Fueled by burritos and solar power.
Spending 5 to 6 hours a day pedaling gives me time to think. Heading toward Alaska from Southern California, one of those recurring thoughts has been, “Am I in The North yet?” Surely, crossing the border into Canada means that I’m now in The North, right? Except that Vancouver is right across the border from …
The lush cedar-hemlock forest of the interior zone transitions to sparse northern boreal white and black spruce, evidence of long, cold winters. I see a black shape moving by the side of the road up ahead and slow down. A bear? No, too small. Maybe it’s a cub? I come to a full stop. If …
I leave Vancouver, followed by Grin’s videographer, Aaron, who is getting coverage of me riding for their latest YouTube video. This spectacle seems to turn even more heads than the solar bike alone. I pretend that I am comfortable with this kind of attention. A panhandler working an intersection in North Vancouver abandons his post …
I made another pitstop at Grin Technologies in Vancouver and we recorded a video update of the trip so far. https://youtu.be/aS5VhfCuKJU
At the Canadian border, I roll past a long line of cars to a bike rack near the building entrance. While I’m still fishing out my documents, two border agents come out and start asking about the bike. This is clearly a welcome change from their usual routine. Did you build it yourself? How far …
I get an early start out of Portland with a full battery, which is good because it‘s cloudy until late morning. Rob guides me out of the city and we part ways. I ride north 80 miles cross the Columbia River to Seaquest State Park in Washington state. Bye-bye Oregon. The hike/bike area consists of …
Such a warm welcome. North of Bandon, Oregon, the pine forest smells like a very expensive candle. I’m not a fan of air fresheners or scented candles but if someone could reproduce this scent, I would want to buy it. Except for the first two nights, when hike/bike campsites were not an option, I have …
I set off from San Diego toward Alaska two weeks before the summer solstice. The long summer days are a big improvement over the short winter days I experienced toward the end of the last leg of this tour. I’m averaging 85 miles per day (137 km) even with headwinds and 3300’ (1000 m) of …
I find myself wondering why I’m seeing so many California license plates and then I remember I’m almost in California. Right. I’ve left Route 66 and I’m navigating my own way across the desert to Joshua Tree National Park. Just before I begin a 90 mile stretch of desert with no water and no services, …
I arrived in San Diego on December 10. I'm just behind on posting updates. "Bicycle Route 66" across Arizona is mostly Interstate 40 with few opportunities to get away from the busy road. This suits me just fine as I can focus on covering longer daily distances and get to lower elevations before colder weather …
SOLAR ebike 