Day 10 - Las Vegas to Tucumcari (110 miles)

Today’s story is wind! When it is at your back it is a great thing. When we go outside the motel at 5:30 it was blowing. It is still blowing this afternoon. Fortunately, Tucumcari is East of Las Vegas and the winds were from the WSW. The winds blew at a steady 25 mph with gusts to 40. I rode much of the ride at over 20 mph, but on many small downhills I found myself going over 40 mph. I hit a maximum speed of 49 mph but several riders reported going as fast as 55. I is also a strange experience to top rollers at 20 mph and feel that you are really going slow, but after reaching 40+ mph on the downhill 20 mph seems slow. In general it was a glorious ride except for the few times when the road headed south and we had to fight a crosswind, in several places it was a real fight to keep the bike from going into the other lane.

My average speed for the first 100 miles was 20 mph. I slowed in Tucumcari because the route turned more toward the South and because of a few traffic lights. Tucumcari is on old Route 66. Today we crossed the route instead of riding along it. I think we will encounter it again in Oklahoma, but I am not sure. I didn’t see much to recommend Tucumcari, but our Best Western is nice. The road we rode on today, NM 104, is as deserted a highway as I can imagine. It has a good road surface and in a few places the surface is great. But over the 105 miles from the town limits of Las Vegas to the welcome to Tucumcari sign I was passed by 30 vehicles, 5 were America by Bicycle vans (1 passed me 4 times). So if I were to ride the route on some other day I might expect to be passed by one car every 4 miles. What more could a cyclist want, a sunny day with tailwinds, a good road, and no traffic. Well a down hill road would be nice. Today we lost about 2000 feet from start to finish, but also had 5000 feet of climbing. Still all things considered this was a great ride.

Last year when I did this day’s ride the winds were not as favorable I got in to the lunch stop 2 hours faster this year. I also recall having real problems at the end of the ride. There was a mesa that was always out in front of me and that it seemed I would never reach it. Today I saw the same mesa and in almost no time I had to turn my head to the side to see it. Oh what a difference a year and a tailwind can make.

Days 8 and 9 – Rest and Albuquerque to Las Vegas NM

We rested on the eight day. Our accommodations in Albuquerque were not the best, but they had washers, so I did laundry. I got my phone fixed. Now I am not dependent upon Skype and the Internet. I also got a massage and cleaned my bike. Yesterday when I got in I had a very good Mexican meal. However today I could find no other ethnic food enthusiasts, so to be social, I ate some very forgettable meals in Albuquerque. I also worried about the ride to Las Vegas. Last year I only was able to complete half of the ride. This year I wanted to finish this ride.

With the coming of morning (no 5:30 AM, morning was still a long way away), I loaded my gear onto the van and had breakfast before heading out. After riding through eastern Albuquerque and followingI40 into the hills, our route headed north toward Santa Fe. The road goes up and down in the hills, but mostly up. There are a lot of nice suburbs and a fair amount of new construction. It was very different from the type of houses we had seen for the last few days. The road continued to the north and we got into an area with some ranches. They were all very nicely kept and most likely tax write offs for second homes. Lastly, we went through the town of Madrid. A few years ago arriving in Madrid would have been like going through a time warp to a Hippy village of the sixties. It still has that flair but while artists still sell their creations and tie dyed shirts a clearly in evidence, there has been a good deal of yuppie construction. The Disney film ‘Wild Hogs’ was filmed in Madrid. What will be there in ten years is not at all certain.

My road continued to the north past more traditional ranches and lots of open space until it reached I25. On the other side of I25 was the town of Santa Fe. I never go into Santa Fe and I felt somewhat like Moses being denied entry into the Promised Land. This is also where I gave up the day’s ride last year. While not seeing Santa Fe was disappointing felling good and ready to tackle the last half of the ride was a much better feeling.

