Why do you want to ride across the country? Is a question I am often asked. I am adventuring type person, I love exploring new areas and meet people along the way. When I was in high school dad read "A Walk Across America." Between my first Outward Bound course and going to college I read it and fell in love with grand adventures. At the time I didn't have a desire to walk across the US or hike the AT but I loved the idea of doing something that pushed ones self both physically and mentally for an extended amount of time. A few years later, I took a year off from school and Tante Mille (my aunt) came to visit me in Roanoke, VA, we ended up driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at some little resort, there was a small gift store and some books. One of the books was how to bike the Parkway. This caught my eye. I then made a goal, when I finished college I wanted to ride the Parkway. Well, I graduated from school in December, not a great time to ride at 5,000 feet above the sea. When, I first made this goal, I had never ridden a road bike I barely new how to ride a bike. Something about touring caught my heart.
How I fell in love with cycling.
My first bike was a Trek 4500 that I bought used from camp (Wilderness Adventure at Eagle Landing). It was a great bike, I used it to ride back and forth from the house to camp one whole mile! One of the camp activities was mountain biking. The first few times I went biking with camp were adventures/ misadventures depends on how you look at it. I recall my first time on single track I went over the bars three times! Hitting a tree with head on one of them. But being who I am, I kinda liked it. The next chapter in my bike love story, was maybe two years later. At this point, I was a student at Brevard College studying Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education. As a part of the curriculum the students plan and live out a 21 day expedition. My group planned a mountain bike section in DuPont State Forest. At this second introduction I was hooked, not at all good but wanting more. The next fall, I started going more often. That same semester Brevard College started a cycling team, I was urged to go to the interest meeting for the team, I went. When I walked out of the meeting, I thought there is no one way I am going to race, those guys (only dudes showed up) are good and fast. There is no way a team would want me to ride with them. Later in the semester the coach asked if I wanted to join them for a race in southern GA. Being me, I said sure why not. I wasn't fast but I finished second (there were only three gals in that race). Then they asked if I wanted to road race, I thought this was my chance to get a road bike for my tour of the Parkway. Having no idea that race bikes and touring bike are quite different. I raced road and had a blast traveling around in a van filled with dudes lesioning to The Kings of Leon. Again, I was not a skilled racer but I loved the adventure. That fall, I raced mountain and I feel in love for the first time. Brevard College is very close to some of the best riding in the country, so my back yard was a great playground. That season/ semester was epic for me, I would ride five to six days a week. Every ride I wanted more, I could feel myself getting stronger and better with every ride. I was living for the next ride. I did get a little better at racing but learned showing up is a huge. That was my last semester at Brevard. I lived in the area for the spring a rode as much as I could. Then I moved out west. Over the next few years, I would bike when I could which was never enough. At some point in this journey, probably with the help of Jenna Walker I dreamed about cycling across the US.
Last summer I realized that my bucket list was not getting any shorter and I should do something about it. Last fall, I earned my EMT. I told myself that, if I was not offered work for the fall that I would ride my bike or hike the Way of St James in Spain.
