I leave for my summer adventure tomorrow morning. Doing another bike tour. This time I’m riding my bicycle from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. Or more specifically, from my home in Woodstock, Illinois, fifty miles northwest of Chicago, to Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. Going to ride old US Route 66 with a jog north at Flagstaff, Arizona to visit the Grand Canyon. Eleven weeks and over twenty-six hundred miles. My longest bike tour yet.

I’ve been working these past several months getting ready. I rebuilt my bike, upgrading my twenty-five year old Trek hybrid with the latest technology from Shimano. It’s got an entirely new drive train, new brakes, new wheel set. The bike is in great shape now and, to be honest, in much better shape than me. I’m still carrying about fifteen extra pounds of winter weight and three inches of excess girth about my waste. So the plan is to start slow and work myself into shape as I move west.

Except for the first eighty miles from Woodstock to Joliet, Illinois (where I’ll join up with Route 66) , I’ll be following the Adventure Cycle Association’s Bicycle Route 66. I’ve scouted the entire length of the route using both high resolution satellite imagery and Google Maps street view. I’ve reviewed the historic weather patterns and traffic conditions. I’ve mapped out all the climbs and descents, and all the motels and tent campgrounds along the way. I think I’m as prepared as best can be expected.

What follows will be the daily journal entries for my bike ride. In addition to a short-written narrative, I’ll try to provide maps, vertical profiles, photographs, and daily weather reports for each day I pedal my way west. I hope that by sharing all this information you’re able to imagine the journey as much yours as mine. Thanks in advance for reading. It should be an epic ride.