Fletchride Blog

Long time - new ride?

So here it is, almost 11 months from the end of FletchRide, and I’ve barely done anything sense with regards to the blog.  For those who get this email, because you subscribed, I’m trying to think of another adventure.  

This time, however, with some planning.  And what’s more?  Real money sent to a great cause.

So I challenge my followers, the couple who might get this, to offer your suggestion of another ride/adventure you’d like to see or willing to support.  

With your help, we can find another way to raise funds and awareness for the good works done at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.  

Email Fletchride@gmail.com or reply to the thread, either way.  I look forward to reading your ideas!

Happy July 2010. 

Fletch (15 day countdown until the NY Bar Exam). 

Celebrating my 30th with generous gifts from others

Today is my 30th birthday and my original finishing date for FletchRide. I managed to finish 8 days early and spent the last week completely relaxing, or at least relaxing as much as my body would permit. Now I am hoping my summer will have inspired others, opened hearts and minds and touched the generous nature of you who can offer a small (or large) donation to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Also, I am writing what appears to be a book about my trip. For anyone who gives a donation over 50 dollars to BC/EFA I will make sure any future publishing or release of this work will find a complimentary trek to your door or inbox. Just a touch more incentive. Thank you all for the continued support, patience with slow blogging, and the birthday wishes. Quite a way to welcome in my fourth decade in this world. Peace. Fletch

In Los Angeles, CA. 5075 miles.

Not much to say yet, but here I am. Wow.

Los Angeles.  5000 plus miles.

FletchRide rolls south again.

After a relaxing few days in San Francisco, I am about to hop on the bike again for a four to five day ride to LA, then a couple more days to San Diego.  These last few days in San Francisco have helped to recharge my very weary body and lift my sagging spirit.  I hope the positive effects of these days will carry over to my legs during the remainder of the ride.

I also wish to thank you all for the wonderful encouragement my last entry inspired.  The generosity of the human spirit continues to amaze me.  I wonder if I would even have the strength to continute without these positive messages from near and afar.  Thank you.

Lastly, let me say I will try and write more messages these next few days, and post pictures from my journey along the coast.  Much of the journey was marred by such exhaustion and discomfort that the pictures will suffice, but I’ll add my 2 cents where helpful.  One way or another, the documentation of this adventure will be complete.

So goodbye, San Francisco.  I hardly got to know you but enjoyed my time thoroughly.  Keep passing the word on FletchRide and open the donation pool during these last 2 weeks.  Let’s make the August finish the highest grossing month  during the most challenging portion of the ride.

Thank you all.

Fletch

Sometimes there isn’t an easy answer.

Why haven’t there been any postings in the past couple weeks?  Where are the day to day adventures recorded for the pleasure of a frustrated audience who regularly let me know of their wish to read more?

I am not offering an excuse, only a partial explanation. Please understand that there may be some details here that are difficult to explain, and challenging to open about in this psuedo anonymous but completely accessible medium.  While some people are willing to spill each and every thought to the void that is cyberspace, I usually avoid such displays.

Right now I will atempt to explain:

I am exhausted.  Exhausted beyond my experience.  When I arrived in Seattle I hoped the days of rest and relaxation would reinvigorate my spirit and heal my right leg, tired muscles and weary spirit.  I was wrong.  That’s not to say I didn’t try to relax, but my legs never actually relaxed and my mind swirled with work and other obligations I needed to take care of while sitting for a week.  Imagine a vacation that is so packed with activities that when you’re done you feel like you need another vacation.  Even though my days were not so incredibly packed, that’s how I feel, looking back.

Part of the tiredness came with the weight of both the accomplishment of riding across the country on a bicycle, but also the inability to fully celebrate a completion of my journey. I was only 2/3 done.  What’s more, everyone kept saying I was almost there and the rest of the way is downhill.  But I was only 2/3 done.  From the outside, I imagine it does seem short in comparison to the rest of my ride of 3600 miles, but it’s still a long way off.  It’s 1800 more miles.  On a bicycle. On tired, injured legs. On a weary soul and mind.

So I left Seattle with a still bum leg, a body 10 pounds heavier from stuffing food down as often as I could, and a heavy heart from the random killing of a woman related to a wonderful performer who happened to be in Seattle as well.

My thoughts weighed heavy and my legs responded in kind.  The few times I caught my reflection I did not recognize the image, nor the pictures I was taking.  The exhaustion is overwhelming, leading to tears and wails and the desire to quit.  I want to stop, stick out my thumb and hitch to a bus stop.  After all, I made it to the coast, isn’t that enough?

All I can imagine is the completing this trip and falling into the arms of my love, hugging my puppy and sleeping for a week.  I also pray my legs will eventually relax so I can walk without pain and sleep for more then 2 hours without waking.  Lastly, I hope that time will bring matching color to the skin on my body, because these tan lines are simply ridiculous.

The only comparison I believe adequately describes my sense of exhaustion is that similar to a new mother, or at least from what I’ve read, seen and been told (side note; big welcome to Eden Bryce Rioseco, born yesterday to Taryn and Eddy in San Francisco).  The actions of the day are a daze, with time traveling and hours passing with little relation to normal days.  Yet there is an underlying joy that seems forgotten by the weight of the moment.

