Don Petterson - Old Man on a Bicycle: A Ride Across America and How to Realize a More Enjoyable Old Age

Heading West

Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos.

From the I Ching

The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward.

James Joyce

From my journal (at some point after ending each days ride, I entered into a journal what I saw and did that day):

Day 1: Wednesday, May 8, 2002. Began the journey at 8:30, halted at 8:33. I noticed that the mini-computer on my handlebars was on the fritz. Distracted by this while beginning to downshift to climb a steep incline on Pickpocket Road, a half mile from home, I managed to slip the chain and get it so badly jammed that I couldnt get it back on the ring. Made the first use of my cell phone by calling Julie to come pick me up in our mini-van. Went to Exeter Cycles, where one of the repair and maintenance crew adjusted the computer, showed me how to do it, dislodged the chain, and put it back on the ring. [This was not the first time I had slipped the chain, but it proved to be the last time, as I finally realized what I had been doing wrong.]

Under a mostly overcast sky and with the temperature at a pleasant 55, I set out again. After three miles I turned west on NH Rte 27, where I encountered a light headwind that picked up after an hour or so. Nevertheless I made reasonably good time because the occasional hills on the way to Manchester werent so bad. Only once did I have a problemon Wellington Road going into the city, some 25 miles from home, a steep hill and wind gusts of up to 25 mph forced me to walk for a few minutes. Experienced my first city traffic while making my way through Manchester to the bridge across the Merrimac and found that riding in a city wasnt bad at all. Had a sandwich in Goffstown, about seven miles west of Manchester. The sky began to clear up and the temperature rose to the mid-60s.

For much of the time that afternoon I followed the course of a stream, passing through fields and woods. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures. The road to New Boston, Francestown, and Bennington was moderately hilly, and by 4 oclock I was getting tired. So, when I found a motel three miles shy of the small New Hampshire town of Bennington I called it a day. Julie, Julianne, Jessica, and Samantha [respectively my wife, daughter, and granddaughters] drove from Exeter to meet me there later, and we went into town for dinner, after which we said our farewells and they went home. Writing this now, before I go to bed, I am a bit down, knowing that if all goes well I wont see Julie and the girls for a couple of months or so. But at the same time, Im feeling good about having ridden a respectable distance this first day on the road.

Miles today = 58

My call for help to Julie that morning added to her doubt that I was going to be able to ride across the entire country. When I somewhat shamefacedly showed up at the bicycle shop in Exeter, the guys there, who had given me advice and help from the time I had bought the bike, didnt say much about my misadventure. But Im sure they must have had had serious doubts that the old guy, a far from experienced cyclist, was going to make it all the way to California.

The bummer at the outset of my journey was a clear sign that I lacked experience and cycling smarts, which might have led a more prudent person to think twice about setting out to bicycle 3,000 or more miles. When I bought the bicycle and began training several months earlier, I hadnt been on one for many years. I got the bike in late September, and by the end of October temperatures had dropped to a point that I didnt want to continue riding. March 2002 was cold in New Hampshire, and it wasnt until early April that I found the weather warm enough to start riding again.

When I took off for San Francisco on May 8, my shortage of riding experience was evident: I was shaky on steep turns, had not practiced making emergency stops, and was clumsy when releasing my feet from the clamps on the bikes pedals as quickly as safety demanded. I could manage only the most basic repairs and knew nothing about making adjustments to, for example, the gear-shifting mechanism. Not only that, I had never made an overnight bike ride. And I hadnt yet built up enough muscular endurance.

Nevertheless, I didnt want to wait any longer, particularly since the earlier I began, the less summer heat I would encounter. Beyond that, I simply wanted to get going. Enough of training and preparing! The lure of the open road and the urge to begin were too strong to resist.

Seen from the vantage point of a spacecraft, the earth is not an immense place at all. Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is widely quoted as having remarked, Once youve been in space, you appreciate how small and fragile the Earth is. But, before setting out that cool, overcast May morning, I visualized an immense continent layered with countless hills and cross-hatched with north-south mountain ranges and vast plains extending far beyond western horizons. It was no wonder, given all this, that as I got on the bike and started out, my emotion was a mixture exhilaration and uncertainty.