I25 goes northeast from Santa Fe to Las Vegas. For the first 30 miles it climbs through ever more forested land until it crosses a pass at 7500 feet, the maximum altitude of our ride. There is then a glorious downhill of almost ten miles, before a rather long, no seemingly interminable, series of rolling hills in ever more open country to Las Vegas. The pain in my legs and feet during those miles was lessened by the realization that I would accomplish my goal completing the days ride this year.

What differences were there between this and last year. First this year we had a rest day in Albuquerque, while last year we didn’t. I am sure the recovery day helped a lot, especially on the climbs. Another difference was that the weather was much kinder this year. Last year it was cold and while it didn’t rain, there was always a threat of rain. Today it was cool but there was sunshine all day. I don’t know if I am fitter this year, but I suspect that the rest and weather were the biggest factors in allowing me to complete today’s this year.

Day 7 Gallup to Albuquerque

Yesterday was cold today was Freezing! At 5 AM when we got up it was 24 degrees, burr. We ate the motel breakfast offerings, not at the Denneys next door. I would have preferred Denneys. Mike held us until 8 AM when it had warmed to 33 degrees. I guess he thought that at this temperature no one would freeze to their water bottles. We set out on Route 66 and eventually climbed to the Continental Divide on I40. It was not that bad a climb. But considering that the Santa Fe Trail and the Santa Fe railroad also used this pass to cross the Continental Divide, the grades could be that great.

At the divide most everyone took the required pictures. I didn’t because my camera was left behind in Berkeley and I have yet to learn how to use my cell phone as a camera. I guess I need to ask a ten year old. Last year the ride down the Eastern side was very fast. I recall dropping off a paceline and maintaining 23 mph on my own for over 20 miles. I thought that this meant that the Eastern side was a relatively steep decent. Accordingly I added a laver at the divide. I now was wearing two pairs of shorts (this helps with the saddle sores I have), a pair of tights and leg warmers. On my feet I wore heavy wool socks, cycling shoes and wind proof shoe covers that also covered my ankles. On my torso I had a wool cardigan, two jerseys (one long sleeve and one short) and two wind breakers. On my head I had two head covers under my helmet and full covering of my ears. I would have been ready to descend Mount Diablo on the coldest Jan 1 on record. Unfortunately I discovered that the grade on the Eastern side was even less than that on the Western side of the divide, maybe 2 percent. Last year’s fast descent was due to a tailwind, today we had a headwind. The descent was slow and required constant pedaling for 40 miles. Progress was so slow that the lunch stop was moved from mile 87 last year to mile 53 this year and still riders were getting to lunch later this year. It just shows the power of wind and the way we seldom consider that our fast riding might be due to a tailwind.

By lunch I was exhausted and I sagged in to Albuquerque. When I got to lunch I discovered that the four people I thought were behind me had already stopped riding for the day. The first riders got to the motel about 5:30 and the last riders to complete the ride came in at 7:30. For everyone who completed the ride, it was a very long day. We are all looking forward to the rest day tomorrow. Besides from the cold and my over dressing, the major impression I get from this area of New Mexico is the dry, remote beauty of the land and the difficulty that the people who live here endure to make a living. Another rider commented that from Gallup to about 3 miles from Albuquerque he had not seen a single house with a lawn or garden. The most common exterior decorations I saw were derelict cars parked around the house. It is an all together different world that coastal Americans just don’t get.

Day 6 Winslow to Gallop NM

It was cold this morning and the people who prepared the breakfast at the motel decided not to come in. Mike told us about today’s ride. Get on I40 in Winslow. Get off in Gallup. Well there was a little more but not much. Then we walked or rode to Denneys for Breakfast. We got on the road a little late this morning. Early on the most exciting thing was navigating flooded streets in Winslow, no it didn’t rain, after a water main break.

