Big Ride Across America

Monday the 23rd it the kick off of this great adventure. I will be leading a team of 38 riders and 3 support staff 3,300 miles from Seattle to our Nation's capital. To date the riders have raised just about $250,00 to help the with lung issues breathe a little easier. The staff here in Seattle are friendly, talented and very professional. It I a real pleasure to be working with them this summer. Our gear is sorted and today i will shop for the food for the trek. Then it is a a matter of a few hundred small details to get ready for the 7 am start.

Seattle

The Northwest is even more beautiful than I left it. The last few day have seen me driving from Santa Fe to Wilmington to leave my things then traveling to Seattle all in 5 days. I am sitting here in the offices of The American Lung Association of Washington surrounded by dedicated talented, and experienced staff.
We are spending the week getting all the last minute preparations ready for out departure on the 23rd. Just one week and the ride begins.

Training and preparing

The human body is an amazing thing. Within a week I could feel my cycling groove coming back. Granted the first days are always hell. I live outside of Santa Fe and so there is a nice 10.2 mile climb to get up to Santa Fe. Elv. 7800ft. I am riding 30-50 mile loops each day. I think I find training so much easier since I am not pulling an 80lb trailer along. I can't belive how easy and fast you can knock out 30 even in the hills around Santa Fe just on a bike with no gear aboard. Did I really pull that thing across America last year? What was I thinking? I have managed over the winter to keep my weight at 165lbs even with all the rich Northern NM cooking. My first ride Across America in 2003 I started at 205 lbs, what a porker!


My bike is in fine shape, I spent yesterday tuning it and replacing cables. The only thing I don't like about cycling in NM is the dust sure can wear parts down quickly. I live on dirt road and it is 1/2 mile uphill to the first pavement, and I swear I can feel the dust grinding down my drive train I am always releived to get up that first hill.
Northern NM with all the moutains and the strong winds at this time of year is a challenge. I often will ride up to Santa Fe with a brisk head wind and by the time I get there the wind shifts and I face headwind again on the return leg.
But in the end after a long ride looking at the vista of the mountain desert it is all worth it.
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Trip Mode

In just 16 days I am back in the saddle and off to Seattle. I am really looking forward to leading the trek again across America. To date the riders have raised almost $180,000 for the charity. It looks like it will be a wonderfull ride. I am so excited by the nervous energy the riders all have wondering if they will be able to ride a bike across America. They, like countless before them will have a trip of a lifetime. After my solo crossing last year spending 48 day with a group is going to be a blast. I just have to keep them fed, watered and safe.

Soujourn Bike Tours

I have just returned from Vermont and a meeting with the great folks at Soujourn Bike Tours. I am hoping to join this first class tour company and co lead a few tours this fall or next spring. http://www.gosojourn.com/sojourn_bike_tours.php They are first class opperation and provide wonderful touring vacations for cyclist of all ability. During my tour of their operation, I met friendly and energetic staff. Their bikes and gear all was tuned and in excellent condition. If you would like to go on a week bike trip, eat wounderful food, enjoy fine wine and stay in some of the best inns of America I highly recomend this company. So please give Susan a call and come, along you won't regret it.

It was great to be back in my home state of Vermont and I had a chance to see old friends and make some new ones. Now I am home in NM and boy it is good to be home again. I must say that airline travel is at an all time comfort low. United has shrunk the seat space again and in doing so added more seats per flight. I am not a big person and my legs were jamed into the seat ahead of me during the flight.Oh well!

Training now begins in ernest for me as do preperations for me to be gone for over 2 months. It is nice to be getting into trip mode and I welcome it.

Countdown

Big Ride countdown = 1 months 2 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 58 minutes, 44 seconds

48 days
3,300 miles
Seattle to Washington, DC
June 23 - August 9, 2008

This will be my third and not my last crossing of the American continent on a bike. This time time I will be leading 45 other cyclist in their quest to spend 7 weeks on a bike.

There are 260 million people in the United States going about the daily routine of living. In any given year, a few of them will do something extraordinary. Something will move them -- stir their imaginations -- and they will step out of their comfortable routine to make their lives truly memorable.

Some will do that by riding their bicycles across the beautiful expanse of earth we call America. Why they do it is something they can never quite explain to someone who asks, but never need to explain to anyone else who has done it. They come from all walks of life and all ages from 18 to 79 to accept the challenge of riding a bicycle from sea to shining sea.

As you can imagine my life has gotten rather busy. I just returned from the first Ertl amputation Symposium where I had the honor to speak. It was a real pleasure to spend the weekend with Will, Jan, and Chris Ertl, Three of the world leading surgeons. For a layperson to be asked to speak at a medical conference was quite an honor.


My 46th birthday came and went quietly as did the 8th anniversary of my broken leg. Some how it does not seem that long. Yesterday I gave notice to my winter employer and have begun to prepare in earnest for this trek. It was great to take the winter off from cycling and doing my long treks but it is just a wonderful to be back in Trip Mode again. I am back on the bike and will be in condition in no time. I travel to Vermont to meet with a bike touring company next week and will see some friends. then it is home to NM and train, train, train.
I am enjoying my role as tour leader. I sure have tons more experience than when I first led a tour in 2004. I have enough time in the saddle now that I can see the excitement, fear, and doubts the first time riders have. It is much like some of the amputees I coach thru the process. you see they can and will rise above their own expectations. It is a nice feeling to help them attain their goals.

