Originally Posted by
Flyboy718
I am a school teacher and have the entire summers off. One of the reasons I became a teacher is so that I can do long touring without having to wait till I retire some day and then may not even be physically able to do it anyway. Last summer was my first summer off and I was wanting to ride my bike across the country. I had worked myself up during the year and then when it came time to do it, I instead decided to just go with the family to Colorado and camp for a month. We are quickly approaching the summer and another opportunity for me to bike across the country. Anxiety is starting to creep in again. What's even worse is I was in the military and for some reason riding a bike alone across the country is causing me to overthink it. My major concern is my safety actually on the road and being hit by a car. I plan to stealth camp when I decide to finally do this. Am I just weird or do you guys have bike touring anxiety sometimes?
Don't worry you are not the only one. I cancelled my first solo tour two years ago. After I cancelled everything I was sorry I did it. But it turned out to be a good thing as there were all sorts of major air quality warnings due to forest fires in the area I chose. So in the end I was glad I canceled.
Last year I decided to keep it simple. I decided on the Willamette Valley. Not real exciting but nice easy and straight forward. Had some side trips planned but chose to cut them. It was a great choice as I had a warmshowers host pretty much every night. It really was a fun trip.
This year I will be extending the challenge just a bit more.
I think a cross country trip might be a bit too ambitious for a first tour. That is part of your anxiety. Pick something simple. The Willamette Valley as I mentioned plus Oregon has lots of nearby bicycle routes that you can add on to your vacation. Other thoughts are the Selkirk Loop
If the roads were any more void of traffic it would be a bike trail. But enough people passing by that if you got in trouble, someone is going to pass by shortly that can help. And towns are close enough you wouldn't need to camp.
For really simple you could do the Katy or Great Allegheny Passage and C&O (see the link to the Great Ride video I just posted). Though I would not recommend the Katy in the summer.
Other thoughts are the Coeur D' Alene and Route of the Hiawatha bike trails. You could put together a loop out of Spokane. Some trails some roads. Also near the Selkirk Loop so you could do both on the same summer trip if you want.