I pedaled into the small town park and an older fellow, possibly a Rotarian, handed me half a potato. It seemed quite possibly to be the best food in the world.
The occasion was my first STP, short for Seattle-to-Portland, the 206-mile bike ride that thousands of cyclists do every July. I was riding my Gary Fisher hybrid mountain bike, which caused head-shakes among many other cyclists on their shiny, weightless bikes. Hey, I did put on a pair of road tires!
The potato rest stop was in a town whose name I’ve forgotten (sorry!), offered up by locals who loved the energy and commerce that would accompany the waves of smiling, determined cyclists.
With crisp edges and a browned skin, encrusted with salt, that spud tasted like heaven. It was only a small snack served in a sandwich bag, but it seemed like such a large gift because of how it nourished me on a challenging 100-mile day, but also because it represented the community of support for my effort.
There’s never been a shortage of potatoes in my life, as anyone who knows me can attest. And now I’m in my fifth paragraph talking about them. But the experience, both of the potato and that of my first STP, that has stayed with me, almost twenty years now.
It joins the mental parade of images that includes leaning our bikes up against a “dolma” rock formation in central France for a rural lunch break, slaloming through pedestrians on Manhattan’s Hudson River Greenway in Riverside Park, dodging tourists on the Golden Gate Bridge, calling “Hello!” nearly every minute as we passed Vietnamese children on the Mekong Delta’s tiny lanes, and rolling over a washboard dirt road with a giraffe walking two bike lengths away in Kenya’s Hells Gate National Park. That potato shares good company.
My long association with the bicycle has provided joy and freedom.
But only a few folks in my circle of friends are as much into cycling. Many don’t own bikes and those who do might just wheel them out for a summer weekend ride with the kids or grandkids. Fair enough. I hope everybody has elements of life—some sort of activities or moments—that stick in the brain as a parade of greatest hits.
However! If not bikes, try books! Highlight experiences can be enjoyed from the pages of a book, and my armchair traveling far exceeds the transportation of my physical body to far-flung locations.
I’ve enjoyed the bicycling adventures of my friend Willie Weir, in his book Travels with Willie and his column for Adventure Cycling magazine. In fact, that magazine, whether or not you’re an adventurer or cyclist, provides a plethora of pedaling stories (I resisted writing pilgrimages, aren’t you proud of me?). Catfish and Mandala, Miles from Nowhere, The Road to San Donato, Mud Sweat & Gears, Hell on Two Wheels, Adventure Without End…bikes and their pilots figure into these and so many more excursion tales. Perhaps even my own small voyages will provide the path to page-turning pleasures.
On the other handlebar, for those who have a dusty (or shiny and well-oiled) bicycle standing quietly in the storage room, I would like to offer some ideas for a summer memory-maker.
First, if you’re on the Left Coast, I commend the ocean route to you. Of course I must, as researching and writing Cycling the Pacific Coast has been my biggest biking adventure. If you have a few days, pedal the San Juan Islands or the north half of the Oregon Coast. Take your bike a few stops down on Amtrak and find your way back home. Pedal through farmland, wine country or the amazing Redwoods or, if you’re visiting one of our cities, rent a bike and try the growing network of safe urban trails.
If you’re in the greater Seattle region or coming here to visit, try a day trip from Biking Puget Sound, my other guidebook that offers 60 day rides. Also, let me know when you’ll be here. I love showing people around or meeting for coffee.
The aforementioned Adventure Cycling Association offers tours, route maps, advice and even a connection to other cyclists who post want-ads seeking companions to pedal off to one exploration or another.
America’s rail-trails provide a wonderful collection of flat, scenic outings across the country, and there is surely one near you. Those abandoned railroad rights-of-way repurposed into trails are a great leveler, providing outings for people of all skills or abilities. Find them on the Rails to Trails Conservancy site and if you can, support their work to capture and maintain more of these treasures.
Perhaps on your excursions, you will be nourished by the perfect morsel, whether it’s a sodium-replenishing snack or a soul-stirring image. After half a lifetime pushing myself to chance out onto the path, I can tell you it’s worth finding out.
Links:
Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic
Cycling Books for Armchair Adventures — a blog post with links on my website