Success is the Journey, Not the Destination

May, 1980.  

I had just graduated from College with a degree in business administration and decided that I wanted to see the USA up-close before starting my business career. I joined a group called 'Wandering Wheels' and signed up for a Coast to Coast trip on a bicycle... yes, a bicycle! What a way to see this great country. In the 80's, the high tech bicycles meant having 10 or 12 gears and the weight of the bike did not matter. The group consisted of about 50 co-ed college students and 5 support staff. The trip was to last 6 weeks.

I packed the clothes and supplies I would need for the trip in a medium size duffel bag. The group got on a Wandering Wheels “Possum” tour bus in Indiana followed by a small caravan of support vehicles and headed for California with as few stops as possible. A "Possum" bus was a Greyhound-like bus that had seats which were able to fold down in the evening as beds to sleep on. We arrived in San Diego in less than 48 hours and then took a day to assemble the bikes and organize the support equipment for the cross country trip. The trip started in the Pacific Ocean, by dipping the back tire of the bike in the water. There were 5 or 6 people in about 10 groups that traveled together at a group pace. We tried to average about 100 miles per day, except for Sundays which was a light day, typically 50-75 miles. Sometimes weather or terrain made it difficult. The first week was the hardest, getting adjusted to the bicycle seat and finding a group that traveled at your pace.

I chose the 2^nd fastest group and our group name became the “Power Nappers”. The support team checked between the teams and provided two meals a day and found places to stay at night. We slept in community centers, gyms, churches, and in the open west, camping in several large tents. We were responsible for one meal a day. My memory of leaving the state of California in May was waking up that morning to find that there were snow flurries and the temperature was in the low 30's. Our group leader told us to wear only our cycling shorts and shirts, as we were going to descend 30 miles down a mountain into the desert, where the temperature was in the 80's and he did not want to stop halfway down. We were only cold for 10 minutes and I was amazed at how fast the temperature changed as I sped down a mountain at 50-60 mph. That was my first experience traveling at that speed for that distance with a group of other cyclists.

The trip took us past the south rim of the Grand Canyon and then on to Four Corners, USA where the highlights were Indians selling trinkets. We then traveled into the mountains of Colorado passing through towns of Durango, Silverton, and working our way over many mountain passes such as Wolf Creek. The roads over the mountains in the West were longer grades which made them easier to climb, but reduced our downhill speeds due to wind resistance. I was only able to pass about 10 vehicles going down mountains in Colorado; we would get interesting looks out the windows from people as we would pass them on a bicycle. Eastern Colorado and Kansas were sharp contrasts, as we were riding the flatlands with what seemed to be headwinds at all times. The towns in the west were few and far apart.

Wandering Wheels would do about 3-5 evening programs per week when staying at a church or community center. The program would consist of a film produced from previous cross country trips, our personal experiences and the singing of some songs we learned. We could make some good noise. I believe we were a great encouragement to the people we came in contact with throughout America, that young people still had character and resolve to accomplish hard things in life.

After getting a quick breakfast from the staff resources, our group, the Power Nappers, would ride hard and fast for about 2 hours in the morning. As we would ride into town, we would be asking the locals where the best bakery was. Our typical order was a dozen or two of donuts for our group and I would also consume a half gallon of chocolate milk, if it was available. Then we would find a park or available spot to take a power nap while the other groups caught up to us. Sometimes when we woke up, all groups had left town and we would have to ride hard again to catch up for the lunch stop and another nap. It was amazing how much food we could consume. If we found a smorgasbord type restaurant, we would be asked to leave when they sometimes ran out of food.

I remember riding through St. Louis to the Archway. When we would ride into larger cities, the local kids would ride with us on their bikes. After a block or two, they would start dropping off the ride with us. At this point in our trip, we were over half way to our destination, and did not realize what kind of shape we were in, the average speed of our travel was quite fast compared to the casual bike rider. During our travels, the support team would mark the route we were supposed to take with customized painted marks and directions directly on the road. Sometimes a group would miss the marks and get off course and the support team would have to find a “lost” group. The Power Nappers got lost in East St. Louis. We went through some pretty rough sections of the city, but we were pretty cocky college kids that thought we were invincible at that point in time. Somehow, our group managed to get back on course by making more wrong turns once we realized we were lost. God was looking out for us whether we knew it or not.

