And, In the End the Love you Take is Equal to the Love you Make

So, I’ve been telling people for several weeks that I was going to write an epilogue to the blog. Now nearly seven weeks after we finished, I am ready.

The Ride

The numbers haven’t changed. We did 3,436.82 miles in 42 days of riding or 48 calendar days (While I include the Prologue miles and time in my totals, I don’t consider it a day). We climbed 92,972 feet in a total time of 250 hours, 44 minutes and 54 seconds of pedaling time. Our averages were 81.83 miles, 5 hours 58 minutes and 13 seconds, and 2,214 feet of climbing per day. Our average speed for the trip was 13.71 MPH. All of these numbers are based upon my Garmin computer. Not only was Thom faster the last half of the trip but his computer (Thom was using my old Garmin since his broke at the beginning of the trip) registered more miles than mine did when we covered the same distance so his speeds were actually faster and registered faster than my actual speeds.

Victory Lap

Since the ride has been over in some ways, I feel like I have been on a victory lap. It seems like every time I run into someone, they are congratulating me. My favorite congratulations were from a friend of ours who when he greeted us immediately said to Claudia “I just heard you drove cross country. Congratulations!” Speaking of Claudia, she has made it clear that the driving was more demanding than she expected. She would be happy to talk to anyone thinking of driving a SAG wagon. Don’t worry she won’t sugarcoat her answers to any questions.

Interesting Questions

People seem to ask the same questions of Thom and me. So let me answer some of them here. 

• Have I recovered? Part 1. Physically there really was nothing to recover from. I probably was in the best shape of my life at the end of the ride. I have hardly used Butt Butter or Button Hole Cream (don’t you love the names) since the beginning of July. My right knee was a little sore the last few days of the ride and after I finished but I attributed that to using an ottoman one day. It’s a big mistake to stretch out my right leg when the knee is unsupported. I actually don’t feel as good now as I did during the ride. I have gained a few pounds and I’m not riding as many miles.
• Have I recovered? Part 2. Mentally I was pretty exhausted after the ride. It is nice to sleep in my own bed and have a more relaxed schedule. I am sleeping better now that I am home. It’s nice to eat at home and have fresh vegetables. I don’t miss all the fried food we had on the trip.
• Would I do it again? No! Been there done that!
• What’s next? I don’t know.
• Did I ever think I would never finish? Honestly No. It’s funny talking to people who read the blog. Some people thought when we had to climb through the barbed wire fence, that was the beginning of the end and the problems would be unsurmountable. My only concern was how long it was going to take to deal with the problems we faced. There was one flat on the Interstate (I think it was in Arizona.) and until Thom rode back to help me change the tire, I thought I was going to have to get a ride from Claudia to the next exit. I wasn’t concerned that I wasn’t going to complete the ride but I was concerned that I would have a ten-mile gap in my ride.
• What was the most dangerous part of the trip? I think I have already written about the windy ride into Mojave. I would say the cross winds In Mojave, Tucumcari, Hallsville, Mo (include the gravel here) and Cleveland were all concerning.  Fortunately, Thom and I shared our concerns and were in agreement about what risks to take and when we should stop.
• What was the hardest day? The next to last day from Cohoes, NY to East Windsor, CT was the hardest for me. The combination of the heat (I would guess over 90 degrees), hills (it was the highest number of feet we climbed in a day) and distance of 111 miles, really got to my head. The fact that Claudia was not at the finish and couldn’t come back to get us, that I couldn’t use my granny (easiest) gear and that we couldn’t find a lunch spot until about mile 70 all had me going.
• Did you have any compatibility issues? Simple answer is no. We all respected each other’s decision making and feelings. We didn’t have any spats. That’s pretty good for people who spent 50 days together. (Thom arrived in California a few days before we left.)
• How much weight did you lose on the trip? I think I gained 3 or 4 pounds. Thom estimates he lost 15 pounds.
• What was the biggest surprise on the trip? That all the bike routing apps did not avoid dirt roads. Designing routes every day was taxing,
• Is Kansas as bad as everyone who rides coast to coast says? Yes!
• What about the weather? I really didn’t look back to study the weather during the trip. If you look on Strava or Garmin Connect, you can find the temperature, wind direction, precipitation and humidity each day. I haven’t been inspired to do that since the ride. I can say that it rained more than we wanted and the weather forecasts were usually inconsistently wrong about the next day. People had told us that there would be days with headwinds even though the prevailing winds are west to east. I think there were more and stronger headwinds than we expected. It was colder than we expected one day and hotter on a few days. 
• What was your favorite view? While the Painted Dessert and Petrified Forrest were incredible and the day riding over the Continental Divide in New Mexico was pretty, I am lucky to say I enjoy the views of Narragansett Bay and Monterey Bay we have here in Rhode Island and in California the best.

