A BRATUS Retrospective (Part One - Right Brain)

Now that we are home and ready to resume our normal lives, here are a few scattered thoughts about how it went, how it felt, what worked and didn't, and so on. I've decided to split it into two parts; the first with general thoughts and impressions, and the second with some specific nuts-and-bolts stuff that's probably only of interest to cycling enthusiasts (a.k.a bike nerds).

If anyone reading this has specific questions, post them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.

First, I would like to thank my friend Tom for helping me fulfill a lifelong dream. It's hard to imagine a better cycling and travelling companion. You helped me in innumerable ways. You're vision for this trip was always more bold than mine, and you're positive attitude helped push it through. As Taylor Phinney said to Yoann Offredo after their long breakaway in the 2017 Tour de France, "We're friends for life, bro."

I would definitely not want to do trip like this solo. It's so much more fun to share it with someone, to help each other though the tough parts, and to hold each other accountable. There were plenty of times when, left to myself, I probably would have cut days short or maybe even given up entirely.

I would also like to thank my wife Lisa for supporting me in this crazy endeavor, both in tangible ways (travel arrangements, logistics) and intangible ones. One of the reasons that I love you, Lisa, is that you understand me and allow me to do things that make me happy even if they are "me" things and not "us" things.

Trip Summary

Charleston to San Francisco

3066 miles 

39 riding days, 1 rest day

86 miles per day average

Longest day: 130 miles, Blanding to Hanksville

General Impressions

Crossing America by bicycle allows one to experience the country in a way that simply is not possible in other ways. It's much more immersive than hopping on the interstate and seeing only the billboards and national parks. From a physical standpoint, the variety and grandeur of our nation is almost indescribable. From the rustic beauty of the South, to the expansiveness of the Plains, to the alpine magic of the Rockies, to the otherwordly drama of Utah, to the scale-bending emptiness of Nevada, to the fairy-tale magic of California; to see it all unravel underneath you in slow motion, with the sun on your shoulders and wind in your hair, is very moving.

And apart from the landscape, of course it's the people of America that make our nation great. Somehow doing a trip like his forces interactions that would not otherwise occur. On our trip we met countless people who were helpful, friendly, or just interesting to talk to.

I think the most striking revelation for me was how different life is in the small towns we visited on our route versus the big cities most of us are used to. It's clear that the center of gravity in America has migrated away from small towns and into cities and suburbs. In many of the smaller towns, half the buildings are shuttered. Things we take for granted like healthy restaurants, grocery stores, or decent internet access may not be available. It seems like just making a living would be a huge challenge. But people don't seem to mind; they just accept the reality and happily live their lives. And I'm not casting blame on corporations or the establishment; I think it's just a by-product of technology (particular the automobile and the internet) that makes smaller towns less viable. Perhaps someday in the future the pendulum will swing back.

On Sharing the Road

The roads in America are clearly designed for cars; that is sensible. But they are clearly not designed to be shared with bikes, which is not. Most lack shoulders, and many that do have shoulders have those insipid rumble strips that make the shoulders completely unusable for riding. It's a bit of a shame because the marginal cost of making a safe, rideable shoulder is miniscule.

California seems to be ahead of the pack when it comes to bike paths and bike lanes, to the point where both short and long-distance cycling is a viable transportation alternative.

Like any activity, cycling involves a degree of risk. You are dependent on the drivers to see you and not hit you. For the most part, drivers do a good job of respecting cyclists. We had a few instances of rude behavior, but 95% of the time, drivers were friendly and courteous. But even rude behavior pales in comparison to the biggest concern of all, which is inattentive driving. All it takes is one yahoo looking at the cell phone instead of the road. Fortunately we did not encounter that.

On Blogging

Doing the blog every day was a lot of work, but I think it really enhanced the trip. It forced me to be observant and think about what I was experiencing so that I could try to project it into the blog. I have a tendency to take a camera everywhere but leave it in my pocket, but knowing I had to publish the blog every day motivated me to take pictures. That in turn forced me to look around instead of constantly staring at the odometer. And it was super fun getting all the comments, so thank you to all who took the trouble to do that.

