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Adair Countian Diane Rose is on 3rd day of bicycle ride across U.S.A. It's the trip of a lifetime for Diane Rose, expects ride from St. Augustine, FL, to San Diego, CA, to take at least two months. It's more than an adventure, it's a ride with a purpose. She's doing it, also, for Asbury United Methodist Church's Carpenter Shop. The only regret is that her husband isn't along; the two are a familiar sight in Columbia, Russell Springs, and other nearby communities, often seen riding their tandem bicycle, pulling a little trailer with groceries behind them. This is the first in a series of articles on the ride. -CM Click on headline for complete story and photo(s) By "Max Airedale" Diane Rose, an Adair County resident, departed St. Augustine, FL on February 26, 2010, on a cross-country trip. Now for most people that would not be a strange trip, but Diane is not going by Plane, Train, or Automobile. She is riding her touring bicycle, a Trek 520, from St. Augustine to San Diego, CA, an estimated distance of 3,200 miles. She is not only riding her bike, but also she is transporting her tent, bedding, clothing, cooking utensils, other items, and two to three days supply of food. She plans to ride 40-60 miles to start, and build up to 80-100 miles a day With a total weight of bike and gear at about 80 pounds, Diane plans to ride 40 to 60 miles per day to start and work up to 80 to 100 mile per day. "It will take me most of the day to go from point A to point B each day" Diane said, "but part of that is how I ride. I like to take my time and see the sights. I know that there are others who like to zip past everything, but I like stopping and taking in everything when I ride. "Gary my husband and I have toured like this before on our tandem, but not this far, and I have never done anything like this without him." The group she is with plans to camp most nights, but will stay in a hostel or motel if needed. It's personal adventure, but one with a purpose It's a trip for adventure, and with a purpose. "I have been riding a bicycle all my life and enjoy it. It is a great way to travel; you miss so much when you go down the highway at 60 mph. I grew up in the Detroit area. I had to ride my bicycle to go anywhere, whether it was to to visit friends, go to school, to the store, anywhere. "It is just something you did," she said. "Gary and I have wanted to do a cross-county trip since the early 1980s, but work and raising three children got in the way. I was able to take an early retirement, and this opportunity came up so I decided to go for it or at least give it my best effort." She went on to say, "I'm disappointed that Gary didn't get to go with me, but he has been very supportive of me and without his backing, I would not have considered doing this at all. "I know that he is very envious of me at this point and wanted to go, also, but it just wasn't possible for both of us this time." The Rose's are members of the Adventure Cycling Association and Diane was looking at the "Companions Wanted" section in the group's magazine one night and found a few rides that sounded interesting. One followed the southern border and another went along the northern boarder of the USA. After emailing the different organizers of the rides she decided to commit to the ride in the south. As the plans were coming together there were a total of six people, three men and three women who had committed to the ride. "The six of us are from all over the country," Diane said. "I know that the organizer is from Northern Virginia, one is from Wisconsin, another is from Alabama. I'm not sure where the other two are coming from. I do know that I am the 'baby' of the group and that one of the men is in his 70's," she said. Trip is also fund raiser for The Carpenter Shop During Diane's planning stages, she came up with the idea to turn this once in a lifetime trip into a fund raiser for her church, Asbury United Methodist located just north of the Adair/Taylor county line on KY55 (at 9600 New Columbia Road, Campbellsville, KY 42718). She has challenged the members of the church to pledge as little as a cent per mile or $8.00 for the full trip to help support the Carpenter Shop. The Carpenter Shop is Asbury's local mission, which helps those residents among us who are in need. "The response from the Church is much more then I ever expected," Diane. She hopes to reach the Pacific Ocean in late April or early May She hopes to reach the Pacific Ocean by the end of April or early May, after riding through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Some of the bigger cities she and her companions will pass through are Gainesville and Tallahassee in FL; Dauphin Island (Mobile area) in AL; Baton Rouge and St. Francisville in LA. In Texas they will pass through Navasota, Austin, Del Rio and El Paso. In New Mexico they will visit Las Cruces. Arizona takes them to Tempe and the greater Phoenix area. The riders will enter California at Blythe and will work their way up and over the mountains before dropping down to San Diego. She will visit sister in San Diego Besides the goal of reaching the Pacific and dipping her front wheel into the water (she dipped the rear wheel in the Atlantic before leaving St. Augustine, Diane will visit a sister in the San Diego area that she has not seen in a while. The group is planning to stay with her sister when they arrive in San Diego. Just by luck, their route goes within a mile from her house. Diane explained why the route goes east to west and not the other way. "Going from the east gives us a change to build our strength after being off the bike for the winter before climbing the mountains. To start in the west we would have to wait a month or so longer before beginning because of the need for the areas with mountains to warm up and fight the climb right a way."We still could run into some snow at the higher altitudes in Arizona and California, but it will be almost two months before we get there. There is an organized ride leaving San Diego in late March which is traveling west to east following the same route that we are. "We will meet some place, most likely in Arizona, hopefully we can get information from them of what lies ahead us and they too can get information of what lies before them." The route that they have selected is called the "Southern Tier" which is the shortest mapped bicycle route across the U.S. Maps for trip purchased from Adventure Cycling Association The maps were purchased from the Adventure Cycling Association. The Adventure Cycling Association, one of the largest bicycling advocacy groups. Adventure Cycling has researched and developed 38,158 miles of prime cycling routes in the U.S. Most of the route will be on secondary roads, but as they travel through the western states they will be riding on the interstate highways in both Arizona and California. It is legal to ride on the expressways out west when there are no other roads which you can take to go from point A to point B. Diane pointed out "We will have to exit the expressways when every there is an exit because of a cross road, but we can then get right back on after that." Diane is not sure how she will be getting home, "Gary has been teasing me that I will have to pedal home after I get to California. Most likely I will go to a bicycle shop to have the bike boxed up and shipped home and then fly home." Diane said."Another possibility is taking a train east." This story was posted on 2010-02-28 08:43:29
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