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Hello,

My name is Joe, I'm a 23yo college grad/newly wed planning a five week bicycle trip down the East Coast of the United States. My travels will begin in Bangor, Maine where I will begin to head south to my final destination, my front door in Tallahassee, Florida. I don't have any specific route picked out, but instead I will rely on the advice of the people I meet along the way on how to get to the next town. I will be traveling alone, although some people have expressed interest in joining me for a few days, we will see how it works out.

I have been riding bikes seriously for about six years now, I haven't found a discipline of cycling that I haven't enjoyed. When I was in college and didn't own a car I rode my bike everywhere, a rain jacket and spare tube was part of my daily essentials along with my wallet and cell phone. Not long after I got to college I was introduced to mountain biking. I fell in love with mountain biking. I have always had a passion for the outdoors and mountain biking was a way for me combine my love of biking and hiking into one sport. Mountain biking was what led me to learn about the Florida State University Cycling Team and eventually racing.

During the Christmas break of my sophomore year at college my long time friend Adam, hinted at the idea of riding out bikes from the Alabama State line to Key West. I expressed interest as one does when drinking beers with an old friend but brushed it off as a whim that would never materialize. Two months later I received a phone call from Adam, he was all fired up about a trip to Key West and was calling to confirm I was going before he cashed in all his savings bonds. Not being one to stand in the way of adventure I said I was in, three months later we were pedaling our way to Key West.

It wasn't until my last year in school that I seriously took up road riding. I decided it was something I wanted to do so I went all out and spent all my money on a top of the line race machine. At this time my girlfriend and now wife, Kaitlin, was racing mountain bike season with the FSU Cycling Team, I couldn't race mountain bike season because Kaitlin was racing on my mountain bike. I rode my road bike almost everyday and started getting serious about race season in the spring. I rode thousands of training miles leading up to race season, I traveled all across the South East following the race circuit. I was having the time of my life. After I graduated Kaitlin and I started working and got married in September of this past year. Due to the new job at the University, getting married, and a host of other excuses I came up with to tell my cycling friends and old team mates, I haven't been riding very seriously since the summer.

I have always been a believer in the idea that there is a time and place for everything and if you don't reach out and grab it you will have missed out. Adam and I always talked about our next trip being from Maine to Florida. It was the topic of many hours of conversation on our way to Key West. Unhappy with being off the bike for so long I decided I needed something to motivate me to start riding seriously again. I kept coming back to the idea of riding from Maine to Florida that Adam and I spent so many hours planning in our heads. I called Adam to pitch the idea and gain some validation for my idea. Unfortunately Adam, who was also married this year, told me that a trip to Maine wasn't in the cards for him this year. I completely understood where he was coming from, it's not easy to pick up and go for five weeks, that is if after the five weeks you want to come home to a job and a wife.

A few weeks later I was bouncing around the idea at work and one thing led to another and next thing I know my boss gave me five weeks off to ride my bike. I was really caught off guard, up to this point I was sure that the trip would never work out. Now I really had to sit down and think about this with Kaitlin. Unfortunately Kaitlin's job wouldn't let her take that amount of time off so we both knew that this trip meant her staying at home and working while I was off on my adventure. Being the wonderful person that she is, Kaitlin completely supported me.

My next hurdle was wrapping my head around the idea of a five week adventure all by myself. Up until now my longest adventure three weeks long, and that was with Adam. The time wasn't a huge factor for me, it was more of the solitude. Imagine driving your car across country by yourself, without the radio. Now imagine driving across country by yourself, without a radio, driving 15mph. I am still having a little trouble with this but I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by. I decided it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I had to do it. So I bought a one way ticket to Bangor, Maine, earlier this week and have started riding my bike again. I am about 8 weeks out but I am already in high spirits.

Stay Tuned.