well. What I did to get 35 days off, was to work for 3 years with no vacation. eventually I asked, and my boss said sure as I earned that (my boss allows vacation banking and each year is 2 weeks vacation.) anyway, what I learned from this trip, is that I can only do 60 mile day and thats all I can do. maybe because Im out of shape? or maybe its because my bike crankset only has 2 gears and no granny gear. My bike set up is 11 gears in the rear, 2 gears in the front. 50-36 for crank set, 48-12 casette. The first few days my friend tried to go for higher miles, ie: more than 60 miles, my knee protested badly so I had to take a day rest to let my knees recover. then we tried to do 60 miles and realized that I can only do 60 miles, before my knees start protesting. Would I change my bike? no, I like it the way it is, maybe check into if they can add a granny gear to my bike, but its more likely my being not used to a brand new bike because I've used mountain bike for a decade, and this trek bike is the first cyclocross bike I've bought, with drop bars. The only thing I might change is I would add tri bars, and the tires. the tires were too easily punctured as i experienced 4 flat tires in that amount of time I was on vacation. 2 was caused by rough roads (pinch puncture), 1 was caused by a tiny sliver of metal, and one was caused by a 1 dollar bill as my friend put a dollar bill to help protect my tube from further puncture because my tires had several gash and cuts in it.
Did I suffer? no, I enjoyed it, all part of my experience, and now I know, I will do better in the future. As for retirement.... I'd rather enjoy it now than wait until retirement because life is too short to wait. It was on my bucket list that I wanted to do a bike touring trip, and opportunity presented itself when my friend said that he will be doing a pacific coast tour, so I went with him.
But for my next trip, I would do a shorter one, more likely 2 weeks, and what I have in mind, Im still a bit undecided, is to take the Jasper-Banff Parkway route.
Paul