Cycling More than Halfway Across the United States

Lindsey and Maggie at the Start of Route 66 in Chicago

It’s off season here in our mountain towns and many have headed out on big travels:  surfing in Costa Rica, digging at an archeological site in Peru and skiing in Chamonix, to name a few. I’ve stayed in Telluride to catch up on my writer’s life and take care of some personal business that was put on hold during the busy ski season. Plus, I like the quietude of off season and then going away to more hot and humid locales during the summer.

For now, I’m traveling vicariously through others in my writing, conversations with friends and interviews for Travel Fun, my radio show on travel based here in Telluride. Lindsey Mersereau, a Telluride local, and my guest on tonight’s program, airing at 6:30pm MST on KOTO, provided me with an especially ebullient interview. It’s no wonder she had the energy to pedal well over two thousand miles from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. She’s young, strong (both physically and mentally), enthusiastic and beautiful inside and out. What can I say? She’s a typical Telluride gal.

Lindsey Cooking Lunch at Bryce Canyon National Park

As a fellow ski instructor (she teaches snowboard, too), Lindsey and I met during training at the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School and I felt instantly drawn to her energy and commitment to excellence. So when I heard that she was planning a cycling adventure, mostly along America’s renowned Route 66, I told her I wanted to be sure to do a Travel Fun interview with her afterward. Now there have been many people that have embarked upon amazing adventures that for one reason or another were not completed, so I didn’t do an interview. (Although I suppose that in itself is a story.)

Mighty Maggie

But from the get-go, I knew that Lindsey was going to achieve her goal. She set out with her friend, Maggie Schwab, another Telluride ski instructor, last fall and for two months they forged fearlessly across America on their bikes. With the mentorship of Lindsey’s mom, who is big into bike touring, and an organization called Adventure Cycling, they were able to plan their travels on some of the most scenic and safest roadways across our beautiful country. (That doesn’t mean they weren’t wracked with fierce headwinds in Kansas or dragged down by the steeps in the Rockies.)

Oh Yeah!

Lindsey and Maggie mostly camped along the way but also sometimes received the hospitality of Warm Showers, a community of cycling aficionados that welcome fellow cyclists into their homes for perhaps a meal, an overnight or you guessed it, a warm shower.

End of the Trail and the End of a Big Adventure

Tune into Travel Fun at 6:30pm MST tonight locally and at KOTO.org to hear Lindsey chat about this amazing adventure. Unfortunately she will not likely tune in because she’s currently out river guiding. What did I tell you? She’s a Tellurider par excellence.

For more on Lindsey, read Girl Power Extraordinaire:  Women from the Telluride Ski & Snowboard School, Part One.