Tour of America - Volume I

Updated: Apr 11

Seattle to San Diego - the first volume of Blu Acciaio's grand Tour of America has been completed. Feeling mighty confident after Tour de Danube and Passo dello Stelvio, the management of Blu Acciaio invited team members and friends to a brainstorm. The purpose was to come up with a worthy successor to those tours. The answer to that question turned out to be Tour of America - Volume I, II and III. This post is about Volume I, covering Seattle to San Diego. Later volumes will cover Anchorage to Seattle and the legendary TransAm Route.

Below is our final route. It is exact and based on GPX-files we recorded along the way. Check out our GPX-files and journal and photos below the map.

Infographic of our gpx-data from veloviewer.com

Journal

05.09.2015: We have arrived safely in Seattle! The bikes are all put together and we are ready for the prologue. We will spend the next two days riding north, until we reach the border of Canada. Everyone is very excited to experience how it is to be touring in the US. So far the only thing certain is that it will be a lot of deep fried things on the dishes..
09.09.2015: We reached the Canadian border 6.9 and have since been riding south. The roads are amazing and often as wide as a small runway, leaving ample space for us along the big blocks roaring by. As for overnight storage of our precious bikes, we have so far been offered to roll them directly to our room and park bedside. Priceless! We have now put 600 km behind us. Although we cannot yet see it, signs of tsunami evacuation routes remind us that the Pacific Coast is now mere kilometers away. We are already at the famous 101, which will take us all the way to San Diego.
11.09.2015: Before thee lies the mighty Pacific Ocean. We sleep now to the soothing sound of waves rolling ashore. The scenery is completely breathtaking, the roads are flat as can be and the wind is in our favour. Oh joy, and still 2 000 km to San Diego.
19.09.2015: Some days ago we left the State of Oregon and crossed over to sunny California. Bicycling in Oregon has been a great experience, much thanks to the Oregon Coast Bike Route and the many scenic byways it reveals. Already since Astoria, far north in Oregon, we have started to see many fellow touring cyclists. One of the more fascinating entourages was two friends from Germany. Without prior biking or camping experience, they set out from Anchorage some three months ago, aiming for Tijuana. Read all about them at worstideaever.de Another one, Dan, started from Oxford in England in 2014. He has already been riding for 16 months and was still in high spirits, headed for Mexico. Fascinating and inspiring people and they are all rolling on 101. We stand on the shoulders of giants.. Speaking of giants, we rode through the Humboldt Redwoods State Park recently and the Avenue of Giants. Unbelievable tall and majestic trees!
25.09.2015: After some 2.000 kilometres, we reached San Francisco the 24th September. As planned, we might add. It was quite spectacular to approach from the north and see the magnificent Golden Gate rise behind the hills of Sausalito.
28.09.2015: Options for lodging are scarce on the stretch from Monterey to Morro Bay. Considering we left out camping gear at home, we therefore opted for the inland route, from Santa Cruz to Santa Maria. Unfortunately, that route made us miss Big Sur, which is supposedly one of the most stunning parts of Highway One. On the other hand, the desert just east of King City was also quite an experience.
06.10.2015: One of the other riders has had too many american burgers at Dennys and spokes are now snapping almost at a daily basis. We stopped at Open Air Bicycles in Ventura to have the wheel in question overhauled. Despite being almost completely worned out after 9000 km of touring cycling, it seems like they somehow managed to patch it together good enough to keep us rolling until San Diego.
10.10.2015: At this day we finally reached San Ysidro and the border of Mexico. The last few stages have been short and without much elevation. Still they have been unexpectedly demanding. Mostly due to heavy traffic and intense heat. The fact that we have pedaled just over 3.100 kilometres in the last 36 days is probably also part of the explanation.. In any case, WE MADE IT! What a boost, to touch the Mexican border, just over five weeks after we touched the Canadian border! We will now chillax for a few days. Then we be returning to our stronghold in Norway, where we will plan the next volumes of Tour of America. Thank you all for encouragements and kudos along the way. See y'all out there..

Details about tracks and lodging

05.09.2015 - Prologue Part 1: Seattle, WA >>> Burlington, WA (164 km) Hotel: Cocusa Motel | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/385789545

06.09.2015 - Prologue Part 2: Burlington, WA >>> Lynden, WA (79 km) Hotel: Windmill Inn Motel | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/386588092

07.09.2015 - Lynden, WA >>> Oak Harbor, WA (101 km) Hotel: Coachman Inn & Suites | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/387342580

08.09.2015 - Oak Harbor, WA >>> Bremerton, WA (113 km) Hotel: Flagship Inn | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/388090299 and https://www.strava.com/activities/388090472

09.09.2015 - Bremerton, WA >>> Aberdeen, WA (135 km) Hotel: The Abderdeen Hotel | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/388829704

10.09.2015 - Aberdeen, WA >>> Long Beach, WA (120 km) Hotel: Chautauqua Lodge | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/389558879

11.09.2015 - Aberdeen, WA >>> Seaside, OR (59 km) Hotel: Motel 6 Seaside | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/390074160

12.09.2015 - Seaside, OR >>> Tillamook, OR (79 km) Hotel: Western Royal Inn | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/390850846

13.09.2015 - Tillamook, OR >>> Newport, OR (125 km) Hotel: Rodeway Inn | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/391835660

14.09.2015 - Newport, OR >>> Florence, OR (84 km) Hotel: Villa West Motel | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/392373479

15.09.2015 - Florence, OR >>> Coos Bay, OR (81 km) Hotel: Edgewater Inn | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/393084664

16.09.2015 - Coos Bay, OR >>> Gold Beach, OR (130 km) Hotel: Wild Chinook Inn | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/393839978

17.09.2015 - Gold Beach, OR >>> Crescent City, CA (91 km) Hotel: Travelodge Crescent City | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/394463633

18.09.2015 - Crescent City, CA >>> Arcata, CA (122 km) Hotel: Red Roof Inn | Track details: https://www.strava.com/activities/395059571