But looking towards the end of the trip hinders all progress.  Every thought of the future slows the present, as does each thought of the past.  There was a wonderful woman who touched my heart and spirit years ago in college, her name one of reverence and honor in my heart and mind: Victoria.  Not my wife, but this other Victoria enters my mind each day.  Today, along with my Victoria’s voice, I meditated in the Redwoods and reclaimed some composure and awareness of the present. The now.

I saw the place where I was, the beauty of the ancient trees and landscape while the images of my destination faded into the background.  No longer was there a light at the end of the tunnel, just simply an idea of a place to finish my ride.  For now, I ride 1 mile at a time.  No more, no less.

So now, 4300 miles into the trip, I can say my spirits are lifting, and therefore I should have little reason to not update this blog.  Please forgive a frightfully weary rider, lonely and exhausted from the long road traveled.  With this in mind, I can’t express how much I appreciate the emails, facebook and twitter messages.  These little, quick toss away comments feed my ride beyond measure.  Naturally, donations do as well.  But the tiniest gestures from afar do astounding things for the leaded legs.  Thank you.

Day 52 – Seattle!

I’m in Seattle!  I have officially cycled across the United States of America.  FletchRide has made it across the country!  3600 miles by the route I took.  I can’t believe I made it to Seattle!

So I suppose I should describe this glorious day, as quite a lot occurred.  I’ll be brief, or as brief as possible, to spare all the gory details.

Heading out at 7:00 am, I said goodbye to Maryann after loading up on some cereal and bananas.  My legs were sore, but the small climbs out of the area loosened them up, even if my average speed was lower then what I had hoped.  After a couple hours I arrived in the Bavarian mountain town of Leavenworth and stopped at a waffle haus for a carb loaded breakfast.  Eating quickly and stretching out for the coming 30 miles then another 30 of climbing, I set off through gorgeous mountain country to the beginning of the park where I rode 26 miles to a rest stop.  While eating some more and psyching up for the pass, I chatted with some travelers and discovered the remaining ride to Steven’s Pass included a number of up and down protions before a steep climb to the peak.  Coming from the west would have been a constant grade climb, without the dips, but I was not so lucky.  Nor was I lucky with shade, as it was now 11 AM and the sun was nearing it’s high point thus negating the tree coverage for the road and bathing me in sun all the way to the pass.

I wish I could say it was easy, but the ride was certainly beautiful if not slow. I finally arrived at the summit near 1:30 and gladly shot a picture near the sign.  Then I headed to the administrative offices to meet Jenn Raymond, from the Raymond clan I met at Glacier National, who works in the offices there.  She introduced me as the ‘crazy cyclist’ to her coworkers and treated me to some Powerade and a Luna bar (she loves her Luna bars).  I said my goodbyes, saw the clock and began the wonderfully steep and fast ride down. Never got above 40 mph, but stayed around 35 most of the time.  So much fun.

As I arrived in the small town of Skykomish, I saw a couple riders pulilng into the small town. Backstory:  A couple days earlier my mother-in-law, Susane, had emailed me with several of her coworkers who were doing the Redspoke ride (a large supported bike ride from Redmond to Spokane sponsored by the Rotary Club) that left that morning from Redmond with their first nights camping in Skykomish.  Lisa Swanson, one of the rider/cowokers, had sent me the first day cue sheet so I knew they were stopping here.

Originally I thought I would pass the group of 70 plus riders during the day, but with my long climb and slower going, I didn’t get there soon enough.  When I pulled into the elementary school where they were setting up camp I was asked my “number”. Of course, I didn’t have one and this perplexed a few of the workers.  Moments later I met Lisa, then Gary and Benata, all from Microvision in Redmond.  They stole me a lunch and I sat and chatted with them and Jeff for about an hour before finally getting on the road.  Apparently the ride into Seattle was not as far as I thought, only 60 some miles!  After 75 miles I was stoked and determined to make it, but it was nearly 4 PM and I had to hit the road.  With goodbyes and a couple directions I headed west.

Now I put my head down and rode hard, not entirely sure where I was going to turn south and end up as my stopping point.  The directions I had were to Redmond, and originally I had hoped to go to Microvision to meet Susane at work, but it was far too late in the day for that now.  So I decided to head into Seattle for a picture and stopping point that said “I am here”.  After some phone calls, a lot of Google maps consulting and a stop at a cycle shop out of town, I arrived in Bothell and hopped onto the Burke-Gilman Trail, a rail trail, that rode all the way around the western side of Lake Washington.

Shortly after I arrived on the busy path with bikers, bladders, runners and walkers, a ride pulled up next to me and I asked him how far to the Gas Works.  He took a guess, but then Jeff just decided to ride with me almost the entire way there.  So my last few miles into my stopping point were in shaded, paved and comfortable riding areas with company and a setting sun.  Excellent.

Jeff said goodbye a few hundred yards short of the park, and as I pulled up there was Susane and her friend Tom, snapping pictures.  The hill stood a couple hundred yards away and I rode up to meet Angela and Ashlyn and April and Julian, along with a number of random folks howling at the moon (literally).  Susane and Tom came up with a sign, a huge spread of food, and we snapped photos, laughed and marveled at the arrival of a sweaty New York cyclist to Seattle.

I can’t thank Susane enough for surprising me with this impromptu party, and for all those who came to celebrate on the hill.  It means so much to have the physical support and goodwill of people after so many days alone on a bicycle.  It can get very lonely on the rides and the smiling faces and warm embraces make up for all the hours circling the thoughts in my head.

I’m in Seattle!  And now, I’m taking a break.