September 7, 2005
Traverse City women pedal across country
Central High School graduates log thousands of miles during back road ride across America this summer
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Fueled by peanut butter, ice cream, oatmeal and optimism, two area women recently logged thousands of miles on their bikes as they explored the back roads of the country.
Part of a four-person bicycle quest from Maine to Oregon, Caitlin Prentice and Meryl Estes, both 2001 graduates of Central High School, completed a multi-month trip that racked up a total of 4,377.5 miles for Prentice and 3,077.5 for Estes.
Prentice, who graduated in May from Middlebury College in Vermont, biked with school friends and fellow graduates Jonathan Stuart-Moore and Nicole Grohoski. Starting on May 29 from the Quoddy Head Light in Maine, they completed their trek on August 13 at the Cape Mearas Light in Oregon.
After traversing Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Canada and Michigan, the trio picked up Estes in Traverse City. The foursome crossed Lake Michigan on the ferry and set off for the west coast, riding approximately 75 miles a day. A fifth rider joined them for a week through Minnesota and part of South Dakota.
Camping as they went, they enjoyed hospitality from people along the way who opened their homes to them for showers, meals and camping. Traveling for 77 days, they spent 60 nights camping out and paid for a campsite only seven times. They often camped in public spaces or on a someone's land, always after asking permission.
"The people on this trip were amazing, we would be totally exhausted and looking for a place to sleep and people would come up and offer us showers and a place to stay," said Estes, a senior at Northern Michigan University studying photography. "We had that happen many times in every state at least once."
"It was amazing, I have a totally new view on people," she added.
Prentice and Grohoski planned the route and trip as a senior project at college, meticulously detailing roads and towns along the way. From that foundation, the bikers were also flexible and at times modified their route on the recommendation of local bikers or just whims.
The bikers kept an online journal, posting text and pictures about their experiences when they could. The four sets of parents also had their own online journal to pool and share info after a call from a rider.
The journal also features a page of statistics from the trip, including dates, miles traveled, number of flat tires, most and fewest miles a day plus top speed on the road. More obscure facts included best and worst brand of peanut butter, best, worst and most interesting campsites and fluid ounces of sunscreen used, which was 56.
The bikers had a philosophy of training as they went. The three who started in Maine had virtually no extra training before leaving because of school and graduation. Estes completed some longer rides before her pals arrived in Traverse City but no serious training. Despite this, they logged no injuries beyond sore muscles.
"I was surprised by how our bodies responded, you can put it through a lot and it will bounce back," said Prentice, who will be attending graduate school in Scotland in the fall. "The most I'd ridden my bike before was when Meryl and I had rode to the end of the peninsula and back."
Prentice said her scale of distances has shifted since the trip.
"If I can bike to Oregon, I can bike to the mall or Suttons Bay," she said. "I think that it was good for us to see that we could bike that far."
Packing light and using a stove supplied by Grohoski, the team mostly cooked for themselves and shopped almost daily. Two of the riders had panniers on their bikes while two had small trailers.
They consumed a container of oatmeal every day for breakfast, flavored with peanut. Peanut butter showed up the rest of the day and the group ate more than 71 pounds of it for a high-energy, high-calorie food.
With many stops for cookies and ice cream along the way - always ready to celebrate - the group's diet improved after Estes joined them. Meals began including fresh produce and more protein while the quality overall improved, pleasing their parents who initially worried they would waste away.
"I learned about nutrition, the difference between long term versus short term and making it through the day," noted Prentice.
Estes, who spent 52 days traveling from Traverse City to Oregon, jumped at the chance to join the adventure. She and Prentice had talked before about a bike expedition and this adventure fit the bill while also whetting both friends' appetites for more.
"The whole point of the trip was to see our country," noted Estes. "It was the best thing I've done in a long time."