It’s been almost 2 years since I have last posted on Sunflower Cyclist. A few quick updates – I did not follow through with my plans to bike the length of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan due to the unknown of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. The Ore to Shore and Iceman Cometh mountain bike races were canceled in 2020 (also due to the panini) – my race registrations were deferred to 2021, of which I chose to be refunded due to not being in Michigan. In December of 2020, I quietly completed my undergraduate degree on a random Thursday while sitting at the kitchen table in my childhood home after being sent home due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. A month before graduating from college, I had been accepted as a Corps Member in AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps. That left 3.5 months between the end of my undergraduate career and flying to AmeriCorps NCCC Southern Region Campus in Mississippi. Winter in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is no joke, and as other states are gearing up for spring, we continually get bombarded with snow and easily accumulate 4+ feet of snow per season. My mountain bike, however studded the tires are, is no match for fresh or compact powder. My solution was to cross country ski into the next dimension. I skied over 40 miles in January/February/March of 2021. Throughout my term of service with FEMA Corps in 2021-2022, my team and I were easily working 40hr work weeks of manual labor in North Carolina helping at a food bank, driving forklifts at a distribution center in Texas, providing Disaster Survivor Assistance to individuals affected by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana, and assisting the External Affairs office in Washington DC. The nature of the AmeriCorps program divides the service year into four projects and four locations, thus making it difficult to stick to any prolonged or specialized workout regime (such as biking 1,000+ miles) – and teams aren’t allowed to modify the provided 15-passenger van to include a bike rack. With this in mind, I opted for a year of reading, listening to podcasts, and watching documentaries about bikes, bike touring, endurance sports, nutrition, stealth camping, cooking on the trail, and gear. I have been talking about biking across the United States since I first read Juliana Buhring’s book about circumnavigating the globe by bike. I would tell my friends in college that one day I was going to bike coast to coast. Thus, in true Eryn fashion, I made the decision to bike across the United States directly after my service year with FEMA Corps and started telling people my goal to keep myself accountable. I know that I am young and have my whole life in front of me, but I feel like if I don’t do it now, I never will. No better time than the present! On Saturday, April 23, 2022, I will be flying to Virginia to start my bike ride across the United States to loosely follow the Adventure Cycling TransAmerica Route through Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. I am estimating that it will take me 70 days to bike across the country, and I plan to camp and use a cookstove. During my ride, I plan to write in this blog. I will not say that I’ll write twice a week or anything, because I don’t know how my body or mind will react to typing after a long day in the saddle. To decrease any potential disappointments for not keeping my promises, my blog posting will be sporadic and keeping y’all on your toes. However, one promise that I can make is that I have blog posts in the works such as packing for a bike tour, what I plan to cook/eat on the trail, cross-training, goals, and testing gear before the real-deal to publish on this site before I even reach Virginia.
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Author: Eryn corinthCyclist. Feminist. Outdoor enthusiast. Tree hugger. Archives
October 2022
CategoriesAll College Colorado Gear Goals Illinois Iowa Kentucky Missouri Motivation Nebraska Ore To Shore Pandemic Rides TransAmerica Ride UP Cycle Virginia |