Thoughts on our Approach

Our trip differed in two ways from most self-supported tours. First, it's such a long trip that our goal was to get there in the minimum time. So we prioritized mileage, to the nearly total exclusion of sightseeing. Along the same lines, we had a pre-planned itinerary; most people kind of wing it as they go. I think our approach served our goals well, but it would be fun to someday do it the other way, with more flexibility. But it would have to be a different kind of trip: shorter, and more about seeing things than getting somewhere.

The "credit card" style of touring has many advantages, but also a few drawbacks. The last thing I feel like doing after a long bike ride is setting up camp, cooking, and cleaning up. Plus, hauling all that gear: ugh. I was very happy to have an air-conditioned room, a shower, a couple pints from the local brewpub, and a nice bed every night. Having said that, it's a bit of a challenge to manage the motel reservations. You need to plan enough in advance so that reservations are available, but be flexible in case something unexpected happens. We were extremely lucky in that we had nothing go wrong that prevented us from keeping our original schedule. Also the spacing can be challenging, especially west of the Mississippi where towns that have motels can be pretty sparse. On the other hand, having a reservation 100 miles away forces you to do those 100 miles; there is no option of "oh, let's just stop here for the night."

One of the unexpected challenges with the "credit card" approach was finding good food. We would generally carry only enough food for the day's ride: perhaps a banana, a couple bars, and a sandwich. So every day, we'd have to find dinner, plus breakfast and lunch for the next day, all within walking distance of the motel. (We shunned using our bikes; after riding all day we just did not feel inclined to ride to get food. In retrospect I might use my bike more for apres-ride transportation.) Many of the smaller towns have very few restaurant choices and don't have proper grocery stores, so we were limited to convenience stores. We made it work, but it will be nice to get back to home-cooked meals. (So what did I eat on my first night home? A frozen pizza.)

Most people that ride across the USA go west-to-east, the thinking being that the wind is more favorable. I'd say that overall we had more headwind than tailwind. The fact is, no matter which way you go, you are going to have headwinds and you are going to have tailwinds, so as far as the wind goes, you just have to accept what you get on any given day. But there are other factors that make me happy with our choice. First, we had the sun at our backs most of the time, which is more comfortable, allows you to see the scenery more easily, and perhaps most importantly, provides better visibility for cars to see you. Also going west allows for a buildup to the the more difficult and dramatic terrain. I think crossing Utah and the Rockies and then heading east would be somewhat anti-climactic. Finally, on those days when you cross time zone boundaries, going west provides an additional hour of much-needed R&R rather than taking one away.

What Went Well

We were extremely lucky with the weather. We had only two days of real rain, and even that for only a brief period each day. We had unseasonably cool temperatures in Tennessee, Kansas, and Utah. We had gorgeous weather for all our big mountain passes, including all of Colorado and Utah. If we'd left two days later we would have had monsoons in Tennessee and snow in Utah. If we'd left a week earlier we'd have had summer heat in Kansas, and 100-degree heat in Nevada.

We had no bike problems of any kind, which I attribute to both luck and preparation. I will talk more about that in Part 2.

When asked "was it easier or harder than you expected," honestly I'd have to say easier. We had no major adversity of any kind. No weather delays, no breakdowns, no major physical problems. As a result we stayed right on our planned schedule all the way through. The fact that we were able to do this was a major surprise to both of us. And although we had some pretty hard days, and there were plenty of times when I wished we had 10 miles left for the day instead of 50, I never felt really bad on the bike. Especially toward the end of the trip, I got more conditioned to the longer rides and learned how to manage them mentally, so that I'd feel good into the afternoon and all the way until we arrived at the motel. I think a big part of that was due to eating a lot during each day's ride.

What Went Not So Well

Honestly, nothing major. The fact that we planned to arrive in San Francisco on October 1, and it actually happened, was very surprising to both of us. There were some minor annoyances that I've touched on already. Mainly I would say that much of the route was on cycling-unfriendly roads, but I think improving that would add a fair amount of distance. From a planning point of view I'm not sure there is much I would change.

I lost about 10 pounds overall during the six weeks of our trip, which is a bit surprising given how much I was eating. At some point that becomes unsustainable.

That's it for now. For you bike nerds, I'll post part two in a day or two days.