Learn all about the Southern Tier Bike Route HERE.
Introduction: Summer 2022
Overcoming a Devastating Diagnosis
The report from the orthopedic physician was more than a little disconcerting. In fact, it made my heart sink. I sat there dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe this was really happening! In that one moment, it seemed as though my dreams had been crushed! But before I continue on; I think a little bit of background and context is probably in order. I had been actively entertaining the prospect of cycling across the country on what is known as the Southern Tier Route for some time. The Southern Tier is a bicycle route, researched and compiled by the folks at the Adventure Cycling Association, a non-profit group dedicated to assisting touring cyclists. The Southern Tier utilizes a combination of dedicated bicycle trails, backcountry roads, and cycling friendly highways and stretches over 3,000 miles (4,830k) from the beaches of the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, California, to the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean in St. Augustine, Florida. I had even gone so far as to purchase the maps for the route, but had constantly delayed and postponed doing this adventure for a number of reasons, most of which were entirely bogus. But now this news! This was serious! Here I was on a bright sunny day in the summer of 2022, sitting in the office of an orthopedic physician, and the world that I knew had been pulled out from underneath me.
I had fallen working in our back yard a few weeks prior and was still experiencing a great deal of pain and discomfort in my right knee, and it was only getting worse, not better. At first, I thought it was just a sprain or maybe a strained muscle but my wife, Jenny, finally convinced me to see my regular doctor who then referred me to an orthopedic physician. And now here I was staring in disbelief at an x-ray of my right knee. The x-ray showed arthritis, and an arthritis that was fairly advanced. The orthopedic physician even pointed out the bone-spurs. I had been, until now at least; blissfully unaware that I even had any issues regarding arthritis. For me, it was a devastating diagnosis. I questioned if I would ever be able to participate in any endurance athletic events ever again. Endurance cycling, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing were a passion of mine that had consumed a large portion of my time and interest over the past several years. But now! Now I even had trouble sleeping at night because of the pain, and walking long distances of even a mile (1.6k) or so was proving to be excruciating and difficult. But slowly, with the help of intensive physical therapy, the injury healed and the arthritic symptoms diminished. However, I felt like I still had a long way to go before I could even conceivably imagine attempting a bike ride across an entire continent.
Turning Point
But then came a day in September, I think it was the 15th to be exact. That day changed my outlook and renewed my enthusiasm for riding the Southern Tier. I went out for, what ended up being, a bicycle ride that lasted nearly the entire day. The weather gorgeous and I felt fantastic. The only reason I stopped was simply because it was getting dark, and in addition to that, the Kansas City Chiefs were playing on Thursday Night Football! I’ve been a Chiefs fan since I was a little kid; so I had to come back for that. But after completing that long ride I had the feeling that I was indeed getting back to full form and maybe, just maybe, my dreams of doing a long-distance bike tour might turn into reality after all.
The only question in my mind was would I be able to do subsequent days of long-distance riding and not suffer any consequences or experience another flare-up of arthritis. So, the very next week I packed up my touring bike and embarked on a three-day tour starting from my home in suburban Milwaukee and riding out to a couple of small towns where I would stay overnight. Each day’s riding would be approximately 60 miles (96.6k). And as a bonus, it was on mainly quiet, rural country roads. At the end of each day, I would be staying in a hotel in a fairly small town, but yet close to grocery stores and decent restaurants so I could adhere to my whole-food, plant-based diet. The short three-day tour was a resounding success! I felt great; I ate good food, and best of all; no arthritic flare up of my knee. And my body seemed to tolerate this little adventure very well. I experienced hardly any muscle soreness or fatigue. My dreams of riding the Adventure Cycling Association’s Southern Tier bicycle route were alive and kicking.
Preparation: Autumn and Winter 2022-2023
Next came the planning and preparation. It’s quite a long, and frankly, rather boring list of particulars that needed attention. But here are some of the items on a long list of chores that needed to be finalized before my trip out to the starting point in San Diego:
- Getting the bike tuned-up and ready for the long journey
- Getting the 65-year-old rider tuned-up and ready for the long journey
- Shipping the bike out to San Diego
- Sorting through equipment and determining what to take
- Transportation to San Diego
- Navigation – maps, apps, GPX files uploaded to my Garmin and learning how to use these
- Strategies for adhering to a whole-food, plant-based diet while on this adventure
- Taking care of issues on the home front – taxes, snow removal, mowing the yard, gardening
- Learning how to operate my Go Pro, Sony camera, and perhaps even a drone
- Learning how to utilize social media to inform and possibly inspire others
- And many, many other details
There were plenty of times when I believed that none of this would ever come together and that I just might end up having to postpone this adventure for another year. I often joked (but I was really somewhat serious) with my wife, Jenny, that I would never even make it out to San Diego, let alone cycle on the Southern Tier.
