Suzanne Schlosberg, 27, a free lance writer and former senior editor at Shape Magazine, wrote a series of articles about her 47-day bicycle trek across America for an Orlando newspaper. She agreed to share her observations with the CVC Newsletter. When she's not bikeschlepping across America, or hanging out in coffee shops in Berkeley, Suzanne rides with the Advanced Rec. and Racer groups. Here is the last of her dispatches:
It's over.
After 3,284.5 miles, 1.21 million pedal strokes and, it seems, nearly as many Oreo Blizzards from Dairy Queen, our crosscountry bicycling journey has come to an end.
Earlier today, Friday, 69 of us gathered outside Walt Disney World to put on our white "finisher" tee shirts and enjoy our last moments together as a group. Then we pedaled slowly along a winding treelined road into the park, where dozens of friends and family members were waiting to greet us.
Leading the way were our youngest rider, 15yearold Stephanie Beauregard of Canaan, Vt., and our four oldest cyclists, Pat Riordan, 60, a retired airline pilot from Boston, Jim Watkins, 64, a retired urologist from Grand Rapids, Mich., George Gee, 66, a retired engineer from San Francisco, and Ellen Halliday, 64, of Escondido, California, a grandmother of four and a retired computer assemblyline worker.
The trek ended with hugs and highfive's and a few tears -- and for Halliday, a cold can of Budweiser. "I earned it," she said, grinning. "I'm in awesome shape. I'm in better shape than most of my children."
Walt Disney World served as the official endpoint of our trip, which began 47 days ago at the Disneyland parking lot in Anaheim, Calif. But for most of us, the excitement and feeling of accomplishment came at Flagler Beach on Wednesday, when cycled down to the shore and ran into the ocean, hoisting our bikes into the air. Nearly seven weeks after cycling along the Pacific shore in San Diego, we had completed the coasttocoast portion of our journey.
When I got my first glimpse of the Atlantic from atop a bridge outside Flagler Beach, I thought back to the first day of the trip, when our helmet covers were bright orange and our skin was pale, when my bike was humming smoothly, my fellow cyclists were strangers and, inside my duffel bag, my clothing was neatly organized into a dozen Ziploc bags.
As I pedaled along the Flagler Beach shore with strangers who had become good friends, I couldn't help but notice how dramatically things had changed. The sun had turned our fluorescent orange helmet covers to beige and marked our skin with an odd tan lines that frequently draw stares. I have dark ovals on my hands from the gloves, and dramatic lines on my thighs where my cycling shorts stop. My feet are so white and my legs so dark that, when I'm barefoot, it looks like I'm wearing socks.
My dirty, greasy bike chain causes my bike to squeak with every pedal stroke --- throughout the trip, eating, sleeping, and goofing off always took priority over bike maintenance. MY Ziploc system has gone to pot.
At one point I had a bag for dirty shorts, one for clean shorts, one for dirty jerseys, one for clean jerseys, and so on; now my duffel bag contains one big crumpled clothing and a dozen empty Ziplocs. For the past two weeks, I've distinguished the clean from the dirty by holding each item of clothing about 6 inches from my nose. (There's no need to take a whiff, the stench from dirty cycling clothes can be detected from far away.) [Single guys learn this system without riding across the country --ed.]
I would like to report that I've lost 15 pounds and am now a lean cycling machine, but apparently that's not the case. I've searched the southern United States for a scale bearing the good news -- and I actually found one in New Orleans that said I'd lost 4 pounds. But I got greedy and continues to weigh myself, and every scale I encountered thereafter indicated I'd gained four to six pounds. I am choosing to believe that it's all due to muscular development, rather than the Heath Bar Freezees at Tastee Freez. At any rate, I am, like everyone else on the trek, a much stronger cyclists than I was seven weeks ago.
The two short cycling days between Flagler Beach and Walt Disney World gave us a chance to reflect on these changes and wind down slowly.
Thursday night at a campground in Orange City we gathered to share final thoughts and perform skits. Bernie Kalkbrenner, 51, a funeral director from Duluth, Minn., led a mock funeral service in memory of the road kill we encountered along the way -- the squirrels, armadillos, turtles, snakes and cows.
This morning, our last, we cruised for 50 miles at an easy pace, savoring our last day before returning to real life. Then, with 10 miles to go, six of us spontaneously picked up the pace and started to race, gasping for breath as we jockeyed for position and squeezed every bit of power from our quadriceps, giving it everything we had.
We never did find out who among us was fastest. The race abruptly ended when we hit a fork in the road and had to pull over to read our maps. We'd all made a number of wrong turns on our journey from California, but the road to Walt Disney World was one we were determined not to miss.
By the time we pedaled into the park, a few members of our group were more than ready to go home: they had long since tired of camping and cycling and wished the United States ended somewhere around Apalachicola. Others, meanwhile, wanted the country to extend another 500 miles past the Atlantic Ocean.
"I'm going to miss sleeping in my tent," said Stephanie Beauregard. "You don't have to make your bed."
For most cyclists, however, the end has come at just the right time.
Reality will come as a jolt to Sue Rock, 45, a Philadelphia lawyer who had a court hearing scheduled for 9:30 Monday morning. "I'll be out of the Lycra and into gabardine. I have a feeling I'm going to prefer Lycra." But, she says, "I really feel ready to not ride for a long while. My gloves are disintegrating, the tips of my fingers are numb and my right elbow hurts. I had no problems with the whole trip, but now my body's shutting down and saying, 'This is it.'"
