We have become pretty good at playing this game. The world is our playing field and we moved our game pieces around it at 90k per turn. Traveling without reservations (subtitle of our journey) meant that we started the day not knowing where we’d spend the night. Though every day had it’s challenges, we were not roughing it. We conquered whatever terrain and climate that lay ahead of us; and at the end of a strenuous day found some kind of lodging, showered, and enjoyed a beer with dinner. I’d wake up in the morning thinking how lucky I am…”I don’t have to go to work today. I get to ride a bike someplace I’ve never been before.” This Great Adventure became almost like a job; traveling about four-and-a-half days a week, taking time off to see the sights and do chores. I enjoyed living a purpose-driven life, being fully engaged in the logistics: navigating through foreign countries, crossing borders, learning a new currency and the national language (and often greeting folks in a different local language), solving mechanical problems, taking photos, and updating this blog.

We might have gotten burnt-out, losing interest on this journey of over two years.  Crossing the Western Sahara could have been the place to call it quits.  The bleakness of that month of unrelenting headwinds and long distances between towns was perhaps our biggest challenge. But we were at the top of our game and inertia kept us going (the tendency of an object in motion to remain in motion). Deadlines to meet as we neared Europe left us fewer days of rest. Reaching Morocco meant that the end was near.

Final stats:
48,069 km cycled in 533 days of travel (in 844 days, or 28 months, overall). That is not counting another 2,500k cycled on days of rest, which would bring the total to over 50,000 km (31,000 miles). Julie joined me in Panama and biked over 40,000 km, which is the circumference of the world. So, technically, does she still have to bike from Minnesota to Panama to say that she’s biked around the world?

Country, date of entry, km cycled/time, $ lodging (average cost/night)

1. USA 08/Apr/2009, 3000k/4wks $45/nt
2. Mexico 08/May/2009, 2000k/3wks $23
3. Guatemala 29/May/2009, 400k/4d $15
4. El Salvador 02/Jun/2009, 400k/4d $17
5. Honduras 06/Jun/2009, 100k/6hr $0
6. Nicaragua 06/Jun/2009, 450k/5d $16
7. Costa Rica 11/Jun/2009, 700k/6d $17
8. Panama 17/Jun/2009, 700k/3wks $20  Central America total: 2750k in 5 wks $17
9. Colombia 07/Jul/2009, 1650k/1m $13
10. Ecuador 07/Aug/2009, 1500k/1m $19
11. Péru 06/Sep/2009, 3500k/2m $14
12. Bolivia 08/Nov/2009, 1000k/17d $13
13. Chile 25/Nov/2009, 3720k/2m $28 (4 entries to Chile)
14. Argentina 04/Dec/2009, 3340k/2m $29 (4 entries to Argentina)   Saint Paul to Ushuaia (21/Mar/2010) 22,171 km in 11­ 1/2 months; 244 days of travel.
15. South Africa 15/Apr/2010, 2500k/1.5m $39
16. Swaziland 02/Jun/2010, 400 km/9d $38
17. Mozambique 11/Jun/2010, 2000k/1m $23
18. Malawi 10/Jul/2010, 1100k/18d $22
19. Tanzania 28/Jul/2010, 3300k/2m $14
20. Kenya 27/Sep/2010, 1400k/7wks $15
21. Liberia 08/Nov/2010, 375k/10d $10
22. Côte d’Ivoire 18/Nov/2010, 700k/16d $33
23. Ghana 30/Nov/2010, 1100k/15d $18
24. Burkina Faso 15/Dec/2010, 750k/13d $22
25. Mali 28/Dec/2010, 900k/17d $22
26. Senegal 14/Jan/2011, 1100k/14d $28
27. Mauritania 28/Jan/2011, 650km/9d $13
28. Western Sahara 06/Feb/11, 1000k/16d $15
29. Maroc 22/Feb/2011, 1800k/1m $21  Africa total: 18,500 km in 11 months(+2000km on rest days); 206 days of travel
30. España 20/Mar/2011, 1250k/19d $38
31. France 08/Apr/2011, 1800k/1m $48
32. Luxembourg 06/May/2011, 10km/1hr $0
33. Deutschland 06/May/2011, 1350k/17d $63  World total: 44,444 km in 25 months, 494 days of travel.
34. Canada     10/Jun/2011, 2500k/5wks $86
#1. USA         14/Jul/2011, 1000k/2wks $68

David’s Cruzbike went through 19 tires and 14 chains. 172 flat tires (total for both bikes). That averages one flat tire every three days.

