TRIP SUMMARY

Jacob realized his dream and will forever be a different person as a result. He gained strength, maturity and wisdom from day to day. Since our trip ended Jacob has successfully lived on his own in Utah as he had dreamed he would. Our closeness to and appreciation for each other grew in a way which can only be possible through very difficult, strenuous and dangerous experiences together, where we constantly depended on each other and where it really was a team effort. And, speaking of team, certainly for the second half of this trip, Jake’s grandpa, my father, was a worthy, hard-working, selfless member of the team. These days and experiences are forever a part of our characters.

This trip covered 1,736 miles over 41 days. We rode our bikes on 28 full days and four additional days of a small amount of riding. We rested all five of the Sundays during the tour and we rested on four additional days. Therefore, we averaged about 60 miles per normal day. Climbing – yes, we climbed about 72,000 vertical feet. This averages out to about a half mile or 2,500 vertical feet per day. Considering the flat days in Kansas and parts of Colorado, we had a number of really good climbing days of at least 5,000 vertical feet. The largest concentration of climbing was in the Missouri Ozarks – up and down and up and down and up, and of course, in Colorado.

In Colorado, we climbed over 9,200 foot high Hardscrabble Pass which had a steep 9% grade to the top, 11,312 foot Monarch Pass with 10 miles of 6% grade climbing up to the top, and finally 8,200 foot high Douglas Pass, with varying grades of 6% to 11%.

Constant exposure to the elements, both day and night, translates into the need to always be flexible and adaptable and to be prepared for most unexpected phenomenon. Even though the heat and humidity were grueling from Kentucky to Kansas, and the winds were challenging and at times down-right dangerous in Kansas and Colorado, it was the ever increasing (ever increasing as we rode farther west) exposure to dangerous vehicular traffic which caused the greatest concern. With fewer back roads in the western states there was simply more traffic concentrated on fewer roads out west with the added challenge of little to no usable shoulder.

All in all, we feel our many prayers were answered, that angels really did protect us, that it was a miracle we could arrange and successfully complete this trip. We are grateful to Angie and to Adam for their constant support, and also to Adam and Elizabeth for maintaining the business affairs in my absence.