There is so little good to say about this section of I40 that I won’t say very much. The scenery is boring, and the few homes in the towns along the road are trailers with multiple derelict cars parked in the yard. In places the road surface on the shoulder is the pits, literally! The winds were mostly in our faces. On top of this today seemed to produce flats in almost everyone’s tires. I got one, my first of the ride. By this time last year I had 6, so that is an improvement. Many riders hade several flats today. One had 5. Riding narrow racing tires on bad roads will produce flats every day. Riding over potholes and tire fragments will cause flats. Riding with a group increases the chance that you will be unable to avoid an obstacle, even if it is called out by the leader. Riding in a group that stops for everyone’s flats slows down your overall pace. Consequently I who rode alone because the pacelines were a little to fast for me today was able to keep pace with most riders because I had less time off the bike fixing flats. I am not sure that I recommend this strategy under all conditions but it worked for me today.

After the last rest stop we got off I40 and rode 20 miles on back roads to Gallup. Last year our motel, likely the worst we stayed at and an absolute pit, was on the West side of town. This year the motel was on the East side of town – add 10 miles to the ride. In total we rode 30 miles into a head wind, I think I averaged 11 mph for that section but that could be high. It was hard. I even had a small longing for the motel we stayed at last year as I went past it. I also was one of the early finishers today.

Gallup is a town that several people have told me they will not be visiting again. The Santa Fe mainline runs through Gallup. It is the first town in New Mexico when going East on I40. There are more rundown motels, restaurants, convenience stores, and gas stations that you would ever want to see much less visit. There are a lot of gun shops. Every one drives BIG cars or BIGGER pickup trucks. If you want to know where gas is being consumed in this country think Gallup. On a per capita basis they must be near the top of the list – they drive big cars longer distances. It is a long way between anything. The other thing I saw a lot of in Gallup was stores selling Indian products. Signs advertised Indian blankets, jewelry, pots, artifacts and fetishes. I haven’t found out what an Indian fetish is.

This year’s motel is a big improvement over last year’s. Unfortunately, there is only one close by restaurant, a Denneys.

Day 5 - Cottonwood to Winslow

Today was a day of contrasts. After our usual breakfast we headed from Cottonwood and its dry sagebrush to Sedona. Sedona is of course known for its lifestyle and the red rocks that attract the rich and famous to this town. However, without the rich and famous Sedona would be little more that dry sagebrush surrounded by beautiful red rock cliffs. As we continued past Sedona through the Oak Creek River valley, the cliffs got closer the pine trees more plentiful and after a while we were in a forest. Ultimately the road goes up the cliff in a series of switch backs and cyclists slow down and breathe more deeply. At the top there is a great overlook where you can see the road you just climbed. It seems as if the sweet from your brow would land at the base of the assent.

Along the road from Sedona there were all sorts of groups that had taken responsibility for litter removal, local businesses, families (often in memory of someone), and local organizations (churches and a rescue group –Ropes that Save). The weirdest was a group ‘Ye Will Not Throw Trash Here’; I don’t know but it might work. Another strange thing I noticed was that as I approached the climb the road on my Garmin GPS looked as if there was a small red bead on the red line for the road. As I got closer, I could expand the scale and see that the bead was in fact the switchbacks on the climb.

Once the climb was over we headed for Flagstaff a large town with at least two universities and a railroad. It also was the first time we encountered the Santa Fe mainline. It runs through the town and all North-South roads seem to have graded crossings, so when a train comes to town all North-South traffic comes to a halt. This may not seem like that big a problem and maybe for the residents of Flagstaff it isn’t, but many trains are a mile and a half long and they slow down when going through towns. In addition based on what I saw in the afternoon when we followed the mainline on I40, there are several trains every hour. One might never imagine how much stuff is moved by the railroad. I was told that the railroads are benefiting from the high cost of gas because they are the most energy efficient was to move goods. Who would have thought that someone besides the oil companies would benefit from the high price of oil?

Flagstaff is also the first place where we rode on old US Route 66; it is the main street of Flagstaff. A little ways out of town Route 66 disappears and we were on I40 for 50 miles to Winslow. I rode at over 20 mph for most of it. It felt like a tailwind but in reality the air was calm, it was just that we lost 2000 feet over those 50 miles. Flagstaff to Winslow is high desert with nothing of note but Meteor Crater, a quarter mile in diameter hole, about six miles from I40. I didn’t bother to go have a look since in addition to the extra miles they charge $15 to see the crater.

