 So you want to go on an epic bike ride across the USA. Good choice! I'm here to be your cheerleader. So get ready for the adventure of a lifetime. I've ridden across the country four times and down both the east and west coast and I get questions all the time about which route is the best. Well, I don't think there's a best. They're all beautiful and interesting in their own way and any route will give you a deep dive into American culture and that's probably my favorite aspect of riding across the USA. The landscapes are truly stunning and you'll get a huge variety no matter the route you choose but it's the people who always capture my heart. If you're looking for the ultimate feeling of freedom with plenty of road magic, you'll find it in every nook and cranny of this country and any route will get you there. There's no right or wrong way to go. They're all awesome. In this video, I'm going to talk briefly about some of my experiences and I hope that this will help you choose which route is best for you. I've set off on four cross country rides on the west coast and ended on the east coast. They say to do this because you'll have less headwind because the prevailing winds push you eastward but to tell you the truth, dreaded headwinds are everywhere. I don't think it matters which coast you start on. I've also ridden down both the east and west coast from north to south because, well, downhill and also the Great Divide which is entirely dirt and follows the continental divide. First off, the easiest way to find established routes with turn for turn directions is at the Adventure Cycling website. They're all about helping people travel by bicycle and they have tons of route options all over the U.S. If you're looking for the traditional cross country tour look at the Northern Tier, Southern Tier or the Transamerica. If you want the fastest way across the Southern Tier is just over 3,000 miles while the Northern Tier in Transamerica are about 4,000 miles. The Southern Tier also has a lot less climbing about 100,000 feet total while the other two routes are about 200,000 total. But don't let mountains scare you. After a couple weeks on the road your body will become super fit and ready for anything. And remember, whatever goes up must go down. For each route you can buy incredible maps filled with information about where to resupply where to camp and a little history about each area that you're passing through. They're really fun to read in your tent at night time. If you're not into paper maps you can download the GPX files for your phone or bike computer. Adventure Cycling does their best to put you on safe roads like scenic byways. But anytime you're sharing the road with vehicles you need to be on high alert and be as visible as possible. Happy Thursday, happy happy Thursday. If you don't want to pack your eye-catching Scooby-Doo costume I at least recommend rear blinky lights. I don't trust people in cars these days. Distracted driving has become a real problem. I've ridden large portions of all these adventure cycling routes but sometimes I enjoy leaving the adventure wide open and not having a set route. I love tapping into local advice and letting them direct me on really cool side adventures. This is like the choose your own adventure option and I love the freedom but this does open you up to getting lost. And that's part of the fun of being out there. We might be lost but at least we're lost together. Okay, here we go. My first time riding across the USA was in 2009 when I convinced New Belgium Brewery to sponsor me as they rode one of their sweet cruisers from Oceanside, California to Washington DC. This southern Midwestern route took me through the deserts of California across Arizona, up the entire state of New Mexico and then headed east through Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia and finally into our nation's capital. All in all it was about 3,000 miles and besides getting over the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians there wasn't a ton of elevation gain which was a good thing because my bike only had 3 gears. I don't have to say I'm just tired. Tired. The goal of this ride was to show people that you don't have to have the most expensive gear to pull off a big time adventure. This bike also had coaster brakes. You know the kind you have to kick back to stop. I actually added a front brake so I wouldn't blow up the rear hub going down steep mountains. What I loved most about this experience was that it was my first taste of charming small-town America, a side of the country that I'd never experienced before. I'm standing here with some very special people. They've been my host family for the night here in Clinton, Missouri. Hello! Hey! The other highlights of the route were the epic rail trails. As I traveled further east, more and more people told me to ride the Katie Trail which I'd never heard of when I left the beaches of California. But the idea of riding a car-free and flat trail was very motivating. So when I crossed into Missouri from southern Kansas, I made a beeline up north to the town of Clinton and jumped onto the Katie Trail. Oh, no! Let me tell you, I was in absolute heaven for 240 miles. This is the longest rail trail in the U.S. and follows the beautiful Missouri River. The best thing about rail trails is you can put away your maps and just ride. You can't get lost. There's only one way to go. The second best thing is that you don't have to worry about getting hit by a car. It's so nice not having to deal with traffic. The third best thing is that it's covered by trees so the temperature is much