Seeing the country by the seat of their pants is literal, not euphemistic, for the dauntless bicyclists who ride through Colorado on their way across the continental U.S. each year.
From about Memorial Day to late September, scores of the cyclists follow the TransAmerica bicycle route, originally established as the 4,248-mile BikeCentennial trail in 1976.
Sometimes loaded with front and back pannier packs, and sometimes riding light while a van carries their gear, the cross- country cyclists have become a familiar sight on Colorado’s back roads and minor highways, winding east-to-northwest between the dry plains outside Eads and the higher country around Kremmling.
Some, like Florida resident Susie Smith, are realizing a lifelong goal.
“They call it a bucket list now, but riding a bicycle across the country is on my list of 25 things I want to do in my lifetime,” Smith said.
She is among 11 members of an Adventure Cycling tour led by Lakewood residents Rich and Sue Miles, both veteran cyclists. The group began riding on May 17 in Yorktown, Va., and expects to end in Florence, Ore., on Aug. 2.
At about $6,500 for a fully supported trip — a van carries luggage, camping equipment and food — cycling across the U.S. isn’t cheap.
It’s also time-consuming, requiring approximately 76 days to pedal from Virginia to Oregon. That limits most participants to students and teachers who can afford to take the summer off, and retirees, plus a handful of people whose budgets match their lofty ambitions. Most of the cyclists on the Miles’ trip are realizing a lifelong goal.
Over the tour, they’ve formed sub- groups according to their riding pace. Three men who always ride together call themselves the Three Musketeers, and sometimes the Three Stooges, depending on whether they’re rallying or teasing each other. One or two others ride alone.
“I’ve wanted to do this for 30 or 35 years, but I never had the time off,” said Gregg Small, a biologist who lives near Seattle.
“I’ve driven round- trip across this country nine or 10 times. You don’t see anything by car. A bike is the right speed to see the country. I ride with Susie. We go slow and see 10 times more than anyone else. We stop. We talk to people. We’re always at the end of the line, but we have fun tales to tell.”
Short, stocky and south of age 50, Susie Smith is the group’s only neophyte bicycle tourist. She didn’t own a bicycle until last January.
“I decided to do the tour, and then got my bike,” she says, a declaration that’s caused more than one jaw to hit the floor.
She trained for passes in the Appalachian, Ozark and Rocky mountains by pedaling up and down the bridges of Jacksonville, the only available hills.
In contrast, Andre Fürbass is such a swift, fit rider that other group members refer to him as “our Jan Ullrich.” He celebrated his 40th birthday while cycling into Newton, Kan. (pop. 17,000). Among the gag gifts he received were toothpicks representing the wheel spokes he broke early in the trip.
Despite the broken spokes and occasional flat tire, he prefers cycling to driving.
“I have the time, and I want to see America — not the Grand Canyon, where all the tourists go, but these other parts,” he explained.
“I like to ride because in a car, you cannot hear the birds, you cannot see the wildlife, as you can on a bicycle.”
