About

I grew up as a military brat, and had a career as a petroleum geologist, so I've lived in a number of states (mostly in the northeast and the south) and in Germany, the Philippines, and Norway. I've travelled to all 50 states, a good bit of Europe, Russia, and Central Asia. All of my riding has been in the USA, though not in every state (yet).

I've ridden a few dozen weeklong supported tours over the past twenty years, but was new to self-supported bike touring a few years ago.

The idea in the back of my head for the past 20 years of a coast-to-coast bike tour led to two shakedown tours of 340 and 810 miles in 2021 and 2022 around parts of Lake Michigan. The plan came to fruition from May to July in 2023 when my brother and I rode 4015 miles from Washington DC to the Pacific Ocean at Seaside, OR, then back to Portland.

My riding is generally shared between two bikes. For most of the past 10 years I've ridden a carbon fiber Masi Evoluzione, my race horse. For the touring I bought a Surly Long Haul Trucker, my plow horse.  The closer to a tour the more ground that gets plowed at the expense of the race horse.

At the end of the big tour, I was often asked, "Would you do it again?" Not the same thing, I answered. It was only a few weeks after the end that I stated thinking about the next tour.