Two wheels move the soul


“Life is simple! Eat, Sleep, Bike.” Those are the words written on a baseball cap that was given to me some time ago, and for 108 days this year that saying dominated my life. This year’s adventure trek, cycling the scenic byways of rural America proved to be an amazing and at times enduring experience.

My carbon neutral pedal powered journey around the country was a concoction of a dozen scenic road maps posted on an Adventure Cycling’s website. I connected several of these prime cycling routes where they intersected, to create a 7,600-mile grand circle tour. By the end of April the pre-planning phase of my 3rd Blue Planet Ride, a charity bike ride to raise funds for Blue Planet was finalized and ready for a spin into the real world. And so it was that on May 3rd, under a gray and cloudy sky, I traded the comfort of my suburban couch-potato life for a front-row seat on a bike saddle with a greater than 180-degree panoramic view.

In Ohio I followed the Underground Railroad, a bicycle route leading from Oberlin to Sturgis, Kentucky over quiet and scenic country roads. Meadows were overgrown with flowering dandelions and apple orchards were in full bloom, a prelude to a healthy crop-season in the making. In Kentucky ferocious looking canines are certainly not a cyclist’s best friend, as these exasperate ankle chasers come after you with a vengeance. At one point I had to outpace a pair of bulldogs on the loose, causing an instant rush of adrenaline going through my veins, enough to outsprint them, BOB trailer and all.

For each of these 108 days on the road there was a story, a unique experience or a picture perfect moment. America at its finest, as well as an America in distress. There were horrendous cloudbursts and sixty mile per hour crosswinds to battle. Thunderstorms and lightning strikes, flooding and tornados were dealing terrible blows to local communities. Snakes, turtles and rodents dead or alive were abundant on and near the road. Swarms of tiny flies, mosquitos, mud, dust and dirt were all part of the adventure. Oh, if only I had put some fenders on that bike.

My usual twelve-hour cycling day covered a distance anywhere from 60 to 150 miles, depending on the winds, elevation-grade and type of terrain. After the Ozarks I followed Highway 50, the loneliest highway in America, through Colorado, Utah and Nevada. Natural Bridges, high deserts, mesas, canyons, ghost towns, The Pony Express, and local saloons were all part of the landscape. A twenty-seven mile climb in the Sierra Nevada, up and down Carson Pass with stunning vistas and view points of frozen lakes and snow covered mountains, will be one of those Blue Planet moments I won’t soon forget. From Napa to Boonville was a wine-tasting-delight fest, and beyond the vineyards towards the Pacific Coast, 500-year-old redwoods were towering over me. From there it was onwards to the Oregon Coast, the Olympic Peninsula, and a stop in Seattle for a fourth of July holiday party with family and friends.

From the sea-level shores of the Puget Sound, it was an uphill battle across the Cascades with passes, summits, reservoirs, waterfalls, deep wilderness, active volcanoes and rugged granite and basaltic peaks. Highway 20 took me on some of the most scenic stretches of back country near Winthrop and Twisp in the Okanogan Valley, along the shores of Lake Pend Oreille in the Idaho Panhandle, and the Going-to-the-Sun road in Montana’s Glacier National Park. From there it was on to North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and my home state Michigan where after a brief visit to picturesque Petoskey and Leelanau, I made it back home for an on time arrival.

A dramatic and beautiful orange sunset painted a happy moment in the sky on the last outdoor night of my journey. I paused and looked at it for a while and felt blessed with all the good fortunes, great sceneries and wonderful people I met along the way. The ride turned out to be everything I anticipated and hoped for and so much more. In HinHam, Montana at Spencer’s Hi-Way Bar and Grill a poster on the wall said it all: “Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul.”