It is sort of hard to believe that ‘My Big Adventure’ is over. I made it riding Irma from LA to Boston and dipped her wheels in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Early this morning we stood outside the hotel looking at our maps and setting off on our bikes....

93.02 miles Almost like a final examination paper, today was the ultimate test of our determination. It poured down for probably the first 50-60 miles of todays ride. I mean the type of pouring rain that makes rivers run down the roads. My glasses had to be removed as...

As you all know by now, Chris has embarked on a remarkable journey. We are all fortunate to be along for the ride. Deirdre has asked me to write a guest blog for the penultimate day on his cross country bike ride. My name is Don Coughlan and I have been a friend of...

Albany, NY to Brattleboro, VT 77.85 miles (with detour) Well the hills finally got me! I was hoping to ride every foot and inch to Boston but to be honest these last hills were just to much. ARE YOU KIDDING ME – I didn’t have any problems today other than I would love...

My first contact with Chris was via a message to my Facebook Coaching Page on November 17, 2018 – ‘Hi, I was looking to find a cycling coach. I am cycling from LA to Boston in May/June 2018, and I was looking for a couple of days coaching and guidance as I’m pretty...

Herkimer, NY to Albany, NY. 78.60 miles   Before we start today I have to thank Colleen, Tim and now Tom & Joe for the blog posts they sent and Deirdre posted. Your way to kind and if your not careful you are going to get me far to emotional to finish this...

We chatted on the phone this afternoon to discuss how we’d even approach this, for once taking our Dad’s advice to look back over the last six weeks of our lives to gain some perspective on Chris’ journey. We’ve both accomplished a reasonable amount: a few...

Syracuse, NY to Herkimer, NY 71.08 miles Today was a pretty easy ride and to be honest there isn’t much I can say beyond it was a nice ride. Tiredness and the idea of finishing this ride I think has started to take over not just me but the group in general. For the...

Canandaigua, NY to Syracuse, NY 69.94 miles Well I am glad we are out of Canandaigua not because its a bad town or anything. Its just I really have no idea how to pronounce the name when asked where we are or where we came from. For the first 30 miles or so I messed...

One day in 2017, Chris told me that he was going to do something he had always thought about. Knowing that he is a committed golfer, I naturally assumed that it had to have something to do with golf. As he has mentioned on the blog, he was already trying to play the...

  Then I saw this sign which I thought slightly odd in New York State and am no wiser now as to why it was there. I don’t think there are kangaroos in NY state.   Next I saw a big tree which you might ignore most days of the week. When you actually look at it...

Erie, PA to Hamburg, NY 80.68 miles Leaving the hotel the clouds looked ok so I left my waterproof jacket off. After half a mile I stopped to put my jacket on. In doing so I lost the group and thought I was on my own again destined to play catch up for an hour or two....

Rest Day – Erie, PA Today is our last rest day before Boston. As you know by now Don is in town, so we met up again this morning. He had another treat in store for me. Breakfast. We got in the car and headed a few miles out of town to a ‘real diner’, that was actually...

Hi All, Chris is inching ever closer to Boston, having arrived in Erie, Pa yesterday. Today is his last rest day on the tour. Tomorrow he leaves Erie and over the next 8 days will ride across Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and finally Massachusetts....

Niles, OH to Erie, PA. 90.02 miles Well after our late night out (dinner at 7:30 pm) I slept like a log. The log awoke to a spectacular view of Lake Erie at 5:30 am (routines are hard to break). Finally I had to get up and find some coffee. I really wanted to post...

As I rode into Erie, and just before I reached the hotel, I saw a guy standing on the corner of the road. I knew that stance and then recognized the golf shirt – it was my friend Dr. Don Coughlan. I cant believe he drove down from Toronto just to say hi. He did and we...

Wooster, OH to Niles, OH 92.76 miles Another ride over 90 miles again today and for the first time started with some light rain. The rain was nothing much to write home about but just enough to make you slightly damp. All of us pondered the crucial question – do I...

Marysville, OH to Wooster, OH 98.59 miles Another day done and dusted, and another almost one hundred mile ride in the books. According to my Garmin today’s ride ended up being 98.59 miles with 4,022 feet of climbing! Who said Ohio was flat? I was asked more than once...

