It was 1984 when my father decided to take a month off work to ride his bike cross country. In some small way I may have contributed to this quest by asking him to help me pick out a new bike.
You see about 15 years before this I had saved enough money to get a "real bike" While I had always enjoyed riding, the bikes of my childhood were typical of that period - i.e. heavy and poorly made, and as a teenage boy I was looking for something "fast". My dad offered to help and eventually we settled on a Peugeot PX-10..that I still ride today. Much to my surprise my father also bought a new bike that soon became his preferred mode of transportation.
Dad was a bit ahead of his time riding to work each day. He and I also did a multi-day ride to Philadelphia staying in hotels before I left for college.
While I did limited cycling in college and my early career Dad continued to ride almost every day. It only seemed fitting then he would ride cross country to mark his 50th birthday. Traveling from his home in Binghamton NY to my home in Huntington Beach CA he covered 3,058.8 miles averaging 87 miles each day. I rode with him the last two days discovering that wind can trump elevation in the pass near Twentynine Palms CA.
Dad turned 75 this year and now living in Santa Fe has decided it is time to ride again – this time going with the wind. The current plan is to leave early July and ride towards Atlanta (to visit his brother) before heading north along the Blue Ridge Trail.
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