Adam Completes Bike Ride from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta!

A little background: My 27 year old daughter left her home in Pittsburgh 11 months ago on a solo bike trip around the continent. Starting in Pennsylvania, she biked up into Canada and all the way across that country to Fairbanks, Alaska, then down through Alaska and the U.S. west coast to Mexico and then all the way across Mexico to its eastern most point, Cancun. From there she flew back to Ft. Lauderdale at the end of February where she asked me to meet her with my bicycle so that we could complete the last 725 mile leg of her 12,000 mile bike journey together.

I’m not a biker. In fact, truth be told, I haven’t biked more than 40 miles total in years. So when my daughter invited me on this trip, I admit it seemed daunting and scared the hell out of me. But the thought of missing out on this opportunity to spend uninterrupted  time with my daughter allowed me to believe that somehow I could make it, or at least give it a good try. (Of course it helped knowing that no matter where I was on the journey, I was never more than a few hours from either my family in Atlanta or my parents in Ft. Lauderdale who could come and rescue me if necessary.)

So, on February 26th, I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale and the following day she and I set out for Atlanta. We started off slow, biking “only” 34 miles the first day but eventually we averaged around 60 miles a day. We stopped along the way to visit family and friends, and to play tourist, taking 1/2 days off at Cape Canaveral and St. Augustine, and to enjoy the Florida beaches along A1A.

My one request for the trip was “no camping,” something Aryn did about a third of the nights on her trip. I had to draw the line somewhere and I knew my nearly 57 year old body would surely protest that added adventure. She mercifully agreed. Two weeks later, and 10 lbs lighter (me, not the bike which still carried my 30+ lbs of clothes and gear), we made it to Atlanta, she going strong, me a little worse for wear but feeling like I’d conquered Mount Everest.

I can’t say I’d do it again, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. The challenge was great and completing the journey made me feel like I could accomplish anything. But more importantly, the two weeks uninterrupted with my daughter at her request was perhaps the greatest gift I could imagine! How many fathers ever get that opportunity? How could anyone say no to that?