Media Coverage

Since we finished the ride there have been stories about us on a Providence TV station and the North Kingstown Standard Times. Both of those used a press release prepared by the American Diabetes Association. Here are the links to the ABC6 article. https://www.abc6.com/rhode-island-men-complete-cross-country-bike-ride-to-support-the-american-diabetes-association/  My favorite article is the one our friend Tim Wilson (he rode the last day with us) wrote for the Charles River Wheelman. Here is a link. https://www.crw.org/content/riding-cross-country-70

 

Kudos

I think I mentioned that one of our neighbors left a bottle of champagne on our doorstep the last day. It turned out it was my golfing buddy Dan who did that. (I still enjoy biking more than golf.) The cow singing telegram from Thea, Tia and Michael still has me laughing. Our friends Bernie and Jim gave me a painting of a bike personalized with my name. Our friend Amelia gave me a congratulatory poster and balloons. One of the nicest honors was when I picked up my bike from NBX bikes after it was serviced after the ride. I was wearing my official Bay 2 Bay jersey. Matt, the owner, asked if I had an extra jersey to sell to him. I was stunned by the question and honored that he has hung the tee shirt (I don’t have an extra jersey) in the window of his store. Here’s a picture of Thom and I pointing out the jersey. 

 

Finally, our neighbor, Jeff, has compiled the blog (once I finish writing this) and pictures and we’ll publish a book of memories.

My bike

Speaking of my bike, it is wonderful to ride it without all the noise it had on the trip. I have the use of my granny gear back. Most interesting for me was comparing the setup of the cross-country bike to the bike I keep in Rhode Island. I ended up raising the seat over an inch and moving it forward on the cross-country bike. I think dropping the bike when we lifted it over the chain link fence in Kansas messed up the fit and I was nervous to adjust it after that.

Comparison to a Supported Ride

My friend John and I were talking about the ride. He mentioned when he did a supported ride (where the organizers lay out the routes, decide where you are staying, provide the meals, organize the rest stops, transport your equipment and provide the SAG wagon) all he had to do was pedal. I had the same experience when I did the AIDSLifecycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2019. The ride averaged over 75 miles per day. As John said, all I had to do was pedal. I found that I had plenty of time to rest during the ride and thought I could have gone further most days. Looking back, I think it would have been about $3,000 more expensive going on an organized tour but it would have been less mentally taxing. Also, there are no organized tours that go from our house in California to our condo in Rhode Island.

I know I mentioned this but I was really surprised that we didn’t see more wildlife. On rides in Rhode Island and California I see interesting wildlife. There just wasn’t much on the trip. Yes, we saw dead armadillos and lots of dead deer in Ohio but nothing really interesting.

Biking is a hedonistic activity. It is all about you the rider. Raising money for charity was a nice counter to the selfishness of biking. Thom and I raised over $6,000 for the American Diabetes Association. Claudia raised over $2,000 for the Africa Teacher Foundation. The other day we had dinner with our friend Bill who runs the Africa Teacher Foundation. He said the money will be used to buy a computer or computers for teachers in Kenya.

Thom has printed three poster sized copies of the map showing where we rode and the elevation profile of the ride. He has a copy hanging in his offices in each town he is working in. I have my copy hanging in our home office. It is nice to look at and feel like you accomplished something.

As I reminisce about the trip, I think of:

My Favorite Sign

 

My Favorite Text

As it was starting to rain (again) in Kansas about 17 miles from the Missouri border I texted Claudia who was in Missouri saying we may need her to pick us up. She replied “I’ll only pick you up on this side of the state line!” She quickly added she was kidding but it had me laughing (in the rain) for 17 miles.

Speaking of Claudia, it still boggles my mind that we ended up riding fewer miles than I had predicted and Claudia drove almost double the miles that we rode. We simply couldn’t have done it without her.

My feelings on biking have changed since the ride. I have been doing more short rides lately, but even when I do what would have been a longer ride (say 50 miles) it feels like it has no purpose and is not a challenge. This past week when I rode my age in miles on my birthday for the twelfth year in a row (I actually did 72.9 miles even though I only turned 71) there was no question I was going to finish. I have read some articles in Adventure Cycling with people saying it is the journey that matters not the destination. Well, for me it was the destination. Climbing the pass going into Flagstaff, crossing the Mississippi River, entering into New York State and being able to count the days until we would be home all meant a lot to me. But none of that can compare to Thom and me riding on the Trestle Trail in Coventry, Rhode Island knowing we were home.

 

 

The title of this entry is the words from the Beatles song The End. It is the last song on the second side of Abbey Road (Also the last song the Beatles sang together). I’ve always enjoyed that album and laugh when ever I hear the little ditty Her Majesty which is thrown in as a joke after The End. I hope you have enjoyed the blog, Thank you for all the favorable feedback. Now I am back to obscurity!