Winslow is a town with little reason to exist. There is a railroad stop and they have built exits from I40, but the evidence of poverty for the people who are not living in the boarded up buildings is oppressive. Three or four stores make some money at the corner made famous by the Eagles song and there is a parked flat bed Ford, sans the red headed girl. So while I didn’t get a lift into town from her this year, I should be glad that this year I saw her truck. Our motel was the same motel from hell of last year. The only improvement over last year was that the air conditioning worked; but with temperatures in the fifties that was only a small plus. The staff and food service was just a bad as last year.

Winslow has one interesting aspect, Las Posedia, a hotel and restaurant. The hotel was built by the Harvey Corporation in 1930. I was the last of the Harvey hotels on the Santa Fe line. It has been restored and is a magnificent piece of Southwestern architecture. The hotel is a tourist destination and the restaurant is great. It is not 5 star dining, but it is so much better than the other fare in town, low end franchises, that you marvel at the fact that it even exists. Five of us had a wonderful diner as we watch the trains pass by. We then went directly to our beds where we dreamed of a fine meal and the 130 miles of I40 that connect Winslow to Gallup NM.

Day 2 - Across the Desert

Today started a little too early. 5 AM wake up breakfast at 5:30 and on the road by 6:15. The sore muscles we earned yesterday were there to remind us of yesterday and warn us about what was to come. The first 25 miles were flat to downhill. Starting from a few feet below sea level this would seem to be hard to do, but our first rest stop in Mecca (California) appeared to be 180 feet below sea level according to my GPS. There is no reason to make a pilgrimage to this Mecca, it is a poor farming town and as far from Palm Springs in life style and wealth as you can imagine. The difference is as striking as that between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the worst sections of the Bronx.

After leaving Mecca we climbed into Box Canyon; this is a wonderful road. It climbs 1500 feet in about 15 miles and for much of the time you ride through these scenic mounds. It is one of the places where our leader always takes too many pictures,

Once we got to the end of box Canyon we were on I10 for the rest of the day, a 70 mile ride across the desert to Blyth. Last year it was 80 in the shade at Blyth and we had a tailwind to get us there. This year it was 90 and there was no tailwind. Also like last year, there was no shade! We worked to get in this year, and if you didn’t drink your water you suffered greatly. I carried two water bottles and a small Camelback; I didn’t run out of water, but I was glad to see the rest stops every 25 to 30 miles. I don’t know how the riders with only two water bottles did it. Since 110 is a common temperature for Blyth in the summer don’t try this ride on your own.

After we got into the motel, we met to discuss the tomorrow’s route. While sitting in a shady corner of the parking lot, one rider passed out from dehydration and was rushed to the local emergency room. We hope that she, a twenty year old woman, will be OK. However, there could be no better way to make the point about taking care of yourself on this ride. We will see if the rest of us get the message. I also ant to point out that Mike who was describing tomorrows rout stopped in mid sentence and directed the staff to get her to the local ER. She and the van were off in less than three minutes. I was impressive.

Day 4

Today the ride went from Wickenburg AZ to Cottonwood AZ. It is a relatively short ride of 104 miles. However, there are three large climbs and likely 9000 feet of climbing. I didn’t finish the ride.

Last year I couldn’t finish the first climb, but after taking a sag to lunch, did the last two and rode into Cottonwood, having done all but 19 miles of the ride. Today I resolved to get to lunch, however that was all that I could do. As I have mentioned, this year my performance in climbing hills has been poor. This has been evident on this year’s ride, where I have done reasonably well on the flatter sections but struggled in the hills. I might suggest several reasons but I won’t.

On a more positive note, the roads were very nice and the scenery was breath taking. As a friend with Cystic Fibrosis once told me: life is not measured the breaths you take, but by your breath taking experiences. Today had big numbers for both sides, but I will remember beauty far longer than the work. Someday I may forget why I couldn’t finish the ride but I will never forget what I saw today.

