Lee Final Thoughts

How does one begin to sum up such an epic physical and mental journey like the bike trip?  I don’t know, but here it goes.

Before anything else I want to thank everyone that had any part what so ever in this trip.  Thanks you for your sponsorship, donations to LAF, blog comments, thoughts, prayers, love, patience, smiles and interest in this journey.  We had a lot of help and support along the way and could not have done it without you all believing.

It is very weird to think that the trip is over and after being done for almost a week it still hasn’t quite hit me.  For two months we were so focused everyday on biking from point A to B that when you have to turn that intensity and focus off you feel like a kid at their first day or school; clueless, awkward and slightly confused.

This trip grew out of a lot of coincidences and all the planets began to align to make it happen.  I had always thought about doing a large-scale trip to see and experience things I didn’t know, I had no idea it would develop into a trip and experience like this one. I’ll be honest having “Bike Across the Country” on my Life-List was quite daunting and overwhelming to wrap my head around, I’m glad Brent convinced me to go.  Brent and I were toying with the idea last winter and had a lot of “that would be so cool” moments.  We finally said “we have to do this now, because it is only going to get harder to do things like this as we get older.”  We decided to do it and sure we were a bit naïve about the scale and size of the trip but quickly learned what would have to happen to be able to leave five weeks later.  A short time period to prepare for the trip was actually a great benefit because we made quick decisions and only did what was necessary for the trip.  We wanted to do the trip in conjunction with a great foundation that does a lot to encourage people to be active, overcome and feel empowered, so after careful consideration the Lance Armstrong Foundation seemed a perfect fit.  We’re so glad it worked out to raise money for them.  

Ok, so personal thoughts from the trip.  I can honestly say that I learned a lot about myself on this trip and felt like I grew a great deal mentally.  One of the biggest things I learned was to truly take things as they come and the great thing about this trip was that we didn’t have a choice.  Everyday we woke up and knew there were going to be things we would encounter that we would have to “figure out once we got there.”  The days were slammed full of mental and physical challenges and I relished the tough parts we ran into.  The majority of the days we didn’t know where we were going to sleep that night.  What I gained from that was the understanding that a rough organization is necessary but taking things as they come and making educated decisions in the moment proved to be much more effective and a thousand times more interesting.  The daily problem solving; traffic, road work, flats, broken spokes, bent chains, rain, heat, headwinds, lightening, sleet, carrying water 84 miles, big climbs, blisters, insanely dirty smelly clothes etc. made you feel like you could be thrown into any situation and work your way through it.  I loved riding and not knowing our daily end destination to the T.  I turned off the odometer Brent loaned me on day 4 and I really liked just riding and not knowing how far we had gone or still had left to ride.  Letting go of an overwhelming need to control was a great feeling.  

Everyday was a mental and physical challenge like none I’d ever experienced, and that made me excited to start everyday.  I began to really like the challenging parts of the trip.  Once we hit Colorado I really started to love climbing not just because they were some of the most beautiful days on the trip but also because reaching a huge summit after climbing 3-4,000 feet was like a drug.  The daily feeling of accomplishment was amazing.  With daily accomplishments the trip didn’t feel so huge and overwhelming and thinking about San Francisco seemed a little more attainable.  Living and seizing the day at hand never felt like such a clear-cut expression.  Another thing I learned was the importance of getting out of my comfort zone, which happened daily on the trip.  Gritting through and embracing the parts that I was unfamiliar and uncomfortable with really opened up my perspective.  I found that I love a sense of adventure and need to keep that close at hand as I get older.  I realized how personally important it is to always seek experiencing and learning something new.  

Meeting new and interesting people that are completely different from you everyday was one thing that I really enjoyed on the trip.  Farmers, gas station attendants, other bikers, and funny kids that tell you there are coyotes in the dunes 5 feet from where you just set up your tent.  I loved the crazy looks, the stares, the “are you kiddings”, the laughs, and the people in trucks taunting you at times.  All these and other factors were the best motivation.

One thing that just never ceased to amaze me was the beauty of everything we were biking through.  It really was unbelievable how diverse the States were on the trip.  Utah wins as the most beautiful state for me, but every state had something beautiful, different and distinct in its landscape.  The beach, Asheville and the Smokies in North Carolina, the foothills in Tennessee (minus the ravenous dogs), the horse farms and rolling hills of Kentucky, the Ohio River in Elizabethtown Illinois, the Ozarks in Missouri, the plains of Kansas, the Rockies in Colorado, Moab, Zion, Grand Staircase, Bryce Canyon and Red Canyon in Utah, the beautiful valleys and mountains of Nevada, the Sierra Nevadas in California and finally the gorgeous San Francisco Bay.  Seeing all this beauty from a bike was so different than experiencing it in a car, everything just felt so much bigger and magnificent.  

Along the way we ran into a couple people that were biking across the country alone and I honestly don’t know how they did it.  I don’t think I would have enjoyed the trip near as much if I were alone and didn’t have a friend like Brent to share it with.  I had a great time with Brent and I think we learned a lot from each other.  We also talked to a few other people that had gone on a long bike trip with someone and ended up hating each other halfway through or weren’t friends afterwards.  Sure there were challenging moments and days but Brent is still one of my closest friends after the journey and I don’t think either of us could have made it without the camaraderie of the other.  Just being able to joke about all the insane daily things we encountered was important and if you did the trip alone you’d probably just end up talking and laughing with yourself and that makes you seem crazy.  

Overall the trip was a huge success for me personally and I have never felt more proud and fulfilled in an accomplishment than when we were riding up to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Finishing such a big item on my Life-List invigorates me to jump into other challenging items on my list.  Maybe next summer??

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