Coast to Coast

For perhaps ten years I have had the thought that someday I would like to ride my bicycle across the country.  Finally, after realizing that I am not getting any younger, I decided to get serious about looking at the possibilities and options.

After some internet searching and talking to biking friends, I decided to sign up with Wandering Wheels from Upland, IN.  Wandering Wheels has been doing coast-to-coast rides since 1966.  My ride was the 66^th trip across the country.  When the rides began, most of the riders were teenagers and young adults.  Recently the riders are more elderly.  Our youngest rider turned 50 during the trip.  Our oldest rider starting the trip, Odessa Bob (our nickname for him because he came from Odessa, TX), was 84. 

My trip began on March 20,2009, when twenty-two (eight women and 14 men) of us met for the first time in Carlsbad, CA just north of San Diego, and it ended on April 30 in Brunswick, GA.  Incidentally this was an unusually small number of participants.  The poor economy had an effect on who could afford the time and money for the trip.  In the past it was not unusual to have 80 riders in the group.

After getting acquainted and learning the rules and processes we would be following for the next 41 days, we began our journey.  The first day was very short.  We rode to the ocean and dipped our back tires in the Pacific, took the obligatory photos, and then rode our shortest distance of the trip, 21 miles.  Even in that short distance several riders had flat tires.

On an average day we rode 70 miles.  During the trip we road two centuries (100 miles per day) with the longest ride being 103 miles.  A typical day began about 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. with a large breakfast, always including oatmeal, and a short meeting to discuss the route for the day, hazards, food stops, points of interest, experiences from the previous day, and a reminder of the status of a bicyclist in comparison to an 80,000 lb. tractor trailer going 80 miles per hour several inches from you.

Then we began the ride for the day.  Every day was a new experience.  Some days we had hills and mountains to climb.  Some days the roads were good and some days they were terrible!  Some days we had tail winds and some we had head winds.  With a few notable exceptions, we had mostly tail winds in the open desert areas.  We had mostly head winds after we crossed the Mississippi River.  We were particularly lucky when it came to rain and snow, being rained on for only one day as we climbed the mountain to Julian, CA.  We were in sand and dust storms several days.  We rode right through large cities like Phoenix and Dallas and Ft Worth.  We rode through little towns, some of which were nearly abandoned.  We met wonderful people in little out-of-the way places.  We generally encountered drivers of cars and trucks who were considerate of bikers.  There were notable exceptions.  We found many drivers of log hauling trucks and RV mobile homes to be dangerous to riders.  Our only serious accident occurred when a driver of a car pulling a pop-up trailer unknowingly snagged the handlebar of one of our women riders.  Fortunately this was in a construction zone where everyone was going slowly.  She was dragged along for a while until her bike finally disengaged.  She ended up with some cuts and bruises, a broken helmet, and a broken arm.  Within a day she was back riding a modified bike with a cast on her arm.

At the end of the day’s ride, we would generally stay in a church, a school gymnasium, tent camp ground, or in a motel.  Our gear—sleeping bags, tents, and duffle bags—was ported in a truck by Wandering Wheels to our destination each day.  After getting our bikes and gear cleaned up and ready for the next day, we would have a big evening meal, find a good place to bed down for the night (if possible away from the heavy snorers) and go to sleep about 8:30 p.m.

We ended the trip, 2457 miles later, in Brunswick, GA where we received a police escort to cross the causeway to St. Simon’s Island where we dipped our front tires into the Atlantic and again took the obligatory pictures.

Here are some reflections from my trip.

·        The whole trip went smoothly primarily because the Wandering Wheels staff had fairly rigid processes to which everyone was expected to adhere.

·        One gets a strong impression of a state by the condition of its roads.  There was a 12 -14 mile section of newly paved (like rock and seal) in Texas that was so rough I was lucky I still had my teeth fillings by the time I passed over it.  We rode long sections of US Highway 80, built in the 1920’s, that in its day was known as the Broadway of America.  Now the road has bicycle-eating potholes and grass growing up through it.

·        Biking across the country is a stress test for body, mind, bike, and relationships.

·        Brightly colored shirts, jackets, or vests (high visibility green or yellow), flashing tail lights, and rear view mirrors are essential safety items for bicyclists.

·        It is a mystery as to why, but there are many coins to be found on the street at many intersections in cities.  One day, without looking too hard, I collected $1.27 from a few intersections.

·        Many fires and accidents occur on interstate highways.  In one 30 mile stretch of I10 in the vicinity of Quartzsite, AZ, I counted 30 distinct accident or fire sites that were hot enough to melt the asphalt and many times leave melted aluminum on the road or shoulder of the road.

·        Doing a cross country bike ride allowed me to practice living in the moment.  I couldn’t control the roads or the weather.  I didn’t know what the route would be until I was given the daily map and even then there were sometimes detours.  I didn’t know how I would feel in the morning—some days my legs felt strong, sometimes they didn’t.

·        There were almost no solar panels on homes or businesses anywhere along the 2450 miles.

·        Drilling for and pumping oil is still a big part of the economy in the southwest.

·        Electric-generating wind farms are being built in the southwest.  From the velocity of winds we encountered, I am convinced that we could certainly convert our electric supply from coal to wind over the next 10 years if we had the will to do it.

·        The most important needs are food, water, sleep, and attitude for a trip like this.

·        With some luck and careful tire management, it is possible to ride across the country without getting a flat tire.  I was the only one to make it across without a flat.  Some people had as many as 10 flats.  The biggest reason for flats were the small needles of wire from radial truck tires that fly apart while going down the highway.  My secret to no flats was a tire liner called Mr. Tuffy.  At one point just after crossing the Rio Grande River, I inspected my tires and found two wires and a goat’s head thorn sticking in the tires.  Fortunately none of them made it into the tube.

·        We rode 2457 miles.  We climbed and, of course, descended the equivalent of 45 miles.  We burned approximately 180,000 calories while riding.  This information is from a Garmin Edge 705 Deluxe Bundle Bike Computer that one of the riders used.

·        The country is big.  We took one of the shortest routes across the country at the most accommodating time of the year.  We spent one long day just crossing an Indian reservation in Arizona.  There is much in this country that I have never seen and would like to learn more about.

The question I get asked most often following the trip is, will you do it again.  The answer I give is, “Not next year, but I won’t say never again.”  After all, 84-year-old Odessa Bob did complete the trip, and it was his 5^th time to do it.  So under the right circumstances and for the right reasons, I might consider it.