cooler and you don't get sunburnt. And the fourth best thing is that you're always close to a town. Since this is an old rail line, it passes through a lot of cool old towns every 15 to 20 miles. This allows you to travel light and buy food only when needed. It's also cool to support these small communities. A lot of small town America is dying so any chance you get to help them out is greatly appreciated. There's also lots of designated campsites along the way and hotel options. Be sure to check out RailsToTrails.org for a list of all the awesome rail trails in the U.S. Oh, and one last thing. Pretty much any bike will be fine on these trails. The surface is crushed limestone and usually very smooth. Hello, little turtle. How are you doing? It's one of the reasons why I love the Katie Trail is that you find a little piece of wildlife like this and you can just stop in the middle of the road and not worry about getting run over. The other trail that I loved on this route was the C&O Camel Trail which is actually not a rail trail but an old towpath along the Potomac River. It starts in Cumberland, Maryland and ends in Washington, D.C. for a total of 185 miles. It's super flat, easy to pedal and passes through lots of charming old towns. This is what the C&O looks like. Beautiful wooded bike path. From the deserts of California to the rocky mountains to the flatlands of the Midwest and the beautiful Appalachians this adventure had a little bit of everything. I created this route over 10 years ago so there's no GPX files but I'm sure you can piece it together or create your own one-of-a-kind adventure. Oh, yeah. Now let's talk about a northern route. Many of you watched my Love Cycles series. If not, I will link it below. This was another route that was created on the fly. Every day we'd wake up, look at Google Maps and figure out a plan for the day. Our focus was to ride as much gravel as possible. One reason for this is that there's a lot less traffic on gravel roads. Again, distracted drivers on their phones scare me. A cool bonus to riding this far north is that you have sunlight late into the evening during the summer months. We're talking like 10 p.m. in some places. Happy Solstice! This allows you to take a nice long lunch break, siesta, and still have plenty of daylight to ride afterwards. We started our journey in Astoria, Oregon rode through some beautiful forests in Washington followed the Columbia River Gorge for a bit rode the flatlands into Boise, Idaho turned north to hit up some awesome hot springs across the continental divide in Wyoming hopped on the 200-mile cowboy trail in Nebraska met up with 20,000 cycling goofballs in Iowa at Raghbrite and then made our way across Illinois up into Wisconsin, across Michigan rode a couple hundred miles through Canada and then finished off by riding 350 miles on the Erie Canal Trail and down into NYC. We are in the Bronx. Would you believe it? Certainly doesn't look like the Bronx on TV. The highlights of this 3,500-mile route besides meeting tons of awesome people were again, the rail trails. Anytime you can get off a road your blood pressure drops and your enjoyment goes way up. The cowboy trail in Nebraska is great but unlike the rail trails in the Midwest it doesn't have any tree cover so it can be very hot but they have lots of cute little toads everywhere so that makes up for it. If you've never heard of Raghbrite it's the world's largest, longest, oldest recreational bike ride in the world. It's pure joy for seven days all the way across the state of Iowa. I like to call it a rolling county fair. It's the last full week of July so if you're riding across the USA and you're able to make it happen it's so worth it. Oh, and did I mention pie? There's a lot of pie. Look, my first piece of pie. This is very exciting stuff right now. Okay, back to the rail trails. We rode the Badger State Trail into Madison, Wisconsin the Glacial Drumlin Trail all the way to Milwaukee the Fred Meyer Trail in Michigan the Erie Canal Trail across almost the entire state of New York and we even found some trails out right at the northern tip of NYC. Finishing in the Big Apple was an incredible way to end this journey. I will put a link below to our route. It is time to go across the Brooklyn Bridge and fight through a sea of tourists. Okay, let's talk about some north to south routes. Way back in 2006 I rode from Portland, Maine to Key West, Florida. We rode about 3,000 miles and went through 16 states on the eastern seaboard. Heads up from Boston to Washington, DC which is about 500 miles there was tons of traffic. It's hard to get around the fact that this is the most densely populated area in the US. It wasn't all bad though. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC are all very cool cities and there's lots of great history. South of DC was a lot less stressful because there was way less traffic and it was a lot easier to navigate. I really loved the outer banks in North Carolina and riding the coast of Florida all the way down to the tippy tip and finishing in Key West. Ending a long ride in tropical paradise is pretty darn cool. I made it to Key West all the way from Maine. The lakes are tired but I am a happy boy. It's time to jump in the ocean A lot has changed in the world of cycling infrastructure since I did this ride 15 years ago so be sure to check out AdventureCycling.org for maps about the Atlantic coast route. Oh and by the way, this video is not sponsored by Adventure Cycling even though I keep promoting their site I just think they're really cool. And then boom, oh yeah check that out. That is how white