I’ve been contacting many people online lately about suggested routes on my tour. There are a few points in which I don’t have a map and so I’m relying on the local cyclists to help me out. One of the greatest things about bicycling – other than the health benefits, the environment benefits, and the personal budget benefits – is the strength in community. For instance Warm Showers, a website of cycling enthusiasts who offer up a space in their home or on their land to traveling cyclists. Or Buffalo Blue Bikes, and innovative community bicycle-lending program committed to making this healthy, environmentally sustainable and community friendly form of transportation accessible to all City of Buffalo residents.

Just this morning, Alex, the Executive VP of The Badlands Bicycling Club in Spokane Washington, got back to me with a suggested route from Spokane to Sandpoint Idaho. I had been up in the air on one of three routes; and unfortunately the biking feature on Google Maps isn’t quite up to par just yet. Alex suggested a great route and ensured me that there was a paved shoulder and very few climbs. And as any experienced cyclist can tell you, more than rain, more than mountains, more than anything, the wind will affect a bicycle ride. So, amazingly, Alex’s email concluded with “I hope you have a good tailwind”…. that’s exactly what I’m hoping for.