FAQs

So as we’ve talked people about this trip and the fact that we plan to ride our bikes 5,000 miles, many questions have come up. Some are pretty standard while other catch us a little off guard. Here’s a quick list of some of the more popular (or ridiculous) ones:

How far will you go each day?

We are planning to get in anywhere from 60 – 110 miles a day. It will be interesting to see how long that takes us. 60 miles up mountains could be an all day ride while 110 miles down mountains or on the flats could be an easy morning cruise ; )

What is your route?

We have a map up at our site www.teamhydrate.net. We are following parts of the Adventure Cycling Association’s (www.adventurecycling.org) TransAmerica, Northern Tier, and Great River routes. There are places where we will need to find our own way so we’ve ripped some pages out of a road atlas for those times.

Where will you sleep?

On the ground…most of the time. We are bringing a tent and sleeping bags, backpacking stove, water purifier, and food. That is the self-supported idea. But as hardcore as we plan to be, we realize that we will need a bed and warm shower sometimes. We have a few friends across Oregon, a couple in Montana, and one in Minot, North Dakota (Thanks Reuben and Nancy!). We will get a hotel room no more than once a week. We will plan to be at public campsites, but we may have to ask to stay in someone’s yard or at the local church if we can’t find one close.

What will you eat?

Anything. But seriously, we have been fortunate to get some product discounts through Hammer Nutrition for carb gels and drink mixes. We love Clif bars so we’ll have a lot of those too. For breakfast, we’ll almost always have some configuration of oats…granola, oatmeal, etc. Lunch may be a Clif bar or two, an apple, a PBJ, and a ding-dong from the gas station. Dinner will vary, but the staples will be rice, pasta, soup mixes, and quinoa. We may experiment with freeze-dried food to save room and weight. We’ll try to carry two – three days worth of food.

Won’t your butt hurt?

For you non-cyclists, there are these special padded shorts that cyclists wear that have these padded additions called a chamois. Many years of research and experimentation have gone into chamois design. If you want to start cycling you should definitely get cycling shorts with a chamois or you will never want to see a bike again after your first ride. In addition to special shorts, we will take breaks every one and a half to two hours to stretch and let things “breathe”.

Who’s in front? Will you switch places?

Scott is in front. This is called the ‘captains’ seat on a tandem. Jenny will sit in the second seat, known as the ‘stoker’. Our bike is designed for us this way so we don’t plan on switching.

How much does everything weigh?

We’re not sure and I don’t think we want to know. The bike on its own is roughly 30 pounds. I hope our stuff is not more 40 pounds.

What about the mountains?

Yes, they are there. They are steep and gravity will be working against us. It will be hard, we will sweat, our legs will burn, I might cry…but we’ll love it!

What if you get a flat?

We are bringing a variety of bike maintenance stuff. I’ve changed a lot of flats on single bikes so we should be good. The only thing is that it will take us longer because we need to unpack some stuff, the bike is heavier, and we only have a small hand pump. Hopefully we don’t get a flat in North Dakota in the middle of nowhere in a hailstorm.

Why aren’t you going all the way across?

Jenny and I have not spent a lot of time on the east coast…and that may be intentional. The massive metropolitan areas are a turn off and there seem to be way too many freeways. I know, I know there are definitely beautiful backroads and nice people, but we don’t have a significant reason to go there outside of the ability to say we went from coast to coast and we’re not even starting on the Pacific coast so that wouldn’t work. Our route is designed to maximize scenery (too bad we can’t fly over Kansas) and see family.

Why 5,000 miles? Aren’t there shorter ways to get to Colorado?

As we mapped out our desired route and added up the miles, it came to just under 5,000 miles. We liked the sound of it and when we came up with the catchy title of “5,000 for Thirst” it stuck.

Are you scared of cars, trucks, RVs?

More like intimidated…our hearts do skip a beat sometimes when an RV pulling a trailer and a boat cruises by at 65 mph. We have ridden a lot and ridden on some very busy roads. To be honest though, besides doing all we can to stay off to the side, it’s out of our control. We will pray daily and we humbly ask that everyone respect the right of bicycles to use the road and share it.

What will you do afterwards?

I have been offered a position with the City of Montrose in southwest Colorado. It seems to be a great place and we are very excited to be there. We will end in Logan, Utah where Jenny’s parents live and then head down to Colorado so I can start work on August 20^th. We are becoming more and more ready to grow our family, get a home, and settle in to a community…we think Montrose might be the place and we’re excited to see if it works out.

Any other questions? Post a comment below or send me an e-mail at sshine@uoregon.edu.

Thank you all for your support. Thirst Relief is doing great work and we are so excited to partner with them to save lives and change the world.

Peace,
Scott and Jenny