Richmond, IN to Marysville, OH 104.7 miles   Today was our last official century ride. I know a few people have said they might ride an extra two miles tomorrow just to get another one done. If you added 7 miles on Tuesday and 10 miles on Wednesday you could have...

Indianapolis, IN to Richmond, IN 72.5 miles   Well there is not much I can say about todays ride apart from we got onto I 40 after 7 miles and then cycled 65 miles to the hotel. The road was fine and we did have a tailwind for a decent amount of the time.  ...

Crawfordsville, IN to Indianapolis, IN. 54.7 miles (plus a detour, plus a sightseeing trip so an extra 20-25). So today was sort of a strange day really. First it was a short day comparatively speaking of around 55 miles. Secondly we were going mainly Southeast before...

Champaign, IL to Crawfordsville, IN 80.61 miles So after our rest day in Champaign it was back on the road again with an 80.61 mile ride to Crawfordsville, IN. As usual it seems now, I led everyone out of town with Terry riding wingman at first. After a few miles...

Rest Day – Champaign, IL A rest day. It was great today waking up without the alarm at 5:15 am, looking at the clock, being able to turn over and going back to sleep. I guess that extra hour or so I got this morning made me feel like a teenager sleeping through to...

Springfield,IL to Champaign, IL 87.2 miles Well I made it to rest day 4 out of 5. I am now in Champaign, IL and am happy to say still EFI for the trip (I have ridden every foot and inch so far). Believe it or not we have only 15 ride days left to the wheel dip in...

Quincy, IL to Springfield, IL 107.31 miles Well today was a long day for me. Not a bad day, just a long day. Depending how you look at things it went like this:- I got a little behind at breakfast as it was served and not the usual self service. I realized I had not...

Kirksville, MO to Quincy, IL 75 miles Well today or more accurately last night we found out that one of our riders had an accident on the road yesterday and was airlifted to the University of Missouri hospital in Columbia MO. I was ahead of Mike Two (my name for Mike...

Chillicothe, MO to Kirksville, MO. 75 miles Today I thought I would suck in my stomach and give Subway some free marketing. As most of you know Deirdre has spent pretty much most of her entire working life with Subway. First working for a well known Development Agent...

St Joseph, MO to Chillicothe, MO 87 miles Another day and all is good with the world again. It’s always been the same with me since I was a kid, go to bed and get a good nights sleep and see what its like in the morning. My mother instilled this mentality into me and...

I was lucky enough to get to Abilene, Kansas this week to catch up with Chris on his third rest day. It was good to see my fella. He looks good and feels good. Yes, he’s pretty tired but his spirits are good. There is no ‘give up’ in my Hubster, none! As I said...

Topeka, KS to St. Joseph, MO 84 miles Well this is the real test. The middle section, the rolling hills, the long miles. I knew when I was over analyzing this trip (as I do with everything) that this part was going to be the tough section for me. The first third of...

Abilene, KS to Topeka, KS 105.6 miles So unfortunately this is another one of those, I have to make this quick posts. Today’s ride was long, hot and to be honest tiring. However I also have to say it was a beautiful day, scenic ride and quiet roads so all in all...

Rest Day – Abilene, KS 0 miles Oh the joy of a day off. However with nowhere to cycle today I was at a bit of a loss first thing of what to do. Deirdre was up early for a call to the UK followed by doing my washing so I wandered around aimlessly with my routine broken...

Great Bend, KS to McPherson, KS 64.53 miles As Dinah Washington, Rod Stewart or Ami Winhouse (depending on your age) might say, ‘What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours’. Yes the Yang returned to equal the Ying of yesterday and life is good again. I was...

Great Bend, KS to McPherson, KS 64.53 miles As Dinah Washington, Rod Stewart or Ami Winhouse (depending on your age) might say, ‘What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours’. Yes the Yang returned to equal the Ying of yesterday and life is good again. I was...

Dodge, KS to Great Bend, KS 84 miles Today was hard, really hard. I know if you look at the map, gradients or anything else you want to todays ride looked easy enough. What you can not see is a crosswind with some hurt that turned into a headwind of 20-30 mph for all...

Liberal, KS to Dodge City, KS. 83.3 miles So today it was out of the hotel, ride US 54 E for 61 miles, turn left onto US 283 N for another 20 miles, turn left and the  hotel is about one mile on the right. The End. Photo of me – thanks Robin Well ok it was more like,...

