Epilogue
It took five years before I got back on the bike again. I believe that I did two or three short (10-15 mile) rides in the first few weeks after getting back to Cincinnati, but after spending an entire summer traveling 100 miles each day, and not having to backtrack, it just seemed like so much work to get suited up and then only ride for 30 or 40 miles through familiar territory. Even so, I moved my bike from apartment to apartment, and city to city, occasionally dusting it off. Finally, during the heart of the 2002 Tour de France coverage, I decided to get back on the bike. No big trips though, just 40 to 50-mile jaunts, with an occasion century, to get out of the City and enjoy the surrounding calm of points north of New York City.
Looking back on the trip now ten years later, I’m not quite sure what more to say about it than what was covered in the previous pages. It was a wonder summer and one that probably changed my life. There are memories that I carry with me from the trip, and some that I didn’t remember again until rereading my journal to put compile this site.
I’ll leave you with a few thoughts that I jotted down about the trip upon arriving back in Cincinnati…
· The sky is biggest in Central Montana, just west of Havre.
· Mosquitoes are the worst in Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota.
· The water is clearest, an unbelievable greenish-blue in Washington—the Cascades. Even the roadside waterfalls are clear.
· People are friendliest in Minnesota; they also have the best accents.
· The wind blows hardest just east of Glacier National Park, MT.
· You sure have a lot of time to think while on a bike for that amount of time.
· Singing “The Old Grey Mare” under your breath really helps when you climb mountains, even if you can’t remember the last line.
· Coasting down mountains for miles and miles is both an incredible rush and very tiring, but after six hours of climbing it's a good problem to have.
· Keeping your head shaved sure beats having to wash, shampoo, comb and dry your hair each morning; it’s also much cooler in the extreme heat of the Plains.
· No matter how many times you enter the same café with spandex on, the people still look at you funny.
(Photo: Doug, our friend Robert (but not Rob), Tim and David during the summer of 2006.)
Looking back on the trip now ten years later, I’m not quite sure what more to say about it than what was covered in the previous pages. It was a wonder summer and one that probably changed my life. There are memories that I carry with me from the trip, and some that I didn’t remember again until rereading my journal to put compile this site.
I’ll leave you with a few thoughts that I jotted down about the trip upon arriving back in Cincinnati…
· The sky is biggest in Central Montana, just west of Havre.
· Mosquitoes are the worst in Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota.
· The water is clearest, an unbelievable greenish-blue in Washington—the Cascades. Even the roadside waterfalls are clear.
· People are friendliest in Minnesota; they also have the best accents.
· The wind blows hardest just east of Glacier National Park, MT.
· You sure have a lot of time to think while on a bike for that amount of time.
· Singing “The Old Grey Mare” under your breath really helps when you climb mountains, even if you can’t remember the last line.
· Coasting down mountains for miles and miles is both an incredible rush and very tiring, but after six hours of climbing it's a good problem to have.
· Keeping your head shaved sure beats having to wash, shampoo, comb and dry your hair each morning; it’s also much cooler in the extreme heat of the Plains.
· No matter how many times you enter the same café with spandex on, the people still look at you funny.
(Photo: Doug, our friend Robert (but not Rob), Tim and David during the summer of 2006.)
