A year ago this week I was excited to be biking into Washington DC, completing my coast to coast bike trip. At the same time I didn’t want it to end.
As most of you reading this know, I biked about 4,200 miles from Bellingham, Washington to Washington DC. I remember clearly that last day as I biked into Washington DC on the C&O Canal Bike Trial that spills out onto the Georgetown University Plaza on the shore of the Potomac River.
During that final week, I visited friends and had several memorable interactions with people who hosted me.
Like when I stayed in a RV outside someone’s house on a gigantic property with a fun family. They welcomed me and made me part of everything going on including a wonderful dinner.
I stayed with a former coworker and his family and got to find out what was going on at my old job at BAE systems. I had been laid off and wondered how my old workplace functioned without me. Turns out I was really missed. I hung out with his family and his dad, who also worked for BAE Systems. On that same day I met up with a friend from IBM that I had not seen for 40 years.
When I arrived in Washington, D.C this plaza is a beautiful festive location. It was a warm summer evening with lots of people out listening to music, eating, dancing, sailing or watching the sailboats. The atmosphere was perfect for celebrating the end of my trip. I just dismounted from my bicycle and was taking in the scene.
I observed this gentleman running the hanging bar challenge. He had a crowd around him announcing to them that he would pay $140 to anyone willing to pay $20 for the opportunity to try to hang from the bar for 140 seconds.
I eagerly slapped down my 20 dollars knowing that I had just finished a 75 mile bike ride and would not be able to successfully win the challenge. What I got instead after lasting 65 seconds of hanging on the bar was him interviewing me and then announcing to the crowd his discovery that I had just finished biking across the country.
The live crowd cheered for me for my biking and then I also found someone to take the finishing picture of me with my back tire in the Potomac I had wanted.
Soon afterward, I arrived at my Hilton Hotel where I was celebrated by the hospitality staff who heard about my trip. I then got many congratulatory messages and texts as I ate my dinner.
I felt proud of myself for reaching my goal of biking from coast to coast. I also began to appreciate the magnitude of what I had accomplished and was sad the adventure was over. But that feeling was balanced by my excitement about the new adventures ahead.