Guymon, OK to Liberal, KS 39.6 miles Today was almost perfect, tailwind, great road conditions and perfect weather. If I could change anything at all, it would be that I wished today was one of our 100 mile rides not a really short 39.6 miles. Last night we had a...

Dalhart, TX to Guymon, OK. 71.5 miles     So much for plans. After the previous days of riding into a headwind I had decided that today I was going to ride with the others as much as I could. As we finished the route talk at 7:00 am I noticed I had a flat...

Tucumcari,NM to Dalhart, TX. 95.8 miles  Well today ladies and gentlemen was a long day. On our notes it was billed as a 95 mile ride with just over 2,000 ft of climbing. I think all of the riders would agree this was the toughest day so far. First we rode into a...

Las Vegas, NM to Tucumcari, NM 109.5 miles   It often takes me a good 30 minutes to get my breathing totally right for some reason in a morning at the start of a ride. This has almost always been the case since I started cycling. Today was no different as we...

Santa Fe, NM to Las Vegas, NM. 73.0 miles       So after a day off I found it took me a while to get into a good rhythm. I had decided to set out 15 minutes behind the first group today. The first 15 miles of todays route were uphill, so I settled into...

Today was our second rest day, a time to rest. So why was I awake and up at 5:30 am like I have been every day since we started this ride. What am I going to do all day if I have nowhere to ride to today. This is how it has become already for me. For so long I have...

Albuquerque, NM to Santa Fe, NM. 67.7 miles       Today was billed as a ‘great ride’ day. In one way it was but to be honest by the time I arrived in Santa Fe I was glad it was done. The route was pretty for sure and did not involve any Interstates at...

Grants, NM to Albuquerque, NM 78 miles     The day again started as most days do now. I wake up just before the alarm at 5:30 am and wonder why its always not long enough to go back to sleep but to early to get up. Pack my two duffle bags back up after I had...

Gallup, NM to Grants, NM 65.66 miles     Breakfast with the Colonel (Barry) was a great way to start today. We chatted while loading up on carbs, coffee and anything else you think might fuel you for each day. The morning was beautiful and with only 65 miles...

Well the day started with an email from our hero’s  from yesterday. I can now tell you their names are Mike Wilson and Courtney Phillips. They also sent me these pics and wished me well on my journey, what a great start to the day.  

First some things to say before I go for a long ramble about a long day. I want to thank each and everyone of you who has joined my ride, spread the word and donated to our cause. We passed the $15,000 mark before I even reached New Mexico, which is wonderful,...

Today was our first of five rest days for this ride. I was definitely ready for today and enjoyed every minute of it. Some of the group visited the Grand Canyon for the day, others went off to find local history and/or attractions. I went for a mid morning massage...

Cottowood, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ 47 Miles   So before I let you know how today went, I have to talk about last night! Irma got some well deserved loving. During the day she had not seemed like herself. As a former nurse I was a tad bit worried about her health. I...

Prescott, AZ to Cottonwood, AZ 44 Miles Day 6 passed very quickly. I am not sure if it was actually easy or just that the past few days have been so hard by comparison. I rolled out of the hotel early gunning along a nice wide two lane highway. The road was smooth and...

Wickenburg, AZ to Prescott, AZ 59 Miles   Hills and climbing were the big unknown for me. If you have read my past posts you know that I have limited training and success with hills. So a day of around 5,600 ft of climbing was going to be a test for me today and...

Wickenburg, AZ to Prescott, AZ 59 Miles   Hills and climbing were the big unknown for me. If you have read my past posts you know that I have limited training and success with hills. So a day of around 5,600 ft of climbing was going to be a test for me today and...

Indio, CA to Blythe, CA 96.7 miles       Not exactly my best fashion look today. Unfortunately I do not ride across the desert with the style and looks of Omar Sharif or Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. I am looking more like a ‘past his best’...

Riverside, CA to Indio,  CA - 92.7 Miles   Today’s ride was  supposed to be 92.7 miles from Riverside to Indio but my ride was actually 93.41 miles, due to the fact I left my sunglasses at the second SAG stop. I had to double back into a headwind to pick them up,...

Manhattan Beach, CA to Riverside, CA78 Miles     At last I am on my way East until we reach Boston. After riding the bike in groups of two side by side the  5 miles from the hotel to the beach, I took of our shoes and socks and dipped Irma’s back wheel into...