March 26th - The Rider List Is Out

We have received the rider list for this year's XC tour. There are 47 registered riders. Some may not be riding the entire distance as it is possible to register for the Southwest one-third, the Midwest one-third, the Eastern one-third, or the entire distance.

The average age of the group is 56 and the range is 27 to 72. There are 31 men and 16 women on the ride. There are five couples and one father/son pair.

The group includes one rider from Ireland, five from England, one from Canada, and two from Germany. It should be an interesting group to ride with.

Below is an age/gender distribution chart that I worked up:

(Left-click graph to enlarge)

March 12th - Training Indoors

This is our one and only bike trail on March 11th. This has been our second snowiest winter since records have been kept in the 1880s. The 1958-59 winter has been the snowiest winter on record. We've had twelve ice and/or snow storms since the first part of December.

Normally, I am able to ride outside at least once a week during the winter - plus bike errands around town. I haven't ridden outside at all this winter. I have been training inside on a spinner. Hopefully, I'll get out on the road next week.

Itinerary of XC Tour

Itinerary courtesy of CrossRoadsCycling.com

Tour Company and Route

I chose to cross the country with CrossRoads Cycling Adventures. I read the blogs of several of last year's riders and decided that this tour fit my accomodation desires and time frame. I wanted to stay in motels and thought an average of about 80 miles per day would be about right for me. Here is the map of our route.



The route through each state can be seen by clicking on each state in the following link:

State by State Maps

The tour statistics are at the following link:

Tour Statistics

March 9th - Why am I doing this?

I began serious cycling in Phoenix, AZ, in 1965, during my first job out of college. I lived three miles from work and started out commuting but soon joined a bicycle-touring club. I have been riding ever since including a season in Massachusetts and a season in Bavaria, Germany, both while in the Army. My cycling activities since 1971 have been in the state of Iowa, where I was born and raised.

Four events have primed my long-time desire to bike across the country. The first was in 1971 when a cycling friend stationed in Germany was discharged from the Army,       he rode his bike from Ft. Dix, NJ, to his home in Los Angeles. I didn’t know that he had been discharged or that he was biking home. He just showed up at our farm in southeast Iowa one day. He did the trip alone with minimal camping gear.

The second event was in 1995 when a group of 300 Iowa riders promoted the Iowa sesquicentennial celebration coming up the next year by riding from L.A. to Washington DC - 5,000 miles in 100 days. I would like to have gone but was tied down to my farming operation. A third event was in 1996 when two college student brothers from New York City biked from Berkley, CA, to New York City. They had gotten my name and address from the League of American Bicyclist’s Hospitality Listing and overnighted at my farm.  

The fourth event was last year when an acquaintance, whom I had met on Ragbrai 2006, did the 2007 CrossRoadsCycling XC Tour. I read his blog plus blogs of several other riders from the 2007 XC. I was hooked. I have just turned 65 and am retired. I am no longer tied down as I was for many years. Now is the time to go.