December 1, 2019

Just Like a Phoenix ...

This blog has been dormant for a while now, but it is about to be resurrected!

Previously this blog was used so that I could be tracked whilst touring the United States of America.  The blog eventually covered two tours, the first of which was to celebrate the coming of my 50th birthday in 2014.  It lasted approximately six months; starting and ending in San Diego; and I rode in excess of 10,000 miles with over 130,000 metres of ascent.

Here is the route that I envisaged I would take (and mostly did):

Here is where I actually went!

Indeed, when I returned to San Diego, and the Mexican border, I was enjoying the cycle touring so much that I was very tempted to peddle on! Instead, I convinced myself that this was not the end, just a wee interlude: I'd come back next year, is what I told myself.  It was the only way to convince myself I should get on the aeroplane!

And that is precisely what I did.  Then, shortly after returning to work, one morning in November 2014 I explained to my work boss that because I'd only been given a sabbatical of six months, when I'd requested a year, I would have to hand in my notice and resign so that I could return to the USA to complete that which was unfinished: namely, My North American cycling odyssey.  That afternoon, it was agreed that I could take another six months off of work and, thus, began the planning for the flowing year's adventure.

Here is the route that I planned to follow in 2015 (Red line!):

Fortunately as I embarked on the tour I was informed that I'd been accepted on "RAGBRAI", the title of which succinctly explains it all: Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Therefore, a detour was required to get me to the start line (Sioux City) and, so along with other minor detours the planned route was amended to accommodate some mini adventures along the way. Here is where I actually went!

So why am I telling you all of this? Well that will become clear in the next post!