Got it in my head this morning that this is something I should do. I've got no real knowledge of anything about it other than it would be fun. Can any of you point me in the direction of any information? It seems most of the forums are long dead.
If you're a strong club cyclist. There are some stiff climbs on the popular routes, at least by British standards. I did it in under ten hours, but at the time I was a regular audax rider.
For a moderately fit cyclist it's a comfortable two day ride with an overnight stay in Alston. An easy three day ride would include stops in Penrith and Allenheads.
The fastest route would be Maryport to Tynemouth, but the eastern part of the A69 is pretty scary if you're not a time triallist. Avoid the A69 and you're basically following a section of Hadrian's Cycleway, which is perfectly pleasant.
If you're planning on walking it, I'd suggest picking up the Stedman or Wainwright guidebook.
Before I opened the thumbnail I assumed you were talking about going coast to coast in the states. I've never heard of it ever being a thing over here, though if you are cycling it makes slightly more sense.
Tangentially, even though I've little interest in the US culturally, the idea of driving the whole way across such an expanse has always appealed to me somehow. Just to get some sense of the scale of virtually an entire continent I guess. One day, lads.
There's whole highways dedicated to the thing. Would recommend looking into the Lincoln highway, goes (or used to, check out the PBS documentary) from Times Square in New York right through to beachfront San Francisco.
OP Here, decided this is definitely I should do- peer pressure from .gs and alcohol be damned.
>>3155 You should have a skeg at the Amtrak holiday (vayyycaayyshun in the local vernacular) routes. Stuff like Chicago to Seattle, but via the Colorado Rockies and Nevada so it takes like three or four days. They cut through national parks and all that stuff, some of them look magnificent.
Cyclists do race from coast to coast in America. The Race Across America is run non-stop, with the clock starting at the Atlantic and ending when the rider reaches the Pacific. The current solo record stands at 7 days, 15 hours and 56 minutes. The biggest challenge posed by RAAM is sleep deprivation; by the end of the race, most of the competitive riders are hallucinating and barely able to ride in a straight line. This article about five time winner Jure Robič gives a flavour of the race: