Why ride across the country?

Why would anyone want to bike across the country?  I imagine this question will confront us many times (perhaps many times a day) over the 3 months we are out on the road.  Leaning on sore hands, butts numb and legs burning as we pedal uphill or into a headwind or driving rain for 6 hours a day, day after day... why do this?

... to take a break from the tedium of daily life, especially those aspects that can be part stressful and monotonous at the same time ... to simplify - we'll need to stay connected, document our journey, and promote our cause along the way, but often our daily priorities won't have to stretch far beyond getting to the next destination and meeting our basic needs: food, water, shelter, sleep ... to experience this vast and diverse country on the ground, on roads and in places that you might miss on an interstate at 70mph, or at 30,000 feet, and at a speed that allows you to immerse yourself in the landscape and meet people along the way ... to embrace a challenge equally physical, mental, and emotional, pushing the limits of our personal endurance and hopefully achieving the satisfaction of perseverance to meet our goals for each day and for the trip overall.

Those are selfish reasons, which got us all excited about this trip in the first place.  The same sorts of reasons anyone will travel, take vacations, engage in recreation, spend time outdoors, etc.  Even if you don't enjoy endurance athletic events you can appreciate the appeal of an extended road trip across some of the most beautiful land in this country.  For us the more important question stems from our mission - why ride across the country to raise awareness and advocate for bike safety?

This mission was certainly not chosen at random to give cause to our trip.  The answer to this question evokes deep passion in all of us.  To fully illuminate why we are motivated to advocate for safer and bike-friendlier communities (and why we hope you think it's important too!), we will discuss this issue in several blog posts to come - stay tuned!