And Why Not?

Or better yet...."One man's ordeal is another's adventure." --unknown--

A little over one year ago I called my good friend Gary and asked him if he’d like to ride a bicycle from San Diego, CA to Saint Augustine, Fl. After carefully considering such a wild, preposterous, and completely out-of-the-blue proposal for perhaps two or three seconds, he replied “okay.” And that was that, each of us already knowing that the other was 100% in. And why not?

Certainly Gary is a cancer survivor and legally blind, and I’ve got a fake hip and a few other aches and pains, the byproducts and blessing of still being among the living, but so what! We’ve got a most noble steed to carry us from coast to coast, a forest green 1992 Trek T-100 Tandem that I’ve revitalized and lovingly named “Hank the Tank.” And best of all, another good friend, Bob, a.k.a “Kamikaze Karsky,” will be driving my super sweet 2005 Toyota Sienna Van as a support vehicle. He’s Da Man! Bob will also be bringing his bike and riding with us part way on some days before reversing course to retrieve the van and then meet up with us at day’s end. Smells like adventure to me...

And so early on the morning of 2/26/2023 we’ll begin our adventure, and I hope to be chronicaling our experiences via this blog 2-3 times per week. The blog title, “82rpm,” alludes to our shared desire to aim for an average pedal stroke rate of 82 revolutions per minute, which is better for the knees than a lower rate in a heavier gear, and critically important in regards to maintaining the peace between the Captain (the person in front steering the tandem) and the Stoker (the person on the back seat of a tandem). Paying attention to all the little things will be vital over the course of roughly 3,000 miles and 50 days in the saddle, and will also leave us better prepared for all the unexpected stuff that surely lies in wait.

I hope you’ll be stopping by once in a while to share this experience with us, because the best things in life always get better when shared! I’ll leave the final words of this initial blog post to Gary, a.k.a. “Odie,” a nickname I bestowed upon him in that other lifetime when we first became friends and avid riders of bicycles. His succinct wisdom is always a marvel...

“My two objectives for the duration

of the journey and beyond

are to remain in

but not of

this world,

and to die young

as late as possible.

Oh yeah, and to dip a tire

in each ocean.”

--- Odie ---