Summer 2016: I rode across the United States by way of the TransAmerica Trail. Though it’s not a feat I ever dreamed of accomplishing, I am convinced that it’s one of the most important things I will ever do.

I didn’t bike often as a kid, other than to a friend’s house in my neighborhood. I won a pink bike in a raffle when I was about 9, and that’s the bike I learned how to ride in. In middle school, my dad bought me a Huffy from K-mart. I loved it! It was red, white, and blue. I still remember how shiny it was and how I complained about it being stored in the shed because I was afraid it would get scuffed with my dad’s tools. After riding it for perhaps the second or third time to the nearby grocery store, my bike was stolen and I never owned a bike again until I was 22.

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