Biking for JDRF: Pictures from a Bicycle Ride across America 2011

I cheated a little on this post and included places I’ve seen on several shorter bicycle rides, a couple from hiking, plus a bunch of pictures from my second ride across the U.S.A. in 2011.

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Get out there and pedal: Going to the Sun Highway (the line at right), Glacier National Park.
You can go down faster on a bicycle than a car can. Rode here in 2009; picture from 2019.

Emily is why I rode across the U.S.A. twice. Picture from 2012.

Glacier National Park. Next time I go across the U.S.A. I would like to go through this area.
Montana.

Mountain bloom.

Glacier National Park.
I carry camping gear when I pedal. I like to be self-contained; plus I like the challenge.

Want an easy practice ride of about 100 miles; pedal the Florida Keys.

Yellowstone National Park. View from Mt. Washburn. My son-in-law in the picture.
You can get just about the same view by pedaling here.
Went through Yellowstone on three trips: 1999, 2007 and 2011.

Kancamagus Pass, N.H. in fall. The ride up this pass is a pleasure.
Drivers in New Hampshire and Vermont are used to seeing bicyclers and give you room.
Picture from 2019.

Western Kansas is good pedaling; but population is declining. Abandoned house along Route 96.
Headwinds can be a bitch if you're going west. Rode here in 2007.

Door to nowhere. Kansas.

Sculpture in Kansas. Pedaled across the state in 2007. Picture, 2019.

I SAID THIS BEFORE (when I posted pictures from my first ride in 2007). If you’re thinking about bicycling across the United States, I absolutely encourage you to get out there and pedal.

Almost any decent rider with a good bike could do what I did.

I should also stress this: I consider both trips among the greatest adventures of my life; and if you make the same kind of journey, you almost certainly will too. I used this same line last time I posted about that 2007 ride. So here we go again. I tell everyone who’s interested: It’s not that hard.

I did both rides to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, because my daughter Emily developed type-1 diabetes at age fourteen. Fortunately, she does a great job watching her insulin levels and now works as a diabetic nurse educator in Washington D.C. Today she helps others learn how to manage their disease.

I was 62 years old when I rode 4,600 miles in 2011. I was in good shape for my age. Still, you don’t have to be a super athlete to make this happen.

In fact, my training methods for the ride left much to be desired. (See below.)

I seem to eat a lot of candy while I'm getting "in shape" for my rides.
A LOT of candy.

Here’s the best news. When I reached the Pacific in 2007, and again in 2011, I wished I could turn around and ride back.

I had that much fun.

Now I’m thinking, maybe when I hit 72 in 2021, I should do a 7,200 mile ride. I could start in San Diego in the spring. I could ride to Charleston, South Carolina, or someplace like that. Then back to Cincinnati, rest up a few days with my wife, before plowing west again, heading for California.

For some reason my wife thinks this plan is kind of dumb.

YOU SHOULD TRY A RIDE ACROSS THE USA YOURSELF!!!!

Consider this a public service warning.
If you are pedaling down a sidewalk, getting in practice miles around home,
and a goose jumps in your path try not to run into him and go flying.
(The goose will go flying, too.)
I think it was a goose assassination gone awry.

Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine.
If you've never visited this park, take a trip, even in a car. This is where I started my ride.
You get a lot of great views from the seat of a bicycle if you cross the USA.

Lupine beside the road. Maine.

Hiking in Acadia National Park, October 2019.

I am happy to see New Hampshire elected officials take this threat seriously.
I will not mess with any moose.

First big climb, up Kancamagus Pass, New Hampshire.
It's a beautiful ride along the Swift River the first ten miles.
Pass tops out at 2,867 feet.

Swift River, fall, 2019.

Looking back the way I came from the top of the pass.

On this trip, I got hit by heavy rain five different times.
In Vermont, I got drenched twice.

I used to be a history teacher.
My friends and I visit the museum at Seneca Falls, New York,
where the fight for women's suffrage began in 1848.

Susan B. Anthony fought for equal rights for women for fifty years.
"Failure is impossible," she once said.
I like that spirit of perseverance, which is all it really takes to pedal across the U.S.A.

I should have stopped for a snack...and maybe some weed. New York.
By the way, the roads in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York are generally good.

Morning, camping near Lake Erie in New York.

If you prefer, pedal across Pennsylvania instead of New York. The battlefield museum is fantastic.

This soldier was very lucky. Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863).

Union troops charging into battle.

I stopped at my house in Cincinnati for a few days to rest up.
Otherwise, I didn't take any pictures of my home state.
I already know what it looks like.

I do a lot of stealth camping. It's free!
Unfortunately, in Indiana, the first day out of Cincinnati, I got handcuffed briefly at this spot.
Police though I was a bank robbery suspect.

I was framed!

The good news: Indiana is mostly flat and easy riding.
It looks a lot like big chunks of Ohio.

A cute young lady watches a parade. Wilmington, Illinois.

One day, I got lost. Mike Frizoel waved me down, gave directions and noticed my JDRF shirt.
He introduced me to Kathy, his wife, who also has type-1 diabetes.

It also takes faith to ride across the USA on a bicycle. Illinois

Laundry day. Illinois.

Joe Ossman rode with me one day.
He pedaled across the USA when he was 64.
Eastern Iowa has some good hills.

Iowa directions: Turn left at the cornfield. Or go straight. You'll see more cornfields.

