Clive
Our resident Kiwi from Auckland, New Zealand, Clive has already done a self contained cycling tour of the Northern Tier across America (Washington State to Maine) and has been a fountain of knowledge, experience and tips from how high Lucille's saddle should be to reduce the pain in her knee to spare brake cables! Clive's middle name should be Poppins because his small handlebar bag appears to have everything you could ever need! When he's not cycling (and his leg muscles look like that's not very often), he works on air traffic control systems. He plans to cycle on his own down to San Fransisco once we complete this tour. His special talent is opening a bottle of beer with nothing more than another beer bottle, with an explosion resembling a champagne cork flying off! As you might expect, Clive is an efficient tourer, packing his tent away in the blink of an eye and speedily cycling without map errors to arrive in our destination often first.
Dawn
Dawn is married to John (see below!) and they live in St Paul, Minnesota. Since he can remember, John has dreamt of cycling the Bicentennial TransAmerican Cycle Route self-contained but fortunately for us Dawn was keen to do it supported and so they joined our group. Dawn is a retired nurse and is therefore very good to have on board when it comes to ailments and illnesses! Fortunately, we have not had to call on her knowledge much! She authors a fantastic blog of our trip, populated with many photos (she is known for stopping for photos on a frequent basis, much to John's amusement!) - http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/6886
Dennis
Dennis is the group's resident live music lover and basketball extraordinaire, slam dunking (if that's the right term!) hoop after hoop! He lives in Seattle, famous for it's coffee, and teaches Healthcare Administration at Universities and Colleges - he is planning to take a detour at Denver, CO to take a class. Dennis usually rides with Kath at a brisk pace, but likes to stop at 45 minute intervals for stretches, at local mom and papa diners for fruit pies, and for lunch usually, before 10am!
Hugh
What can we say? You probably already know Hugh fairly well from some of the stories contained in our blog. Hugh lives in Washington DC, is old friends with Jeff and decided to do this trip for a few reasons: to raise money for Melanoma Research Foundation as his son-in-law was diagnosed a few years ago, to train for an Iron Man Triathlon he has signed up to do in October this year and to support his buddy Jeff (whose original idea it was!). Hugh works for the Department of Health and Human Services and heads a team providing financial support to communities facing future deprivation brought on by large-scale vacant housing (foreclosures) - as you can imagine this is a very very busy time for Hugh - so much so that he wasn't able to finish all that he had planned to... in a last-minute packing operation he missed much of his leaving party to purchase a bike bag and other somewhat essential items (much of which he has now lost on the road!). His ability to misplace equipment has become infamous - dropping his room key on the first ride and dog Dazar (ultrasonic deterrent) at Bumpass Post Office, not to mention towels, mirrors, a left flipflop and other items too numerous to list. We have all been instructed to collect any items we find on the road as a precaution after the Dazar was found by Clive and Robin but not brought due to not realising what the hell the gadget was. Hugh has fair skin and so has taken suitable precautions against the sun - dressing in the fashion of Lawrence of Arabia - his is proudly hoping to return from the 83 days cycling all day across deserts, plains and mountains with whiter skin than he started with. When Hugh is around you cannot help but get carried along with his banter and find yourself eating wheat germ, humus and sardines - all now staple shopping list items (despite others' attempts for their removal!). That's it, we've run out of space to tell you about how he arrived with a carbon racing bike which snapped in the first few weeks, that he first got a bag and then bought the big bags of all bags but I'm sure his blog will mention the rest http://hughsusabikeride.blogspot.com/
Jeff
Jeff won an group award for volunteering the most to help with almost anything and everything, including cooking duties. Jeff lives in Washington DC with his family and recently retired from the Census Department in order to complete this trip and enjoy his new Granddaughter. If you need a questionnaire designed, Jeff's your guy! He is particularly proud of his Gut'r, something which I am trying to convince him is not as effective as my bandanna (the strip of plastic manages to give the wearer a salty shower down the side of your face, Jeff). Jeff is a pretty nifty cyclist, having done a tour of Montana previously, and always seems to effortlessly gluide past us. Jeff is quick witted and a keen football ("soccer") supporter - imagine his glee when the USA drew against England in the World Cup! Jeff has a biblical following of an order of magnitude more than us so his blog must be worth something at http://manismyasssore.blogspot.com/
Jerry
Jerry is a retired State Trooper and has an Ocean fronting house in Santa Cruz, CA. He puts us to shame at a mere 70 years of age, having completed cycling across the Southern Tier (California to Florida) the week before this trip started and is now cycling home. Jerry is fit, tanned and able to give much needed tips/guidance along the way. Beer Barron Jerry likes ice cold beer and he volunteered to take on the much needed role of keeping two coolers full of beer and wines throughout the trip - something which we all have come to appreciate. Jerry rides a recumbent - imagine a normal bike, then stretch out the wheels and change the position from one of almost standing to one of almost lying down - his custom-built titanium bike comprises a comfy arm-chair style seat and plastic windshield but don't be fooled by this relaxed posture - he hit 50.2 mph on a downhill!
