Ride the Americas

Overview

Alaska to Argentina

In Brief

Ed & Gaye tackle a 38,000km ride spanning 15 countries and 22 months. Starting in Anchorage, heading north to the top of Alaska(Prudhoe Bay) then turning south and heading through North America, Central America and South America finishing in Ushuaia(Patagonia) in Argentina.

The Concept

After completing the The Long Way Home Project(London to Melbourne) in 2006, Ed said ‘never again, lets just do shorter trips in the future’. This resulted in a tour of Argentina/Chile in 2010 and then Spain/Morocco in 2012 plus a ride up Cape York just for fun on 2007.

Riding ‘Alaska to Ushuaia’ is a fairly well known ride having been tackled by many long distance touring cyclists. It’s one of the great cycling trips in the world. Somehow it bubbled to the top of our list and became our next ride. With the pain of the Long Way Home Project forgotten we embraced our new adventure enthusiastically and researched the amazing journey we will be undertaking.

From Arctic tundra, bears, glaciers, mountain ranges, monumental waterfalls, more bears, stunning rock formations, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, tacos, donuts, salt flats, more mountains, more glaciers, gauchos, this trip has got it all.

Previous experience tells us there will be good times, bad times and magic moments. It’s all good.

Always the hardest part of any trip is the planning.

The Planning

Weather conditions had to be assessed…start in the Summer, finish in the Summer, avoid the monsoons in the middle.

While all countries allow you to get a visa on the border, our long stay in USA required obtaining an extended 12 mth visa back in Oz.

Only two languages required for the whole trip….English and Spanish.

Managing money is not too hard on this trip as our ATM cards work in all countries we visit. Pre purchased American Dollars on Travel Card.

After assessing our immunisation status we got a couple of jabs to top up our previous extensive vaccinations. Main concerns are Rabies and Yellow Fever.

Bikes fully overhauled, and bomb proof ‘Schwalbe Marathon’ tyres fitted. We use mountain bikes and strong ‘downhill’ wheels that so far are unbreakable. Rule 1 of bike touring…have a very strong rear wheel. This is where most trouble arises.

New 4 seasons tent and cold weather gear for possible extreme weather in Alaska and Patagonia.

Bike overhauls planned for Southern California before tackling Central America where bike parts might be harder to get.

Accommodation was a mixture of bush camping, campgrounds, hosted(Warm Showers), hostels, motels. Basically anything that is appropriate at the time.

5 comments on “Ride The Americas – Overview

    1. Dear Jenny’s Mum, I’m sorry but I think it’s too late …. Jenny is already showing signs of being infected & the only cure is to go off and ride your bike ….!!

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