Bicycling

Introduction

I have been a bike rider essentially all my life. Obviously as a child, it was my only means of transportation. However, as I grew into an adult, I found it to be a great means of transportation and a door to adventure. Over the years I have done a good bit of road biking and mountain biking. After the wife had some health issues, tandem riding was the rule of the land – as she could no longer ride on her own.

Road Biking

Beginning

While I was in North Chicago doing some training for the Navy I used to borrow my roommates bike and go for a ride. I didn’t go real far or real often but it was a beginning.

When I was transferred to Long Beach CA, I bought a Sears special. I rode it into town regularly. From the USS Decatur (where I was stationed) to Long Beach was probably about 6 miles. On weekends I often took a ride around the Los Angeles harbor. I rode to San Pedro often and to Seal Beach regularly. I rode that bicycle until it was falling apart.

I sold it to Paul Wise when the ship took off for a Westpac tour.

My First Nishiki

My first quality bicycle was an American Eagle – The predecessor brand to Nishiki. I rode it to work at the naval base in San Diego until someone stole it. I replaced it with a Nishiki. From My apartment in North Park to the base was about 7 miles. After my tour of duty, I attended San Diego State University – again riding to school everyday – about 12 miles round trip. On weekends I would often put in nearly a hundred miles riding to the beach or the mountains.

After San Diego. I moved to Los Angeles and rode with Tony Pietsch nearly every weekend (riding to school in the LA traffic was a bit much). We would ride from Redondo Beach to Santa Monica – and back. Occasionally we would ride in the San Gabriel Mountains. The mountains were especially fun when the snow came and the roads were closed to traffic. The state cops would just wave us on and we could ride to our hearts content.

It was just about this time that my real adventure rides began. The first real adventure ride was a trip to Yosemite NP about 300 miles north. We rode across the San Gabriel Mountains, across the Mojave Desert, across the Tehachipi Mountains and through the San Joaquin valley. We alternated between camping and hoteling until just north of Fresno as an injury to Tony’s hand prevented us from continuing.

Our next major trip was from Lee Vining CA to Yosemite Valley. This trip was entirely camping. We rode up 3000 feet to Tioga pass and spent our first night in Tuolumne Meadows campground. From there we crossed the Sierra and rode down to the valley. On our return trip we spent the night at White Wolf Campground before finishing our trip back to Lee Vining the next day.

Today there are a myriad of bikers riding over Tioga and into the valley but in 1978 there were essentially none – save Tony and I. I did this trip again years later with my first wife Sid Carlson. The ride across the sierra on the Tioga Pass Road to the valley (and back) is one of the most difficult I have done and one of the most breathtakingly beautiful rides in the world.

Centurion

I got a new Centurion for my road trip to Europe. Probably would have been better off with the Nishiki but… Tony Pietsch and I went to Shannon Ireland with the plan of cycling across Europe to Oktoberfest. I made it as far as Southampton, England. Cycling in Europe was not as nice as I had hoped. The roads were narrow and the traffic was heavy. People from the “continent” had come to the Isles because biking was so much better there. That convinced me to return to the States.

I continued to ride in Southern Cal both at the beach and in the mountains. I also actually did some trail riding in the Arroyo Seco. After I graduated I went to Iowa for a few years and bicycling kind of fell off. Bike riders were definitely not appreciated in Iowa.

I lived in northern Virginia after Iowa. There is a nice set of bike paths in and around the DC area. While I didn’t really go on any adventures for a couple of years, I tried to get out most weekends and ride. My favorite destinations were the National Zoo, Mt. Vernon, Great Falls, and, of course, to the mall and the many museums and monuments of DC.

Cannondale

On one of my first rides in Ohio on the river trail in Dayton I stopped into a bike shop and fell in love with a Cannondale. It was built for touring (versus a racing bike): It had slightly bigger tires, it was a couple of inches longer, and it had brazed on pannier racks front and back. I began to get real serious about my riding.

I loaded my camp stuff nearly every weekend from late March to early October and rode from 25 – 75 miles on Saturday, camped and rode home on Sunday. (Obviously, a longer trip on long weekends). I camped at John Bryan, Heuston Woods, Caesar Creek, and East Fork Lake State Parks. Sometimes I would bed down next to the little Miami Creek without benefit of a campground.

I road on the Miami River bike trails regularly and took part in a few organized century rides including TOSRV – see https://shawnpheneghan.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/great-adventures/. I rode nearly all year, mostly alone, until I met my wife Kathy. We rode (and camped) together until health issues prevented her from riding. At that point we bought a tandem so we could continue to ride. I continued to ride even as I moved to Nevada, but riding and camping became a thing of the past.

