Back to Portland

The TransAm is a popular bicycle route across the country. Most days, we met a handful of other cyclists. Within the first few minutes, we would know if we wanted to ride with these people the next day or if we would have to take an extra rest day or hustle ahead to get off the same schedule as them. Most other cyclists were great, but there were those who were very competitive about weight of gear or how many miles we were making a day. Those conversations quickly become exhausting. So, it was best for us to ride with others who didn’t take touring too seriously.

We met John, wearing his Cookie Monster bike jersey (a homage to the fact that he loves sweets) outside of Rough River Falls, Kentucky. We rode like hell that day to keep up with him, because he is competitive, but in a funny and self-deprecating way. Of course, he was faster and sped in front of us, but after we had taken a few rest days and John, a few days off for a meeting, we met back up with him in Eminence, Missouri. Those where the only two days we rode with him, but we texted with him for the remainder of our trip and continuously asked those who were headed east if they had met him. John would send us random informative texts about where to get the best ice cream or lunch in the towns ahead, and who or what to avoid. It was awesome to have his encouraging texts coming in almost daily, giving us something to look forward to in the towns ahead.

We were more than ecstatic when John and his wife, Mo, wanted to meet us on the Oregon coast. We peddled like hell out of Astoria, riding to meet John and Mo in Seaside. And when we saw them standing outside their baby blue Volkswagen bus, we couldn’t stop smiling. They took us for an amazing breakfast in Cannon Beach where we shared our stories about our tours. It turns out John rode a couple of 140 mile days!

Spur of the moment we decided to go back to Portland with them. We spent most of our time divided between exploring Portland and eating pie.

Melissa and Brooke