Facts and Figures
BC 2 BC (British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico) Adventure Cycling’s Sierra-Cascades Bicycle Route
- Miles pedaled: 2,402
- Days to complete: 49 (7 weeks)
- Autumn days of sunshine: 45 (2 days rain, 2 days cloudy)
- Average hours of pedaling per day: 6
- Average hours of light per day: less than 12
- Total Pedal strokes: about 10 million
- Cadence, or revolutions of the pedal cranked per minute: 60–80 rpm
- Flat tires; tires and chains replaced: 1, 2 and 2, respectively
- Pounds lost: 11.5 pounds in 7 weeks (start/finish: 180/168.5 lbs)
- Food consumption: 6000 calories a day
- Hours spent climbing each day: 4 or more
- Climbs of over 1000 feet: over 100
- Climbs of over 4000 feet in a day: 7
More facts and figures…
- Mountain ranges traversed: 3+
- Cascade Range (or Cascades)
- Siskiyou Mountains
- Sierra Nevada (not “Sierras”)
- Transverse Ranges (San Bernadino and San Gabriel Mts)
- Volcanoes seen: >10 (Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, Hood, Bachelor, Crater Lake, Shasta, Lassen, amongst other lesser-known fire mountains)
- Weight of bike, including racks, water bottle mounts, tools, food, water, clothing, computer, camera, rain gear, toiletries, water purification, tent, sleeping pad/bag: 100 pounds
- Liters of water consumed daily: 2-3 liters (cool weather, less sweat)
- Number of water bottles bought and thrown away: Zero (Gregg used same 1.5 liter plastic bottle for his 1800 miles cycled
- Number of rear-view mirror looks per minute/hour/trip: 5; 300; 72,000
My bicycling partner, Gregg Bleakney had to go to Scotland for 10 days:
- Days and miles gMack cycled alone: 9 days, 560 miles (Gregg B had 2 days of mechanical problems; gMack cycled onwards)
Other Random Facts and Figures
The Arctic to Antarctica Bicycle Tour along “The Road Less Graveled”
- “The Road Less Graveled” was McCormacks’ life-time achievement, taking 2 years of his life to complete, covering a distance of 18,350 miles
- Pedal strokes cranked out: 100 million or as much as 1/3rd of a billion
Most miles in a week: 871 miles, British Columbia, Canada, ALCAN Highway
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- Day 1: From Cassiar Highway along “25 miles of muddy hell” to Hyder, Alaska = 100 miles
- Day 2: To Houston, Jnct 37 & Hwy 16 Kitwanda = 104 miles
- Day 3: Skeena Highway, last big hills of Coast Range to Vanderhoof, British Columbia = 140 miles
- Day 4: 9 hours on bike, sunset at 6:45pm = 140 miles
- Day 5: Along powerful, fast-moving Fraser River = 122 miles
- Day 6: Headwinds, lots of uphills, very noisy, busy highway = 134 miles
- Day 7: 9 hours, 21 minutes, 33 seconds, strong winds = 131 miles
Longest bicycle ride in a day (took a day and a half) = 360 miles
- From Skagway, Alaska bicycled to Carcross and through Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, Canada to Haines Junction = 200 miles, then a short rest before the start of the final 160 miles, a sponsored race (4 to 8 person cyclist teams) between Haines Junction, YT to Haines, Alaska
- During race, took only ONE STOP of 5-minutes to check for a flat/urinate
Biggest trail-running project: Running the entire trail system of Olympic National Park
- 5 years to complete due to snow-pack in high-country
- Over 1,100 miles of running to do all 600+ miles of trails in the park
- Longest run in one day = 44.3 miles along the Press Expedition Route
- Longest 2-day total in a week = 75 miles, crossing the park from East to West then North to South
- Number of solo trail marathons run during the summer: average 1 per week of 30 or more miles
Other endurance sport projects:
- All 160 miles of trails @ Pt Reyes National Seashore
- Hardest double-century bike ride: Hike 18 miles from South Rim to North Rim of Grand Canyon and bicycle 215 miles back to S. Rim in one day
- Sea to Summit of Mount Rainier, triathlon style in 19 hours, starting from Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (mouth of river in Puget Sound), followed by 80 mile bicycle ride and strait climb from Paradise thru Camp Muir to Summit
- Swim entire perimeter of Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park
Greg will elaborate on all these adventures at a later time, so please check back soon!