But slowly things started to come together. The bicycle got shipped out to San Diego. Transportation to San Diego was arranged by my wife who decided she would even join me for the trip out to the west coast. All my gear was packed up and on grey, cloudy day in mid-March, we were ready to leave our suburban Milwaukee home for the start of a long adventure.
My Diet
For over the past ten years my wife and I have adhered to a whole-food, plant-based, very low in salt, sugar and fat, vegan diet. Just what the heck is that? It’s a diet that excludes all animal products, all meats, dairy, and eggs. It also excludes almost all ultra-processed foods, such as cookies, potato chips, and most baked goods, and uses very little oil, including olive oil. Sounds rather boring, right? Nope, no way is this diet boring. It includes a wide assortment and variety of vegetables, fruits, legumes, mushrooms, and whole grains. My wife is a wonderful chef and she combines the above into a wonderful array of culinary delights. There are soups, stews, salads, pizzas, casseroles, veggie burgers, and the list goes on and on. These foods have fueled my athletic pursuits over the past several years, and, I believe, have helped improve my performance and especially recovery after hard efforts. I have also noticed improvements to my overall health. I no longer have issues with indigestion or constipation, which previously had always plagued me. And my biomarkers improved, especially my total cholesterol. Before, my total cholesterol had been pushing 300, now it hovers in the low 170s. That’s a significant improvement! That number is especially important to me as my father endured three heart attacks. He survived them all, but watching him suffer ingrained in me that this is something I never want to go through!
So, I was determined to adhere as closely as I could to this diet while I was cycling on the Southern Tier. It wasn’t easy at times, but I did the best I could. And looking back, I think I did pretty well. My breakfasts and dinners were definitely whole-food, plant-based meals. It admittedly took some planning but it wasn’t too hard. My nutrition while riding during the day was mostly calorie dense food, such as energy bars and peanut butter. I would have loved to have carried fresh fruit with me while cycling, but that was impossible. I just didn’t have the room to do so. And besides, a few of the roads I was on were so rough that if I did carry something like an apple with me, it would have been applesauce by the end of the day! So, in essence my diet was, calorie dense while on the bike, and nutritionally dense when off the bike; that was pretty much my mantra for the entire trip. And I’m convinced consuming all the whole grains, berries, greens, beans, and assorted vegetables that were the mainstay of most of my meals, helped significantly in my recovery and allowed me to ride without soreness or fatigue for almost the entire journey.
March 16 – March 22, 2023 – The Train Trip Out to San Diego
Early on I decided that I wanted to take the train out to San Diego. I have always wanted to take a long, overnight train ride on Amtrak and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. So Jenny and I left Milwaukee on Thursday, March 16th, 2023, taking Amtrak’s train, the Hiawatha, to Chicago where we stayed overnight. The next day we boarded Amtrak’s Southwest Chief and headed from Chicago to Los Angeles where we would board yet another train to San Diego. We would hopefully be arriving in San Diego in the early afternoon on Sunday, March 19th.
The overnight train ride was a wonderful experience. While we had difficulty sleeping that first night on the train, the next night was a much more restful sleep. And during the day we would just simply watch the views and the scenery change or catch up on our reading. Dining was actually a unique experience on Amtrak. While breakfast and lunch were on a first-come, first-served basis and we usually ate alone at those times, dinner was a different story. For dinner, seating was assigned at a specific time and we would always share our dinner with a couple of other passengers. Jenny and I enjoyed some lively conversations during dinner with our fellow passengers. And on our last night on the train, we shared more details regarding my adventure and Jenny’s aspirations on eventually working in the field of lifestyle medicine. Our dinner partners across the table actually seemed impressed by us and even referred to us as, “The Dream Team.” Wow!
Our train arrived into Los Angeles Union Station early on Sunday morning and actually on time. (Amtrak is not necessarily noted for being punctual as they are at the mercy of all manner of rail freight traffic, but they will get you to your destination.) We gathered up all our gear, roamed Union Station in Los Angeles for a while, as it is very historic and beautiful, located the ticket office, purchased tickets to San Diego, had lunch; and we then boarded our train to San Diego.
Our days in San Diego were busy. The bike needed to be picked-up at the bike shop and inspected. Gear for the long adventure needed to be packed-up. Supplies needed to be purchased for the long journey ahead. On top of all that, the next day after our arrival, a coastal storm was dramatically impacting the weather in San Diego with heavy rain and high winds. In fact, the next few days were wet and showery which forced me to delay my departure by a day. I knew I would be riding in the rain eventually on my adventure, but I wanted to start on a nice day! Despite the weather and chores, Jenny and I did manage to do a little bit of sight-seeing and enjoyed some fabulous whole-food, plant-based meals at some wonderful restaurants.
(Continued, CLICK HERE FOR WEEK 2)