Originally Posted by
sstorkel
I had a buddy who sounded a lot like the OP. Made some money in the software biz and decided he was going to ride across the country. Bought a bike, some gear, did a half-dozen training rides, then took off! I think he made it 6 or 7 days before he abandoned the trip... Turns out he wasn't a huge fan of bicycle riding, didn't really like camping and, most importantly, he got tired of his only human contact being the occasional chat with a convenience store clerk.
Funny story as I can relate. This summer I completed my first and only tour, a 4300km ride from my home of Calgary to Anchorage. I had done absolutely 0 tours before hand (not even an overnighter), but I had done one ride of 125km under my belt from years before.
Day 7 of my trip rolled around and I was beat. I hated cycling in the rain, I hated not seeing anybody for hours at a time (and some days you wouldn't even see anyone), and I hated camping out all alone. I made it to Prince George and stayed in a hotel with the plan to ride South back towards Calgary. I called my best friend that night and she told me that if I did go south I'd regret it forever, wondering "what if". The next day I rode North. I finished my tour 3 weeks later and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
I met a few other cyclists on my trip and many of them first-timers like myself had experienced the same events. There was something hard about getting over that one week barrier. Probably because touring life is so very different than normal life - it's a shock and can be hard to acclimate to.
Anyway, point being that I bet your buddy would have been fine had he continued on. I found that every day out on the road there is going to be something "hard" that you'll have to overcome. I realized that no matter what that days "hard" was, it's up to you how you handle it.
Good luck to the OP! It can be done, and should prove to be one of the best experiences of your life!