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The Southern Tier Bicycle Ride
The Ride
For several years, one of my bike buddies, Miguel, and I entertained the idea of riding from the Pacific Northwest to Iowa. Self-contained, and just noodling our way through the mountains with no agenda, riding where we wanted to go. While this all sounded great, we were both teaching full time and it just wasn’t feasible.
Eventually, I elected to take my Professional Leave from DMACC (Des Moines Area Community College), which encompassed the Fall and Spring semesters of 2022-2023 and requires a project. For the project, I knew that I wanted to unite travel with all of the Humanities. So why not do it on a bike?
Since my biking adventure with Miguel didn't materialize, I began to seriously consider other biking options which is when I found Adventure Cycling. They had a scheduled southern tier ride across the US, with one open slot so I grabbed it. I’ve never been on a bike ride longer than a week and this will be a radically different experience for me.
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Since the mid ‘90s I’ve commuted from my home in Beaverdale to the DMACC campus in Ankeny, a distance of 12.5 miles one way on a bike trail. At first, I just rode when the weather was nice, maybe one or twice a week. Eventually, I rode more and continued to do this year-round. A few years later, my colleague, Barb Schmidt, started riding with me and we would encourage each other to ride, especially when the weather was lousey. We didn’t ride every day, but logged between 50 and 75 miles a week on average. For over three years there was not a month that we didn’t ride at least once, no matter how cold the temperature was or how snowy the trail was along the river.
Holy Crap!
This 3,000 mile ride starts March 5 in San Diego CA and ends May 2 in St Augustine FL and is van supported. That means there will be 14 riders with a 15th person driving the van. The van will carry some bike repair tools and our stuff. Of the 58 nights, nine will be in motels, one in a church and the rest camping with varying degrees of facilities or lack thereof. Food will be planned and prepared by the riders.
The Stuff
Each rider is allowed two, 25 lb bags, one of which is our personal camping gear. I found it to be quite a process to pare down what you think you need for nine weeks vs. what will fit in two 25 lb bags. Our existing tent, sleeping bag etc, while high quality, simply took up too much of the available poundage so I purchased a lot of new stuff. For instance, I purchased a two person, Big Agnes bikepack tent. Aside from being a great tent, specific to biking, it only weighs three lbs, one oz.
The Bike
It was clear to me right away that my Specialized Roubaix SL4 carbon fiber road bike was not the best choice for a cross country trip. For me, a road bike would not be the best for the various road surfaces on the ride. As I researched and talked to others about long distance bike touring, I settled on a used Surly Long Haul Trucker.
The Surly is a rugged touring bike with a CroMoly steel frame. After a few modifications, it was ready to be disassembled, boxed and shipped to San Diego.
FOR THE BIKE GEEKS, THE MODIFICATIONS INCLUDED:
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01 / Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard 700x38 tires - "The archetypal high quality touring tire."
02 / Treker (butterfly) handlebars
03 / Tektro FL540 brake lever set
04 / Shimano SL -K3100 3x9 shifters
05 / Busch & Mulller Dynamo head and tail lights
06 / Shutter Precision Dynamo (generator) hub - The generator will power both lights and has an auxiliary USB port charge my phone or bike computer.
The Training
Besides riding my bike outside, I knew I had to up my game which involved purchasing a Wahoo Kickr Snap smart trainer. It connects to a program called Zwift where I can select various training routes and work out routines, similar to a Peleton. There are sensors on my bike that work in conjunction with Zwift and the Kickr that mimic the difficulties of the chosen ride. l If the program goes up hill, I go up hill. I ride up to four hours every day and have lost 35 lbs.
