Touring - East to West TRANS-AMERICA! Partners needed

Yet another crazy guy on a bike going across the country. I'm Christopher Patino, a sophomore at Appalachian State University majoring in Exercise Science, and I'd like to extend the offer to anyone to join me on my cross country trip. Here are the basics:

-East to West. The earliest I can leave is May 14, from Myrtle Beach, SC. I can meet you after I start from there.
-Riding 70+ miles/day
-camping out most nights, cooking with ministoves, finding friends and hospitality on WarmShowers.org and CouchSurfing.com
-hopefully getting to San Diego (or west coast in general) before August. That way, we (or I) can spend a few weeks in California (for me, I'll be meeting family for the first time.)
-Getting a train back to NC/east coast before the start of my fall semester (Aug. 24?)
-following a route we all agree on. that way, all of us get to see and go where we want.

Having a companion or companions is the 1 thing holding me back from going on the trip. I'd love for people to at least give it a long shot to see if we can work something out. If you can't come with me the whole trip, that's cool. I'd love as much company as you can give. here's my e-mail and phone #, which I check multiple times a day:
patinocr@appstate.edu, 828-337-5754

Ride on!
Christopher

moved to touring

Good luck with the trip. I did the Trans America in 2007 and highly recommend it. I am doing the Sierra Cascades route this year so I can't join you, but I would strongly suggest not making the trip conditional on finding companions. If you are using Adventure Cycling routes you will meet folks along the way and will be able to ride and/or camp with some of them for at least portions of the trip. Also riding alone can be very nice.

You say Trans America, but neither your starting or finishing points are on the TA. Are you planning to ride the actual TA and just stray from it on both ends? Or are you using the name Trans America in a generic sense?

I've heard multiple times to not make my trip "conditional on finding companions." I'm with you on that one, but the thing is, my parents won't let me go unless I have someone to go with. Lame, I know, but to an extent I agree. I'm only 20 and it's my first touring trip. This won't be my first adventure, so I'll definitely have more opportunities to go alone.

I say Trans America, because trans = across, and America = America. I'm going across America.

Reasons for not following the actual TA: When I get out of school on May 10th, I'm going on a beach retreat with my campus ministry - the Wesley Foundation - to Garden City Beaches, SC (Myrtle Beach) until the 14th. Driving to a starting point isn't within my preferred degree of convenience or budget, and I'll already be at a coast. Also, I have family in Huntsville, Alabama that I'd like to visit for a few days. Then, I have places to go in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and my end location is in San Diego, to meet the Mexican side of my family I've never met.

Sounds like heading south from SC and doing the Southern Tier route might be better for you:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/southerntier.cfm

You might look into that...

I agree with Staehp, definitely don't make the trip conditional on finding partners. I planned on doing my cross country trip alone, but a good friend jumped in at the last second and we had a blast. I think people get more excited if they know you're going with or without them. I was "only" 20 and I didn't see that as a disadvantage to going solo. A good friend of mine did it alone when he was 18.

That being said, the most important thing is do what you want to do. If you think you can do it alone, go for it, scare yourself silly. Bike travel is about freedom and adventure, not creating rules.

EDIT:Couchsurfing is an amazing resource! I highly recommend using it at least once a week for showers and a bit of a "good folks" recharge. People get excited about your trip too, which is great.

Best of luck, and I certainly hope you find a partner. Have fun out there! There's no better way to see the country.

I've looked at that route multiple times, and I'm pretty dead set on avoiding most of it. This will probably limit the people I'll be able to find for a riding partner, but I haven't heard many good things about the middle portion of that trip as any other route.

Big fan of DIY routing while understanding the advantages offered by the ACA maps. Sounds like you've planned a real personal trip and having relatives on the west coast to meet will be a big incentive to keep plugging away. The trip will be a life changing event for you and may lead you down life pathways you'd never have dreamed of before. The educational benefits will be immense for someone your age.

If honoring parental concerns stops you this year, there's always the next or next. But having a traveling companion is no guarantee of safety. That's more a matter of common sense, being predictable in traffic, defensive cycling, and luck. The odds of something serious happening to you on tour are extremely remote. We aren't talking about travel in deepest Africa here.

Picking the right route, and riding with the right partner(s), are two different issues; and I think you have to decide which is more important to you. At the moment, since you don't have any partner(s), it doesn't matter. But if you find a partner or two, you will have to discuss and agree on a route; so there's not that much point in picking a route if you are still hoping to pick up a partner. Look at the maps, think about it, plan, by all means... but I wouldn't consider anything decided until you either decide to do it without a partner, or find one and agree on a route.

I've heard multiple times to not make my trip "conditional on finding companions." I'm with you on that one, but the thing is, my parents won't let me go unless I have someone to go with. Lame, I know, but to an extent I agree. I'm only 20 and it's my first touring trip. This won't be my first adventure, so I'll definitely have more opportunities to go alone.

As you said elsewhere in this thread, doing your own route will probably make it harder to find companions unless you have friends or family that you can convince to go. I hope you can work this out.



I say Trans America, because trans = across, and America = America. I'm going across America.

