!

In the spirit of the new year, I thought it might be fun to post a few pictures from past tours. I hope you don’t mind.