Cascades National Park. Photo credit: Lauren Hermann
For those who might not know us, we are Matthew and Lauren: a couple of travel-loving nerds who got married and vowed to have at least five journeys a year. A journey doesn’t have to be some epic, long distance, time consuming ordeal. One of our favorite experiences involved a weekend trip 30 miles away in a cheap hotel near China Town, for example. Matthew’s primary language is “work hard, rest less,” whereas my mother tongue is “stop and smell the roses.” They say opposites attract, and I believe we truly embody that adage in the best possible way.
I met Matthew during my one year clinical fellowship in Speech-Language Pathology while he was wrapping up his fourth year of med school. This was followed by Matthew’s one year of internship, four years of residency, and one year of fellowship. We are over the MOON to be done with training! No more variable schedules, 14-day “work weeks” with night call, and no more short-term jobs for me! We both can finally grow our careers in the ways we’ve envisioned. That is, after one epic, long distance, time consuming journey.
Back in early April, Matthew asked me if I would consider hopping on a bicycle and riding across the country. He has dreamed of doing this for over a decade. My immediate response was “absolutely not.” Who wants to ride on the side of busy highways with speedy cars and semi-trucks grazing your shoulder? I’ve only ridden on neighborhood roads and bike trails.
Constantly seeing patients who had dreams crushed by calamities out of their control, Matthew thought that the time is now and not in 30 years. More so, both of us know too many people who waited until retirement to fulfill their desires to travel only unable physically to do so.
Then we both discovered the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and their announcement of a coast-to-coast bike path! The Great American Rail Trail. This was an obvious game changer. No cars? Done.
It wasn’t until later that I learned they were only releasing the planned route this spring, and it was only 51% complete. It’s estimated that it will take at least 10 years to complete the route entirely.
At this point, I was already committed to bike and gear research and had made some purchases. Because of this, my decision was to continue onward with the tour and hope my fears would subside with training.
Physically, Matthew and I were impressed with how quickly our legs adapted to distance cycling. Just to be clear, we’re not cyclists. We had maybe biked together a total of 5 times prior to this decision. I’ve learned that this is actually common- people who bike across the country do so without prior long-distance experience.
Initially we trained on bike paths. My legs went from whimpering at six miles to rhythmically humming and asking for more at 60 miles in about five rides. I’ve read somewhere that the most common type of training touring cyclists do before a long trip is “wait training.” As in, they wait to train until they begin the trip.
We finally decided to practice riding our bikes fully loaded with panniers (bike bags) on small roads and a US bike route, which is also a US highway. Originally I wrote that I hated about 80% of it. Upon reflection, I didn’t actually hate it. I just did not enjoy it nearly enough to actually want to do it again for 3,500 miles over the span of 50 days. Not yet, at least!
Lunch break- the best part of that day
“Bike touring is 95% mental and 5% in your head.” This was the sage advice I received from a seasoned cyclist once. He wasn’t lying. Sharing the road with a fully loaded (50 lb) bike, impatient drivers, careless speeders, distracted motorists and loud intimidators was not something I could mentally prepare myself for. Especially in the three weeks we had left. I had my first bona fide anxiety attack several days later.
This is when I decided to be honest with myself and propose a compromise. Since this was Matthew’s decade-long dream, I wanted him to see it through and provide as much support as possible. I also wanted to take two months to see parts of the country I would never otherwise explore. I suggested that I go along as his Support and Gear (SAG) vehicle.
Each year, hundreds of cyclists bike across the country with a SAG van. These cyclists don’t carry any of their own gear. Matthew, however, will still be carrying his own gear to meet his personal goal. My purpose is to be his emergency and emotional support, on top of seeing the country at my own pace, including by bike on the empty roads and paths. I could stop and smell ALL of the roses while Matthew crushes the miles on his bike. We’ll also be traveling to other must-see destinations off the bike route on our rest days- another bonus of having the car.
So, here we are! Fellowship is done, all of our possessions are locked up in storage in California, Matthew sold his car and I’ve quit my job. We only have my SUV with our bikes strapped to the back and minimal belongings. We are officially jobless, homeless, curious vagabonds for approximately 50 days. We couldn’t be happier!
The route is from Anacortes, WA to Yorktown, VA. We’ll be following the Adventure Cycling Association’s (ACA) Northern Tier for the first half, then we’ve pieced together other mapped routes to connect Stillwater, MN to Milwaukee. Next we take the ferry to Muskegon, MI, cut across MI down to Pittsburgh, which puts us on a bike path (I’ll likely be joining this part) to D.C.. From D.C. we head to Richmond, then hit another bike path to Williamsburg. Finally, from Williamsburg we reach Yorktown. Easy enough (ha!)
We’re deviating from this route and following the black line through Michigan.
The goal of this blog is to share our experiences as they occur individually and together. I will be sharing my day through my lens as well as our shared experiences, and Matthew will write about his encounters from the bike. Matthew is not much for blogging or social media, so most of the writing will be my own, but with as many details shared by Matthew as possible.
We hope you enjoy the ride as much as we are!
Note:
->This blog is formatted to post this trip’s journal entries in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent post working backwards. As you scroll down you’ll see the button labeled “Older posts.” To start with day 1 of our trip, scroll down and continue to click through older posts. I’m trying to figure out how to reverse this order, in the meantime!
No Jobs, No Home, No Worries. A Shared Journey by Bike and Support SUV Across the U.S. 