The problems with my bike appear to have been resolved although the approach was let’s change the chain because I can and then when that failed to resolve the problem let’s replace the cassette, the gears on the rear wheel, and then lets makes some adjustments to the real derailleur. Personally, I would have chosen a different order. However the chain is not skipping and the noises that I thought were coming from the bottom bracket seem to be gone.

Tomorrow we ride through Sedona, climb to Flagstaff and finish the day in Winslow AZ. I will look again for the girl in the flat bed Ford especially during the last 20 miles of the ride. Last year she did not show up but I will let you know what happens this year tomorrow.

Day 3

Blyth, CA to Wickenburg, AZ – 114 miles and 2965 feet of climbing. This is less than the Pokeslow ride to Danville, which is considered to be a ‘flat’ ride and is only 50 miles long. In general the winds were favorable, the heat was not too oppressive, there was an 8 mile decent into Wickenburg, the roads were OK to good and there were only two turns. In general the riders from Florida and southern California seem to be doing best in the heat. The major problem today was rumble strips. In Arizona they are like open pit mines, about 4 inches by 3 inches and over 2 inches deep. I am sure that they are great for keeping drowsy drivers on the road, but boy are they a problem for cyclists.

One rider fell after hitting a rumble strip. He hit is helmet on the pavement, among other scrapes and abrasions, there was concern about a concussion. The medics brought in a helicopter and took him to a hospital in Phoenix. He will not be returning to the ride, but should be OK to ride in a month. He was lucky. Unfortunately his wife was riding with him; she also fell but was not badly hurt. I think she will leave the ride, but we shall see. Several years ago on another America by Bicycle ride she fell on her face, she lost 4 teeth and needed 200 stitches. However after 3 or 4 days in the van, she started riding and finished the tour. I am not sure what to make of this. I am inclined to agree with everyone who is not trying to cross the country by bicycle and many who are and say that this was crazy!

Tomorrow we are into the hills/mountains – three 3000 foot climbs. We shall see how the flatlanders from Florida do. However I will have to ask others at the end of the day because, my hill climbing ability, while never good, has not come around this year. I intend to get an early start and try to ride as much as I can in the cool of the morning, but unless the weather changes dramatically it could be quite hot during the climbs. They were hard enough last year - when it was in the 50’s.

A word on heat and water. Last year I carried 4 water bottles. I found it hard to drink enough on many days. This year I have a small Camelback and two bottles. The Camelback is more comfortable than some of the first models that I used 15 years ago. It also keeps the water cold. This is a good thing although I did like to have the water in the Camelback send shivers down my spine. This year I am drinking more. It may be the heat bu I think it is due to the greater ease of drinking from the hose on the Camelback.

Day 1

Newport Beach to Thousand Palms 122 miles 4600 feet of elevation gain.

Today we got up at 5:30 and had a great breakfast at Denney’s. We left at 7 AM and rode to the Pacific where we dipped our rear wheels. Karen was there this year to see the event. I gave her a kiss, told her I loved her and started my ride. Today’s route was the same as last year’s. Well the terrain was the same, same bike path for 30 miles, two climbs and a great 30 mile down hill with a tail wind. The downhill into Palm Springs was run at between 25 and 40 mph. Most importantly today I had NO flats and me rear wheel is still intact. Last year I had four flat and trashed my rear wheel. Today was a much better day!

While I have been very apprehensive about my conditioning this year, I rode near the front of the group all day and got in fully 2 hr before last year. I guess I am better than I thought, but we shall see over the next few days.

My roommate this year is from Florida and seems to be able climb hills as well as ride the flats. He finished with the first group today. He also seems like someone who I will like – he is a fan of Keith Obermann.

