Sunshine and cloudless skies clung tight to his rear spokes, painting the heavens as he pedaled.
Last Wednesday afternoon, Ken Reinke brought the good weather with him, riding in on two wheels and …
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Sunshine and cloudless skies clung tight to his rear spokes, painting the heavens as he pedaled.
Last Wednesday afternoon, Ken Reinke brought the good weather with him, riding in on two wheels and loaded down with 40 pounds of gear. He had just solo-cycled roughly 3,700 miles in 77 days from north Florida to Port Townsend.
“It’s called tour biking. But I don’t tour, I bike,” the 69-year-old said.
The why? is the tough question, he explained. Why pedal alone across the country, across the continental divide, in a daily battle between hills and headwinds?
“If you love biking, why not?”
That’s his short answer: If you can, why not?
A few months ago, he was sitting at his table at his home in Florida thinking about his friend in Port Townsend.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just bike over to my friend’s house,’” he laughed.
With his decision to leave came the tougher decision of when.
So he chose appropriately. April Fool’s Day.
“I don’t know how much time I have left to be in shape enough to do it,” he explained.
Reinke had polio as a baby and has been living with the long-term effects of the illness.
“I actually can’t walk to the back of a Walmart without my cane, but I can ride my bike,” he said.
Having walked with a limp his entire life, Reinke said he can ride his bike pretty much pain-free.
“I thought, well, I better do it now.”
He would get started and see how far he got.
Reinke had done some long-distance biking before, but nothing quite like this. This was to be his longest trip by 700 miles.
Everyday turning sunrise to sunset like the pages of a book, he rode. He averaged 50 miles a day and stealth camped at night.
He described his bike tour as a funny thing as he passed tourist attractions and landmarks with no interest. He said he just wanted to ride his bike.
When asked if there were times when he wanted to turn around and go home, he said: “For the entire first eight to 10 days, every moment.”
“I was in Mississippi still going, ‘I could rent a car at my friend’s house and drive home with my bike.’”
He had given himself several fallback stops along his route. If he needed to, he could tell himself that was far enough and take the first plane back.
It’s something you have to talk yourself into to keep going, he explained.
You’re constantly asking yourself questions like: “Why am I doing this?” “Am I nuts?” Reinke recalled.
“Honestly, you get over a hump. But you’ve got to get over that hump. And that’s where a lot of people start out and fail because that hump is hard to get over.”
Plenty of mental discipline has to come into play.
“I like to use the term ‘situations’ instead of ‘problems,’” he said when it came to his biggest hindrances on the road.
Dismissing the negative connotations of the word “problem,” a “situation” is just a part of the journey. It’s a part of the fun.
“Most of the time, I’m having a great time, and then I got a hill or a headwind.”
When he gets back home, he said he is going to paint “headwinds,” “hills,” and “traffic noise” on a wall.
If he ever thinks about another trip on two wheels, he has that to “look at that every day and hope I don’t do it again.”
“I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it,” he added, but noted those three things were his biggest enemies.
“I can’t grind up a hill. I can’t stand up in the pedals,” he explained. “I can only go as high up the hill as I can do sitting and then I have to get off and push the bike. And that’s a lot.”
People were inspired by his journey, he said, though that was never the goal.
On the road, the people he ran into were in awe, some going as far as to buy his meals.
“Great if I’m inspiring. It’s just a side effect of getting to have a great time.”
“I’m just getting on my bike everyday and getting as far as I can,” he said.
He set up a GoFundMe at the start of his trip. The funds were to help him get his stuff back to Florida.
“It almost went double what I asked for,” he added.
On the final leg of his trip as he rode into Port Townsend, he said Ellen didn’t show up neither did Oprah, but those who mattered did. A crowd of six was there to welcome him.
He will be taking a plane back to Florida after a quick flight to Alaska.
“It’s a one-way trip,” he laughed, but said the feeling was indescribable.
“You would be amazed at what you can do when you stop telling yourself you can’t,” Reinke said.
“But that has to come first. ‘Can’t.’ That has to be battled and that’s what that first eight days is.”
