Post History
Julie Kauffman
Hi everyone, I'm Julie. I am so excited to be riding my bicycle across the country. This has been a life-long dream of mine. My parents biked cross-country back in the '80s, so I grew up hearing stories about their trip, and it has always been on my bucket list.
Latest Posts
The end of our cross-country journey
Nov 13th, 2022Julie Kauffman
We made it to Yorktown, Virginia today - the official end of the TransAmerica bicycle route and our own cross-country journey. We carried our bicycles across the beach and dipped our tires in the water. Not quite the Atlantic but it was salt water, so that seemed good enough.
The Capital Trail in Richmond
Nov 12th, 2022Julie Kauffman
Today was a great day! The penultimate day! We had perfect weather. A complete 180 from yesterday. It was sunny and warm all day. We rode on the Capital Trail from Richmond to Williamsburg, a car-free trail.
Tornados in Richmond and an unexpected day off
Nov 11th, 2022Julie Kauffman
Today we planned to ride from Richmond to Williamsburg. We’ve known for several days that the forecast called for a ton of rain today. We were going to ride anyway. When we woke up this morning we saw the forecast called for thunderstorms too and we were in a tornado watch, so we decided not to ride. It was so frustrating to be roughly 75 miles from the end of this multi-month trip, and to be unable to ride. However, this did turn out to be a good place to be stranded for the day.
Visiting the Richmond Kauffmans
Nov 10th, 2022Julie Kauffman
We got a late start today leaving Mineral. A note to future Julie for future bicycle touring trips: it is never worth it to stick around at a BnB for breakfast. It’s always just so much later than we want breakfast. We didn’t start riding today until nearly 1000.
Riding with the Kauffmans
Nov 9th, 2022Julie Kauffman
Today was a GREAT day. My dad rode with us the whole day and my mom excelled in the role of SAG wagon driver. Halfway through the day, she met us on the side of the road with an excellent lunch spread.
Julie's Gear
- Touring Bike (1974 Raleigh Super Course)
- Rear rack (unknown origin)
- Front rack (Tubus Tara)
- 2x rear panniers (Ortlieb Backroller Classic)
- 2x front panniers (Ortlieb SportRoller Classic)
- 2x Camelback Podium water bottles
- Phone mount (Quad Lock)
- {"2 toe clips (MKS Deep Steel Toe Clips Chrome"=>"X-Large)"}
- Bicycle lock (Kryptonite KryptoFlex Cable 7' x 10mm + padlock)
- Helmet (Thousand Heritage Helmet)
- Rearview mirror (eyeglass-mounted)
- Sleeping bag (NEMO Forte)
- Hiking pillow (NEMO Fillo)
- Sleeping mat (Exped Ultra 3R Sleeping Pad - Medium)
- Hiking chair (Helinox chair zero)
- 2x Sea to Summit Watercell ST 4L Water Storage Bag
- Camping cookware set (Sea to Summit X-Set 12)
- Plastic food storage container
- Folding cutlery
- Dish towel
- Dish cloth
- Dish Soap (Camp suds)
- 2x cycling tights (Machines for Freedom essential cycling pant)
- 2x cycling jersey (Rapha core long sleeve jersey)
- 1x cycling shoes (Adidas Velosamba cycling shoes)
- 1x leggings (Lululemon Fast and Free)
- 1x long-sleeve shirt (Machines for Freedom long sleeve luxe cropped base)
- 1x t-shirt (Snallygaster)
- 1x rain coat (Showers Pass Women's Elements Jacket)
- 1x rain pants (Showers Pass Women's Club Convertible 2)
- 1x rain socks (Showers Pass Crosspoint classic)
- 1x fleece (Patagonia R2 TechFace Jacket)
- 1x puffer jacket (Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket)
- assorted socks, underwear, and sports bras
- assorted toiletries
- hiking towel + microfiber towel
- 1x e-reader
- 1x cell phone
- 1x headphones
At some point, after becoming an adult when this kind of thing became an actual possibility, I realized I now have a job and responsibilities that don't typically include multiple consecutive months of free time. I realized that the perfect time for a trip like this wouldn't come along on its own, and if I wanted to ever actually do it, I had to actually do it and make the time for it. So here we are! After many months of talking about it (and not nearly as much time preparing for this as you would expect) it's time to go!
Julie's parents, Bruce and Maryanne, at the end of their 1984 cross-country bicycle trip, at the Atlantic ocean
For this ride, I will be riding the bicycle my mother rode cross-country back in 1984 - a 1974 Raleigh Super Course. You might be thinking "oh Julie's mom must be so happy that she's riding her bike!" In which case you would be wrong. She would prefer I ride a "modern bike" that's "safer". But my dad thinks it's a grand idea! And since he's the weird bicycle guy in an objectively weird bicycle family, that is a good enough endorsement for me.
The 1974 Raleigh Super Course Julie is riding on the trip. Shown here during it's first cross-country journey, in 1984 when Julie's mom rode it.
I can't imagine talking about my love of bicycling without mentioning the bike I won't be riding: my beloved Brompton. I could wax poetic about the beauty of Brompton bicycles endlessly. But I won't. Instead, I'll just say this: when you have a bicycle that you can take anywhere, your whole world opens up in beautiful and unexpected ways.
Julie Kauffman living her best possible life: London on a bike
Since we're taking a tour through my past in bicycles, here I am back in 1994 on my first bike. Also shown: Bruce No-child-of-mine-will-learn-to-ride-with-training-wheels Kauffman.
Julie and her first bicycle
