The plan looked something like this: We’d leave Portland and ride over Mt. Hood before heading south to central Oregon, then cut over to the coast at San Francisco and go south through Mexico and Central America. From there we would take a boat to Colombia, climb into the Andes and ride down the mountains along the west coast of South America, eventually reaching the bottom of the continent in Argentine Patagonia. We thought we could cover roughly 10,000 miles over the course of the year. Averaging 35 miles a day, we’d be able to take a day of rest after every five days of riding. Apart from the few times that friends and family would visit us en route, we’d be on our own.