It takes a lot of gear and not a small amount of information to do an unsupported ride across country. Luckily, I have found some good advisers to help me catch the important bits.

Of course the centerpiece is the bike. It’s a Surly Big Dummy. It seems that the gas price crunch has made this a very popular item, and I’m waiting for the frame to arrive. If you want to really dig into the greatness of this rig, here’s a Flickr group dedicated to the Big Dummy.

The bike is being built by Olybikes in Olympia, WA. I like this shop, and not just because they can build the bike I want. When you are a big guy, in the ex-football-gone-to-seed sense, most bikes shops will actually treat you as if you don’t belong. I call it the “fat dude in a bike shop” vibe. I never got that from Oly bikes, even when I was huge. They believe, it seems, that everyone should ride a bike, and they are helpful in the extreme in pursuing that goal. On top of that, I bought a single speed from them last year and it was set up really well. The wheels are still true, and everything is still working perfectly. I haven’t even taken it in for the post sale tuneup yet. Then, they have specific experience in doing exactly what I intend to do, so on top of a good bike, I get a lot of good, relevant advice. The only thing they are missing is a little extra space to hang out and talk bikes.

Surly sells the bike as a frameset, which means somebody needs to know how to build it into a complete bike. That’s not me, I’ll tell ya. So when I know more, I’ll talk about components here.

The next bit is the dog trailer. It’s one of the only reasonable ways to bring a dog on a long ride, although I have seen small dogs riding around in milk crates. I’m using a Burley Tail Wagon. It affords good protection, good ventilation, and leaves a little room for extra cargo. Plus, when my dog is too old to walk, it converts into a stroller too. : )

A big part of the trip is documentation. I’ll be carrying cameras for video and still photography, along with a tiny laptop to upload stuff to the internet when I get a chance. In every case, I’m going for light weight, and inexpensive gear, that will be less of a problem if it gets damaged or lost. Details to come.