for any ideas or thoughts or interest, email me! jeredgruber@gmail.com
UPDATE!!!
Day 1: 194k. Emmaus, PA to York, PA.
Day 2: 175k. York, PA to Harpers Ferry, WV.
Day 3: 152k. Harpers Ferry, WV to Luray, VA.
Day 4: 94k. Luray, VA to Lost River, WV.
Day 5: 161k. Lost River, WV to Stokesville Lodge, VA.
Day 6: 204k. Stokesville, VA to Roanoke, VA.
Day 7: 161k. Roanoke, VA to Wytheville, VA.
Day 8: 169k. Wytheville, VA to Boone, NC.
Day 9: 180k. Boone, NC to Asheville, NC
Day 10: 140k. Bookwalter Binge! If you’re anywhere near Asheville, NC - you should really consider giving Brent and Jamie Bookwalter’s ride a try. It sounds amazing!
Day 11: 160k. Asheville, NC to Highlands, NC (I just made this change 5min ago)
Day 12: 160k. Highlands, NC to Athens, GA
We spend a lot of time roaming Europe. We spend very little time at home - in the US. Europe is great. The mountains are unbelievable, the countryside is the place of my photographic dreams. Europe is not home though. It will never be home. The more time we spend away, the more I realize the most obvious of things: I’m American, and I love my home. So we’re going to celebrate all things home, and we’re going to ride our bikes from Emmaus, Pennsylvania straight into the place our hearts will always call home: Athens, Georgia. Yes, I just wrote HOME six times.
I also believe that America is an amazing place to ride bikes, and we rarely get the chance to showcase it in our work. We take hundreds of thousands of pictures in Europe, but when we come home, we blissfully hide out in Athens and leave the picture taking to the foreign lands across the Atlantic. We’re going to change that in a couple weeks, and I can’t wait.
How did this really happen though? I have a lot of ideas, but most of them just get confined to my ridewithgps.com account and never make it any further than that - nor should they. Sometimes, they get out though. Ashley will hear my idea, get excited about it, and won’t let it get lost in the hundreds of routes I’ve plotted. Ashley jumped on the idea of chasing fall from way up north back home to Georgia. She jumped at the idea of inviting friends and strangers alike to join us. She then went another step and pitched it to Bicycling Magazine.
That wasn’t enough though. I’m not looking to go on a big bike ride with just the two of us though. I love Ashley more than anything, but 1100 miles of just the two of us isn’t a millionth as much fun as getting the Horde™ together and laughing our way south.
More importantly, I needed Thomas Brown. Thomas is the small, dark, quiet, hairy, hilarious brother I never had. This type of ride needs Thomas. More importantly, I need Thomas. I think I could ride to Antarctica with Thomas (I don’t think Thomas could ride to Antarctica with me though). You know Lewis and Clark? How about Brown and Gruber? If you don’t know about that pair, you will soon. Thomas was arguably the most important piece of the making it work puzzle - a van and a driver followed as second and third most important. Thomas said yes, and he brought the van AND a driver.
On top of Thomas, we got Brendan. I haven’t introduced the wider world to Brendan in words yet. It will happen soon. Brendan makes everything happier. If you ever want some fun, head on over to his Instagram page.
So now, we’re four. We couldn’t get the entire Horde™ together for this one (something about work and real life), but they’ll be joining us for chunks - I’ll take what I can get.
And now, we’re doing it.
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