Dena's Big Adventure
The Word From the Road
Images of America
Hello, and thanks for stopping by my site, hosted by my dear friend Erik Wile. On this page you can find out everything you need to know about my big adventure: a self-supported bicycle trip from Maine to British Columbia to California, from June-October 2005.
The Girl
For those of you who know me already, skip this section. For those of you who don't, my name is
Dena and I'm from Cambridge, MA.
After wrapping up a PhD in biology, I am taking a few months off to
pursue my biggest non-scientific passion: bike touring. In the summer of 1998, after graduating
from college, I rode my bike from Seattle to Washington, D.C. as part of the
American Lung Association's GTE Big Ride Across America. I couldn't think of a
better way to celebrate the completion of my PhD than another cross-country
trip, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to visit America again.
My beloved custom touring bike, affectionately known as "Dagny" was hand-crafted in Holliston, MA by master bike builder Mike Flanigan. You can visit Mike on the web at www.antbikemike.com to see all of the wonderful things that he builds. Mike specializes in bikes that carry stuff, which is critical for bike touring! The touring bike has a long wheelbase, so that it is very stable when loaded up and also to provide enough room in the back for the bags (panniers). The gearing is very low, like a mountain bike, so that I can peddle up big hills easily. Dagny also has heavy-duty wheels for supporting all that weight—fully loaded, the bike weights almost 70lbs!
The Route
I am riding across North America from east to west: from Portland, ME to Vancouver, BC. Along the way I will pass through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and British Columbia. When I arrive in Vancouver I will be meeting my long-time touring companion Tobias Seidel, who hails from Braunschweig, Germany. He and I will then ride the west coast of the country together, going through Washington, Oregon, and California on our way to San Diego. The entire adventure will take four months, from June 10-October 15. I estimate that during that time I will travel more than 6000 miles under my own power. Most of the routes that I will be using were developed by the Adventure Cycling Association www.adventurecycling.com.
The Contact Info
Thanks to the power of
wireless technology, you can email me all summer long on my Blackberry! I will also be receiving drop shipments
from my parents on a weekly basis, so if you see a good newspaper or magazine
article that you think I should read (or if you would like to send me
snail-mail), please put it in an envelope and mail it to me at my parents'
house, and they will pass it along.
The address is:
Dena Cohen
104 Manet Road
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
The Word From the Road
In this section you will
find my trip journal. I will try
to update this section every few days as I make my way around the country. Please check back to see what's new!
06/05/05 A Poem For the Road: Appalachian Farewell
06/12/05 Days -1 to 1
06/13/05 Days 2-3: Boothbay Harbor to Lewiston, ME
06/20/05 Days 4,5, 6 and 7: Lewiston, ME to Ticonderoga, NY
06/23/05 Days 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12
06/26/05 Days 13, 14, and 15
07/04/05 Days 16, 17, 18, and 19
07/04/05 Days 20, 21 and 22
07/12/05 Days 23, 24, 25, and 26
07/12/05 Days 27, 28, 29, and 30
07/18/05 Days 31, 32, 33 and 34
07/19/05 Days 35, 36, 37, and 38
07/25/05 Days 39, 40, 41, and 42
07/25/05 Days 43 and 44
08/04/05 Days 45 and 46
08/07/05 Days 47, 48, 49 and 50
08/07/05 Days 51, 52, 53, and 54
08/07/05 Days 55, 56, 57, and 58
08/22/05 Days 59, 60, 61, and 62
08/23/05 Days 63, 64, 65, and 66
08/27/05 Days 67, 68, 69, and 70
08/28/05 Days 71 and 72
08/28/05 Days 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77
09/07/05 Days 78, 79 and 80
09/09/05 Days 81, 82, 83, and 84
09/09/05 Days 85, 86, 87, and 88
09/14/05 Days 89, 90, 91 and 92
09/21/05 Days 93, 94, 95, and 96
09/27/05 Days 97, 98, 99, and 100
09/27/05 Days 101, 102, 103, and 104
09/30/05 Days 105, 106, and 107
10/03/05 Day 107 (missing from previous post)
10/05/05 Days 108 and 109
10/11/05 Days 110 and 111
10/12/05 Days 112, 113, and 114
[11/27/05. New
pictures! Only pictures up until day 114 are posted so far, until she
sends the journals which describe where she is in the remaining
pictures. Keep bugging Dena to finish her journal. I nag sometimes,
but it gets old. She's obviously done with her ride, safe and sound,
but it's six weeks after she's returned and she still hasn't written
up the journal entries for her last two weeks. If she'd written one
single entry every third day she'd be done by
now. -erik]
[10/25/05 MAP,
MAP, MAP. I finally figured out the Google maps API and found out
google-able locations for each of Dena's entries. Check out the map here. It's minimalist so far,
with just simple as-the-crow-flys lines joining each of the 114 days
that Dena has told us about so far. The Google maps API provides a
pretty slick interface... use the zoom bar to the side, and just click
and drag around. You can also click on cities and get the city name /
day number, and a link to the journal entry. Hope you
like. -erik]
[10/11/05
Dena and Tobias spent a few days at my parents' house in Santa Monica,
CA. It was great to get a call from Dena saying "I'm in your parents
back yard." My mom sent a couple cute pictures, and I put them up in
the fan photos directory.
-erik]
[10/04/05
Remember the group of people who got out of their car to cheer Dena up
a nasty hill in the Cascades on Day 71? Well,
they sent a couple pictures of the
super-athlete we all know and love. Check em out!
-erik]
[08/19/05 Just
fyi, the tmobile coverage maps are:
T-mobile in-network coverage map for where her email has any hope
of working, and the roaming
network coverage, for where the phone might
work. -erik]
I will be traveling with a digital camera, so I will also periodically
be posting pictures from the road for you to look at. Unfortunately, the pictures will be updated less frequently
than the text portion of the site due to technological limitations. The pictures will be broken down by
state for your viewing pleasure.
06/30/05 Maine through New York 08/03/05 New York through
South Dakota 09/05/05 Wyoming through
Washington 10/04/05 Pictures from
some fans in the Cascades! 10/04/05 Washington through
California 10/11/05 Added pictures
from my parents in Santa Monica, CA. 11/27/05 Northern California
