Having two sons, ages 5 and 7, doesn't stop cyclist Joe Kurmaskie from pedaling his bicycle cross-country; he just takes his sons along.
Known as the Metal Cowboy, the author finished a 4,000-mile unsupported bike tour through 17 states from Portland to Washington DC last summer towing his two sons, Quinn and Enzo. Why did he do it? He writes in the December issue of Men's Journal magazine:
“I've just hit 40, and there's no denying every man's desire to give the middle finger to the approach of midlife.”
The author of “Metal Cowboy” and “Riding Outside the Lines” (see the Metal Cowboy website) writes that he has “misspent the greater part of my youth on a bicycle, with a career total of 100,000 miles and counting.” That includes a half-dozen cross-country bike rides, and cycling in Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.
His 14-foot-long rig for this trip consisted of his Rodriguez touring bike, a secondary cycle attached to the rear rack for his 7-year-old and a trailer for his 5-year-old. All told, he hauled about 250 pounds a day.
Kurmaskie writes about physical challenges of the ride more than the parental ones, like how do you manage two kids on a more than two-month long ride? Heck, how do you get the kid to sit in a trailer for hours on end during 80-mile days?
I remember a couple on Bike Virginia one year who brought their little boy in a Burley trailer. That last day, he did not want to get back in the trailer; the parents were offering candy, toys; the boy just stood rigid, bawling “No No No.”
I suppose the the Kurmaskie boys like having an adventure, white-water rafting, fishing, exploring, and watching their dad suffer while making multiple climbs over the Continental Divide.
The Gresham Outlook interviewed Kurmaskie, and he explained how they got through it.
“We’d go to a campground or find a playground. … My kids both had digital cameras; they had assignments! Quinn took pictures of playgrounds, roadkill and cats on porches. The 4-year-old took pictures of crosses — drunk driver crosses.”
Also they had Star War light sabers or fishing poles, or they'd play games, like racing grasshoppers across the road.
How does he plan to top this? He's considering a ride across Canada with his boys next summer.
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