Mark & Anna - Popham Beach 2006

  

Crazy Guy on a Bike... and Anna

My wife introduced me to Ken Kifer's website this week. We are planning a tandem tour during one of the cooler weeks of the year, Thanksgiving - on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Tandem, BOB trailer, possibly panniers, bivvy tent, mummy bags, thermarests, etc... and as much as possible, primitive conditions. We want to remember this, good bad, or both. Ken Kifer's life as a touring cyclist and commuter is an inspirational account of a man who enjoyed the bike, like us. It's very unfortunate, as someone else wrote, that this man was killed while cycling, by a drunk driver. Sometimes you wonder how the 'what goes around comes around' experience really works. I only hope there are bikes wherever Ken is today.

When I googled Ken I came across this 'Crazyguyonabike' website. A story about a man and his 16 year old daughter who rode recumbent touring bikes from Maine to Oregon, coast to coast. They have an account of the ride on a journal at the website. You can even add a thread to their journal and write to ask them questions about their experience. It is evident by the daughter Anna's entries that this was a fulfilling, life-changing experience. I had to post something. It was way too enjoyable not to touch. I did decide after reading parts of their journal that I too have a desire to go coast to coast on a bike. I should know more after our tandem BRP tour whether it's something that Lovey and I can be expected to do together. I believe we can, but the road can make for weary travelers... something learned personally. I would expect that anything less than rosy could be attributed to being on a tandem, and neither of us has done any significant riding on recumbents. Either way, we hope we'll see you out there, on your bikes of course.