January 6, 2026
This Land Is Your Land
When we ventured out on our first big bike tour down the California coast in 2014, there was no thought of eventually riding in every state of the union. We just hoped to manage the 500ish miles from Santa Rosa to Carpinteria and get there reasonably intact.
That trip offered all the stunning ocean vistas we dreamed of. We coasted alongside windsurfers, watched elephant seals flip sand on their backs, refueled at roadside cherry pie stands and made friends in beachy hiker-biker campsites.
After I retired four years later we upped the ante on a tour of Route 66 from our driveway in Missouri to the Santa Monica Pier. The ride across seven states took us on a deep dive into the headwinds and history of the Mother Road.
Oklahoma was a particular revelation at bicycle touring pace, which was anywhere from 6 to 12 mph depending on wind direction. We rolled through 100-year-old steel truss bridges, conquered murderous headwinds, climbed into an 80 foot long concrete blue whale and filled up on chicken pot pie made by a wonderful WarmShowers host.
Those adventures got us hooked on slow travel. Between bicycle tours and other road trips, so far we’ve ridden our bicycles in 40 states. This feels like a good time to get serious about finishing the job, and seeing something of what the other ten states look like from a bike saddle. The current scorecard looks like this:
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 3 | Link |
Supposedly the bike trails are great!!
2 weeks ago
Between CycleBlaze and Crazy Guy we have journals from two-thirds of the green "done" states. Now and then we'll crack them open to relive the trip, or plan a return visit. For the unjournaled states, sometimes I can dredge up a story from old photos, but the details have faded.
I want to be sure we capture the stories for the ten states we have yet to pedal. They are pretty spread out and two of them will be spendy, so it could take a while. For 2026 we could ride in four new states and will write about them here. This will also be a place to share great rides in some of the "done" states we're returning to for more.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I’ll admit to some trepidation in the past about wandering around on a bike in some of the more conservative areas of the U.S. It was a silly fear that faded as we rode through plenty of red states as well as blue. In all of them we've met kind-hearted people who helped us and cheered us on.
Woody Guthrie's anthem plays in my head as I think about how fortunate we have been to travel freely through our beautiful country. It's not something we take for granted in the current political climate. We're appalled by the administration's attacks on civil rights, arresting protestors, deporting innocent people, detaining tourists, and generally sowing division among us. But we have faith that in any state we'll meet good and compassionate people just doing their best. This land is for all of us.
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| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 10 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 10 |
And, in such a bleak time, it's good to be reminded that there is much good in the country, even now.
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
Fantastic idea … cycle worthy goal. We finished cycling all 50 states in 2023 having taken 25 years to accomplish the task. Based on your map, Alaska is on the list and we would be honored to host you and show you some of the riding in the Last Frontier. The Denali Highway would be a fantastic trip to finish your 50 states. If you need ideas for those missing states, just let me know. Iowa is fantastic, Ohio and Pennsylvania are equally a cycling deformation. Red Rock Canyon west of Las Vegas is a classic ride too. An easy to string together loop including Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota is fairly easy, North Dakota is a destination in and of itself. Natchez Trace will capture Alabama for you and then a short hop to Hawaii will wrap things up. We cycled Kauai, Oahu, and the Big Island. Each is unique, all have lots of traffic, and each is paradise. Again, anything we can help with, let us know.
2 weeks ago
I've bike toured in 46 states (all but Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and Oklahoma.) This year I plan to knock off the last two in the 48 contiguous states, Oklahoma and Arizona, on a longish tour, probably from my home in Kentucky to California.
There is some great riding in your ten remaining states. I'm especially fond of Nebraska, which gets relatively little attention from bike tourists. I've ridden across it multiple times, and really like it.
My wife is from Iowa, and I'm very familiar with it, and have done several tours there. It's also great, especially if, as in Nebraska, you can do some very occasional gravel. Some people on long distance tours try to ride across Iowa on one or more busy, shoulderless highways. You don't have to do that!
Nevada has the ACA Western Express route, which is good, and I've also done my own routing across Nevada on some very, very empty paved roads.
Alabama, like Nebraska, gets little attention from bike tourists. I rode across the state on a low traffic route of country roads from east to west a while back. If you just want to mark Alabama off your list you could, as someone suggested, ride the Natchez Trace Parkway, but that route barely clips the corner of Alabama, and you'd only see a tiny piece of the state.
I've also had great riding in your other "lower 48" states (ND, MN, OH, PA).
Feel free to get in touch if you'd like any routing suggestion in the states you have left!
Jeff
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We live just outside of Fairbanks in North Pole but have ridden a lot of different places in the states. Here’s the loop for you … fly to Anchorage and spend a few days cycling the infrastructure there. You can easily put together 30-40 mile loops on their various trail systems. Excellent cycling, 95% car free. From there you take a one day ride south to the Turnagin Arm area with a nice ride up to Girdwood along a dedicated trail. Then turn north, through Anchorage towards Denali National Park. You can cycle into the park year around, well maintained road, time things to avoid most of the buses, private vehicles can only go the first 15 miles. Next the Denali Highway over to Paxton area … 135 miles of premier Alaskan cycling. Low traffic, camp anywhere you want to pull over, scenery beyond expectations. Then up to Fairbanks with an overnight cycle up to Chena Hot Springs and back. At that point, you can head back towards Anchorage with three different options for some day cycling.
As for the GAP, must do ride. We did parts of again just last fall after having ridden the entire way from Pittsburg to DC in 2001. Excellent path, excellent scenery, gentle grades.
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And, I am an old 🐐 who works out daily at G.O.A.T., Which stands for Group Outdoor Athletic Training here in Santa Cruz.
Baa-bleat 🤪
2 weeks ago