FAQs

In this post I decided to answer a few questions I get asked frequently!

Why are you doing this?
I'm doing this for two reasons - one for the cause, and one for the experience. Cancer is a cause that's important to me because I lost my grandfather to cancer in November 2011. He had pancreatic cancer and was sick for about 2 years. He was such a strong, kindhearted, robust man, and the weak figure he became was indicative of how debilitating cancer really is. Secondly, I love exercise and adventure. Last summer I had an internship and while it was a great thing to be able to put on my resume, I was usually pretty bored and didn't like spending every summer day in a windowless, freezing lab running tests. I longed to be outside exploring. I also realized that this is the last summer I will have to do something that is not work. No, I do not think I am going to cure cancer by biking across the country; that is not my intention. Instead, I think that biking across the country is a great way to show solidarity with cancer victims as well as inspire others. The physical exertion of biking so many miles each day represents the physical struggle cancer victims face, and the team unity necessary to conquer mountains and wind represents the hope and encouragement required to fight this debilitating disease. I also know that this experience will challenge me in all ways - physically, mentally, and interpersonally, and I expect that facing these challenges will improve my character.

What do you eat?
We will get all of our food donated. Typically breakfast will be provided by our host, lunch will be sought out by the van drivers from a local establishment along our route such as Subway, Chipotle, a supermarket, or fast food, and dinner will either be provided/donated by our host or also donated by a local food establishment. Other than being aware of which hosts will provide us with breakfast/dinner beforehand, we won't know day-to-day what we will eat that day.

Will you wither away into a stick?
No. I've heard great things about the dinners at hosts that are provided by members of the community. In the event that we can't get food donated, we do have an emergency card provided by the 4K. Cycling will burn between 450 and 600 calories per hour for my weight, translating to burning well more than a daily caloric intake in one day. However, the human body, being awesome, adjusts to intense conditions and will learn to get by on fewer calories. Obviously also the good news is that I can probably eat whatever I want without any concern of gaining weight. I am kind of worried that after my metabolism slows down, when I get back and am no longer biking all day, that I'll gain weight. I'll have to be careful about that.

Where do you stay?
We are generally hosted by churches, but also sometimes homestays, schools, or colleges. We will usually sleep on the floor, but in homestays/ college stays we will get beds. We obviously prefer homestays, but not all communities are willing to or have the resources to provide homestays to 30 unknown college students. We bring with us a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad. We make every effort to find hosts that have showers and laundry, but occasionally showers aren't available. Yuck! We also have a lot of repeat hosts that love the 4K and look forward to us coming back each year.

How do you bring your stuff?
We don't have to carry anything on our backs. We have two support vans (called SAG vans - support and gear) that drive with us and carry our stuff. One of the vans usually looks for lunch while the other scouts out the route and chalks in the road for riders to be aware of when a turn is coming up. 2 people drive each van each day, and we switch off. We are allowed 1 small duffel bag (supplied by the 4K) and 1 backpack. We don't have much room at all, but then again we won't need much. I've been told that we probably only need 1 outfit of normal clothes since we only have one rest day per week and no one will really care if we wear the same thing since we'll be hundreds of miles away from our last location. I also kind of anticipate sleeping in my biking clothes because we wake up really early! It's going to be SO weird for me to only pack one or two outfits of normal clothes and to leave everything else behind for 10 weeks!! The only things I will probably carry on me are water bottles (on my bike), my phone, and an emergency $20. I'll also have my mini tool kit attached to my bike.

What if you get a flat tire?
We will carry extra inner tubes. We all are supposed to learn how to change flat tires, but if something more serious happens, we have a Ride Mechanic that will be called to help. We also have the vans which will have more tools and gear to fix the problem, and/or take the bike and rider to the nearest town for help.

How long does it take?
70 days. June 2, 2013 (Baltimore) - August 10, 2013 (Portland).

How many miles do you ride per day?
An average of about 75 miles per day. Our shortest day is around 50 miles and our longest day is around 110. We will do approximately 10 centuries (100 or more miles in one day) throughout the trip. I'll have exact numbers on this in about a week!

How many hours do you ride per day?
Anywhere from 4 to 12 with an average of probably 8. We will start as soon as the sun comes up, especially on hot days! Our goal will always be to arrive to the host before the heat of the day. Heat exhaustion is a major concern.

How do you get back?
We are on our own to get back. Some people can drive the vans back. I plan on flying, and shipping my bike back through REI.

What does it mean that you're Leg Leader?
It means Chelsea and I have the best legs on the team and everyone has to try to make their legs look like ours.

Just kidding. It actually means that we are responsible for planning the route for 1/3 of the trip. We have the second leg which is going to be approximately: Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and part of Wyoming. We're still figuring out the start and end dates of our leg because of some changes being made to the route as a whole (i.e. Cedar Point and Utah! The Portland ride hasn't gone there before). We are responsible for choosing where we will stop, where we will stay, and what roads we will take. We need to confirm our arrangements with hosts initially, one month prior, and one day prior to our stay, at the least. While on the ride we will responsible for riders knowing the route, i.e. giving out cue sheets and making sure everyone understands where we're going before the day begins, as well as keeping up morale on the team (particularly difficult for the second leg as the honeymoon phase will have worn off, not to mention we'll be in very hot areas with not a lot of interesting attractions). We'll also be the contacts during that time between the hosts and the team, and will need to make sure everyone is respectful and polite to hosts. We do have many years of history of this ride to look back on and have many repeat hosts to contact, but we are making a few changes and have been responsible for creating a new route and finding new hosts in those cities. This week we are working on finalizing our route and will be contacting hosts in the upcoming weeks! We would like to have all hosts confirmed before May so that we aren't going crazy during finals week.

Hope these FAQs are interesting to read and answer some questions people may have! I'm currently in Chicago for an Alternative Spring Break. It's freezing, but a lot of fun. I'm blogging from the lobby of our hostel where a lot of people are hanging out, and I can hear about 4 languages being spoken right now, none of which are English :) Those of you that know me know I love eavesdropping on other conversations in other languages, so obviously this is great. Will post again about training and fundraising stuff quite soon :)

XOXO,
Mary