Thinking about riding my bike across the country next year. Anyone here done it?

I've been thinking about this a little recently, my friend and I might give it a shot next year.

Has anyone here tried it, or know anyone who has? There is obviously a lot of planning to be done with lodging, how much time it will take, where the funds will come from (we are poor college kids ) and of course, routes. Initially I might just do the New York to LA route.

FWIW, Both of us will be 20 next summer, ride bikes a lot, and are track decathletes at the University of Colorado.

Advice, etc?

EDIT: I do realize too that this isn't something you do on a whim, I know the amount of training it will take and such, but I'm totally up for that; this would be a huge accomplishment.

 

had a teacher in high school who would spend his summers doing stuff like this (he'd ride Boston-STL, Seattle to STL, etc) and he'd tell us stories about it a lot.

it takes a phenomenal amount of energy to do this. diet will be vital....eating fast food won't cut it. plan your supplies/luggage around that.
start training now. if you do 100 miles a day on a bike its probably the equivalent of between a 10K and a half marathon every day for a month or so (3000 miles NY-LA/100 miles per day)
do a lot of research and test miles on bikes, and maybe more importantly bike seats
you may want to stay out of the southern/southwestern states during the summer. 90+ degree days will stack up against you pretty quick.
trying couchsurfing.com or craigslist for cheap/free housing. not sure how viable this will be in the sticks.
A good GPS will make life easier, esp. if it has real-time traffic (not sure if you can get that on a bike-mounted gps)

 

You might want to check this site out as well.
http://www.texas4000.org/

Austin to Alaska and raising money to fight cancer, also I believe the cost of the rider's bikes is worked into the budget.

 

If you do it, definitely look for a way to help a charity in the process. Not a lot of people are so bold (or healthy) to take on such a journey, and it's always a great way to put a cause into the spotlight. I'm sure plenty members here would be happy to donate. I will.

 

check the prevailing winds. You want to go across the country with a tail wind... I think that means west to east.

As for lodging, tents and campgrounds the only way to fly.......

Erich

Biked San Francisco to San Diego, Thru Vermont and Cape Cod
and lastly from Vancouver to Calgary in 3 weeks. I can highly recommend a trip across Canada, spectacular scenery friendly people and cooler weather than the States.

 

Definitely! My friend biked across Canada last summer and got great support from the organization who was backing him, they also arranged lodging.