View from above, Badlands National Park. South Dakota.
Great place to pedal.

Stealth camping two miles south of Mount Rushmore.

The flag mugs for sale at Mt. Rushmore, and just about everything else in the gift shop,
were made in China.
That seemed ironic to me.

The Mickelson Trail through the Black Hills of South Dakota is fun to ride.
Stop and say hello to the Stone Four.

Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota.

You can pedal along Interstate 90 in Wyoming. It's legal to ride the
interstates in South Dakota and Montana too.

You do have some long climbs during a cross country trip. Coming out of Buffalo, Wyoming
you gain a mile of elevation and pedal uphill, basically, for 33 miles.
What a view on the way.

Looking back the way I came, after 22 miles.

The Powder River Pass is gorgeous.
Also, you get to coast for 30 miles on the way down.

I did a lot of riding in the Yellowstone area; every inch was beautiful.
I pedaled up to Bozeman to see the family of a young lady I met in Florida,
Sidney, then seven, also has type-1 diabetes.

If you're coming down from Mt. Washburn (center of photo) you can coast for fourteen miles.
Yellowstone.

Blurry picture: but a real live bear in Yellowstone.

Yellowstone: hot spring.

Buffalo along the Yellowstone River.

Yield to buffalo in the park.

I wanted to tell a park ranger, "Shouldn't you add the silhouette of a bicycle rider to this sign?"

Yellowstone reserves camping spots for cyclists.
Dave Rothschild was fun to talk to one day. He was riding from California to New York City.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.
The Lower Falls, seen here, is 300 feet high.

Close up of the falls. Note observation deck, at right.

The falls.

These guys went off the road while sightseeing and took the bark off two trees.
The driver, left, was lucky. No injuries to the people inside.

Mammoth Hot Springs.

Sam and Sidney. I went to visit their family near Bozeman.
Sidney is type-1, like my daughter.

I spent a beautiful day riding back south along the Gallatin River.

I ended up riding in the dark at the end of that day,
having missed a campsite I thought I'd find along the way.
In an effort to reach West Yellowstone and find a motel room, I crashed in the dark.
I guess you can tell.

Grand Prismatic Hot Springs, Yellowstone.

Flower beside the road, Yellowstone.

Old Faithful erupts. Obligatory photo.

Old Faithful Lodge, worth seeing, for sure.

Yellowstone view: Grand Tetons (center), 44 miles away.
Leaving the park, I turned south for 800 miles, headed for Salt Lake City.

My route took me through Grand Teton National Park.
Good place for a lunch break.

Grand Teton view #2.

Grand Teton view #3.

Hiking in Grand Teton National Park is also cool.

Someday, I hope to pedal the Bear Tooth Highway, in Wyoming and Montana.
Some say it's the most beautiful highway in the United States.

Bear Tooth Highway, not far from Red Lodge, Montana.

When I pedaled south from Grand Teton National Park, in 2011,
I was further west in Colorado, on Route 89.
I still want to ride up and over the top of Rocky Mountain National Park someday,
elevation at highest point of the pass: 12,183 feet.

Morning, camping in Rocky Mountain National Park.

You could pedal past Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado.
Some dunes are 700 feet high.
Young boy does a back flip.

Just visiting. I wasn't pedaling on this occasion.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado.

Somewhere in Utah.

Utah view.

Abandoned Mormon church, Ovid, Utah.

Sunrise near Bear Lake, Utah.
On this morning, I was stealth camping on a golf course. I didn't even put up my tent.
Did you know they turn sprinklers on at golf courses in the morning?
Trust me, damply. They do.

Bill and Shirlee Wyman, newlyweds.
Bill has been dealing with type-1 diabetes for more than fifty years.

Raspberry milkshake. Rocket fuel for a cyclist.
The region around Bear Lake is the raspberry capital of the world, I think.

Climbing up the hill from Bear Lake.

Rest stop.

Mormon Temple, Salt Lake City.

Model of the Mormon Temple.

Many Mormon pioneers crossed the continent in 1846, pulling handcarts.
At least I had 27 gears.

Crossing the Sevier Desert in Utah.
I didn't even know there was a Sevier Desert till I pedaled across it.
As you can see, this part of Utah was pretty bleak.

Colleen Zinn was finishing a cross-country ride she started 25 years before.
Husband Doug was supporting her ride.

There's not a lot to do in parts of Nevada.
So people like to plug the highway signs for fun.

Typical Nevada scene.

Apparently this tourist just gave up.
Highway 50 across Nevada is starkly beautiful.

High school graduates used to throw shoes into this tree.
Some idiot cut it down a few years ago.
Near Middlegate, Nevada.

Only eight miles down this road: a cool campground next to a mountain stream.
Nevada.

I call this "Breast Mountain," Nevada.

I think there are twelve serious mountain passes along Route 50.
Rick Arnett was riding across the USA, too. Nevada.

Rick was fun to ride with for a few hours; but he liked to walk up those mountain passes.
So I bid him adieu.

Still barren. Nevada.

Occupational hazard: sunburned hands.

Camping for free near Eureka, Nevada.

At Middlegate, Nevada I decided to take a shortcut to Yosemite National Park.
(Bar at Middlegate; that's about all there really is there.)
I ruined a tire near Gabbs, Nevada and had to hitch a ride to Reno to get it replaced the next day.