Travellers’ tales: TransAm recovery ride

By Cycling UK
A man is standing with two loaded touring bikes in sand dunes with the ocean in the background. He's wearing cycling kit and helmet
Setting off in Oregon on the Pacific coast
After a harder journey from hospital bed to bike, Cycling UK member Ash Eagles cycled coast-to-coast across the USA

In 2021 I woke in a hospital bed feeling scuppered, done for, on the scrap heap. Major surgery to remove a tumour from my chest wall had been a success, yet left me feeling like it was all over. I asked myself: “Will I ever ride a bike again?”

Then my tenacity reared its head. “I’ll prove everyone wrong. I’ll ride 100km a year from today,” I told myself. Then the thought crossed my mind. “I’ll show them, and I’ll cycle across the USA.”

A year or so later, with my partner Becky, we decided to follow through on the idea. Her grandparents had made the trip we had chosen in the early 2000s as part of their retirement. The route was planned for just over 4,000 miles, through 10 states, plenty of mountain ranges and beautiful national parks.

We started in Florence, Oregon, on the Pacific coast and finished in Yorktown, Virginia, on the Atlantic coast.

A woman is standing astride a loaded touring bike as she looks back at the camera. She's wearing cycling kit and a helmet. A river runs alongside the road
Becky on the road in the morning in Idaho

Following the TransAm trail, we crossed three beautiful major mountain ranges, explored Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks, embraced the flats of Kansas, danced in Nashville, gazed in awe at the colours of autumn in the Appalachian Mountains – and celebrated my third year in remission.

The trail is lined with kindness, a linear community where knowledge is shared, friendships are formed and experiences are gained. Locals host cyclists, giving them a bed for a night and sometimes supplying meals and laundry facilities.

They find your journey inspiring, but their kindness is far more inspiring than riding your bike every day. It reaffirms the good in society.

When I woke up in that hospital bed three years ago, I did think I was finished. Cycling has been critical to my recovery, mentally and physically. Where will it take me next?

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