Thank you very much for following my journey across the
United States. I received a lot of
positive comments on the blog and by email.
It was very nice for me to know that people were out there watching and
perhaps being entertained by my travels.
I was comforted, entertained and inspired by your messages. I would like to make sure you get what Paul
Harvey would have referred to as “the rest of the story.”
First of all is the tale of the tape. For the journey, I traveled 3153 miles, ascended
92,874 feet and averaged 11.8 miles per hour.
I crossed 8 states and had 11 flat tires. The extra calorie burn from the ride was
169,378. I lost about 12 pounds during
the ride.
We started with 10 days over 100 degrees and had one day of
freezing. I saw the sun every day during
the 65 day adventure. The only thing
that I brought with me that I did not use was my rain gear. We had one rain shower on a layover day. I feel I must mention that the day after the
ride, the St Augustine/Jacksonville area experienced winds of 80 miles per hour
and extremely heavy rain showers and had a high of 50 degrees.
We had 15 people start the ride, 12 made it the whole way,
and one missed a portion, so we had a total of 13 people arrive in St
Augustine. I am very happy to say that
the group that finished, nearly 40,000 combined miles, did not have a major
injury or illness. I have not said a lot
about the other riders, but assure you that they were excellent cyclists,
interesting people and the group dynamic added a lot to the trek.
I would like to thank Julie for not only supporting this
journey but encouraging me the entire way.
I consider myself a very lucky person to have had this opportunity.
My motivation for doing this trip was not very
complicated. I love cycling, travel,
history, physical challenges, adventure and to have a goal. As my cousin Karen and sister Judy added
eloquently to the blog, our family has thankfully prized experiences over
possessions. I have been fortunate to
have a lot of fine adventures with my education; career and family travel, but
was unable to take that epic adventure because of actual or perceived constraints. I really don’t consider this a “bucket list
item” but just part of the way I would like to live my life.
I was confident that with the exception of illness, injury
or family crisis, that I would complete the ride. My biggest concern was whether I would enjoy
the event that I had planned for an anticipated for so long. The answer is an overwhelming YES.
The breadth and beauty of this country is astounding. It is even more apparent when you get off the
interstate and see it at 11 miles per hour.
The people are friendly, interested and interesting. I meet many interesting characters over the
expanse of this country. There were my
co-riders, other riders on the journey we met and people that would engage you
in conversation at any stop in any town.
However, for me, the best part of the trip was the
riding. While the blog only captured a
microcosm of the beauty in pictures, I experienced the sights, smell and
feeling of the countryside for hours at a time.
While those of you who do not cycle may think that you have too much
time or would get bored being on a bicycle for 6 hours a day, I feel that just
the opposite is true. Your mind is
alert, but involved in the sensing of your bike, the road, your body and
environment. Before you know it, you are
30 miles down the road. It is not like
being in a car and not remembering the route.
You are very aware, but just relaxed and having benefited from the
experience. There are moments of stress
and physical difficulty, but those are eclipsed many times over by those of
sheer serenity.
I would like to leave you all with the one lesson that I
learned everyday on the trip. I am sure
it is not a new lesson for anyone. What
is important is the journey. The
destination was St Augustine and to cross a country, but the objective was to
see the country. I feel that was
accomplished by getting up looking forward to what each day would bring. It might be a big climb, a plain stretch of
desert or just a long ride, but it was all new and interesting.
As for what is next for me, I am not exactly sure. I know I enjoyed this enough to do it
again. I would probably go with a
smaller group or more independently. I
would like to see other routes across the country and perhaps cycle in other countries
and continents. All I know is that as I
look out my window at the snow and look at the thermometer at 12 degrees, I
have a long winter and ski season to contemplate that question. What I do know is that I am going to do my
very best to enjoy each and every one of those days until I get back in the
saddle.