John
John is a Civil Engineer and lives with Dawn in St Paul. They actually met on a previous Adventure Cycling tour of Vermont in 1999 - not sure if she biked down the aisle though in 2002. John, like Clive and Jerry, has already cycled across America but John raced across in a mere nine days as part of a 24 hours a day riding supported team of four in 2007, beating the amature time allowance by over a day! Wow. He is now fulfilling his life dream of taking the scenic route across. They ride together each day and we have now learnt what their hand signals mean (no, not those sort, just turning left, right, stopping and debris ahead!). He also authors http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/6886
Joyce
Kath
Kath is our group's Aussie. She is a keen rower with many medals for her efforts and, although had limited cycling experience previously, her high fitness level has ensured that she can power up the worst Appalachian hill with only the occasional acrobatics! Her family is very international and rather cycling savvy. Her Canadian husband, Rick, has cycled self-contained across Australia; her daughter Hannah is a vet in the high-flying equine circles of Kentucky (fortunately they were able to meet up) and has cycled across Canada; her son Sam also lives in Australia. She obviously appreciates her culture and often passionately shares her joy at having hunted out a fantastic prehistoric fossil or colourful Indian rug or African pottery hidden away in a small local town museum or gallery with the group! Kath initially seemed fated to have cooking duties at sites with poor cooking facilities and inclement weather but, taking these in her stride, hors d'oeuvres with fresh basil appear - no one has any excuse from now onwards. Kath shares a number of traits with Luc - enjoying a nice glass of chilled wine, a strong preference not to sleep within earshot of the group's snorers (and there are a lot and it takes a long distance!) - so on several occasions has joined us in hunting out a side room to sleep when we stay in churches etc. Kath also has become Rob's source of reading material (currently I've just finished my fourth hand-down book - all excellent but she must read quicker than me as I have to read into the night to keep up with her!).
Michael
Michael is one of our co-leaders. He lives in Columbus, Ohio. He was German-born but speaks excellent English plus Spanish - safe to say his language abilities exceed Rob's. He is a Computer Programmer but only when not cycling - his landmark trip was riding the length of the Americas Continent over a 2 year period from Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay - mad, clearly. Michael appears an expert yoga person - on the second day we were all sharing a church hall and I walked in to find him I guess in the Buddha position but upside down i.e. on his head - mad, clearly. Michael has developed a bit of a reputation for bringing German precision (some would argue much needed) to the group's storage boxes - although I continue to dispute the placement of peanut butter under lunch.
Mike
Mike is retired and lives in Detroit and is another of the group's speed demons whilst cycling and is often one of the first to arrive (but not in terms of packing his camp stuff away, he's usually one of the last to leave!). Mike is a reader and typical posture, as we finally cycle into camp, is sitting calmly next to his erected tent in the shade reading his next book. He loves coffee a lot and often goes the extra mile to brew a pot before leaving. In the first week Mike managed to trigger a historic back injury - not from carting around his massive bag but, apparently, by turning and lifting a toilet seat - fortunately all is well now. Mike is known as the a la carte chef having rustled up poached salmon and roast beef on occasions - unfortunately the bar has been raised, nice one Mike! Mike treats his body well - doesn't weigh down his wrist with a watch (waking with the sun), and claims to avoid chips/food from a can/ice cream. Unfortunately we got the wrong end of the stick with the latter, sorry for the huge ice cream birthday cake Mike!
Phil
Phil lives in Arlington, Virginia and loves bikes. At 21 years of age, Phil prides himself on living life to the full and is always seeking out his next adrenaline adventure. Having jumped off numerous river bridges, cliffs and dams he often arrives at destinations soaking wet, late and with a big grin. Phil takes sleeping and eating seriously. Strangely the sleeping is only effective in the hours after breakfast in served. Eating-wise we cannot fathom how is so trim as he packs all he can fit into his ruck sac for lunch and generally has two servings of dinner. We are slightly concerned about his well-being - as if this was not enough, he has concocted the idea of cycling back to Yorktown when we get to Oregon self-contained.
SteveSteve, our co-leader, knows pretty much everything there is to know about bikes - and is our bike repair extraordinaire. Steve often joins Phil on his amazing adventures, particularly as he is fufilling the role of sweep (last guy on the route) on an alternate basis with Michael. He is slightly competitive and fierce advocate of his University Penn State. Steve has proved that you don't need to maintain a healthy diet to stay trim, his favourite foods include greasy cheeseburgers and multicoloured fruitloop cereal. He plans to join the US Park Service and be a ranger but for now is making every effort to learn to speak English English.