I am. Okay, let's zoom over to the other side of the country. Actually, we're not even starting in the USA for this one. In 2010, I rode from Vancouver, Canada to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I have extra special memories from this trip because my little brother Ethan joined me to San Francisco. It was our first brother adventure. I used this ancient book to navigate but Adventure Cycling has maps for the Pacific coast. The entire trip is about 3,000 miles and passes through Canada, Washington, Oregon, California and Baja, Mexico. I have to say out of all my long rides this one might have the most stunning scenery. The coastline all the way down is breathtaking. And you get to camp on beaches or at least have a view of the ocean almost every night. I love the jungly forest roads in Washington and Oregon and riding beneath the mighty redwoods was awe inspiring. Let's look at it. You just have to touch it and hug it. Hug it. Hug that tree. Hug it. Make out with it. Big Sur is so beautiful it'll make you cry and the terrain in Baja is like being on another planet. Every day my eyes were overloaded with natural beauty. One of the best aspects of this route are the hike or bike campsites all the way down the coast. For about $7 you get a nice spot to pitch a tent, charge your electronics and there's usually a place to take a hot shower which is really handy. It's nice knowing that at the end of every day you'll have a safe place to camp. On many of my other long tours I'm always searching for a place to hide for the night. This is called stealth camping. It works but it can be a little stressful sometimes. The Pacific Coast plain and simple is set up for bicycle touring and people come from all over the world to ride the famous Highway 101. Cars are used to seeing bikes on the road so that makes it a bit safer. I've even found that riding the main highway in Baja is very safe. Mexican drivers are very courteous and go way around you. And I know that a lot of people worry about security in Mexico but I've never had a problem. Just like anywhere in the world the locals are friendly and helpful. And did I mention the food is amazing? You'll be eating the tastiest Mexican food for a thousand miles from Tijuana to Cabo. Brrrrritos I love this food. It never gets old. You can buy maps or GPX files for the Pacific Coast route at the Adventure Cycling website but only for Vancouver to San Diego. Once you're in Mexico, you're on your own but there's really only one road to take anyway. Mexico one. Whoa! These mountains are different. We don't have these kind of mountains in Colorado. I think I'm looking at the southern end of the Canadian Rockies. If you're looking for complete immersion into nature and very little traffic the Great Divide mountain bike route is for you. This is the longest off-road bike route in the world at 2700 miles and loosely travels along the continental divide from Manth, Canada to the border of Mexico. All of the other routes I've talked about are mainly on pavement but this one is almost 100% dirt and because of this the pedaling is a bit tougher. You definitely either need a gravel bike with wide tires or a mountain bike to comfortably ride this. The benefits of being way out there are endless access to beautiful campsites and lots of solitude. This is only one of my all-time favorite adventures. The Adventure Cycling Association mapped this out in 1997 and it's truly a beautiful way to see some of the best of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico. There's also a lot of really cool Wild West history. You can buy the maps or GPX files on the Adventure Cycling website. Whoever made this route somebody at the Adventure Cycling Association whoever that is, thank you. This is really well done. Okay, I hope that this was helpful to you in choosing your dream route across the USA. I know that it sounds daunting to jump on a bike and ride it thousands of miles but I promise you, it'll all work out. The planning process can be overwhelming when you're toiling over the physicality of it all and what gear to bring but really the most important thing to bring on a multi-month bike tour is an open mind. Remember, this is an adventure. Things are not always going to go as planned. When something on your bike breaks or a huge storm is coming or you're fresh out of beans just take a deep breath smell some nearby flowers and realize that everything will be okay. I always learn the most about myself when times are tough and these lessons help me with challenges that arise in my everyday life. I always feel mentally and physically recharged after a long tour and I definitely feel more connected to nature and my fellow humans. What I'm trying to say here is that riding your bike for thousands of miles will make you a better person. It will. You'll be more patient, more loving, more compassionate, more confident and you'll have sexier legs too. I'll link below some videos about gear and all the stuff that I've brought on my tours. But don't get too caught up in all that. You don't need the best of the best. Remember, I rode a cheap three-speed cruiser all the way across the U.S. and I was just fine and you will be too. Thank you so much for watching this video. If you want to see content of all the adventures I spoke about I will link them below. And if you have the ability please consider supporting me financially on Patreon. It's greatly appreciated and helps me to continue creating these videos for you to enjoy. Now jump on your bike, pump up the tires, actually pumping for tires first then jump on your bike and get out there.