It is definitely going to happen

I will be riding across America this year. The training, albeit less than I would like, is now complete. The logistical planning is done; Karen and I rented a Highlander and drove to Newport Beach on Saturday. Almost all of the decisions about what to take have been made; I just need to pack. The bike was checked out and pronounced ready to ride; I took a final tune-up ride on Thursday.

This year’s ride is different than last year’s. Ending in Georgia and not Massachusetts is really a rather trivial difference. No the major difference is that I know what to expect. The first ten days are on the same roads as last year’s ride. I know where I failed on last year’s ride and I have to ask myself can I succeed this time. I hope so, but in reality I will just have to try again this time and see what my limits are.

Confidence There seem to me to be two reasonable ways in which one can be confident that they will accomplish the task at hand. The first way comes from having done the task so many times before that there is no logical reason why you will not complete the task this time. The second to believe you have skills that far exceed the task at hand even though you have not previously done the task. These approaches can help one achieve success, but neither assures success. Even if you have completed a task many times, others have not. Why will you always be able to avoid the problems that have stopped others? If you haven’t attempted something before, no matter how good you are, there is always a chance that you will fail. The reasonable person has confidence in their ability, but acknowledges that there are circumstances that could prevent success.

There is a third far worse way in which one can become confident – by having a willful ignorance of the extent of the problem at hand. Most riders on this trip are really in that category. They have little if any experience with the problems they are likely to encounter during 26 days of riding 100+ miles a day.

On this ride everyone is confident they can do it. One of the more important things is to learn why they are confident and separate those with skills that exceed those needed to ride across America from those that have not acknowledged the magnitude of the task at hand.

Last year my confidence came from skills that I thought were sufficient and an inability to understand the difficulty that riding across America entails. This year while I may be better able to complete the ride, I have less confidence in my abilities to finish. I know what is necessary and have a more realistic view of my strengths and weaknesses.

Getting Ready

April 8, 2008

Today I rode with a group of 20 friends in the morning. There are a few former racers and most riders are over 60. This not a slow ride on a flat course we average 20 mph for 30 miles. Well, two 15 mile rides with a stop at Starbucks. It is a fun ride. My ride went very well today and even though the ride was about 1% of the distance across America it helped my confidence. (It is interesting to think that by doing this ride every week for two years, I would ride as far as my cross-country trip. Many riders have done this ride religiously for 5, in some cases 10 years. Just think about it going across America in 2 hr pieces ridden, once a week.)

My only trouble was caused by changing my tires yesterday. As I started out the back brake squeaked and the bike didn’t track like it should have. Luckily, quick stop to reposition the rear wheel fixed the problem. I have decided to ride Specialized

Roubaix Armadillo tires this year. Based on today’s ride the give a good, responsive ride and maybe I will not get four flats on the first day, like I did last year.

I am also using Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL wheels. I have ridden with these wheels for 6 months and I like them a lot! I would normally be reluctant to use any wheel with ‘esoteric’ spokes, but these are the same wheels that the tour leader rode last year. The other reason for the new wheels is that they came on the Roark custom bicycle I purchased last summer. We stopped in the Roark factory in Indiana during last year’s ride. After taking a good deal of ribbing over my ‘prehistoric’ bicycle last year (it was only built in 1983), I decided to buy a new bicycle. As I was impressed with the Roark operation and all three leaders on last year’s tour rode Roark bicycles, I decided to buy one too. After 6 months and a little over 2500 miles, I am still in love with my new titanium bicycle.

Other changes for this year include a Garmin GPS unit and a bell. Boy is the GPS a cool toy. I can load the entire route across America into it. I can display road or topological maps. It can compute and display everything you could imagine, with the exception of cadence (how fast I pedal). Technology is wonderful. However on Sunday, I forgot to turn it off when I got on the train after my ride to Davis CA. All of the sudden, I noticed that my average speed was increasing rapidly and that my maximum speed was 80 mph. As for the bell, I have come to the conclusion that a bell is the best way to warn pedestrians, joggers, dog walkers, and casual cyclists of by presence behind them. As for people with Ipods, there is some chance that they will my bell, and I believe that a speaker system with a train whistle would be overkill. I also do not want them to drop dead from freight in front of me.