I’ve reversed the blog posts, so the blog entries are now in chronological order. When you get to the bottom of the page, though, click on “older entries” to get to the newer entries.

The Archives sidebar (on the right) can take you to the blog entries for each month without scrolling through the whole trip (they appear end of the month first). Check our itinerary above to see when we entered each country.

Click on the 2009 arrow on the map on the homepage to see our route.  By clicking on a map point (or town listed on the right) and zooming in you can see incredible detail if the map is set to hybrid.

reCyclist & Julie on Lake Harriet in March.

I cycled from Amery, WI to Saint Paul, MN on Friday, 20/Mar/2009. I chose to depart on the Spring Equinox, 125 seasons after I finished Cycling the World on the Winter Solstice, 22/Dec/1977.
Ted Zinn arranged an interview on Amery’s cable TV with Mayor Harvey Stower and Jerry Sondreal from the Amery Free Press. Jerry reminisced about interviewing me before I left in 1975. There were over a dozen old friends present and offering me good wishes on my journey.
The day was heavily overcast with a light dusting of snow on the ground; wind SSE at 15-30 kph and temps 1-5 C in the morning and up to 8 C in the afternoon. I rode through a cold rain for the last hour and a half; stopping under Hwy 36 on the Gateway trail to put on my rain gear. I stayed warm and comfy. My toes and fingertips got a little cold. I think I need a wind barrier for my wool gloves.
My new VDO MC1.0+ wireless cycle computer did not work. It registered only 8 km of the 100 km ride. I’ve cycled this route over a dozen times so I know the distance. I thought it might need a new battery until we visited Calhoun Cycles and found that some wireless units don’t work on recumbents. The handlebars are a little higher than on regular bikes. The company doesn’t seem to be aware of this problem. I may have to switch cycle computers with Julie.
I have a few loose ends to tie up before I can cycle south from Saint Paul… do my taxes, clean the garage, sell a house… It was so much easier to take off at age 18.

Cruzbike Sofrider V2

My take-off is tomorrow, April 8th; ten weeks after retiring from UPS. I had hoped to leave a month ago in a blizzard. There was a nice blizzard then, on March 10th, and another just last Sunday, April 5th. (We got a couple inches of wet snow here; near the Iowa border saw blizzard conditions). I have been so busy getting ready I can hardly believe I’ll really leave tomorrow. My taxes are done, my stuff is packed into tote bins in a corner of the garage, and a property manager is interviewing tenants for my house near the U.
I got a wired replacement for the wireless cycle computer that did not work on my recumbent bike, new cycling gloves, and better rain pants. My Cruzbike weighs about 34 kg (75 lbs) fully loaded. That breaks down to about 10 kg (22 lbs) in the Bikebins, 3 kg (6.6 lbs) in the shoulder bag, and 1 kg (2.2) lbs in the underseat tool bag. The bike is about 20 kg (44 lbs) with attachments, including racks, spare tire, pump, lock, and hammock. Additionally, I’ll carry about 2 kg (4.4 lbs) in food and water.
I expect to cross the Stone Arch Bridge over the Mississippi River about 9:30 am; after visiting Julie’s school, Murray Junior High. Then I’ll bike 100 km (62 mi) to stay with Julie’s parents, Jerry and Catherine Retka, in rural St Thomas near LeSueur, MN.
A journey of 10,000 km begins with a single step.

On the Stone Arch Bridge with my sons Mackenzie & Devlin.

