back on track

I apologize for it being so long since you have heard from us. We have commenced the editing process for the film and I assure you that we will update you on its status, as well as fill you in with some follow-up stories of our journey on a regular basis now that things are beginning to slow down.

I'd like to thank everyone for their constant interest and support in our cause. Please check out our latest video and spread the word that although the trip has been over for quite some time, the Biking for Nashville guys are back at it!

Sincerely,

  Ryan Hawkins

Stay tuned!!

Although our journey has ended, our efforts to assist Nashville's restoration efforts have not.

Please stay tuned as we continue to post videos and photographs, as well as update you on the status of our documentary, which we anticipate will be completed within the upcoming year. 

Donate to flood relief!!

day fifty-six, part IV

The last 16 miles of our trip went by quicker than we could've ever imagined. The newborn sunlight revealed all the landscape that we had missed driving through the dark of night, so we sprinted ahead of the cyclists in our chase cars, running whatever cameras still had battery left in them as they approached the beach. We got some incredible shots of the drained faces and mechanical motions of Finney, Jesse, and Pierce as they chugged out the last of their 200-mile day until they finally arrived at the beach. 

As fate would have it, the sand dunes, which line the coast of Florence, Oregon blocked the coastline from our view. In fact, we had to muster up the strength to ask a man who was taking his dog for an early morning walk if the Pacific was in fact over the large sand dune, which we decided to stop at. Like hundreds of others before him, he was quite confused by the scene we created with our cameras, especially that early in the morning, but he decided to watch as the cyclists lifted their bikes over their shoulders and shuffled straight up the dune toward the water. 

Caveman kept up with them with the camera, as Tommy and I stayed behind at the top of the dune with another one. We had been pretty meticulous about making sure the battery of our primary camera was charged throughout the majority of the previous 55 days, but ironically, it only had about 12 minutes left at the final moments of our journey. As anxiety set in in our minds, and the physical consequences of biking 200 miles, then suddenly stopping began to take affect on the riders, we reached the top of the hill and could see the ocean. Of course, the ocean was well over 200 yards from the top of the dune, so the journey continued as we were forced to hike to the water. 

For two months, we had anticipated this moment and anticipated a series of celebratory cheers and high fives. We'd even plotted out, to some extent, a series of final interviews with which we would gather inspirational and conclusive remarks from our cyclists, which would sum up the entire journey. However, as Jesse, Finney, and Pierce dipped their front tires into the water and collapsed onto the sand, there really wasn't much to say. So, we kept the camera on them as they closed their eyes, then pointed it out towards the ocean.

We all remained completely silent as the camera battery died, and that was all there was to it. 

As our drifter friend, Richard always said, "it's about the journey, not the destination."

For fifty-six days we headed due west, until we hit the ocean and couldn't go any farther. That's all it was.

day fifty-six, part III

As Jesse put it, "it's not about being tired, it's simply about pedaling to the coast and not stopping until you get there." This advice became very handy for the cycling trio, who decided to bike all through the night in order to hit the coast of Florence, Oregon by the morning. Considering how they had already been biking since 9am that morning, and considering how Pierce got up before the crack of dawn to climb Smith Rock in Bend, the 200-mile challenge, which they had committed themselves to turned very dangerous upon several occassions.

For some reason it wasn't until after the sunset and darkness fell over us that highway 20 came alive. Half the state of Oregon sped by us at already unsafe speeds and many of the riders flipped us the bird or hollered at us to "get off the road" as we chugged along. Since we have two chase cars, we devised a system in which one member of the film crew would drive the van in front of the cyclists, while the other two would follow behind in the truck and cast their headlights across the road so our camera could pick them up. Just like all of the other sticky situations we encountered along our journey, which required us to screen traffic with one or both of our chase cars, we were very fortunate to have the "Biking for Nashville" decal on the back of the truck to earn a little bit of sympathy from the enraged passers by.

For fear of stiffening up or otherwise losing their edge, the three cyclists refused to stop for more than a minute or two at a time. As the hours passed by, they burned calories like they never had before and forced themselves to fight through the insane pain, which was building up in their legs.

Pierce was having the most difficult time. At first, he merely mentioned that he was struggling, alluding to his inexperience at each stop. However, as the night dragged on we could see that his situation was much more dire than he was ready to admit. There was an indescribable emptiness in his eyes that more than complimented the manner in which he slurred his words and failed to respond to simple questions. At one point, Tommy tested him on US state capitols to insure that he wasn't entirely detached. Pierce acknowledged him, but then fell face first on the hood of the truck and nearly fell off of his bike when he attempted to push on.

The guys refused to stop fighting and we could only watch and travel along side them as they crawled down the highway at top speeds of 4 to 5 miles per hour. Jesse and Finney nevertheless tried to keep the groups' spirits high and often times seemed to have more energy than the film crew.

We pressed on despite the danger and despite our weary minds. The guys even managed to get one last run on an interstate, in the middle of the night, as if the events of the evening weren't dangerous enough.

At one point however, it appeared as though Pierce couldn't make it any farther. We stopped in the parking lot of a closed down restaurant in the Oregon hillsides to give him a break, and he collapsed on the pavement in a sitting position and instantly fell asleep. Tommy threw open the back of the van and Finney and Jesse had to practically carry Pierce and throw him down in the prone position so that he could take a brief nap before they pushed on. After thirty minutes, Finney woke up Pierce and we hit the road again, light poured through the trees.

The rising fun gave us a newfound energy as we pushed hard for the coast, which was now no more than 16 miles away.

day fifty-six, part II

We reconvened at a small, restaurant in Blue River, Oregon as the sun set. On any normal occassion, this meal would've been a relaxing debriefing to celebrate the completion of a long, hard day on the road. However, this wasn't a normal occassion. Despite a large amount of uncertainty amongst the group, it looked as though the cyclists were going to try to make it to the coast by sun up, which would mean that they would have to bike almost 200 miles in 24 hours, with a very limited amount of breaks.

It didn't take Jesse very long to convince us all that it was a good idea. After all we'd been through as a team, we really couldn't think of any reason why we shouldn't put our noses to the asphalt and try something completely stupid and dangerous. The majority of the contention came from Pierce, who had only been training for two weeks or so, compared to the two months that Finney and Jesse had been on the road. Needless to say, he wasn't happy with the decision to go for the ocean, but he quickly changed his attitude once he realized that he really didn't have a choice. Jesse and Finney eased his mind as much as they could by reminding him that they are a team and no matter what they will wait for him and make sure to all finish together.

We took our time with our supper, crossed the street to stalk up on Red Bulls and "healthy snacks," then hit the road with all the mild mannered fire that a group of wreckless guys who were sick of being on the road for as long as they had could muster up.