Having recently qualified as a lawyer, I have chosen to take three months away from the desk to do something totally different; something that will challenge me both physically and mentally, whilst allowing me to explore a part of the world that I’ve not yet travelled.

The plan is to cycle unsupported from Vancouver to Panama. By my calculations, the total distance is approx. 5,500 miles and from starting in Vancouver on 10 March, I will have 85 days to arrive in Panama City by 2 June.

I will be carrying all the kit that I need over the next 3 months (approx. 30kgs) and am planning to stick to a schedule of approx. 100 miles per day. This should hopefully ensure that I am able to get to Panama on time and also allow me to take some crucial days off to rest my legs and explore the continent at a slightly slower pace!

I will be doing a mixture of camping, staying in hostels/motels and I also have a couple of friends/friends of friends along route who have kindly offered me a warm shower, hot meal and comfortable bed.

Whilst I initially thought it would be difficult to find friends to join me for this slightly eccentric “knees up” (sorry – terrible pun), I am delighted that I have somehow managed to persuade my pals Will, Stu and Rory to join me for parts of the journey, which should make for a more entertaining trip.

Route

Vancouver to San Fran (1,180 miles – 8 March to 24 March)

• I’ll be heading to the US via Vancouver Island. I will then be taking route 101 all the way to San Diego.
• Hoping to spend about 4 days in San Fran. Swimming Alcatraz on 26 March.

San Fran to LA (450 miles – 28 March to 1 April)

• I hear this is a glorious stretch of road. Looking forward to spending time in Redwood, Big Sur and Santa Barbara.

LA to Cabo San Lucas (1,145 miles – 3 April to 16 April)

• On a very tight time schedule to accommodate Stu’s holiday deadline. Most people do this stretch over about 3-4 weeks, so this is likely to be the most challenging part of the journey, particularly given that most of the Baja California Peninsula is desert. Fingers crossed we will be able to have a celebratory drink or two with the one percenters on 16 April.

Cabo San Lucas to Cancun (flying – 17 April)

• I have decided to miss out a chunk of Mexico due to time constraints and safety reasons.

Cancun to Belize City (650 miles – 18 April to 1 May)

• Joined by my pal Rory, we are planning on weaving our way around the Yucatán Peninsula, whilst exploring the famous dive sites and sink holes, eventually ending up in Caye Caulker to dive the Blue Hole.

Belize City to Panama City (1,630 miles – 1 May to 2 June)

• …via Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
• I am yet to plan exact route and timings, but likely to be taking the Pacific Coast.

100 miles in context

I will be burning approximately 7,000 calories each day, which is the equivalent of 25 McDonald’s double cheeseburgers, or 5 Christmas dinners. I suspect it won’t be difficult to a find a super sized burger n’ fries meal in the States, although I may struggle to keep up the calories in Central America.

I will have to drink between 8-10 litres of water per day, compared to the normal human consumption of 1-2 litres.

I am told that cycling 100 miles with 30kgs of luggage is the equivalent of sitting on an exercise bike in the gym, resistance turned up to the max, for 8 hours. The good news, is that I have been on the exercise bike twice in the past six months, both times for no longer than 20 minutes…so I am quietly confident in my ability to pull off this trip.

The temperature will be approx. 8 degrees when I leave Vancouver and it is set to get close to 40 degrees in Central America. I will need to be careful to keep salt levels high as I suspect I may get a little sweaty (those who know me well will know that I’m not usually one to sweat very much).

Inception

The plan developed whilst I was living in Japan last year. Having spent many a weekend exploring the beautiful mountain scenery of Honshu, I was determined to go on a cycling adventure that lasted more than 24 hours.

I’ve always enjoyed cycling and love the sense of journey that you get from seeing every inch of a landscape from the saddle of a bike, the diversity of people that you meet along route, the intimacy with nature and the great outdoors, and the total unpredictability that each day holds. I’m pretty sure this trip will tick all of these boxes.

Documenting the trip

I will be updating this blog as and when I can find decent wi-fi – hopefully every couple of days. Grateful for any feedback, wise words of advise/encouragement and news from the UK.

I will also try to put some pics on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliverarnott/

Henry has kindly lent me his GoPro, so I will try my best to put together a video montage once I have made it back alive in June.