Route

The big ride starts in Alaska, and the planned route heads across Canada, down through the mid-west of the USA and through the Central American countries Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama.  This forms the North American half of the route, separated from the South American half by the Darian Gap. The route through South America starts in Columbia, then heads south through Equador, Peru, Bolivia, Chille and Argentina. The goal is to reach the city of Ushuaia by April (i.e. before winter!) – a huge challenge. Achievable? Yes. Can I do it? There’s only one way to find out!

I’ve split the route up into 24 stages, each one roughly 1000km long (basically 24 back-to-back cycling tours):

1. Prudhoe Bay, AK, USA to Deltana, AK Map  – Completed!
2. Deltana, AK to Teslin, YT, Canada Map  – Completed!
3. Teslin, YT, Canada to Wonowon, BC, Canada Map  – Completed!
4. Wonowon, BC, Canada to Lloydminster, AB, Canada Map  – Completed!
5. Lloydminster, AB, Canada to Balfour, ND, USA Map  – Completed!
6. Balfour, ND, USA to Blair, NE Map  – Completed!
7. Blair, NE to Oklahoma Map  – Completed!
8. Oklahoma City, OK to San Antonio, TX Map  – Completed!
9. San Antonio, TX to San Juan del Río, Querétaro, Mexico Map  – Completed!
10. San Juan del Río, Qro., Mexico to Tapachula, Mexico Map  – Completed!
11. Tapachula, Mexico to Managua, Nicaragua Map  – Completed!
12. Managua, Nicaragua to Rio Hato, Cocle, Panama Map  – Completed!
13. Rio Hato, Cocle, Panama to Pereira – Risaralda, Colombia Map1 Map2  – Completed!
14. Pereira – Risaralda, Colombia to Latacunga, Cotopaxi, Ecuador Map1 Map2
15. Latacunga, Cotopaxi, Ecuador to Mocupe, Peru Map
16. Mocupe, Peru to Ica, Peru Map
17. Ica, Peru to Arica, Chile Map
18. Puno, Peru to Arica, Peru Map – Cancelled
19. Arica, Chile to Chañaral, Chile Map
20. Chañaral, Chile to Santiago, Chile Map
21. Santiago, Chile to Nilque, Puyehue, X Región, Chile Map – Cancelled
22. Nilque, Puyehue, Chile to Camping Casa de Piedra, Santa Cruz Map – Cancelled
23. Camping Casa de Piedra to San Sebastián Map – Cancelled
24. San Sebastián to Ushuaia Map – Cancelled

 

Update 7th Nov:

So that was the plan. Now that I´ve reached Rio Hato, in other words finished Stage 12 – or the half way point, it’s a good time to look at how I’m getting on. So here’s my half time report:

The good news is that I’ve got this far, followed the planned route almost exactly, had an amazing journey, and not spent all my savings! Here is the actual route I’ve taken:

A total of 13,000 km of distance (just over 8,000 miles) – or to put that in perspective, 11,000km  (7000 miles) further than my previous longest tour 11 years ago! I’ve also climbed 78,500m, or almost 9 times the height of everest.

Its been 162 days since I started on the 20th May (not including the 14 day break with Sue in Texas in August). This means that my daily average distance is 80.25km or 50.15 miles per day, which is as good as exactly my planing estimate.

So how come I’m behind schedule? Well, the distance has been longer than expected – by 1000km or 8%. This is mainly down to detours and extra distances cycled to get food and to/from accomodation.

I had hoped to have built up a higher daily average to have some contingency to deal with situations such as this, but that has not been possible.

The bad news is that I was hoping to be in Colombia by now, and my savings are due to run out at the beginning of December as a result of a tax bill I hadn’t budgeted for. Fortunately I have received additional funds to cover the latter.

 

 

To find out where I am at the moment:

1. Click here: Live GPS tracking
2. Login as 572079 078225,  and use the password keithdotbike

If the screen is red with “Panic Button”, get in touch with Sue Powell

You should now be able to see my current loation. To view my progress (or lack of!) so far today, click on History (near the top right of the page). You can change the “A” and “B” dates to view my progress over a longer period of time.

Note that the GPS tracker needs to be charged up, and on a mobile phone network for the location to be up to date!