07/13/2021
Journal - Day 23-24
Kansas City & return Bloomington
The deCycles Cascadia 2021 bike trip is completed except for the road trip back to Bloomington. It will take 16-hours on the road with an overnight stop in Kansas City. All the bikes and luggage are tightly packed in the vehicles and it will be difficult to sit motionless that long after being creatures of constant movement over the past month.
Our host in downtown Kansas City was extremely accommodating.....just like all the other 20-hosts on the entire bike trip. Thanks to Cricket for making all these important and difficult to find contacts. Without these hosts providing free accommodations, the deCycles program would not be possible. Hopefully the riders and parents will show their appreciation to these folks for serving the needs of their sons & daughters on this trip. The group enjoyed watching the fireworks in Kansas City on a very warm and pleasant evening.
The deCycles finally arrived in Bloomington on time and without a hitch. The Bloomington Fire Department once again provided a triumphant fire truck es**rt for 5-miles into the Monroe County Courthouse Square. Family & friends were awaiting in a noisy celebration of sirens and cheering. Hugs & kisses for the returning riders dominated the scene. The riders and trip volunteers gathered on the stage to sing the deCycles Theme Song with everyone singing off key. You could tell they were tired and exhausted and yet looked like thin and tanned lean-mean cycling machines. Cricket welcomed them home with the applause of the gathered crowd. After a bountiful banquet, each off-road team was introduced. All the volunteers on the trip were acknowledged and thanked for giving up and entire month to serve the student-riders on and off the road. The homecoming volunteers did a great job organizing this celebration.
The Triple Crown was awarded to those student-riders who accomplished the impossible.....pedaling every inch of the way while having no flats or crashes. This usually means a very careful, focused, safe, and strong rider with a little luck. There was only one student-rider who achieved this..... rookie James Lowinger. Rookies rarely get the Triple Crown. For this and for being extremely strong & steady on the road along with compliant and helpful off road, he was nominated and awarded the deCycles Rookie of the Year Award. All the other Triple Crowns were awarded to adult-riders including Lara Cutshall, David Haberman, Steve Howard, Sheila McDermott-Sipe, Norm & Cricket Houze, and Robin Houze. The deCycles Veteran of the Year was an easy pick with veteran group leader and 3-trip veteran John McBroom. John was nominated and selected for his leadership on and off the road, his honesty, his safety & carefulness, and for solid understanding of the goals and operations of the deCycles program. He also had the best music playlist for his groups going down the road.
There were 74-total flat tires.....61 on road and 13 off road. Chief Mechanic Dave Elkins had the most flats with 7. Ross & Paul Martinie-Eiler combined for 9-total flats and Erik & Ian Willis combined for 7-flats. So nearly a third of the flats were between 5-riders.
There were 29-crashes of which all resulted in minor or no injuries thankfully. But the damage to bikes was the most ever on a deCycles trip. We used and cannibalizes both spare bikes and obtaining bike parts along the way was extremely difficult due to a diminished pandemic supply chain. Chief Mechanic Dave Elkins did the impossible trying to keep all the student-riders on the road. It was a crashy group with spills everyday for the first 10-days. The biggest crash was the Tillamook Massacre on Day 3 with 4-bikes going down just minutes after Norm gathered everyone together and repeatedly warned of the upcoming slick & rainy downhill road. It’s as if no one was listening at all. Last year there were minimal crashes. The question is......”why so many crashes this year?” I’ll keep my opinions secret on that subject.
One surprising statistic was how many riders failed to pedal every inch along the way. I’m not going to sugarcoat the disappointment. This group was one of the best trained and prepared deCycles groups in 28-years and yet there were 75-separate rides in the sweep van.....the most ever. It seemed that once one rider gave up out on the road, others would follow. The stated goal before the trip was for everyone to prioritize safety and to pedal every inch along the way. Less than half the riders accomplished that goal. Some quit before they even started in the morning.....mostly those who were undertrained. It has been observed that looking at the topo and mileage for the upcoming day can play psychological games with oneself convincing them they are too sick or too tired to ride. There are definitely legitimate reasons due to injuries and sickness to stay off the road, but this year those reasons seemed a bit inflated. This is the first year in deCycles history where as many as 7-8 riders opted to go down a mountain in the van. The descent is usually the reward for the ascent. But peer influence seemed to be the only reason to ride the van down because the downhill on Independence Pass in Colorado was safe, relatively dry, and easily navigated and basically no different than all the other downhills on this trip.
Each and every deCycles roster over the past 28-years has been different. There were 56-total participants in 2021 each having their own individual personalities. The deCycles is not just a challenging exercise out on the road, but is a transformation from “me” to “we” in the grand scheme of things. Letting go of personal agendas is always difficult. For some on this trip, it was impossible. There were many who were perfectly compliant to the deCycles Code of Conduct. A few constantly violated it on a daily basis in many different ways. When confronted, their pushback was predictable and for a few, unfortunately their trip ended prematurely. The behavior code is not difficult to follow, Many thanks to those who did cooperate.
The scenery and terrain on this trip was absolutely gorgeous and diverse. It was very challenging with over 10 major climbs including three 12,000-ft climbs in the final 3-days. That is major league stuff. Our overnight hosts were extremely gracious, our Snowday sponsors were plentiful, and our adult-road support volunteers Gino & John Prihoda, Penny Austin, Dan Criswell, and Debbie Taylor were constantly in support of each and every rider. Mapman Robin Houze did an amazing job showing us the way. Off-road supervisor Bob Austin kept things in order off-road, and Dave Elkins kept the bikes on the road against all odds. Norm & Cricket Houze worked to hold it all together despite surprising challenges each and every day. That’s what an adventure is.....a journey into the unknown. We hope it was worth it for each and every participant.
Norm Houze
DeCycles Cascadia 2021
This is my personal journal, my personal thoughts, including the bitter with the sweet.