Lunch at the Chaska Dunn Bros–
I’m on my way!  I left at dawn after kissing Julie good-bye.  I met JonEric & Adam at the bus stop, then visited Kathy & Al at their Ginkgo Coffee shop, and biked to UPS one last time;  sunny & zero degrees Celsius.  UPS is located at latitude 45 degrees north.  The first leg of this trip is to Houston, TX at a latitude of 30 degrees; one third of the way to the equator.   After talking to students at Murray Junior High and kissing Julie good-bye again; a few friends saw me off on the Stone Arch Bridge, braving a stiff crosswind. Ted & Shirley Zinn drove in from Amery, joining my old friends Jay & Steve; my boys biked there and Joe captured it all on film. Not film really, captured on pixels.

I’ve cycled 65 km before lunch, over halfway to St Thomas.  Temps have warmed up to 8 degrees C and the WNW wind may soon help more than hinder my progress.

At the bus stop

Ginkgo Coffee Shop

Apr 11th, 2009

A Nice Morning’s Ride

On a recent Wednesday, my friend David got up early to go for a bike ride. After dressing for the still-chilly April morning, he left his St. Paul house and pedaled down to a local coffee shop to chat with friends. Next, he cycled over to the junior high school where his wife teaches and answered student questions about his odd-looking bike. Finally, he crossed the Mississippi River into Minneapolis and headed south toward the open road. He expects to get back home in October. Of 2011. David, you see, is cycling around the world. Again.

Now I like a good bike ride as much as the next person. But where I measure my rides in miles, David measures his in continents. And while accomplishing such a feat once would furnish most people with the moral superiority to spend the rest of their life on the couch, David simply enjoys the experience (as is evident from his bike blog) and is hungry for more. Since his first journey was essentially a “ride east until you get back home” affair, this trip will cover new ground and unfold in a mostly north and south orientation, bouncing between the poles (or as close as is practical.)

In David’s case, getting there is all of the fun, which is a good thing, since his destination is his origin. His enthusiasm for the journey itself, and especially for doing it again, reminds me of a high school English teacher’s advice to read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn three times. By following Jim and Huck down the river as a boy, again in middle age, and finally as an old man, you can experience the surprise and joy of an unchanging text meaning something very different on each reading. In a similar way, I imagine David will find the world at bike-level to be a different place than it was in the late ‘70s.

Before leaving, David asked me to do some photography for his website. Aware that much of his journey would traverse tropical zones, he wanted a banner image for his FAQ page that instantly communicated the northern climate of his home. Which partially explains how I found myself at dawn, near the end of March, lying on the worryingly thin ice that only partially covered Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. Nothing says “cold climate” like biking on water, David reasoned. I was there to help make that statement–and, I hoped, avoid earning a Darwin Award nomination in the process. To be honest, there’s no way I would have even considered such a thing had not David been so reassuringly confident that we’d be fine. While I was still casting a skeptical eye over the small gap of open water between the shore and the ice, David was hopping onto the ice with his bike. He was so sanguine and unafraid, it seemed impossible the ice would prove him wrong, so out I went.

His overall confidence and faith in his own well-being are among the more important things David takes with him on his journey. More than one of his friends wanted to know how he planned to pass through some of the world’s dicier spots with nothing but a bike for protection. David would smile and reply that sure, there were risks, but he wasn’t worried. When pressed, he’d simply state that, in general, he believed that people were good and wanted to help. Were it not for his previous circumnavigation, I’d be a little more concerned for his safety. But just as he seemingly willed the ice on Lake Harriet to hold us, I’m confident his very nature encourages those he meets to follow their nobler instincts.

Safe and happy travels, David. And save a little energy, because after finishing this trip, you still have one to go.

Wednesday Happy Hour at The Eyeball in St.Thomas, MN

Warren Rosburg driving my former UPS route to St. James, MN.

