“I got on a bicycle and rode it a mile. I did that 45 times each day, for 89 days.”
That's how David Jones of Vancouver, Wash., described his cross-country bicycle tour to a reporter at The Columbian newspaper recently.
Breaking up a 4,022-mile bicycle journey into bit-sized pieces was the easiest way for the 55-year-old to tackle the challenge. Before this bike tour, his longest bike ride had been about 15 miles. At times in the Rockies, he thought he might have “bit off more than I could chew.”
Jones started at Astoria, Oregon, in the spring and finished at an Atlantic Ocean beach on Oct. 10. The cyclist originally planned to accomplish the adventure in three months, but nearly doubled that with about 60 days of relaxation and sightseeing.
Some observations he shared with the newspaper:
Carrying too much stuff, he mailed home 18 pounds of gear before he ever left Oregon;
The heat of Kansas was “intolerable;”
Armadillos accounted for the most road kill in Missouri;
“Middle America is dying. I'd ride through a town and Main Street would be virtually shuttered up.”
Jones was particularly focused on economic problems along his route, as he's a member of Share, a Vancouver-area agency that helps the hungry and homeless.
Photo above taken in eastern Colorado on 1984 cross-country bicycle tour
Recent Comments