FAQ
Send in your questions! We'll be happy to
answer them!
About the Bicycle Trip
What?! Crossing the North American continent on bicycles? You must be nuts!
Don't you think you are being irresponsible?
Why did you buy your bicycles in Tokyo?
Where do you sleep?
What do you eat?
Where do you do laundry?
Are you thinner?
Does your butt hurt?
It's not dangerous, is it?
Do you lock your bikes?
How many hours do you ride a day? How far do you manage to ride?
How long is this going to take?
Will you be selling the film rights?
You guys are going awful slow. Why and how are you going to finish?
About the Motocycle Trip
Tell me about your motorcycle. Model, make, range, how do you like it?
Was it part of the plan all along to switch to motorcycles?
What happened to the bicycles?
What?! Crossing the North American continent? You must be nuts!
Uh, yea, this is news? Although I do agree you could have expected a higher degree of sanity from Mieko. Besides, I can think of no better way to see the country and, more importantly, meet the people who make it great. (Bill 7/7/01)
Don't you think you are being irresponsible?
No. We can make at least minor repairs on the road, have a pretty good route plan and very trusted set of people providing home base support. I guess you could worry about risk of traffic accident, crime or sudden, violent illness but I don't think the risk is much higher than it would be going about a normal, active life in most places. (Bill 7/7/01)
Why did you buy your bicycles in Tokyo?
Wanted to be able to hit the road as soon as we got to the US. To do that we needed equipment we were comfortable using. That meant getting the bikes as soon as possible and that meant in Japan. We ended up paying a little more than we would have in the US, but it bought us nearly 2 months of extra training time. Added bonus of buying in Tokyo: Mr. Tamura at the REI store did an amazing job of getting us set up and ready to roll. (Bill 7/7/01)
Where do you sleep?
A mixture of hotels and camping. Hotels are better...they are more comfortable and since you don't have to set up camp and strike it in the morning you can get more riding in. However, there aren't always hotels we also carry camping gear. We expect that this trip will be about 70% hotel, maybe 30% camping. (Bill 7/13/01)
I will do almost anything to get me a nice bed at the end of a long day, so I expect threre is going to be less camping than Bill thinks. (Mieko 7/22/01)
What do you eat?
If we are going through towns we are happy to eat both dinner and lunch in restaurants. We have a camp stove and cooking set and if we are going through less populated areas we will make our own lunch and dinner. (Bill 7/13/01)
Where do you do laundry?
Hotels and laundromats when we can, camp sinks when we have to. Bill (7/13/01)
Hmm. As far as I can tell, Bill has not done any laundry at all in the sink from the day we started. It is all laundromats and hotel laundries. He hates doing laundry so much that he is happy to wear dirty clothes for another day if he has to. Yuck! (7/22/01)
Are you thinner?
A little. I hear on these trips guys tend to loose weight and woman tend to gain weight. Ask again in 2.5 months. (Bill 7/13/01)
What? I don't get to be thinner in spite of all this work? I want to go home! (Mieko 7/22/01)
Does your butt hurt?
Yes, but not as much as it used to. (Bill 7/13/01)
Yes, but not as much as it used to after I installed a jell filled seat cover. I don't even need padded shorts now. (Mieko 7/22/01)
It's not dangerous, is it?
There is a risk associated with everything, but if we didn't feel the risk was acceptable we wouldn't be doing this now. I know, it's a non-answer but it's the best I can do. (Bill 7/13/01)
Do you lock your bikes?
Often.. If we go shopping one person usually stays outside to watch the bikes. (Bill 7/13/01)
And we carry the bikes into the motel rooms so that we won't have to worry about them all night. (Mieko 8/9/01)
How many hours do you ride a day? How far do you manage to ride?
I hope our trip average will be around 60 miles/day. There are very hilly days when we might do only 20 miles and I think there will be 120+ mile days. I'd like to ride about 6 hours a day, but so far (we are just finishing week one) its been many more than that.. (Bill 7/13/01)
How long is this going to take?
Around 90 days. (Bill 7/13/01)
We hope. (Mieko 7/22/01)
Robocop, are you invincible?
I have to go now. Somewhere a hill is being committed. (Bill 7/22/01)
Will you be selling the film rights?
I'm not sure but I think they've been sold already, maybe my agent can help you. (Bill 7/22/01)
You guys are going awful slow. Why and how are you going to finish?
It is taking Mieko longer than we expected to get used to riding the bike over long distances. We will gradually increase mileage and (I hope) decrease rest days as she becomes more comfortable. Being nearly 30% through the planned time and only something like 10% through planned distance is certainly a deep hole to get out of, but by riding aggressively later in the trip and stretching the schedule it may be possible. (Bill 8/1/01)
Tell me about your motorcycle. Make, model, range, and how do you like it?
OK. It's an 2001 BMW K1200LT. At 850 pounds I think LT stands for Light Truck. It gets about 45 miles to the gallon and has a 6.2 gallon tank so the range is about 300 miles, though I try to refuel every 250 miles or so. The bike uses ABS brakes and has telelever suspension for amazing stopping power. I would guess that a novice rider could stop the K1200LT in about the same length an expert could stop a non ABS bike, and an expert oould stop the BMW in a third the length a novice could stop a non ABS bike. Assuming expert riders on the K1200LT and a standard bike I would guess the K1200LT would stop 10% faster or so. At speeds above 5MPH the bike feels completely normal, even a little bit sporty (although it doesn't have quite the power it would need to be a sports tourer). Its very comfortable for Mieko on back and the ride is very, very smooth. It's biggest flaw is low speed stability and turning radius. It just doesn't turn as tightly at low speed as other bikes, even taking size into account. I also find the driver's seat somewhat uncomfortable, after maybe 2 hours it hurts, which is just about the range I got with my CBR600 sports bike. All in all I don't really love it, but its good looks and ability to get the job done have earned my respect.(9/8 Bill)
Was it part of the plan all along to switch to a motorcycle?
Nope. We had considered motorcycles early on but Mieko didn't like the idea and Bill wanted the challenge of bicycles. Somehow after doing the mountains of Kentucky and Virginia on bicycles that changed. (9/8 Bill)
What happened to the bicycles?
Disassembled and shipped to the support team. (9/8 Bill)
Did you buy the motorcycles just now, in Louisville?
Took me a while to post this question (sorry Tom) but yes, we scored the bike from Jeff Cooke at BMW Motorcycles of Louisville. (9/8 Bill)
Send in your questions! We'll be happy to answer them!