I cycled 110 km yesterday to St Thomas; and 150 km today to Fairmont. Upon arriving at my in-laws in St Thomas, Audrey drove me to the Happy Hour at The Eyeball; where the locals gather Wednesdays, hosted by Luke & Alice Retka. The crowd was eager to hear about my cycling adventure. I know I attracted a few eyeballs to this website. After a nice meal, sleep & breakfast at Jerry & Catherine’s, I was off at dawn this morning. Sunny and minus 2 degrees Celsius. Six wild turkeys strutted in a field, the tom holding his tail feathers erect. I stopped for coffee at the St Peter Co-op, my favorite vegetarian truck stop when I drove for UPS. Upon leaving, I flagged down a UPS truck and visited with Warren Rosburg, returning from St James; a route I’ve done many times. I stayed on Hwy 169 to Mankato; hoping to run into Mark Stephan returning from Slayton. I waited on the levee in Mankato until 10:45 then crossed the river to downtown and ate lunch. As the day warmed up to 10 C I removed layers and headed south from Mankato on low traffic paved roads. The NW wind propelled me to a cruising speed of 32 kph southbound. Turning west I slowed to 24 and zipped up my jersey. Around km 100 my left knee got sore. After a paved back road crossed a county line and turned to gravel, I took the busy Hwy 15 the last 25 km into Fairmont. My left knee felt better and my right knee worse. I hope my knees are okay in the morning.

I cycled 240 km today and made it halfway across Iowa. Yesterday’s 150 km was a big day; today I did 150k after lunch.  Sunny & minus 2 Celsius, warming up to 14C; wind NNE at 30 kph. I did not intend to go so far today. I worry about over-exerting these old bones and thought I’d take it easy the first week. But the route I chose goes through small towns that have no motels between my lunch stop in Emmetsburg and here. I figured as much when I started out today; but with the strong tailwind I thought I might make it to Carroll and there’ll be a headwind tomorrow. My knees are better today. I think it helps to stay well hydrated.

Observations today: a coyote craning his neck back to keep an eye on me  crossed the road 50m ahead and loped away over a field; snowdrifts fill some ditches, still white from last Sunday’s blizzard; I passed several wind farms and detoured at 6pm to cycle through the Mount Carmel wind farm.

9 km of hills south of Carroll, Iowa

Another sunny day in Iowa.  With the hills and headwinds I altered my route and cycled just 95 km.  I left at 10 am, already warm enough to shed layers; 5 degrees Celsius warming up to 16C, wind SE at 20-25 kph.  The county roads I’m on have very light traffic and roughly follow a divide.  Streams on one side flow SE to the Mississippi and on the other side flow SW to the Missouri.  I thought that meant I’d be on relatively flat high ground. I was wrong.  It is very hilly south of Carroll.  Yesterday I crossed rivers every 10k or so; today I crossed small streams about every 2k. And each ravine required a 25m to 50m climb.  I may have climbed close to a thousand meters.  That’s like biking in the Colorado Rockies.

While shifting from high to low so often I had problems with my front derailleur.  I was grinding it against my front sprocket before I realized it had slipped down the tube.  While readjusting it I noticed that some of the teeth are scraped. I’ll need to replace that front sprocket soon or later I’ll be losing teeth.

Cycling at half the pace of yesterday , by 2pm I figured I wouldn’t make my lunch stop, and it was another 50k after that to a motel. So instead of going south I went SW to follow a bike trail along the Nishnabotna River into Atlantic, IA.  The Super 8 here gave me a 10% AARP discount.  I’m concerned that businesses may be closed tomorrow on Easter Sunday so I’ll take US Hwy 71 south, passing through bigger towns; plus there should be fewer hills as it follows the Nodaway River valley.

I arrived here at 1 pm, tired after battling headwinds for 83 km.  Overcast sky, wind SE at 25-30 kph and temps 7-11 degrees Celsius.  I was up late last night watching tv with Julie.  We had Skype picturephone on our laptops as we both watched Saturday Night Live.  I still got an early start to beat the rain coming later in the day, lasting until midday tomorrow.  I’m just 16 km from Missouri; having crossed Iowa in three days.  Clarinda is the birthplace of Glenn Miller and also where 4H started.