When we left in the morning we knew only 100 miles separated us from our destination of Seattle Washington and the end of our tour. It felt good to know we were going soon to accomplish our task but the task was what it was all about. After our last cross country trip in 2008 we all suffered from PTBS better known as Post Traumatic Bike Syndrome.
Your body and mind has been focused on only one thing, a daily chore of pedaling and pushing forward. I guess you could call it a routine of sort. But this routine is unlike the normal daily routine we all have at home. Pedaling a bicycle to places you never heard of and on roads you know nothing about is an adventurous routine that has your attention all the time. Around the next bend in the road could be a long flat straight road or a monster hill to climb. Any hard exercise, including cycling, is 50% physical strength and 50% mental strength. Because of this you cannot let your mind talk your body off the bike. You need to keep your mind in check at all times or you are finished. If the wind is blowing 40 mph in your face you can easily become mentally defeated well before your muscles give up.
Your body is also constantly talking to you as you ride. It is always worried about keeping hydrated and fueled and will not let you forget. Just getting low on water becomes stressful when you are a long distance from the next watering hole. You legs are always asking for a rest they cannot have. It may be a routine but not a normal routine.
Today’s ride would end with a thirty plus mile ride on a Rails to Trails bike path that will keep us off the busy streets of Seattle. This is called the Interurban Trail.
All along todays route, instead of apples and pears we rode alongside wild blackberry bushes that would continue even onto the Interurban Trail. Miles of the ripe and delicious berries were everywhere. We stopped and munched on them every once and a while. It was incredible the amount of berries we passed. It seemed like someone could start a blackberry pie and jam company just picking from one section of the wild crop.
Some of the areas we rode through were buried under feet of ash after Mount St Helens exploded. It was hard to imagine what it would have been like living through that terrible mess. We were choked by a little dust and smoke on our journey west. What would the air be like after that explosion happened? Not just when it happened but for week and months. Every puff of wind must have stirred the ashes into the air again. How do you ever clean up after a mess like that? Where do you put all the ash? I am glad we missed that one.
Someone asked us which cross country trip was better. Well they were both better if that makes any sense. Each was different and unique. We had more of the unknown on the first trip because we had less experience. The added miles and days of WWTII made for a longer workout and that was better. Both tours were fantastic and gave us a feeling of accomplishment. Now being in the somewhat small group of people that can say they have crossed the USA by bicycle TWICE is a cool thing too.
We covered over 4560 miles with bicycles weighing nearly 80 pounds. The team lugged these heavy bicycles over countless hills and mountain ranges with over 188,000 feet of total climbing. That would be like scaling Mount Everest from “sea level” more than 7 times! Over 1/3 of our cycling days were “Century Days” that is a day of 100 miles or more. Even figuring in the 6 “easy days” we had (65 miles or less) we still averaged over 88 miles a day.
Our bodies feel strong and not worn out after this journey. All of us could easily continue riding another 4500 miles if we had to.
This whole excursion could never have happened without the most important thing of all.
Something we did not mention on the web or in the blog. This was not because we forgot, but because this was so important we wanted to save it for the end. We did not want the most important thing to get lost in our daily adventure stories.
This cross country cycling trip would not have happened if we did not have the full support of our families. We all fully realize how lucky we are to have families that understand and were willing to do without as we rode our bikes. Lucky is the wrong word I guess, because there is no luck involved. We have great families backing us up. How many wives in the USA would let their husbands take off for nearly two months to ride a bicycle?? Well we only know a few and we are married to them. Anyone got a few names to add to that list…..I did not think so. Let’s not forget our kids that also had to do without as we rode. Thanks everyone! Hopefully somehow we can repay everyone for their sacrifice.
Also let’s not forget our friends that helped us train and also supported us. We would not have a website or blog if we did not get help and our lawns would be 4’ high. We always knew if one of our families needed something we could count on them to be there. That made our ride less stressful. Thanks guys.
Without all of these people and more behind them this this ride would just not have happened. Because of them all we had to do was the easy part ….pedal our bikes.
100 Miles
3074 Feet of Climbing
Temperature 55 - 80 degrees
The Wild West Tour II “The Northern Tier”
TOTAL DISTANCE 4559.7 miles
TOTAL CLIMBING 188,030 Feet
Niantic to Seattle
You guys did it! Niantic to Seattle!
ReplyDeleteTwo wives ... and don't forget the girlfriend - ME :-)
ReplyDelete