There can be a lot of differences depending upon how you approach long distance cycling... what support you have, the amount of preplanning, and how you plan to eat and sleep on the road. I remember reading in the early 70's of a 70 year old former racer, Ed Delong, who for his birthday, rode across America along, with little more than a credit card and some changes of clothes forwarded to general post offices along the route. My choice was to try bicycle camping, round trip from Long Island to Philadelphia and back. It was around 300 miles given the route I took..
I had trained fairly well and could easily do 50 to 75 miles a day without gear, and 40-50 with all the 35 lbs of gear (bike was a 10-speed Atala). I took along a camping cook set, sleeping bag, small stove, some food (planned on shopping for most meals), tarp, tools, tires, tubes, maps, and two changes of clothes. I had a handlebar bag and panniers from the Touring Cyclist shop.
I got up at 4 am, left the house and about a mile or so later, blew out the sides of both tires from too much pressure. Changed the tubes and stuffed the ragged tubes in the sides of the tires to keep the tubes in. Got to Manhattan when a bike store opened and replaced the tires. Took the PATH train to Hoboken and rode up through Passaic, where a woman ran the stop sign on the cross street, and stopped in front of me to avoid a pedestrian stepping off the curb. Just as I cut in front of her to avoid slamming into her side, she stepped on the gas and I got hit by the car. She crushed the back wheel, and I rolled off, but otherwise okay. The pedestrian called a cop and the woman took off. The pedestrian got her license plate and the cop tracked her down. I had a friend pick me up and take me to a bike shop to get another wheel, then I stayed at his house in Pompano Lakes for the night. We left together and had a great day and found a county park to set up camp about half way across Northern NJ. That night the creek I was sleeping next to overflowed from the downpour that was came in for the night. I slept in 3" of water for the rest of the night.
The next morning I took my very heavy sleeping back to a laundromat and dried it out. My friend rode back home and I rode on to the Delaware River. Camped on an island in the river and had a great night. The next day I rode into Philly, but most of the local street signs had been stolen. I stopped by a fire truck and asked them for directions. They were right on and got me to Lycoming Street. I stayed with cousin Gerry and her boyfriend for a couple days. One night he and I rode to his garage so I could check the true on my wheels and tighten the spokes. On the way back I jumped the bike over a pothole. When I landed, the bike wobbled for a bit, but seemed okay. When we got to his apartment, I got off and picked up the bike. The front wheel fell off. The quick release had popped open when I jumped the pothole. Only luck had stopped it from falling off altogether.
Heading back to NY, I went up the east side of NJ. I made it up to Lakehurst and set up camp at the airport where we used to go parachuting. After a shower and dinner, someone comes out and tells me I can't camp there. So I just moved a few hundred feet away into the brush. That night, I was bitten on the eyelid that night by a mosquito and my eye was swollen shut for the rest of the next day. I rode up north on back roads the rest of the day. I made it to Rahway and hit a dead end that wasn't on the map among the refineries with nothing but the Jersey Turnpike between me and the Goethels Bridge. So, I hopped the fence and rode a mile to an overpass I needed to get to, but someone ratted me out to the tollbooth. A cop rolled up and gave me a ticket for riding on the turnpike. But he did give me a ride to the overpass I was trying to reach and opened the gate.
I didn't realize there wasn't a sidewalk on the Goethals Bridge. I put out my thumb and hitchhiked with a flatbed truck over the bridge. I rode through Staten Island to the ferry and went up through Manhattan to cousin Christine's place on 86th and 3rd. Rode back to Long Island the next day by taking the Roosevelt Island tram.
The next long trip was an organized trip with sag wagons, food stops and places to sleep at night. Never went bike camping again.
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