I was asked to write about my final thoughts of our trip. I don’t think there are words in the English language to accurately describe our adventure. It is like trying to summarize a lifetime with a few paragraphs. Where does a person start?

My attempt will start from the square one. It took a great deal of preparation to attempt a ride of this length. Danny and I have been riding for a long time as well as doing up to 750 mile rides for at least five years. I also became interested in long distance self-supported rides as my interest in randonneuring (http://www.rusa.org/) grew. After moving to St Joseph, I slowly became interested in the westward expansion and thought about trying to tie these interests together (it makes sense in my mind).

This spring, I took a stab at the Santa Fe Trail with a friend (Thomas Faust). This 900 mile trip taught me a great deal. We packed too heavy and were far too lax with our schedule. Despite this, we were able to average a little over 140 miles per day but the route is much flatter than the Pony Express route as it doesn’t cross any mountain ranges.

Getting to Sacramento was the next challenge. I am not talking about the plane flight but the courage to pack up what you think you need to live for two weeks on your bike and get to the starting line. This part is the toughest part for me on any long ride. I keep a quote by TS Elliot in my billfold to read when my nerves get the best of me:

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go”

After we started riding we were both treated to the hardest day we have ever experienced. Danny has ridden the Leadville 100, which is considered one of the hardest mountain bike races in the US. He said he would do Leadville any day but that he would never try to ride from Sacramento to Carson Pass again.

On the way to Carson Pass, we both ran out of water and were cramping in the 93°F heat when a local cyclist stopped and gave us two liters of water. This is one of the many random acts of kindness that we experienced on this trip. It helped us get near the top of the pass before we could go no further. I really thought about turning around and quitting at that point. As I climbed into my emergency bivey near midnight, I pulled out another quote out of my billfold from Martin Buser who was a three time Idatarod Dg Sled Race Champion on his formula that allows him to never drop out of a race.

“Always wait until morning before deciding to drop out. Things have a way of changing when the sun comes up.”

When I got up in the morning, Danny and I split four pieces of licorice for breakfast and headed up the pass. We got to the top and then after descending 15 miles, we found a café and had a huge breakfast. It is one of many things that fell into place despite having no idea that the café was there. If the cafe wasn’t there, we would have had serious problems.

We pedaled down the road and piled up some good miles over the next two days as we recovered from our first day. We had to take water and salt on an hourly schedule to recover from our serious state of dehydration. I just kept telling myself, if I could make it through the first four days, I could finish the whole ride.

The days kept getting a little bit better as we developed our rhythm and routine. Danny remained very upbeat despite later telling me he thought he would never make it longer than a couple of days (he could hardly walk when he was off the bike). The mountains of Nevada made us work for every mile but it was cooler at 5 to 6 thousand feet of elevation.

Our next challenge was the Utah desert. We worried about this for days as we approached it. We were lucky to get an early start from the Nevada/Utah boarder and beat most of the heat. It was amazing to see the vast tracts of land with absolutely nothing on it. I call it stark beauty but Danny called it a wasteland.

The next sections through the rest of Utah to Casper, WY was the most psychologically challenging. I had many ups and downs. Danny kept me going when I was ready to toss my bike off the mountain and walk back into town. The 30 miles to Eureka, UT was some of the hardest miles as we were told it was “flat”. I stopped multiple times because I thought that I either had a flat tire or the brakes were rubbing. I later found out that we gained a lot of elevation when we were treated to 10 miles of steepest downhill that I have ever experienced. The highs were very high and the lows were very low.

A few days later, while in Farson, WY on Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, we were without food, the café was closed and nobody came to open the convenience store on time. After waiting for 2 hours for it to open, we bought some cans of Mountain Dew from the pop machine and counted the calories in the few peanut butter crackers we had before heading out for 77 miles up over the South Pass (continental divide). I remember telling Danny that I had only 400 calories in food when he left and gave a hitchhiker $2.00 and a few peanut butter crackers. I couldn’t believe what he did, we didn’t have enough for us and he gave some away. I started to shake my head as I pedaled off. A few miles later we see a sign for a yard sale and Danny says he is going to stop to see if they are selling donuts. I am amazed that there are people in the driveway as we approach. As Danny works his magic, I see a couple of boxes of fruit snack bars and a big jug of Gatorade appear. She gave all of them to us but we each pitched in and made a “donation” to her garage sale. Somehow I got away without her name or writing down her address. She truly was our “guardian angle”.

Later we had a tough stretch into Casper due to rain and wind but it was not nearly as bad as they predicted. That seemed to be the way it went. It was hot and very windy in front of us as well as much colder (even snow) after we passed through areas.

Going east from Casper the towns are much closer together and the mountains were behind us. It made getting food, water and planning much easier. We adjusted our schedule and followed the “Clink Schedule” of 60 miles before noon, 60 miles after noon and bonus miles in the evening. Our speed increased and the time spent on the bike was cut by an hour or two per day. We also became more and more focused on what it would take to get to the end. If something was more than five feet off the road and we didn’t need to eat it, drink it, or sleep on it, we didn’t go. Our morning and evening routine now was taking only 1/3rd of the time it did the first few days. Everything we did was becoming much more efficient.

As we entered Nebraska and got the spare tire and tubes that I desperately needed, we began to get homesick. We would spend our time at meals talking about home and family. I could see the pain and fatigue in Danny’s face as he told me he was ready to quit each of the first three days. I then discussed my thoughts on those early days and wondered out loud how we ever made it. I think we both knew it was only a matter of time to get to the finish but the “trail” was taking psychological toll on us.

A few days later we entered Kansas and then crossed the Missouri River into St Joseph for the finish. It was an amazing trip through some very challenging parts of our country. I agree with Danny that it was the people we met along the way that made it special. It starts with people who gave us water and food when we were near a crisis. It also included people who gave us directions and great advice on places to find food and shelter. Many folks also gave us encouragement as we traveled but most of all, it took an amazing friend who gave up two weeks of his life to help me out on my dream to do this ride. Danny is someone that I would have never known if I didn’t like to ride my bike long distances. He knew when to change the subject when things were bad, when to keep me moving when I was doubting myself, when to tell jokes and laugh when I was down and to avoid confrontation when it would not help us down the road. Thank you Danny!

I saw a sign at a fairground near Eureka, NV at the end of a very tough day.

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough”

I think that says it all for me.