What's this all about then?

Hi my name is Gavin and I'm a 33 year old Englishman with an interest in travelling and cycling and a ridiculous idea to combine the two. The idea is to cycle from Los Angeles on the west coast to Boston on the east coast of the USA. However, this trip will not be made on a conventional bicycle, but on a three wheeled recumbent (laid back) tricycle.

This website is a personal record of my attempt to fulfill that idea and cross the USA from west coast to east, entirely solo, under my own power and without assistance. My aim is to cycle the entire 4000 miles / 6400km's carrying everything I need on my trike and camping along the way. There will be no support crews and no comfy 5 star hotels (well maybe the odd night!). The success or failure of this trip will lay squarely upon my own shoulders, what I can carry myself and buying supplies along the route.

Who Am I ?

I was born and raised in England in a place my friends and I like to call Sunny Romford. I left those shores some years ago and like many of my Romford friends made the long trip to Australia where I have lived for the last 8 years. Since the age of 18 I have moved between cities and countries fairly regularly, with my longest stint in any one place being 4 years in Sydney and my most recent being 3 years in Perth.

In the last 15 years I have been to two Universities, and worked in numerous and varied different jobs, Futures Trader (London), Demolition (Sydney), BarMan (Greece), Construction (Hong Kong), Bicycle Messenger (Sydney) and Network Engineer (Perth), to name but a few.

It would appear that I have itchy feet and issues with boredom :)

Why Am I Doing This ?

Thats a really good question and one I'm not sure I even know the answer to myself. Nearly everyone that has heard of my plans is either impressed, thinks I'm insane or both. Well I don't think I'm insane and I'm not trying to impress anyone (well maybe a little bit), I guess I just want to be able to look back one day and be able to say that I did something big.

I never played sport for my country, so the nearest I can get to achieving glory is to do something that most people would never be able to do. Other than that I guess the following are some of the reasons I thought this would be a good idea.

1. Because I can.

2. It beats going to work.

3. It's a great way to see the country

4. It's the only way I'm going to get off my arse and get fit.

5. I like riding bikes.

6. I couldn't afford a motorbike.

7. I had to get to Boston somehow.

8. I'm having my midlife crisis early.

9. I'll be able to bore the pants off people at dinner parties.

10. It seemed like a good idea at the time.