I’m in the passenger seat of Bob’s truck, as we begin our trek back home. Bob has decided to forego his planned slow ride home because Sammie has been ill and, since we accelerated the last days of riding to avoid a storm, I should get home the same day I had planned anyway. This will allow me to help out if they have any issues, and give me some days to decompress and catch up on things – like this blog.
Sammie’s symptoms are improving – she ate this morning and kept it down. She is currently sleeping behind us in her bed.
Ya’ll have raised nearly $7000 for MS! Thank you all for contributing and following along on this adventure. Fundraising is open until the end of August – so there’s still time to add to that if you’re in a position to do so.
Wrap-Up
I’ve spent some time reflecting on the summer over the past few days – there’s a lot to process. Overall I’m happy with how things worked out. We never really planned more than a week out at a time – and often went day by day. While that allowed us to quickly adjust to whatever circumstances arose, it did mean having to spend trip time staring at maps nearly every day, and often having to accept less than ideal accommodations.
Aligning schedules when we needed to was complex. We quickly realized trying to time RAGBRAI would add unnecessary stress and cancelled those plans. It was also difficult to make firm plans to meet up with friends along the way – thankfully everyone was understanding and flexible with our changes. Those meet-ups were the best parts of the trip!
I think we did a decent job minimizing expenses. We camped most nights – usually at state parks – and chose low-end, pet-friendly hotels on rest days. We had instant oatmeal for breakfast, typically PB & Js for lunch and a small rotation of camp dinners – though we hit or invented milestones here and there to celebrate w/ nicer dinners. Other expenses did quickly add up, especially the gas required to pull a trailer across the country – twice! Bob expects he’ll have put 10K miles on his truck by the time we get home. We’re very privileged to have been able to afford to do this.
One of my biggest fears going in was that I’d suffer an injury that would prevent me from finishing. Luckily I avoided that. I had some knee pain early on that I think started in the Rockies. I focused on adjusting where I was applying force to the pedal, and that seemed to help resolve the issue. I also developed some nerve-related pain in my large toe towards a couple weeks from the end, which made taking my shoes off one of the best moments of the day. I’ve long believed I have an asymmetry in my leg lengths that may have contributed to one or both of those issues. I should probably get that diagnosed. Most irritatingly, I developed an over active bladder early on that still persists. Google tells me that this not an atypical issue with cyclists over training. It wasn’t much of a problem when alone on country roads, or in the woods camping, but was quite uncomfortable at other times. I’m hopeful it improves as I return to normal activity levels and public places with bathroom lines!
We were prepared to sleep completely self-contained in Walmart parking lots, or along roadsides where necessary, but we never needed to. State/National/County parks were typically available – as long as we were willing to travel off route to get to them. That sometimes added 10+ miles to a day of cycling, often with a good climb to get to them. Luckily I like to bike. When those parks weren’t available, RV parks typically were. We used them a handful of times, but they were sometimes sketchy.
I had assumed we’d meet interesting people – other cyclists on the road doing similar journeys, or just people at campgrounds for the weekend. And we did – but it was rare. Since we had a trailer we were normally camping next to RVs, and we found the RV community to mostly stay inside their vehicles and keep to themselves. I imagine the tent-only campgrounds that cater to cyclists would have provided a much more social experience. And I honestly didn’t see that many long-distance cyclists on the road. While fixing a flat in North Dakota, I did meet an older couple cycling east to west self-supported. They noted that they had met significantly less people this time than previous years they’d done it. I know decreasing ridership has been an issue for organized rides like BikeMS and Ride the Rockies, the latter deciding to shut down this year. It feels like a low point for cycling in the US – but it is encouraging to see how big gravel riding has become in the midwest, and to hear about enduro and downhill in the northeast, even when the event has filled all of the available campsites!
Considering how crazy weather patterns are these days, we did pretty well through a combination of planning and pivoting. We showed up in Oregon at the end of a long wet period, but it was sunny for us. In fact, Oregon had the hottest temperatures I think we faced. I brought a fan for my tent, but only remember needing it for cooling my tent a couple times. Going west to east was the right move for wind. I only had one miserable wind day. Dodging thunderstorms was the biggest challenge, especially because forecasts would quickly change. Several times we extended mileage or pushed out rest days to get around them. Rain – well – just happened. Sometimes I could time things to avoid the brunt of a rain storm, other days I just got soaked. Unfortunately the fenders I brought with me didn’t fit my bike, but I don’t think they would have helped much. We were lucky to have been east of the fires and smoke in the west and west during the worst storms hitting the east coast.
One thing I’d change for next time is to carry the specific bicycle parts that are more difficult to find on the road. Through-axles are apparently very non-standard – and I wasn’t able to find a replacement anywhere in bike-friendly Missoula. I was also warned that I should be carrying an extra derailleur hanger for my bike frame – luckily mine never bent on the trip. I brought extra tires, a chain and a cassette, but any decent bike shop would have had those available. I was lucky to be able to pivot to Bob’s road bike both times I had a serious mechanical issue.
It has been an amazing summer – but I’m excited to get home!
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