by Philip

This trip has been a dream for Liz since she cycled on the PCH for a week in 1987. Having persuaded Philip to join her on this epic adventure, we set about planning the trip and preparing ourselves physically.

We planned our route using the Komoot app, which enabled us to put start and end points in and state how many days we wanted to take – the app then gave us a route. Komoot specialises in building cycle-friendly routes, avoiding busy roads wherever possible. Armed with an outline route, we set about booking accommodation along the route – sometimes straightforward and sometimes tricky, especially when in an area of wilderness with few options! With accommodation booked, we revised the route to cover all the bookings.

We have chosen to do the trip on e-bikes – which presented our first challenge … it is not possible to fly with e-bikes (due to risks of battery fires) – and we were unable to find anywhere to rent bikes for a trip like this. We decided to buy bikes in Bellingham WA (near Blaine) and we plan then to sell them when we get to the other end. We have chosen the Gazelle Eclipse 11+ e-bikes – a Dutch bike with great range and luggage carrying capacity. For Cathy’s visit we found Sam at Humboldt Kayak and Bike rental, who has been amazing in renting a bike to us and helping with the logistics of posting it back to him two weeks later.

To prepare ourselves we have both done a lot of rides alone and together – often around Boxhill in Surrey. Cathy, who will join us for two weeks around her half-term holiday in May, has been cycling to and from work on Lime e-bikes. The highlight of our preparation was a weekend away for the three of us, cycling from home in Epsom to Worthing, staying overnight in an AirBnB and cycling back the next day – 50 miles per day, and coping with very strong winds.

We are now three weeks away from the start of the trip and finalising logistics, packing lists, clothing, taxi journeys, and all the minutiae of a major expedition!