Planning my trip

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I’m now well into the planning stage of my trip. In order to do this right, I have purchased the Adventure Cycling Trans America Map package.

From those maps I have almost completed converting them to .GPX files via Ridewithgps.com. This is a fabulous website which uses a satellite Map template as a basis to plot your own bike route. It shows bike paths as well where they exist!

It enables one to actually get a vicarious view of the route. I will transfer those .GPS files into my Garmin edge computer, an easy process.

I considered buying a new bike for the trip but realized the Surly Long Haul Trucker I used down the West Coast was very comfortable and adequate.

It is heavy, (33 lbs), but I’m probably going to put another 30-40 pounds on it.

So what's the point of saving a few pounds on an expensive new bike?

Next is planning the overnights.

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Photos

Trans America Route
This is the planned route I will take.

Single segment of planned route
This is what a single segment looks like on Ridewithgps.com