The next leg of the trip has always been the one that I was most excited about. If I had to choose only one leg then it would have been this one. The danger now is that North America disappoints as the truth is that while I have been to some remarkably cool places that I have not yet found somewhere that has truly stopped me dead in my tracks. This puts a lot of pressure on North America to prove that the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh is not the centre of my (the?) universe. The reality is that Dublin is wonderfully located on the periphery of a great continent in a beautiful bay with nice hill-side settings. It is small enough not to overwhelm yet big enough to catch any cultural driftwood that is floating near its waters. In terms of cycling it is the best city I have come across yet. There are very few places in the world that boast a mild enough climate such that one can ride for 360 days a year. It has coastal routes, lakeside routes, lots of twenty minute climbs in Wicklow, nice flat roads in Kildare and Meath, heavy roads for strength and only thirty minutes of city-limits before one swaps the city din for some fresh country air. What's more, there is some great technical mountain-biking and a really great road-racing scene in Leinster once you don't take it all too seriously. The problem with Dublin for me has always been with some of the 'feckin' Irish that live there. Between all the invasions of the Celts, the Vikings, the Normans, the English and the bickering of the indigenous Clanns, has anybody pillaged the city more than that vain breed of Irishman who has exhausted us all both morally and financially?
While money is a reality in the world I inherited it is important for me to be among people who understand the balance. It is for this reason that I wanted to avoid the sea-boards in the US. A lot of the cities on the east and west coast are money focused, be it the glamour of the Hollywood Hills or the competitive ethos promoted by Ivy League universities. This 'race to get ahead' that particularly dominates eastern US thought is something that I wish to avoid. There has to be another way. Thus, I am curious to see whether it is the Cascadian or Rocky Mountain way of doing things.
Another reason why I was so excited about visiting the US is that cities here tend to have a very defined personality. Contrary to European beliefs Americans travel a lot. We believe that because only a small percentage of them have a passport that they don't travel. However, the reality is that they must be among the most travelled race in the world. Everybody who lives here seems to be originally from somewhere else. If you ask an American where they are from they answer where they last lived. Even if I was living in another part of the world I would always be 'from' Dublin. In America people tend to grow up in one town, their parents' jobs or a divorce might move them to another, they go to college in another, they follow a girl/boy to a different one and then they move to settle down in yet another town. This makes them among the most nomadic people on the planet. It was an American writer (Jack Kerouac) who conceived the 'road' novel and inspired a whole generation of drifters. Of course, America is also home to the 'road-trip'. You only have to spend a short time on American highways to notice colossal homes on wheels. Indeed Winnebago and Harley Davidson are world renowned symbols of American transience. The consequence of all this moving around is that they do not have a strong sense of their roots and so search out a place to call home. Sometime between college and starting a family they tend to gravitate towards cities with well defined personalities where they aspire to fitting in. Without the burden of history the United States has managed to foster an eclectic mix of cities; Portland, Berkeley, Santa Fe and Boulder are just an example of some of the many different vibes that exist here. American transience only serves to reinforce each city's personality since only people who want to be associated with it stay. Thus, while America harbours a lot of diversity its cities tend not to be so diverse, unless of course their vibe is the cosmopolitan one of a New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.
To put things in context, the country of Ireland has the population and land area of South Carolina. This is only one of fifty US states. There is no doubt that America is a large piece of land to travel through. Anyone who knows how diverse and beautiful the scenery is here can forgive Americans for never having acquired a passport (even if some cultural awareness would not go amiss).
So, if I'm looking to avoid a lot of the sea-boards then what way do I plan to go? Time to get your google maps out. I start my trip in Portland (Oregon) and will head to Seattle (Washington) via the Cascade range - that's a mountain as opposed to a rifle range! From Seattle I drop out of the Cascades to island hop to Vancouver, British Colombia. From Vancouver I will figure out what way I want to get to Banff in Alberta. Banff is the start of the Great Divide mountain-range, which feeds into the Continental Divide in the US. The whole chain is what we call the Rockies. I am planning to ride what is known in bike-touring terms as 'The Great Divide' as far as Colorado. This is a mountain-bike trail that goes across the Rockies from Canada to Mexico through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. These are mostly gravel fire-access roads that take me through Glacier, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and Rocky Mountain National Parks. While it would be amazing to be able to take my time through it I have to be conscious that the Rockies are generally only free of snow between June and late September. It is for this reason that I hummed and hawed over certain diversions to my trip. The weather in the Rockies has always kept a time-limit on things as I don't wish to wait until the summer of 2011 to ride them. As it is I'm leaving rather late but I have decided not to worry about it and like everywhere else I have been, I'm just going to ride it as I see it. I have unfolded many 2D maps during my trip so far, seeing these maps unfold in 3D as I ride gives me a great deal of pleasure.
In terms of any rush, I take consolation from the fact that there is a race across 'The Great Divide' each June and it takes the winner 18 days to ride all 4,418kms of the Tour Divide race-route from Canada to Mexico self-supported. Naturally, I do not wish to race it (this year at least) but hopefully the weather will accommodate me until I drop off the trail to explore the biker towns in Colorado.
Fingers crossed that I have saved the best for last
Marco