As
you can tell from the above picture, we like biking.
I'm (Mark) kinda proud of that picture. It is at the
start of Lisa's and Jennifer's very first (and, so
far, last) 100 mile bike ride. The ride was in Death
Valley by moonlight. We started at 4:00 pm and rode
until 3:00 am. This was the first time any of us had
been to Death Valley. What a fantastic place! The
organizers of the ride told us we were the very first
triple bike (called a triplet) to finish the ride.
IT WAS HARD!!
BTW,
we borrowed the bike from the best bike store in the
area: Newbury
Park Bicycle Shop. Mike is the owner and the staff
is great. If you are looking for a bike, we'd recommend
them. Tell them we said "Hi!"
On
with the biking theme. Jennifer did her first 50 mile
bike ride on a tandem bike in the famous "Rosarito
to Ensenada" 50 mile fun ride. She was 9 years
old at the time. I (Mark) had done it a bunch of times
and knew the route pretty well. Jen did great! But
riding next to the cliffs at 40 miles an hour scared
her to death!
The
ride itself is amazing. There are about 10,000 riders
all lined up at the start, an amazing sight. The ride
is tough but manageable with a little training. (about
2500 feet of elevation gain) We usually stay in Ensenada
overnight after the ride. BTW, there is a huge party
after the finish line. Lots of sun burns and very
tired people. And LOTS of fun! The town has grown
up to be very nice and friendly. They hold the ride
in the spring and fall. If you've ever wanted to do
something like this, go for it! It's a blast! Check
out the official Rosarito to Ensenada Bike Ride web
site.
Now...
the BIG Adventure
I
(Mark) had always had a dream to ride a bike across
the country. Of course it sounds crazy. That was part
of the attraction. We decided to make it a family
goal. Lisa wasn't about to ride that much and Jennifer
was too young to know any better. Well, we were fortunate
to have the finances in order and time to take three
months off to give it a go. It took about a year of
planning. We bought a travel trailer and a new Expedition
to pull it. The plan was Lisa would drive our traveling
hotel and Jennifer and I would ride a tandem all day.
"Home"
We
had to pull Jennifer out of the sixth grade with about
a month to go in her school year. We would "home
school" her to finish out her school year. It
looked like it would work.
We
started by dipping our back wheel in the freezing
Pacific Ocean in Florence, Oregon and then started
pedaling on our journey. Can I vent a little here?
The tandem bike we had trained on broke one week before
departure and wasn't repairable in time to go on the
trip. We had to buy a brand new bike to continue.
Great bike, but no "break in" time! No fun!
The
route was very well mapped out by Adventure
Cycling and had us riding along rivers and isolated
country roads most of the time. We saw some of the
most amazing scenery, saw a wide variety of incredible
wildlife and met some amazing people.
Some
days were easy. Some days were brutal. We climbed
over three mountain ranges in our first month. Got
rained on a lot. Rode in the snow at one point. Keeping
up with school was tough for Jen, but we all did our
best. The talks Jen and I had...being on a bike 6-10
hours a day...you can't imagine. I'll always cherish
those memories, hopefully, so will she.
One
of our bigger Summits
We
were finally getting our biking legs in great shape
and Jen had finished her school work. The miles were
starting to pile up. Then one morning after a thunderstorm,
Jen was coming out of the trailer to get ready to
go. She slipped and landed hard on her back against
the steel steps of the trailer. I (Mark) was six feet
away and knew it was a bad accident as I was watching
it. We took her to the local hospital and they told
us she had a hairline fracture in one of the vertebrae
in her back. It could have been much more serious.
But, it still seemed it was about the worst news we
could get. (It ended up not to be broken, but she
did have to spend the summer on the couch.)
At
this point, I (Mark) could have continued. I brought
my regular road bike just in case Jen decided this
wasn't as fun as she hoped it would be. We decided
that had Jen quit because of a lack of desire, I would
have continued, but it wouldn't be right if I went
on without her due to an injury. We spent a week at
Yellowstone to see if there was any improvement with
her. There wasn't, so we decided to abort the trip
and bring her home to get proper medical attention.
Thus ended our journey in Dillon, Montana.
We
did over 1000 miles (something like 1050.5) and had
climbed over 58,000 feet elevation gain. That's twice
Mount Everest. Top speed: 51 mph. What a trip! I'll
(Mark) finish someday. Seems like it will have to
be on my own. Jen just doesn't have those lazy summers
anymore. Oh well. Wouldn't have missed it for the
world and would recommend everyone doing something
crazy like that. YIPEE!
That's
it for the major biking adventures. there are more
chapters still being written, but I don't know if
future adventures will compare.
