Check out the across state bicycle tours for 2008
The San Jose Mercury News recently ran the story about a guy who rode his bicycle cross-country more than 40 years before the first bicyclist took to the Bikecentennial route.
Charlie Klotz was a 20-year-old working in a pharmacy in Hollister, California, when he took off on his bicycle for a cross-country tour to New York City in 1935.
He pedaled between 100 and 130 miles a day, covering the 3,100 miles in 30 days. He still has the Speed King bicycle that he rode.
Clippings
He also has newspaper clippings about the ride, which he recently shared with Scott Herhold of the San Jose Mercury News, “The Cycle of His Life” (free registration). There's also a cool video by Joanne Ho-Young Lee at the Mercury News Photo blog.
Some of the highlights of his amazing ride:
— The bike was a fixie. When he reached mountains he had to flip the rear wheel for a larger sprocket;
— He carried a 25-pound pack and $100 in cash;
— He crossed the Nevada desert by moonlight;
— He crossed the Continental Divide with just one foot clipped in because his other leg had a charley-horse;
— He slept in barns, on park benches and even in a jail where police let him spend the night.
— Something that's not so amazing and not so different for long-distance bicycle tourists, even today, is that Klotz found friendly people everywhere who were willing to help him.
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