Expect folks to assume you mean the ACA TransAmerica route if you say TransAmerica.


Reasons for not following the actual TA: When I get out of school on May 10th, I'm going on a beach retreat with my campus ministry - the Wesley Foundation - to Garden City Beaches, SC (Myrtle Beach) until the 14th. Driving to a starting point isn't within my preferred degree of convenience or budget, and I'll already be at a coast. Also, I have family in Huntsville, Alabama that I'd like to visit for a few days. Then, I have places to go in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and my end location is in San Diego, to meet the Mexican side of my family I've never met.

All good reasons, but again it does make it tougher to find companions. Maybe you can find someone to join you, but ultimately something will probably have to give. You will likely either need to rethink the route or convince your parents that going alone is a good option.

Look at my sig... Our stats are about the same. I'm 20, a college sophomore and beginning the TransAm on May 10th for my first real tour... by myself. I'm not saying that to try and put you down or anything, but dude we're at that age where we are allowed to make our own decisions. If you really want to do this trip go for it whether or not you are able to find a riding partner and whatever happens after that is just going to happen. Hope everything works out!

I'll be starting a tour by myself on April 25th, heading to see family in Missouri. After that I'm going to be going to a lot of the same places as you - Colorado, Nevada, California - and I wouldn't mind joining up with you.

So if anything, you have a possible partner for about half of your trip.

If the Missouri portion goes through Springfield, and you need a place to stay, mi casa es su casa...

Sorry for not keeping up with my own thread, but I biked home from Boone to Black Mountain on Friday, worked a shift Saturday, and I'm planning to bike back tomorrow morning. I've been quite busy getting school things settled before the weekend.

So all in all, I'm thankful for the concern of my trip, and that you guys want me to go regardless of my parents decisions. Really all I want is some peace of mind for my parents, and someone to share the adventure with. But if I find neither, (don't tell my parents) I'll probably just leave Myrtle Beach, detour around home so I can't be confiscated, and continue on my merry way. And I'll have everyone know that around August 2009 when the idea of biking across the country was first thought up, I had myself going alone. So understand that I want to too. Every man has a time in his life to prove himself. This could very well be my opportunity, or God is saving that for another time. We'll find out in May.

Brokekrew, PM me with more information on your time and whereabouts of your trip, so we can decide if meeting up is possible. The more the merrier :)

Also, I understand the chances of my route being changed when accepting riding partners. that's why I included it in my original post that we'd go on a route we all agreed on, and also for anyone to contact me if by even a long shot they could join me.

Thanks for the words of advice. Keep'em coming.

run4urlife - I PM'd you. :)

TonyS - Thanks and I will definitely keep that in mind when I go through that area. :thumb:

Which states do you think you will be going through? If you take the Lewis and Clark route, I'll ride a few days with you in Iowa and South Dakota.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/lewisandclark.cfm

UPDATE!!!

Joe_5700, i'm sorry to say that my caravan of crazies will not be headed that far north. If we were, though, I would definitely meet up.

As of now, I have 5 (possibly 6, possibly 7) people joining me for different parts of my trip. There will be 6 of us from IL/MO area to Colorado, then 3 split to go north, 1 stops for home in vegas, and the last dude and I go all the way to San Diego. So for that middle part, we're pretty full.

However, if you'd like to follow this route for a short tour, hit me up:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=State+Rd+S-26-155%2FN+Waccamaw+Dr&daddr=Ashley+Creek+Dr,+Matthews,+Mecklenburg,+North+Carolina+28105+to:Ridge+Rd%2FState+Rd+S-46-27%2FState+Route+27+to:N+Carolina+180+N%2FN+Post+Rd+to:Missionary+Plantation+Road,+Ellenboro,+Ruther ford,+North+Carolina+to:Ed+Thompson+Rd%2FEd+Thomson+Rd+to:Avena+Road,+Black+Mountain,+NC+28711+to:Br yson+City,+NC+to:GA-151+S%2FN+Old+Alabama+Hwy+to:Love+Branch+Rd,+Toney,+Alabama+35773&geocode=FeBtAAIdMqZK-w%3BFWSUFwIdtUww-ykNLdwOICRUiDGsLrCRNUBsGA%3BFR5jGAIdiugo-w%3BFQhEGwIdKFQk-w%3BFQILHQIdtd8g-yl7PVPvgTpXiDFaP-n6OSEqNg%3BFfJ6HQIdVuoe-w%3BFVyjHwIdxRkY-ylHHDRn1vhZiDE9ijypuh5l3A%3BFRGiHAIdq7EG-ylVKvLPXUhZiDGFd5sorcOJhA%3BFSwuEgIdhnns-g%3BFRYJFAIdasbT-im38xOyl11iiDFSxU0cQjmqxQ&hl=en&mra=mr&mrcr=4&via=2,3,5,8&dirflg=b&sll=34.762487,-84.727592&sspn=0.138767,0.336113&ie=UTF8&ll=34.397845,-81.97998&spn=4.45948,10.755615&t=p&z=7&lci=bike

Hope you're gonna journal your ride and will let us know where it's posted. www.crazyguyonabike.com is a great place for such if you don't set up your own site.