[Bike]
The Bike Touring Pages of
Chris X. Edwards

Chris X Edwards and April S. Darenkamp
San Diego, California to Cincinnati, Ohio
Winter 1998

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The Cool Tour

After our ride to Alaska, April and I were lounging around in San Diego. Among other things, we were planning our next big ride. For some reason, we were interested in returning to Ohio. On our trip through Canada, something was very annoying to me - it was warm. Really warm. When planning a trip to the high latitudes, it seems prudent to take serious cold weather gear no matter what time of year you go. But it wasn't cold. All that gear that we had taken for extreme conditions was ultimately unecessary (like our heavy, clumsy tent and our many pairs of gloves which certain Swiss people still make jokes about). I felt a bit cheated actually. That was my mentality when I proposed that we should ride back to Ohio in the dead of winter.

Ya, no pesky mosquitos in February! Not only did I want a challenge, I wanted a challenge that sounded good. Colorado - the Rockies - in the dead of winter. Sure, that sounds duly impressive. Well, we got everything I had bargained for and more. This was a very tough ride and I'm proud of myself and April for pulling it off. Interestingly enough, some of the easiest progress was made while in the mountainous parts of Colorado. Yes, there is a flat part and that, and it's neighbor Kansas proved to be much more grueling, dangerous, and demoralizing than any mountain I've ever been on. The winds on the plains were absolutely brutal. Also, we rode into a mysterious freak cold spell with record low temperatures in Missouri.

But we did make it. These web pages contain our entire journal for this trip as well as all photographs. Some of these pictures bring back cold and tired memories, but it was an accomplishment I'll always be proud of and happy I attempted.


USA map

Day 1998 daily
miles 		total
miles 		daily
km 		total
km
1 29 January 36 36 57 57
2 30 January 21 57 33 91
3 31 January 46 103 74 165
4 1 February 57 160 91 257
5 2 February 50 210 80 337
6 3 February 34 244 54 392
7 4 February 46 290 74 466
8 5 February 31 321 49 516
9 6 February 48 369 77 593
10 7 February 51 420 82 675
11 8 February 19 439 30 706
12 9 February 37 476 59 766
13 10 February 48 524 77 843
14 11 February 54 578 86 930
15 12 February 29 607 46 976
16 13 February 0 607 0 976
17 14 February 32 639 51 1028
18 15 February 0 639 0 1028
19 16 February 51 690 82 1110
20 17 February 77 767 123 1234
21 18 February 93 860 149 1384
22 19 February 37 897 59 1443
23 20 February 38 935 61 1504
24 21 February 65 1000 104 1609
25 22 February 29 1029 46 1656
26 23 February 122 1151 196 1852
27 24 February 72 1223 115 1968
28 25 February 84 1307 135 2103
29 26 February 60 1367 96 2199
30 27 February 75 1442 120 2320
31 28 February 46 1488 74 2394
32 1 March 52 1540 83 2478
33 2 March 64 1604 102 2581
34 3 March 71 1675 114 2695
35 4 March 38 1713 61 2756
36 5 March 38 1751 61 2817
37 6 March 55 1806 88 2906
38 7 March 37 1843 59 2966
39 8 March 61 1904 98 3064
40 9 March 42 1946 67 3131
41 10 March 61 2007 98 3229
42 11 March 57 2064 91 3321
43 12 March 73 2137 117 3439
44 13 March 75 2212 120 3559
45 14 March 98 2310 157 3717
46 15 March 52 2362 83 3801
47 16 March 48 2410 77 3878
48 17 March 90 2500 144 4023


The photos are organized onto index pages for easy reference. You can use one of the photo index pages to find a specific photo or you can start at the beginning and work your way through all of the photos in chronological order.

Photo Index One - January 1998 to 2 February 1998
Photo Index Two - 2 February 1998 to 9 February 1998
Photo Index Three - 10 February 1998 to 14 February 1998
Photo Index Four - 14 February 1998 to 19 February 1998
Photo Index Five - 19 February 1998 to 22 February 1998
Photo Index Six - 24 February 1998 to 2 March 1998
Photo Index Seven - 3 March 1998 to 9 March 1998
Photo Index Eight - 9 March 1998 to 15 March 1998
Photo Index Nine - 15 March 1998 to 17 March 1998

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Xed
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Chris X. Edwards ~ September 2000