Just thinking…

I was browsing a wee bit while waiting for a job to run and came across a site for the Mississippi River Trail.

It got me thinking that rivers are not generally associated with wildly varying elevations (read: hills) except for the occaisonal waterfall. I could probably bike something like this, even at my really slow pace. Mostly what I’d need would be the time and a credit card for staying at motels. I’m not really into camping out for however long it would take. I’m going to give this some serious thought. I probably wouldn’t be able to do it until 2010 or 11, but it’s an idea.
It’s a 3000 mile trip which would take me at least 60 days I figure – given I wouldn’t want to push it and I’d like to stay over in at least a couple of places for more than a quick glance. At 50 miles a day I’d just make it, at 100 I’d have 30 days to spare. I’m thinking 75 a day is probably more realistic. That would make it a 40 day ride leaving 20 days for travel to and from as well as the all important Slack.
In order to research this a bit, and to have a good read (I hope), I picked up a Kindle Edition of Cycling to the Source of the Mississippi River by Barbara Mary Johnson. I’ve only just cracked it and will say that I enjoyed what I’ve read quite a bit. She journeyed from South to North with her husband and I expect I’ll learn a lot.
In other news, I was slower than usual today. Hurray for me! I just didn’t have any get up and go, but I rode anyway. I think I’m actually slower on my new road tires than on the old mountain bike tires. It isn’t really true, but that’s how I feel. I think what really happened is that I overdid it a wee bit on Saturday and have paid the price ever since. Of course that means I will be a bit stronger once everything gets back to normal.
Aloha!