The total car mileage for the trip was 8732 visiting passing through 21 states. Visited 2 National Parks and several state parks along the way. Rode mountain bike at 3 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze IMBA ride centers. Rode 2 IMBA Epic trails, Mckenzie River and Mohican State Park. For the total 53 days, I rode 51 for a total just shy of 1000 miles mostly all mtb. I slapped on a number plate for a little local race in Sturgis. I did have my road bike and did ride it 3 times on town rides on days when I rode the mtb too. It did not rain any day other than an overnight storm and once while I was driving to the next destination. The car had no issues, now over 200k and time to trade-in. The bike had minimal issues all related to brakes and one tire slice early on and I had brought extras of everything along. The total cost of all the lodging which was hotels/Airbnb's was around $5,000 for 52 nights. A lot of free breakfasts and many Costco stops to fill my big cooler kept the food cost to around $1,100 with a few times eating out at restaurants. The total for gas was $1011. A few other expenses like beer/wine added in still made it a fairly economical trip for that many days seeing that food costs would be almost the same if we were home.
We had a lot of favorites along the way. I would say there is not any place we did not like just some shined a little more than others.
McKenzie River was definitely one of the favorites!
Visiting Yosemite was also one of the highlights even though we only rode cruiser bikes there, the views were spectacular.
Sedona this year was a lot more pleasant but still hot.
The second visit to Bentonville still showed how much trail and infrastructure has been built in the area to be phenomenal.
We encountered snow in 3 areas, Mammoth, Tahoe, Oakridge. We could see it in peaks in other areas too like Bend, the Tetons, and Big Sky.
Best/Worst ride was Waldo Lake near Bend. The views were fantastic but the bugs and about 100 deadfalls to climb over made it rough.
Have to say some of our favorites were Driggs near Grand Targhee, Sun Valley area, Bend, and Albuquerque. All the areas had a lot to offer and we will consider going back to some of them in the future. Crosby and Duluth are worth a second round for sure.
Great once-in-a-lifetime trip! Thanks to @mountainsideskiandsports @redravenbike @highrollercyclery for keeping my bike moving! Thanks to @trailforks for a great app to use which allowed me to plan fantastic routes. And to Erin and Mark for putting up with my crazy tasty trails!
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