final thoughts

I finally added up the totals of our ride. We biked 3872 miles in 278 hours at an average speed of 13.9 mph. We averaged 77 miles a day, and rode for an average of 5 1/2 hours each day. Here is a histogram of how long we rode each day:

miles	#days
110+	1
100-110	2
90-100	8
80-90	9
70-80	16
60-70	4
50-60	7
40-50	1
30-40	1

I had 5 flat tires on the trip, and my dad had 1. I ate about 100 Clif Bars, 100 bananas, and about 150 granola bars. I ruined 1 tire (pinched in the van door) in Nevada, and wore out the spare by the end of Kansas (it was a cheap tire). My dad wore out his back tire somewhere in Missouri, I think. It has now been almost two weeks since we reached the East Coast, and I still have the last signs of the permanent helmet-hair I was sporting the entire trip. One of my favorite memories will be that almost every night, after we had recovered a bit from the day's ride, I would say to my dad 'So, do you want to go on a bike ride tomorrow?' and he would say 'that sounds like a good idea. Let's do it.'

It was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad I was able to do it. I'm especially glad I could do it with my dad.