KANSAS

 

Why do people ride cross-country on a bike?

 

It is not easy! It takes physical and mental preparation. My butt hurts. Some roads are steep. You may get lost, even with all the electronic devices we have today, and you're not guaranteed a single in remote America. It's hot. It's humid in the east. There are head winds...only sometimes does it swing around to be a tail wind, and then riding is sweet. It's really, really hot above heat-reflecting asphalt. Those starting in the West in April or May suffered rain, sleet, ice, and snow conditions at the higher altitudes. Starting this year in the East, riders found themselves in a prolonged heat wave of temperatures consistently in the high 90s and reaching into the 100s. Kentucky is known for bike-rattlin' dogs. Kansas anticipates strong winds and lots of trucks serving the agriculture and small oil industries.

 

It's the best way to experience the country, to meet its people, most riders responded when asked why they are out here.

MISSOURI

 

I am done with Missouri…or some would say Missouri is done with me… and my fellow TransAm riders who entered Kansas today. Air temperatures have been in the mid nineties, but road temperatures have reached 105 degrees. Locals say this high a heat usually doesn’t arrive until July. The hottest time of day is between 2-4. We try to find someplace to lay low for a time, unless water resources are high enough to frequently douse your head.

The Ozark Mountains are not my favorite place to ride...lots and lots of short, very steep hills...but also very pretty rural scenery.

 

Trans America Trail

Yorktown beach, with Bonnie

And so it begins...with a dip of the rear wheel into the Atlantic waters on the Yorktown, Virginia beach on May 14, 2016.

Traditional east starting point, Revolutionary War Battle of Yorktown Memorial

This year is the 40th anniversary of the first developed cross-US bike route, created in 1976 as Bikecentennial when 4,100 bicyclists rode part of the route and slightly more than 2,000 completed the entire route from Astoria, OR to Yorktown, VA. Most groups started from the west, but some began at Yorktown as I am doing. Forty years ago few thought about spending the summer riding 4,000 to 5,000 miles across a country. This is a celebratory ride for me, to honor the inspiration of a handful of individuals who pursued a dream of seeing many bicycle coast to coast...Greg Siple who had the original idea, June Siple who named it, Dan Burden who gave organizational skills, and Lys Burden who took a job to support the young organization initially based out of the Burden apartment in Missoula, MT.