I'm ready to move on too. I'll miss the people in our good natured group, most of whom were able to laugh when our tents were flooded during a midnight thunderstorm in Texas and when our bodies were feasted upon by hordes of evil Gulf Coast mosquitoes. I will miss the freedom of the road, where there's no need to know what day of the week it is or the time of day.
And I'll miss the opportunity to eat massive amounts of ice cream and beef without feeling guilty. But even milkshakes and barbecue ribs are beginning to wear on me; I'm actually starting to crave broccoli and apple juice. And, at this point, my queensized bed ins not lacking in appeal.
There's another reason, however, why I'm ready to go home to Los Angeles: The end of this cycling adventure puts me one step closer to the beginning of the next one.
Here are four companies that specialize in cross country bike trips. All of the trips are in the spring or summer and most cost $3,000 to $4,000.
Tim Kneeland & Assoc. Trips from Washington State to New Jersey and LA to Atlanta. Trips average 80 miles a day. Primarily camping, some motels. Truck carries your gear. 800 433 0528. 200 Lake Washington Blvd. Suite 101, Seattle, Washington 96122
Pedal for Power. 48-day Across America tour LA to Boston. Motels every night. 80 miles a day, truck carries gear. 800 762 2453 P.O. Box 898, Atkinson, N.H. 03811
Adventure Cycling Assoc. (formerly Bikecentenial). Wash to Maine, Virginia to Oregon, Calif. to Florida. 65 miles a day average for 93 days. Camping every night. You carry your own gear. Company also sells route maps. 406 721 1776. P.O. Box 8308, Missoula, Mont. 59807. To buy maps: 800 933 1116
Cycle America. 12 week tour from Wash. to Maine. Average 55 miles a day with camping every night. Truck carries your gear. 800 245 3263. P.O. Box 485 Canon Falls, Minn. 55009
TRAINING TIPS
You don't have to be Greg Lemond to ride your bike across the country.
As our diverse group proved, you don't need to be young, or highly fit, or equipped with an expensive bike. All you need is determination and a few months of training. And, if you're loaded with determination, you can even skimp on the training.
"If you're mentally ready, you can overcome the physical stuff," said Julie di Furia, 30, of Seattle, who cycled a total of 70 miles before our 3,285 mile trek began.
However, the more training you do before, the more fun you'll have in the first few weeks. You'll spend less time on your bike and have more time to check out the sights and hang with the locals.
If you're able to plan your trip in advance, try to give yourself six months to train. For the first three or four months,
ride four or five days a week for an hour a day, extending your r
ides to two or three hours on the weekends. Over the remaining months, gradually increase your mileage, adding no more than 10 percent a week. This helps reduce your risk of common cycling injuries such as tendinitis in the knees and Achilles tendon.
The more hill training you can fit in, the better. Long distance rides -- 60 to 100 miles -- help as well. A few weeks before you leave, do back-to-back 80 mile rides.
Training on a stationary bike helps build cardiovascular conditioning and leg strength, but it won't prepare your rear end for seven weeks on a bike seat.
"You need time in the saddle -- butt miles," says Tim Kneeland, director of the Southern Cross Bicycle Classic.
Cycling outdoors also will give you a better feel for your bike, more experience on bumpy roads, and more confidence in traffic so you won't panic when an 18-wheeler roars by.
Finally, if you're riding with a partner, ride at your own pace. -- SUZANNE SCHLOSBERG
Trip Tips:
Wear a Camelback. Get the largest size and wear one on your back to make drinking easy and avoid dehydration. Use your bottles for sport drinks like Cytomax or Body Fuel
Carry emergency food. You never know when you'll get delayed in the middle of nowhere.
Make sure your bike has low enough gears. Unless your are a very strong and experienced climber have your bike shop install a triple crank set to make getting up hills easier.
Know how to change a flat tire. Practice before you leave. Always carry two spare tubes and a patch kit. Make sure you have a fresh tube of glue before you start.
Use clipless pedals with recessed cleats. Developed for mountain biking, these systems feature clip-in bindings on your pedals and recessed cleats on your shoes. This makes it easy to get off your bike and walk around, without having to do the clogging step common to those with racing type clipless pedals. System makers include Shimano, Onza, and Look.
Keep your cadence high. For the first two weeks especially, spin your pedals at about 90 rpm, instead of pushing big gears. This will help prevent knee injuries.
Wear cycling gloves. Gloves make it more comfortable to grasp the handle bars, and protect you hands when you fall.
Wear a helmet. Your brain might have important stuff in it.
Pack you clothes in large Ziploc bags inside your duffel bag. You never know when it's going to rain. This will keep your clothes from getting wet.
Apply sunscreen several times a day. Remember that you sweat off sunscreen and you can get burnt even on a cloudy day. The new "Sport" type sunscreens in a blue tube from Coppertone are less likely to sweat off and run in your eyes. Long's Drug has a similar house brand for a lot less $$. Use SPF 15 or better yet, SPF 30.
Apply medicated ointment to your rear. To prevent saddle sores and chaffing, use medicated Bag Balm, medicated Vaseline, or A&D Diaper Rash Ointment. Always wear clean, dry shorts.