Day 69 – The Routine Stops

Today felt a little strange.  After more than two months of a disciplined morning routine, I started today with no planned bike ride.  Instead Jill, Jon, and I began the drive home to Minnesota.  No morning stretching; no stuffing myself with carbs; no packing food, water, and Gatorade; no suntan lotion; no bike shorts; no bike prep; no studying the day’s maps; etc…  It was great to relax and enjoy the day with Jill and Jon.  But it all feels a little strange as well.  Like I am lost.

Today’s blog post will focus on statistics about the bike ride.

We started May 1 so total elapsed days from beginning to end was 68 days.  Of those 68 days we were unable to bike due to weather five days and I spent two days flying to Minnesota and driving back to Kentucky with Jill so she could experience (support me) the last two weeks of the journey.  So actual number of days biking was 61 days.

• Total miles covered from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean were 4,064.2 miles, an average of 67 miles per day.
• Total time spent on the bike was 321 hours, 44 minutes, 52 seconds.
• Average daily pace was 12.7 mph.  The fastest day was 14.9 mph and the slowest day was 10.4 mph.  The slowest day was when we went through Yellowstone National Park where we had to battle a high concentration of tourists on a small two-lane road.   The second slowest day was in Kansas where we had significant crosswinds and occasional strong head winds.
• My fastest maximum speed was 43.0 mph, descending the mountains of Montana.  I surpassed 40 mph on four separate days, and I surpassed 30 mph on 37 days of our 61 days.  I will miss the mountain descents.
• Total elevation climbed was 188,157 feet, the equivalent of biking straight up into the air for 36 miles.  I will miss the mountain ascents as well.  I loved the challenge, and the scenery was never disappointing.
• I burned a total of 211,922 calories, an average of 3,500 calories a day.  On this journey I ate and ate and ate.  I knew I needed carbs, and other than pasta (which is not easy to find in small town rural America) there are not a lot of carb rich foods I normally eat.  I was downing candy bars, Cliff bars, bread, trail mix, etc… just to keep my body fueled.  Despite feeling full all the time I lost weight.  I don’t know how much as I have not been near a scale in two months, but all the clothes I brought with me are very loose.
• Average daily RPM’s was 79.  Very close to my goal of 80.  I “guesstimate” the total number of revolutions pedaled was around 1,200,000.  That’s a lot of pedal strokes!

A few other facts:

• Total number of flat tires: one.  About half way through the trip, in Pueblo, CO, I brought my bike to a bike shop for maintenance.  As a precaution I bought two new tires and had them installed.  The next day I had the only flat tire of the trip.  I highly suspect the bike technician put a tear in the tube when he installed the new tire.  So much for preventive maintenance.
• Total number of crashes: zero.
• Total number of times I fell: two.  Both stupid moves on my part.  Both requiring minor repairs to the bike and causing minimal damage to the body.  Thank goodness!
• I used one bike on the entire trip – my new Specialized Roubaix.  If you go back to my April 23 blog post titled “Meet the Bikes” I go on and on about how I am bringing two bikes and will use one for climbing mountains and one for the flats of Kansas.  That was all silly.  I started with the Roubaix and it served me well.  I got used to it, and then it got to the point where I was worried I would jinx myself if I used the other bike.  Some sort of bad karma or something.  So when Jill visited me mid-way through the trip I packed up the second bike in the trunk of her car and sent it back to Minnesota.  The entire 4,064.2 miles was completed on the Roubaix.
• Countless sightings of wildlife.
• Countless thrills.
• Number of times caught in bad weather: twice.
• Number of times shelter was found to avoid really bad weather: twice.
• Number of times strangers helped me out: often.
• Number of great memories: numerous.
• Number of blessings: beyond measure!

Tomorrow I will post one last blog for this journey.

Driving through the mountains.

Just wasn’t the same shooting a picture today.

While Jill was driving I looked for opportunities to take a picture.  The opportunities were fleeting at best.  A couple times I asked Jill to pull over to the shoulder while we were on the interstate so I could snap a couple pictures.

The entire process was much more fun and a lot more productive while riding a bike versus driving a vehicle.