by Donald R. Worn ’50 O-660, June 1995
I had to wait six years to take this exciting and rewarding trip. In 1989, I took my first long distance solo bicycle trip from my home in Los Gatos, California to Spokane, Washington. That trip was 880 miles, and took eight days of riding. The next year, I had planned to ride back to Cornell University for my 40th college reunion, a trip of over 3000 miles. I had to postpone that trip, however, for the following two reasons. Our house suffered damage during the 1989 earthquake, and we were searching for a new superintendent for our high school district (for which I was a trustee), so I didn't feel it would be appropriate to be away from home over 30 days under those conditions.
Now that I am retired, a much more comfortable riding schedule could be developed, so this was the time to make my journey across the country. I started from home on May 9th and arrived at Cornell in Ithaca, NY on June 9th, at 6:00pm. The route was through Phoenix, Gallup, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Cleveland, and near Buffalo. This southern route was chosen for two reasons: first, to avoid possible steep hills and bad weather in the Central Rockies, and second, to visit a college roommate in Phoenix. Snow did fall in the Sierra and Colorado during the second week I was on the road.
Individual days' journeys ranged from 51 to 140 miles, with average speeds of 11 to 20mph while riding, and times on the road ranging from six to twelve hours. Daily departures were as early as 7:45 am, and as late as 1:00pm. with the days ending between 5:30pm and 9:00pm. All of these items are independent of each other. The late departures were the result of various factors: slow getting organized the first few days, bike repairs/adjustments, visiting with my hosts, or questionable weather conditions.
I stayed in five campgrounds (carrying only an air mattress and sleeping bag), at four fraternity houses, with a college roommate, and the remainder of the nights were in motels. Breakfasts and lunches consisted of food I purchased at grocery stores or food marts along the way. Suppers were all eaten at restaurants. I carried no cooking gear.
Other than the usual bottom sores which I carried with me for the whole trip, I had no serious injury other than the scraped heel of my right hand when i tripped walking from my motel to a restaurant in Amarillo, Texas. I had 13 flat tires, only four of which were external road punctures. The others were the result of splits on the inner diameter of the tube because I had some poorly marked, oversize tubes which I had never used. The excess material apparently caused the tubes to "work" excessively at the spoke holes, even though I had "Velox" tape on the rim. When I got to Phoenix, I wrapped an extra band of adhesive tape on the rim, and my problem was corrected.
I had about 35 pounds of gear on the bike when I left home. This was stored in panniers both front and rear, and on top of the rear rack. The front panniers were mounted on a low rider rack which provided for good stability. Personal gear consisted of biking clothes, toiletry items, first aid kit, minimal street clothes, and food for breakfast and lunch which was renewed as needed. I shipped my air mattress and sleeping bag home after I passed through the open spaces of the Southwest, and found the towns were closer together. I was also running out of time, so i reduced my load and planned on passing up the campgrounds.
As you can imagine, there were uphills and downhills, head winds and tail winds, good roads and bad roads. Most of the weather was quite reasonable for me. The heavy rains of Missouri were ahead of me, and the big thunderstorms and tornadoes of Oklahoma City were behind me.
For the adult, mature, dedicated long distance bicyclist, the Interstate highways are the best places to ride. They are the safest for both te cyclist and the motor vehicles, and the most comfortable for the cyclist. With an 8 to 10-foot wide shoulder, the cyclist has plenty of room to keep out of the way of the traffic. Also, all of the adjacent traffic is traveling in the same direction with two lanes, which permits vehicles to pass you very easily. The highway truckers, by the way, will invariably give you a wide berth whenever they have the opportunity. Riding on the prescribed US and state routes in some states is both painful and dangerous. Those roads usually only ahve a narrow 8-inch wide shoulder, which is often broken away. Therefore you are forced to ride in the lane of traffic, which is usually only a single lane, thereby forcing the motor vehicles to infringe upon the opposing traffic. This creates a hazard for both the cyclist and the motor vehicles.
Oregon, Oklahoma, and Missouri permit bicyclists on their Interstate highways. I hope to get my act together so that I can promote more nationwide, universal acceptance of this availability! Arizona and New Mexico have restrictive signs at some of the entrances to the Interstates, but I passed a number of highway patrol cars with no troubles from them, and I was passed by some which were not pursuing autos.
Some of the easy riding was down hill from Tehachapi and from the Continental Divide to Albuquerque, in both cases with a good tail wind. Tough riding occurred climbing out of Phoenix to Payson and Heer, up and down the rolling hills in Oklahoma and Missouri into head winds, and climbing a few steep hills of southern Cleveland. The saguaro cactus (Arizona State tree) in the high desert northwest of Phoenix was intriguing. Some of the pretty countryside was the area around Payson and Hever with their high, wooded, rolling hills. This was Zane Gray country, and I can imagine that it has served well for some western movies.
The final legs of my journey were over US-20 through Erie and across upper New York State. That was a good road with a shoulder almost as good as the Interstates. While at my reunion, my Class of '50 applauded my accomplishment at our luncheon on Saturday. Then, that night, when all of the returning alumni gathered for an assembly, the master of ceremonies (a fellow classmate) announced how i had come to the reunion. I took my bow to their resounding applause, and felt quite pleased that I had completed the trip for all that it was, and without any calamities.
Brother Worn stayed at the Lambda Chi Alpha chapter house at 125 Edgemoor Lane for the duration of his reunion and donated several old photographs which included himself and his two deceased brothers. He took the plane back to Northern California.