So, I guess I am getting ready for another adventure.

Training

April 6, 2008

Two weeks before the start and I am not doing as well as I would like. I have been fighting the flu, maybe several, all winter. One in January dragged on into mid-February – in all about six weeks. Karen and I spent a few weeks I Mexico, lots of sun and no colds. However on our return we sat next to a couple that coughed for the entire plane ride - three days later we were both sick. Three weeks later I am close to OK and I just completed my first 200 mile week of the year.

Today’s ride, April 6th, was a club - 105 miles from Berkeley to Davis CA (3500 ft of climbing) with a return by train. I did OK, a few min over 6 hours. The short hills really took a toll, but when we had a tailwind, I was holding 21 to 23 mph. I am encouraged but still am apprehensive. This year I know how hard the ride across America will be, 2900 miles in 26 days on the road; even with two rest days it is going to be hard. Last year there were some very hard days and a few times when taking a sag was the only thing that made sense. I hope to avoid that fate this year, but as two of those days last year are also on this years’ route, I have a few apprehensions.

I had hoped to start the ride this year at 185 lbs, last year I was 195, but it seems more likely that I will be 200 lbs at the start. Three weeks ago I knew my legs abs and back where stronger than last year but with this cold I can no longer be sure. I am going to due a 65 mile ride tomorrow. This will give me three days in a row with 60 mile or longer rides. I am still not sure how well my body will be able to recover after several long days in a row.

I am also concerned about Karen. She had an arthroscopic procedure on her knee on Thursday. Both of us thought that her recovery time would be shorter than her surgeon suggested is normal. She likely will have limited mobility when I have to leave. I worry about her being alone in Berkeley. I know that our friends will take good care of her. The good news is that while she has not left the house since the operation she is walking around without crutches and reports that he knee feels better than it did before the operation. I hope she will be OK. If she needed me to take care of her, I would forgo the ride and forfeit the several thousand dollars I have paid in a heartbeat. I hope it does not come to that, but we shall see.

Doing It Again

March 31, 2008

Well, it is time to let the cat out of the bag. In December I made a down payment for another cross country bicycle trip. And in February I
committed to the adventure by making the final payment. So again this year April and May will find me on the road. I hope to see USA with my new Roark custom titanium bicycle. A Chevrolet might be more nostalgic but it would be a different experience.

I have a few concerns about this trip. Overall the trip last year was a great experience and trying to reproduce that experience may be like catching time in a bottle; we shall see. There also were some hard times on the ride last year, how could there not be, and of late I have been recalling more of them than I might like. It is funny how the mind starts down a path and them seems to only find things that reinforce the path. I simply have to start redirecting my thoughts.

I have also had some real health issues. Nothing serious, but a series of flu like colds – one in November, a five week bout in January, and now a two week one from which I am just recovering. Needless to say my mileage is down – I only have 1300 miles so far this year. I should get to 2000 by the start but a long way from the 3500 I had hoped to have ridden by the start on April 20th.

I am riding with America By Bicycle again this year. At least three of the four leaders from last year’s trip, Mike, Barb, and Karen, will be back.
They are great and a major reason why I choose to do another ride this
year. This year we will ride from Los Angeles to Savannah, Georgia. The route will go through Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama, the only three states in the Union that I have never been to. No offense to anyone with a strong attraction for any of this states, but I believe that I could live a contented life without ever visiting this area of the country. However, it will be nice to have been to all 50 states.

Ultimately I need to ask, why am I doing this? The simple answer is that I can. Admitting that I can’t would be concession to age that I am not yet willing to make. For me this is not a life-changing experience, it is a life-affirming experience. I want to know that I still have it; well, maybe not like I had it 20 years ago. Most assuredly will not be able to keep up with everyone on the trip, but by the end of the day I will have gotten to the same place as everyone else on the ride.

“Do not go gentle into that good night.” Dylan Thomas