Canton native reflects on cross-country cycling journey

Matt Tate poses with his bike on the bank of the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon.

Canton native reflects on cross-country cycling journey

Growing up, Matt Tate rode his bicycle a lot, using it as a way to visit friends and deliver newspapers on his paper route. “As a kid, that was how you got around Canton,” he said. Tate left his home for a longer bike ride on June 1, riding 3,706 miles through 16 states over 47 days with six additional rest days interspersed in his route. He finished pedaling on July 23 in Astoria, Oregon.

Tate was living in West Virginia when his father became sick several years ago. Tate returned home and following his father’s death, he stayed in Canton to care for his mother until she passed away in the spring of 2020. He had been thinking about going on a trip or having an adventure when he didn’t have responsibilities and decided that a long distance bike ride might be the way to mark a transitional moment in his life. Once he was vaccinated, he set about getting ready.

“I knew I was not in good enough shape,” Tate said. He began training and ultimately, instead of a long trip, he decided to ride 100 miles, from Canton to the Cape Cod Canal, going a little further, and then returning to Canton at the end of August 2020 to celebrate his birthday. He found a recumbent bike, a bicycle that allows a cyclist to ride while in a reclining position. Tate found the bike, a 2001 Vision R65, which has the nickname The Saber, on Craigslist; he trained for the August ride on The Saber. That birthday celebration ride became the beginning of his training for the 2021 cross country ride.

Tate continued training for the ride and also made significant changes to his bike so that it would be both more aerodynamic and provide storage and protection for him. “The wind is the biggest enemy when you’re on your bike,” he said. “The faster you go, the more the wind affects you.” He added a trunk to the back of the bicycle and then covered the front and sides with Coroplast and cloth. He hot glued a zipper to the side of the cloth to enable him to get into and out of what he called his Silly Bike.

Tate packed a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, a bag of clothes, a bag for food, bicycle tools, and inner tubes in the trunk area. He painted his bike helmet lime green to make himself more visible and attached a rearview mirror to it, and wore a pair of what he called bunny ears to stop the wind from howling in his ears while he was riding. At the end of May he rode to Duxbury to test out the bike and to be able to say that he rode from coast to coast. On June 1, he left on his trip.

“I didn’t tell a lot of people,” he said, figuring that if for some reason it didn’t seem like it was going to work out, that he could just turn around. But he didn’t turn back; he headed west, for the Pacific Ocean. Throughout his trip, he sent emails to family and friends, heading each one with the date, the daily starting and ending points, how far he rode, and his average speed. When he returned to Canton, he compiled the emails along with photos he had taken into a blog.

June 4, 2021. New York State border to Schenectady

57 miles with an average speed of 11.8 mph

In Troy, New York, I was able to get on New York state’s amazing rail trail system. It is really great! Totally paved, out in the woods by yourself, no cars. When you get close to bigger towns, there are more people out using it, but they’re all smiles and waves. It’s great!

The Adventure Cycling Association provides maps for cyclists and Tate used one that took a northerly route across the United States. He also used Google maps at times, but didn’t always find it to be useful. He camped in campgrounds, city parks, state parks, and areas where he could find the space he needed. He stopped at local diners and restaurants, spent nights in hotels on his rest days, mailed home some of the clothing that he found he wasn’t using in order to make the load lighter, and fixed flat tires and broken spokes. He attached a solar panel and battery pack to his bike; the solar panel charged the battery pack and Tate used the battery pack to charge his phone at night. He took in as many of the sights as he could.

July 5, 2021. Rest day in Bismarck, North Dakota

The fireworks and music last night were great! The opening band was called Tuba Four. Such a great name for a brass quartet, two tuba players and two euphoniums. All the music was wonderful. The lawn at the capital was so nice! It was a huge area, so people didn’t have to crowd and I really couldn’t get over how nice the lawn actually was.

While the winds that Tate encountered were strong enough to push him and to test his control of the Silly Bike, he had a bigger fear. “I was scared of cars,” he said. “A car just buzzed by me in Washington state for no reason.” Tate’s bike and the car were the only vehicles on that particular stretch of road. “That really scared me. The rest of the ride I was a little more nervous.”

July 21, 2021. The Dalles, Oregon to Troutdale, Oregon

74 miles with an average speed of 10.88 miles per hour

A road worker stopped to tell me about some construction and that I should stay to the right of the cones. This would put me with the workers, not the traffic. He said he didn’t want me out there. He also told me it wasn’t a matter of when the wind would let up, but where. He said the wind is always bad in the Columbia River Gorge and that in 20 miles it will get better and he was right! What a relief!

I did some sightseeing, checking out some waterfalls, dams and a fish hatchery. I saw Herman the sturgeon, that I was supposed to see maybe 10 years ago on a mill tour trip. It’s ok. Herman waited. He’s 75 years old, 10 feet long, and weighs 500 pounds.

When Tate arrived in Astoria, he made arrangements to ship his bicycle home, took a bus to Portland, and flew to Boston. “It was a long time to be out on my own doing something by myself,” he said of his adventure. He especially appreciated meeting other people traveling by bike. “We had a shared experience,” he said. “It was really nice to have people you could connect with about the thing you are doing all day every day. The bikers out there were really friendly and encouraging and supportive. I would get a lot of cheers and laughter and thumbs up, and a lot of people took out their phones to take pictures.

“I feel better than how I felt when I started the trip,” Tate said. “It’s still a big time of decision in my life, of what to do next. Anybody could do a trip like this. It has me ready for another big project.”

Share This Post

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=76960