Setting The Stage

Allane and Steve 

Why now?

03/16/2021. Allane and I haven't seen our grandchildren in over a year! It's enough to cause anyone to take whatever measures are necessary to correct this injustice! What better way to accomplish this than to combine a passion for cycling and fitness with seeing family? 

The idea of riding over 4,000 miles across the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean is something one may think about from time to time. Or, at least somebody who loves the outdoors considers from time to time. This is also about pushing back against the unstoppable decline one’s body and mind undergoes with age.

This is a particularly challenging time for everyone. Our country is slowly coming out of a year’s long pandemic that has laid bare some of society’s fault lines. There’s been terrific suffering, though not everyone has experienced the worst of what the pandemic can bring to bear. Whatever it is – people’s attitudes about public health, equality, or politics – we are in the midst of a reconsideration, if not re-set of who we are and what we want for our society. For me, what better time to take on a unique challenge that tests my physical abilities and completely focuses my attention? As we make our way across the country, maybe some of these conditions will begin the process of healing.

Gear

Any challenge worth taking is worthy of taking on new and really neat equipment. At least, that’s an axiom I’ve heard. I have a Kona Sutra touring bike. Kona Bikes, one of the many “hip” bike companies that have popped up in the last 30 or so years, is based in Ferndale, Washington and was founded in 1988 by Dan Gerhard and Jacob Heilbron. It’s still owned by Gerhard and Heilbron. The Sutra is an cromoly steel framed bike made for touring, carrying heavier loads across all sorts of terrain. From my experience, it’s an awesome machine, fun to ride and functional at the same time.

Me and my Kona

Preparation

Because of COVID-19 planning moved from canceling the trip, to modifying the trip to go through Canada – at the time a country with much more effective COVID response than ours, to considering a trip along the length of Maine, to again consider canceling the trip, to taking the trip guided by the safety of my wonderful wife and partner SAG’ing for me across the country. To SAG, Support and Gear, is to be an accompanying “road angel” for a rider. You’ve likely seen van after van of SAG vehicles following and leading the riders if you’ve watched the Tour de France. A SAG team is really what makes the trip work from every angle other than the riding – finding the next safe rest stops, dining options, camping options, and being there to help when the inevitable occurs; the flat tire, busted chain, broken derailer, or whatever will choose to break or fail to function. To have a SAG nearby is almost too much to ask for. To say I am very grateful to the point of being overwhelmed at having Allane along is an understatement.

Last summer, in place of a trip across the country, John Benziger and I rode from Madawaska to Kittery, Maine's northern-most town to its southern-most. It was an amazing ride. Enough to make me want to not give up on my plan to ride across the country.

It May Actually Happen – 2021

3/25/21.  I started the year intent on trying to make adventure happen. It’s looking more and more like we’re going to get this ride in. Allane and I had a great send off get-together with dear and lifelong friends at Brad and Jana’s house in Harpswell on Saturday, April 24th. With vaccinations complete, for the first time in over a year, we were able to socialize and share a meal and toasts with people who mean the world to us. To say ‘thank you’ seems almost trivial in light of how much this gathering meant to us. I guess there are times we say much more without saying anything at all. We genuinely and deeply love these people.

Thoughtful gifts our friends gave us to help us make it!