Growing up western Pennsylvania, I loved the mountain environment. I loved riding up and down the mountains. The rest of my group was from the flatlands of the Midwest and did not appreciate the mountains, at least not the ride up, but I did. The mountains of West Virginia were steeper and had multiple hair-pin turns compared to the longer grades of the Rocky Mountains. You could pick up speed faster and negotiate turns much better than cars in the east. We typically could pass 6 to 10 cars in a three mile stretch down the Appalachian Mountains. We were young, dangerous riders at this point in the trip. I got my wake-up call in these mountains when I was speeding down the mountain side too fast. The staff had painted warning signs repeated about a dangerous sharp turn toward the bottom of the mountain. Being over confident and thinking I had things in control, I was traveling too fast coming into the turn. Half way through the turn, I was able to see there was a steel grated bridge we had to cross, this was a biker’s nightmare. I locked up my tires on and off several times while trying to line my bike up to cross the bridge perpendicular without going down. I made it through the bridge in a few seconds without crashing praying that my tires would hold their grip on the bridge without sliding. That was the scariest point of my trip and I had to stop for a break after that experience to settle down, stop my muscles from shaking, and thank God that I was still alive.

I remember riding through and stopping at several great landmarks in downtown Washington, DC.  Our group of 50 bikers would draw a crowd when we stopped and many people would inquire about what we were doing. It was always a great opportunity to interact with the people of America, being an encouragement while finding that we were encouraged at the same time. I had a personal goal of traveling across America without wrecking my bike. I had two days to go to complete the trip to accomplish this goal. We were traveling in the suburbs of Washington, DC and when we were traveling on level roads, we would typically have a distance of 3-6 inches between our bikes to take advantage of the wind resistance by staying close together. This also required good communication between group members of their intentions. We were coming into a scheduled stop at a parking lot close to an intersection with a light. I was next to last in the group and had overlapped my tire slightly to the right of Ron Korfmacher, a future Taylor University football coach. The group turned at the intersection but Ron decided to turn into the parking lot early turning my front wheel and my bike went down. I managed to release my feet from the toe clips of the bike and stay on top the side of bike and skidded to the middle of traffic light intersection. I then proceeded to pick up my bike and walk to the parking lot while waving to the people in the cars waiting at the light. It was a spectacular wreck and I walked away without a scratch.

We were 20 miles from our destination point of Rehoboth Beach, DE when a sporty Porsche car passed us and then stopped and flagged us down. The guy got out of his car and asked if we really rode our bikes coast to coast, as our florescent flags we wore had indicated. We replied "yes sir and we are ready to complete our six week trip at the beach."  He replied “No $#%@!", “I am a maître-d at a high-end Seafood Restaurant and I want to buy you dinner tonight." We were kind of shocked and asked if he meant all 50 of us or just our group? He clarified that he meant to our small group. We made the arrangements and had our best meal of the trip that last night after dipping our bike tires into the Atlantic Ocean. At that point, I decided I wanted to do it again and signed up to be leader of high school kids to do another coast to coast starting in one week. (See part 2 for details of that trip.)

What I learned from this trip was something that I would use for the rest of my life, the encouraging fact that big things and hard tasks can be accomplished. It took consistency to climb on the bike seat every morning, but soon it became routine. Likewise in business, when you keep doing the right things, be consistent and disciplined and soon enough, your goal will be accomplished. It was a reminder to not be overwhelmed by the weight of the task, but dividing it up daily to complete your goal. I have also learned that the important thing in life is the journey and experience, enjoy the moments and hard work that life demands instead of wishing life away to get to the end goal. Success is the journey, not the destination. It is nice looking back on the overall accomplishment for a little while, but then it’s time to move on to your next goal!