2008 Season

Officially my season will start on April 19th when I travel to Oklahoma City and present a program before a group of orthopedic surgeons at the University Of Oklahoma Medical Center. I will also be doing a riding clinic for amputees while I am there. My surgeon is there and he happens to be a former cyclist. His name is Will Ertl and he is one of the nation’s top trauma surgeons.
The following month I will I travel to Walter Reed and Bethesda and lead a group of wounded vets on a 2 day 115 mile ride to Gettysburg on May 3-5th It is the same group I helped lead last year.
On June 15th I will lead 40 cyclist across America for the American Lung Assoication's Big Ride Across America. I willlead the group across America and then return to Seattle by August 15th.

That is when my real riding season begins. I will then head south from Seattle and stop at all the major cities along the coast, doing ride clinics and motivational speaking. Once past LA I will solo down the Pan American Bike route, to Guatemala and a friend’s Prosthetic clinic. Once there I will spend several weeks working in the clinic and documenting his work. October I will fly to Hong Kong and a accept the standing invitations I have to cycle from China to Vietnam and Thailand and Laos. While in Southeast Asia I will visit and document several Governmental and Nonprofit amputee clinics there. It is going to be a great year!






Destination




0 Seattle WA 22-June
1 Easton WA 23-June 24-June 77
2 Vantage WA 24-June 25-June 71
3 Odessa WA 25-June 26-June 81
4 Spokane WA 26-June 28-June 75
5* Spokane WA
6 Sandpoint ID 28-June 29-June 76
7 Thompson Falls MT 29-June 30-June 88
8 Missoula MT 30-June 2-July 101
9* Missoula MT
10 Avon MT 2-July 3-July 99
11 Townsend MT 3-July 4-July 61
12 Harlowton MT 4-July 5-July 101
13 Billings MT 5-July 7-July 92
14* Billings MT
15 Hardin MT 7-July 8-July 54
16 Sheridan WY 8-July 9-July 84
17 Gillette WY 9-July 10-July 109
18 Newcastle WY 10-July 11-July 75
19 Rapid City SD 11-July 13-July 81
20* Rapid City SD
21 Kadoka SD 13-July 14-July 101
22 Pierre SD 14-July 15-July 95
23 Miller SD 15-July 16-July 74
24 De Smet SD 16-July 17-July 77
25 Tyler MN 17-July 18-July 78
26 New Ulm MN 18-July 20-July 86
27* New Ulm MN
28 Owatonna MN 20-July 21-July 72
29 Winona MN 21-July 22-July 89
30 Viroqua WI 22-July 23-July 66
31 Madison WI 23-July 24-July 100
32 Belvidere IL 24-July 25-July 83
33 Morris IL 25-July 26-July 104
34 Valparaiso IN 26-July 28-July 82
35* Valparaiso IN
36 Kendallville IN 28-July 29-July 109
37 Napoleon OH 29-July 30-July 70
38 Sandusky OH 30-July 31-July 87
39 Burton OH 31-July 2-Aug 92
40* Burton OH
41 New Waterford OH 2-Aug 3-Aug 59
42 Washington PA 3-Aug 4-Aug 62
43 Confluence PA 4-Aug 5-Aug 88
44 Bedford PA 5-Aug 6-Aug 81
45 Gettysburg PA 6-Aug 8-Aug 100
46* Gettysburg PA
47 Clarksburg MD 8-Aug 9-Aug 50
48 Washington DC 9-Aug


53

* Indicates Rest Days/Locations
# Day Location State Arrival Departure Miles Total
1 Sat Seattle Waterfront WA 9/13/08
1 Sat Lake Sylvia SP, Montesano WA 9/13/08 9/14/08 77 77
2 Sun Cape Disappointment SP, Ilwaco WA 9/14/08 9/15/08 78 155
3 Mon Nehalem Bay, Nehalem OR 9/15/08 9/16/08 57 212
4 Tues Devil's Lake SP, OR 9/16/08 9/18/08 71 283
5* Wed Portland OR 9/17/08 283
6 Thur Honeyman SP, Florence OR 9/18/08 9/19/08 79 362
7 Fri Bullard's Beach SP, Bandon OR 9/19/08 9/20/08 71 433
8 Sat Harris Beach SP, Brookings OR 9/20/08 9/21/08 86 519
9 Sun Patrick's Point SP, Trinidad CA 9/21/08 9/22/08 91 610
10 Mon Burlington CG Humbolt Redwoods SP CA 9/22/08 9/23/08 77 687
11 Tues Mac Kerricker SP, Fort Bragg CA 9/23/08 9/25/08 86 773
12* Wed Mac Kerricker SP, Fort Bragg CA 9/24/08 773
13 Thurs Stillwater Cove Regional Park CA 9/25/08 9/26/08 86 859
14 Fri Samuel Taylor SP, Olema CA 9/26/08 9/27/08 65 924
15 Sat San Francisco CA 9/27/08 36 960











San Francisco to Santa Cruz
16 Sun Santa Cruz CA 9/29/08 79 79
17 Mon King City Ca 9/30/08 105 184
18 Tues Pasa Robes CA 10/1/08 77 261
19 Wed Santa Maria CA 10/02/08 103 364
20 Thur Lompoc CA 10/03/08 53 418
21 Fri Ventura CA 10/03/08 84 502
22 Sat Los Angeles CA 10/04 60 562


Dan