Bike Trip Day 39: Mark’s reflection on the first half of trip

Today is a rest day, and we’re halfway finished with our ride. Here’s what we’ve ridden so far.

Below are some interesting thoughts and analysis from Mark about the first five weeks of riding.

From Mark:

September 7th was the halfway point of the ride across the country. The plan calls for 72 days with 60 days of riding and 12 rest days. September 7th marked the 30th day of riding and the 38th day of the trip. The first half of the trip had a few extra rest days for a number of reasons. That helped us adapt to the new lifestyle and develop the new routines. The plan showed 3700 total miles and we’ve ridden about 1781 miles or about 48% of the planned miles. We have been rerouting and usually taking the shorter routes. From a mileage and days-riding perspective we are on track with the plan, averaging about 60 miles per riding day.

The shortest day was 19.6 miles. That day we were limiting our exposure to the wildfire smoke. The longest day for me and Anita was 101 miles. That day Denise rode 57 miles and for the entire 57 miles she rode out front breaking the often unfavorable winds while Anita and I drafted. It was an amazing performance and enabled us to ride 101 miles that day.

We have ridden through four states, WA, ID, MT and WY. We are currently in Valentine, NE. Another metric is the time zones we’ve crossed. We have passed through the Pacific and Mountain time zones having just entered the Central time zone on Sept 7.

The total ascent recorded from my Garmin is about 58,000 feet which didn’t mean much until I did some comparisons. It’s like climbing the Empire State Building 40 times or climbing Mt Rainier from sea level to the top 4 times. It feels more like the latter.

Brian and the RV make this whole operation possible. The RV is our SAG wagon. For Denise and Brian the RV is also their home complete with their dog Oreo. For me and Anita the RV is a rolling oasis providing food, clean clothes, water and shelter from the weather. Occasionally Brian will meet us mid-day during our ride, and he is always a welcome sight.

We’ve ridden the SAG wagon 4 times. The first was to cross the Columbia river on the I-90 Vantage bridge. That way we didn’t have to ride south to cross on the Beverly bridge which saved us about 15 miles. After crossing the river, Anita and I rode to Othello WA. It was a tough afternoon with the temp rising to 100 degrees plus, and I had a flat tire. It was good we saved those miles and time.

The second ride was from Cheney, WA to Plummer, ID, the start of the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. This was to avoid riding another day breathing the wildfire smoke. That was about 40 miles we did not ride.

The third ride in the RV was due to an extreme headwind on a continuous climb on the ride from Ennis, MT to Island Park, ID. We rode until mid-afternoon and only made about 28 miles before returning to Ennis where we caught a ride to Island Park.

The fourth RV ride was due to an exceptionally strong crosswind on the ride from Riverton, WY to Jeffery City, WY. The crosswind was so strong it was blowing us on to the road making riding unsafe. The RV ride was only 2-3 miles to an intersection where our route turned downwind. We completed the ride with a strong tailwind into Jeffery City.

Of course there is much more to this undertaking than the bike riding. There are many experiences and stories about the people, hotels, RV parks, Airbnbs, bars, restaurants and the landscapes we are slowly moving through. Those stories can be told later.