Preparation

Joe Breeze and Otis Guy had another purpose to their second attempt at the record, beyond their desire to make a name for themselves in cycling history. They wanted to "publicize bicycling as a pleasurable, health-giving sport, and encourage others to ride" (Anchor Steam Beer Informational Packet). Breeze said, "I want to show what it's possible to do on a bicycle. Here we are going across country on a bicycle. Maybe it'll encourage people to go to the store."

Fritz Maytag, owner and president of the Anchor Steam Beer Company of San Francisco, gave Breeze and Guy $10,000 to sponsor their second attempt at the record. The entire trip, including equipment and other expenses, was expected to cost a total of $15,000.

The tandem bike they rode cost $3,500 on its own. Breeze mostly assembled it himself after purchasing the individual pieces. The frame (chromium molybdenum steel with aluminum parts, according to Ralph Chatoian) was built by Tom Ritchey and to exact specifications based on Breeze and Guy's respective heights and the difference between them. It was "a machine which [fit] their bodies down to a fraction of an inch" and was "an extremely sophisticated example of the custom bicycle builder's art" (Anchor Steam Beer Informational Packet). The tires were meant to be changed every few hundred miles, and the support crew's van held a multitude of spare parts and tools (provided by the Cove Bike Shop in Tiburon, CA) as well as a spare tandem if they should need one.

The team's support crew consisted of five members: Alan Wulzen from Fairfax (manager); Andrew Ritchie from Berkeley (publicity); Sandy Davisson from San Rafael (physical therapist); Wende Cragg from Fairfax (photographer); and Tony tom from San Francisco (mechanic). All of the crew members were strictly volunteers, and all of them took turns as drivers and as the cook, driving the motor home ahead of the tandem bike to wait at previously-agreed-upon stopping points with ready made food so as to take the least amount of time away from the day's cycling (Chatoian).

Their planned diet (including large numbers of calories):

• A little bit of meat
• Lots of fruits and vegetables (mainly banans, oranges, and peaches)
• Fruit and vegetable juices
• Whole wheat bread
• Sandwiches
• Lots and lots of water
• Vitamin and protein supplements

The plan for pacing the trip was to bike fourteen to sixteen hours a day and sleep six hours a night, following Interstate 80 from San Francisco, CA to Omaha, NE, and then the most direct possible route to New York (much like the planned route for their first attempt in 1976). "Efficiency will be the thing," according to Guy.