FINAL CHAPTER

Final chapter. I’m going to throw out random thoughts and hope most of it will make sense. This whole thing started a few years ago as a crazy and completely unrealistic project. The more I talked about it without fully understanding the magnitude of the effort the harder it became to back down and back out. It seems a million years ago and at the same time it seems like a moment ago that I started out from Virginia. The night before leaving I don’t think I slept more than a few minutes. I was surprised by my high level of anxiety and trepidation. I shakily got out of bed, got dressed, couldn’t eat very much and jumped in the van for the ride to Yorktown and our starting point. Everyone got completely soaked standing around in the pouring rain trying to get organized to hit the road. Lots of pictures, wheel dipping and a last hug and kiss goodbye. Then everyone mounted up and started pedaling. From the start to somewhere in Kansas I questioned my ability to complete the ride every day. For a long time I was sore all over, real pain in my left knee, and if the butt sores got any worse I was done for sure. I can remember the hills of Missouri(we all agreed that this was the hardest part of the trip) as I crested hill after hill praying that each would be the last for the day. I knew if I could just get to camp and rest, I’d refreshed for another day. There were days going uphill that I thought how easy it would be to get knocked off by a side view mirror so I could just lay down and rest. Miraculously somewhere in Kansas it all turned around. After adjusting my seat up and down I found a spot that seemed to distress my knee and that stopped hurting. The neck and back soreness just naturally went away. I found ways to move around on my seat to change the pressure points and the butt sores while never going away became manageable. From that point on the riding became much more fun. I knew I would make it to the pacific barring a real crash or some other serious injury. My expectations for the whole experience were exceeded by 1000%. I learned how far my limits were both physically and mentally; way beyond what would be assumed without getting pushed beyond the perceived limits. Seeing the country at 12 m.p.h cannot be matched. I would have to say the single best part of the trip besides eating everything was the people we met and talked to while stopped for refueling in the small town cafes. These are the real Americans with real lives and no pretention. They were universally hospitable, curious, and interested. I can’t imagine how many vehicles passed us over the 4000 miles, but I can only remember two instances of discourtesy. I am very proud to share that I was one of only two riders who never walked his bike up part of a hill. Only two of the group was able to ride every fabulous inch. The rest of us fell short(no pun intended) for one reason or another. Mostly it was caused by mechanical breakdown that couldn’t be fixed on the road. I missed one day in Kentucky due to illness. What would I do different next time? First of all I don’t think I’d ride cross country again, but there are so many regions of the country that could be ridden in a few weeks and there’s organized rides. I’d love to think the grandchildren at some point would like to go on a week or two ride with boopah. I would certainly like the next ride to be a bit more upscale. Sleep in a bed and have meals catered or eat in restaurants. Mechanically my bike was perfect, but for future ride I would like to have fatter thus safer tires so it would be easier to ride off road when called for. As much as I’ve enjoyed doing this blog I would not do it again. It became an obligation and point of stress especially as I hunted around some days for internet. Also, next time I would try to enjoy the journey with less focus on the destination. I was always fearful that any extra miles for side trips or on days off would diminish my chances of successfully reaching Florence.
p.s. if any of you have individual questions, comments, criticism, need clarification, or simple want to communicate with me rather than use the comment section of the blog please email me at golden1231@earthlink.net and I will respond by email.

STATS

Miles-4060
States-10-virginia,Kentucky,Illinois,Missouri,Kansas,Colorado,Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon
Riding days-69
Rest days-11
Hours in the saddle-346
Average speed-11.7
Maximum speed-44.3
Calories burned-225,879
Flat tires total-9
Flat tires I changed by myself-3
Cumulative feet of ascent-196,904
Longest day by mileage-82.45
Longest day by time in saddle-7:30
Shortest day by mileage-23.60
Shortest day by time-2:22
Highest point-Hoosier pass, 11,539
Slept outside-39 nights
Slept inside-41 nights
Peed on the road-552
Pooped in the woods-0
Worst head wind-Muddy gap, Wyoming to Jeffrey city, Wyoming-14 miles
Rain- all day-3, part of day-5
Highest temperature-105
Lowest temperature-38
Best sore butt cure-1% hydrocortisone ointment…….thanks Dr. Sibrack!!!!!!!!!!!!
Books read-Obedience: a novel(Lavender), The concrete blonde(Connelly), Night over water(follett), The Increment(Ignatius), Beat the reaper(bazell), Dead man’s walk, Comance moon, lonesome dove, streets of Laredo(McMurtry), Storming las vegas(huddy), The 8th confession(Patterson), World without end(follett), The lion’s game(demille), Killing Rommel(pressfield), Rough justice(Higgins), The power of one(Courtenay), The mysterious montague(Montville), The Poet(Connelly), Invasion of the body snatchers(finney).

Tuesday. Triangle lake to Florence 52 miles. Made it. Mission accomplished. I will collect my thoughts and stats and make a final post in a day or two. Right now I plan on chillin’ and hanging out with caryn.

Monday. Eugene to triangle lake 36 miles. Easy ride. The first 6 or 7 miles out of Eugene were ridden on a very nice paved bike path. The rest of the day was rolling gentle hills as we entered and passed through the coastal range. Last night in the tent for maybe the rest of my life. Camp ground very rustic. No hot water, no showers. Quite appropriate for the last day on the road.

mimi stopped by for a visit in eugene today

ollie and pam joined us for dinner in redmond a few days ago

observatory at mckenzie pass summit

riding through the lava fields on McKenzie pass

Sunday. Mckenzie bridge to Eugene 58 miles. A very pleasant easy ride dropping about a thousand feet over 58 miles was easy pedaling making it possible to cruise at about 15 m.p.h. we followed the mckenzie river the whole way. Rode into Eugene and past the university of Oregon. I have my own room in a very nice and clean motel. As much as I’ve grown to enjoy the cocoon feeling in my tent, it’s nice to be able to spread out a bit. Brewpub for dinner and only 38 miles tomorrow so there may be some sleeping in tomorrow.

Saturday. Redmond to mckenzie bridge 56 miles. Last night in Redmond we had a surprise visitor. Ollie, our fallen comrade and his wife joined us for dinner. They have a cabin nearby. It was great to see Ollie and even better to see him mostly mended from his injuries all the way back in Virginia. An incredible ride today with no extra curricular excitement. Out of Redmond we had a nice gradual climb through the high desert to Sisters about 20 miles away. After second breakfast we embarked on a chancy ride over mckenzie pass. This is a seasonal road that has been closed due to winter damage. Some folks we met on the road told us we could blow through the barriers and cruise over the pass. We decide to take a chance hoping we wouldn’t get turned around and have to go back adding about 30 miles to the ride and an extra high pass to climb. The climb up was gradual through mostly forest the all of a sudden it opened up into a huge lava field. The whole area of mountains were created by volcanic activity. As it turned out we negotiated with the construction crew that we met and we had a once in a lifetime 20 mile ride on a newly paved road with absolutely no vehicular interference. The ride ended with a 3500 foot descent down a narrow road through a forest with huge evergreen trees. It was really something.