I rode that Cannondale for 30+ years, in Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, and California. I had the drive train rebuilt after about 40K – the gears were badly worn and chain was stretched. I put on an estimated 60,000 miles on that bike. I finally parted company with her (the bicycle) after I had a stroke (https://shawnpheneghan.wordpress.com/2021/06/04/i-had-a-stroke/) and could no longer ride. I took her to the thrift shop in Mammoth California, gave her away – and cried. I still tear up when I think of her and the fun I had riding and camping with her.

Mountain Biking

During the summer of 1996 we embarked on what would be a series of summers in Utah (see https://shawnpheneghan.wordpress.com/2022/04/29/the-pro-fun-tours-twenty-utah-summers/). We spent one day bike riding near Brianhead. We found out that riding single tracks was not our favorite. During the second summer we bought a couple of hard tail Nishiki mountain bikes with the plan to ride them about the community and into Duck Creek Village to check mail etc. Needless to say, once we started riding on dirt roads, old abandon logging road and even on ATV trails we began to appreciate Mountain Biking.

During the next 20 summers we rode about 4 times a week. We covered nearly every road on the Markagunt and Paunsagunt Plateaus. We stored them in our truck so we could ride them during the winter in Death Valley NP or Las Vegas. We took them into the Pariah River and into the Grand Staircase Escalante NM. We took a trip up to Powell Point and I took a couple of trips into Capitol Reef NP (see https://shawnpheneghan.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/great-adventures/). We actually wore those bikes out and bought a couple of new Specialized bikes and continued to ride.

Kathy rode with me often until, as indicated previously, her health failed.

When we left Utah we left her mountain bike with her BFF Osterhaut. We took mine to Hawthorne, Nevada and finally to the Woods in Markleeville CA. I continued to ride in the mountains, on trails and roads until I suffered a stroke. Joe Turner took the bike as payment for work done at the cabin.

Tandem

After Kathleen had a midlife crisis she lost her ability to ride safely. Her balance (never particularly good) failed further and she lost the ability to operate with but one good eye. Our solution was to buy a tandem. We purchased a beautiful Cannondale tandem bicycle.

We rode the big bike on the bike trails in Dayton OH. Besides Kathleen having problems riding, riding a tandem is a bit different. We did not attempt to ride on the roads but stayed on bike trails. We went to the market in downtown Dayton, to the trail hub in Xenia, and North and South on the Great Miami River trail.

We moved to Nevada and the tandem (as well as my road bike) came with us (my mountain bike was already there). We took the tandem on many trips. We rode regularly in Death Valley NP, Henderson NV bike paths, and around Hawthorne, NV. One of our favorite trips was to go to June Lake, camp out, and spend the afternoon riding the 25 miles around the June lake loop.

Another fav was to visit Sacramento. We stayed on the Delta King River Boat and road the path along the American river to Folsom. One way was about 30 miles and we took the train back – tandem and all. The bike did not fit unless it was turned up on its rear wheel – but bicycles were allowed so …

When we bought our cabin in Markleevile CA, the tandem found another new home. Nearly every week we traveled to Tahoe and road along the lake or from Myers to SLT High School and back. After our bike trip we would visit South Lake Tahoe and grab a beer and burger on the at McP’s Taphouse near the Nevada state line. One day they charged me to park – to buy a burger and beer – and that was the last time I went to Tahoe bike riding.

We Road on the Blue Lakes Road (in Alpine county) after we no longer went to SLT. There is very little weekday traffic on Blue Lakes Road. This road is all uphill in one direction so we just road as far as we could (Usually to Faith Valley), had a packed lunch and then rode downhill back to the truck.

We also took bike trips along the Markleeville Falls Trail in Grover Hot Springs State Park. This was a trail ride. We tried once to ride to town but the ride back on a narrow road was a bit too steep to be ridden (by me on the tandem) safely.

While I never rode the tandem as much as I hoped, and certainly nowhere near what I had done with road and mountain bikes, We really enjoyed riding it and did actually make a fairly good number of rides. I gave up the Tandem after my stroke and it has been given to the president of the Sacramento Wheelmen.

Conclusion

I highly recommend biking as transportation, exercise and/or recreation. I have biked on three continents, and in states from Maine to California. My dream (when I was young) to bike across the country never came to fruition. Still I enjoyed three types of bicycling (Road, Mountain and Tandem) through many interesting places. As with many activities of my youth, biking, while important, has come to an end.