A Reflection on Biking Across the USA with 11 Strangers

An adapted Instagram diary entry from June 4th, 2024. Original entry can be found here.

One year ago today I started a supported bike tour across the country with 11 strangers. About a quarter of the way into the trip, I stopped posting altogether, due to an overwhelming hatred for social media and desperate need to leave the internet for a couple of months. I wanted to reflect on the group bike tour for you all, since @dr.rustypedals (my New Zealand bike tour buddy) reminded me that today was our one year anniversary of starting our cross country journey.

I promote unsupported bikepacking and bicycle touring on this account. I try to inspire others to go outside and do the hard things. To say f*ck it and go on an adventure. I was very hesitant to sign-up for the supported group bike tour for a number of reasons. 1. I historically have not gotten along super well with others in team sports, hence why I have chosen individual sports that you can choose to do in a group when desired. 2. I have my little queer, weird, nerdy, leftist friend group here in Baltimore, and knowing that anyone (aged 18-28) could sign up for the tour, I was afraid of leaving my bubble and potentially spending the summer with people who would have radically different beliefs than my own. And 3. I had only ever done unsupported bikepacking/bike tours before- it felt weird signing up for something already pre-organized (Strava routes, lodging and all) with a van to carry our belongings. After thinking over things, I decided that yes, I should sign up for the bike tour, because I wanted to quit my job, and this was the opportunity the universe laid out before me to finally leave.

Everyone on the tour was required to raise $5000 for the nonprofit (the organization that puts together this ride), so I obliged. I will be completely honest here and say that I hate raising money for (most) charities- nonprofits are largely just a sprawling pile of differently shaped, sized and colored bandaids for an ineffective government/social welfare system. Why are middle class Americans always expected to donate $5 here and $5 there to make up for the broken systems that our government refuses to fix? That I ask my friends who earn $35-80k a year with $20-120k in debt to donate to a cause? It ought to be illegal to be a billionaire. Raising money for this nonprofit is literally an example of socialized healthcare (crazy isn’t it!) but god forbid anyone say those words (particularly to the Trumpers who would donate to the cause) or else you’re just a dirty commie who wants a repeat of the widespread famines during Soviet Russia. I will say, of all the flawed and useless nonprofits that exist in the USA, the one we supported on this bike tour was quite a good one, and I’m glad that the money I raised went towards them. They do great work helping young adults with cancer, and I would sincerely recommend them to anyone in need of help.

I won’t go into the details about what the personality clashes were (I’m not interested in rehashing who said or did what), but I made really close friends with five people from the tour, and a few others I did my best to IRL block halfway thru the journey. I was reminded why I stopped playing team sports years ago. I thought I was going crazy with some of the people on the team- screaming at some when they repeatedly crossed lines they promised to not cross, cleaning up the messes of others, sobbing when people said provoking things, becoming exasperated with others about things that would take an hour to explain. I made five really great friends on this tour, people who I still see/call today. Five people who I would, in a heartbeat, go on another tour with again. Five people that I wish I saw more often. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I saw one of my teammates at bike party this past weekend, and when they approached me to say hello, I grabbed my drink and sprinted to the other side of the brewery to get away from them. It is quite burdensome being apart of a “team” for the summer with people who you’d rather avoid like the plague.
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I know these long posts I write can often come across as Debbie Downers. The summer tour wasn’t all that bad- I was able to see multiple national parks, cross the Rocky Mountains, visit big and small cities, see a big portion of the country. I finally quit my job. I got to bike most days of the week, something that I love. I formed some incredible friendships, and have a whole lot of funny pictures and videos to remind me of the good times. And I know the money I raised went to a good cause. I even flew to New Zealand with Jima from the summer tour for crying out loud! A lot of good things came from this supported group bike tour that I am incredibly grateful for. Biking across the country has led me to where I am today, and I like where I am.18w19 likesReply

But I digress. This bike tour that I was a part of- alternating driving days with 11 other people, sleeping on the floors of various churches for June, July, and August, preaching our mission to strangers in the streets where they would drop their jaw in awe as to what we were doing. It felt silly to me, the respect that we received, because if we had socialized healthcare, there would be no need to bike across the country on this virtuous journey to fight cancer. And besides, was this even that much of a challenge, with the routes pre-planned, the lodging pre-determined, a van carrying all of our items? I know this may sound a bit stuck up or conceited or give off “work harder” energy, whatever it may be, but as someone who started off bicycle touring alone with all her items packed into two Ortlieb panniers and one seat bag, this felt like pseudo bicycle touring (this doesn’t necessarily make it less of a bike tour, I just prefer doing it the DIY way).
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But I digress again! The people, the people is what I really wanted to talk about. 11 strangers from all across the country. The USA is a BIG place in case you didn’t already know- there are a hell of a lot of people with terrible viewpoints on life (racism, homophobia, sexism etc.) who claim it as “political ideology” rather than admitting to simply being an awful person. I’m not saying that this trip was filled with people like that by any means (I’m merely pointing to the possibility and fear of it happening)…. but what I am trying to say is that there were some large (very large) personality clashes for the entire summer. And I wasn’t at peace during it.

I get a lot of messages from people thanking me for my authenticity with this account. I wanted to keep that authenticity moving forward and be honest about what you may sign up for on a group tour. I love bikepacking and exploring the world by bike. It is important to know that if you sign up for a group tour, you could end up with people you do not get along with. You could also end up with a huge group of people you love, which I’ve known others to experience from their group tours. If you are the type of person who doesn’t get bothered easily, then perhaps this is not a worry for you! But if you are someone who knows may clash with others, I would suggest finding a group bike tour that appeals to a certain demographic- women, queer, POC- or a tour that just gives off the right vibes. When I lead my first bikepacking trip in May, I was worried I might have folks signup with wildly different ideas than my own. But when I met everyone and the days went on, I was ecstatic that they all signed up, because they were exactly the kind of people I was hoping to attract. There are group tours that exist out there with the right people for you- just make sure you go and find it.
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All in all? I started a group, supported cross country bike ride a year ago from today. It was most certainly a unique experience that has deeply impacted my life. But for the foreseeable future, I will stick to the OG way of bicycle touring 🙂

*photos were taken by Cristina Calderon (@cris.cr0ss111) and are not my own