Spaghetti Legs 

Nicely done (riding and writing!) and thanks for taking the time to post it. Special congrats to your wife for giving you the opportunity for this achievement. Which aspect was more challenging for you, physical miles ridden or mental hurdles? I would think the Great Plains might break me, either mentally, physically, but probably both.

northbend 

Great question!

Definitely the mental aspect is more challenging. Flying across the country to the starting point and forcing the commitment at the beginning was intimidating. The nearly constant waves of bad weather in May with all that flooding and all the uncertainty it brought was tough and at times depressing. About 2 weeks in I hit that point where I started to question if I was in over my head doing this.

Felt very small, vulnerable and exposed, especially in Kansas were towns are scarce and you're out in the open a lot.

But I also remembered that on ANY long bike ride, my emotions tend to rise and fall dramatically at times so I just rode them roller coasters out.

Having a stubborn personality served me well too :-)

camjr

Absolutely incredible. Thank you for sharing.

RobbieTunes

There has not been a better series of posts in my time on this forum.
I've read it twice, stem to stern. Thank you for really doing it right.

DW_Thomas

At my advanced age such a trek is not even in my fantasies, so thank you for a vicarious thrill! I think the series of illustrated journal entries was an excellent way to present it. Your shots at Cave-in-Rock triggered warm fuzzies, as I traveled from Philadelphia in 2017 and photographed the solar eclipse from the bluff next to the state park snack place.

This is truly an inspiring thread.

ksryder

Thanks for sharing your trip. This was a very inspiring and well-written account, in addition to being an epic undertaking.

I've recently completed a personal goal (five Dirty Kanza 200s) and now I'd like to shift gears a bit from epic 1-day gravel race hammerfests to something a bit more relaxing and laid back and try my hand at some bikepacking. I've slowly building up a rig and all the gear and I've done some short local overnights to test out my setup. An epic journey like this is probably years away due to job and family constraints but reading things like this is inspiring and fires the imagination.

Also, as a person who lives in Kansas -- I'm sorry. I'm just, like, really sorry for everything west of, oh, say, Newton.

seedsbelize 

Lovely travelogue, @northbend. We nearly crossed paths, as I was riding across Ohio, North to South, the first half of May. Cold and wet. And more cold and wet.

jonwvara

Thanks for sharing. Well done.

Did you bring any cooking gear, or eat grocery store/restaurant/convenience store food?

northbend 

yes.

:-)

Bad Lag

This trip is so awesome that I am not sure what to say.

I am more than a little jealous. It is something I might like to do before I die.

In my book, you now qualify as "heroic"; as heroic as any of those on whom the Eroica is based.

GOOD SHOW!

obrentharris 

A great ride and a great adventure Matt!
Thanks for posting this fine narrative and providing inspiration for the rest of us.
Brent

t_e_r_r_y

it was crazy seeing hartville so tore up! i lived out in the sticks out there between the ages 7 and 14 and we had a lot of crazy weather, including tornadoes, during those years, but nothing ever hit that hard.


thanks for sharing your adventure! i can't wait to have my own one day!

friendofpugs 

I too want to say thank you for sharing your travel notes - I thoroughly enjoyed reading your impressions and looking at your pictures. It was truly a vicarious thrill!

qcpmsame 

Another, "thanks for sharing this with us here," that was one incredible undertaking you completed. Agreed that this entire thread and your posts were among the best here ever.

Bill

gaucho777 

Agreed. Great question, and equally great reply! I can imagine the highs and lows and long mental struggles. I can sense the isolation those long open roads must induce by how much you reveled in the companionship of other cyclists, and especially family, you encountered during the tour. (I get lonely when my wife and daughter take the dog for errands and leave me alone in an empty house all day!)

If you were to do this trek again, what might you change? Beyond circumnavigating Kansas.

Juan Foote

Thank you for sharing your story with us. Might not be a bad idea to post this to Crazy Guy On A Bike.

stardognine

I finally made time to look through this thread, this morning. Outstanding! 👍👍👍 It's not easy getting good pics AND a good narrative, but you pulled it off, quite well. 😎
Not to sound weird, but you inspired me a good bit, about touring, with some of your older threads & pics. 🙂

northbend 

1) Bring less stuff
2) ummm...choose better weather?

I am honestly happy with how everything turned out - even passing thru Kansas. I found out that I'm more resilient than I thought myself to be before.

Thanks to you all for your comments, I appreciate it and am glad you enjoyed my field notes.

Funny thing is, when you're out on the road riding every day it becomes your your new normal.
Like after starting a new job. Most of the time it doesn't seem that extraordinary.

Most of the other riders I met were like me - in their 60's and retired. I was surprised by that at first but it makes sense. We have the luxury of time to do something like this.

Younger folks have to find a way to cram it in during summer vacation or between jobs.

To answer another comment about posting this to another website: Nope, I'm fine with sharing it once. Here.
The C&V forum has been my favorite place to hang out, learn and make friends. I appreciate feeling recognized and welcome here. It is enough.

Thanks

merziac

Pics, commentary, insight and wisdom in spades, absolutely stellar.

Thank you so much for all of it.

jonwvara

Well said--a trip that goes on long enough stops being a trip, and just becomes a chunk of time in your life. It's a cool feeling.

Also true that a very large proportion of long-distance tourists are folks in their sixties. Moral: Don't waste your sixties! They only come around once!

BluePx10

Thanks and congratulations on your epic journey. Great stories and pictures. You’ve inspired me...again. May your road go ever on!

DMNHCAGrandPrix

Thanks for the inspiring adventure and wonderful field notes! When I've contemplated a trip like this, one key aspect of "choosing weather" has been the overall decision to ride east to west, or west to east.

For "sweep of history" regions, I would choose your way. The nation expanded east to west, and that direction gives the chance to relive the topography, challenges, and epiphanies that drove millions of people westward in the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s. Because east to west also recapitulates my own family's multigenerational history in the US, the ride through distane would also be a ride through time. And faced towards, rather than away, from my current life and home in California.

But I hate, hate riding into headwinds!
Prevailing winds across much of the country are west to east. I find riding with a tailwind can give a magical feeling of being 15 years old again on a bike. Effortless pedaling and endless vistas ahead! In contrast rding into a good stiff headwind just adds years to my years. Why is this so hard? What happened to the bloom of youth?

If "Go west young man" actually feels like "Go west OLD man", I may be better off both physically and mentally heading east.

What drove your own choice of direction? Would you make the same choice again as part of your advice to:
>1) Bring less stuff
>2) ummm...choose better weather?

iab

A most excellent adventure!

Any overall numbers? Miles? Elevation gain? Flats? Total days? Rest days? Grizzlies encountered? Any other interesting bits?

gugie 

I was one of the fortunate that received Matt's roughly weekly field notes via email, based on them I was updating a ridewithgps route based on them. It's not exactly what he rode, I was mainly letting ridewithgps "connect the dots", but here's a rough idea, and here's the route in picture form:



I've got him at roughly 3,800 miles, about 140,000' of climbing.

He's already mentioned that he had one flat. One.

I'll let Matt give you details on bear, cougar, and other potential animal encounters.

stardognine

LOL. 😁 I know when I'm touring (much slower), I spend half my time eating, and half my time gathering foodstuffs. 😋
You do build up an appetite. 👍 EDIT: I'm addicted to a certain kind of potato salad, that only comes in the supermarket's deli containers. That and leftover meatloaf. 😁