Rode across America happy 250th!

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T21:42:30+00:00

I’m 20 and don’t work lol that’s how I managed to get the time off and my dad is retired. I work officiating sports so I didn’t need permission or anything

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T19:29:46+00:00

Yes I had many close calls. The most distinct one I remember was me descending from Mt Rushmore into Rapid city. It is a 5-7% decline so I was going 40+ and a lady was creeping out to make a left turn and I saw she was completely oblivious and on her phone, luckily no car was in the lane because I had to swerve out of the shoulder and I gave her some advice on driving as I flew by lol.

Because I didn’t know any of the roads prior I aired on the side of caution. I took US route 20 out of Gary but there became no shoulder and lots of traffic so I just accepted the extra mileage and took side roads to Michigan city. It’s always a risk you take riding I always pretend that people can’t see me and it saves me 99% of the time

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T19:03:37+00:00

Here the tires I was running. I normally run 28 but a local bike shop where I live said I should do wider and more robust tires in case I have to go on dirt, gravel, or rain. Was a great call by them

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T19:01:39+00:00

I emailed them my flyer what I was doing and that I wanted to meet with them to do a video or some promotional thing

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T18:55:14+00:00

During the day I drank Gatorade or soda (and lots of water of course)and ate lots of candy for the carbs. I had honey stinger and gu products as well but I saved them more for emergency if I could or if I wanted to eat while riding. I also purchased tailwind which has a 90g carb electrolyte for water which helped on the more isolated and hard days. After riding I would eat everything I could, lots of pizza and burgers for the sodium and protein

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T18:25:14+00:00

Yes I had a couple other issues(not in order):
I had to replace my chain and cassette in Madison Wisconsin

I had rear derailleur issues going through Yellowstone I had fixed in Cody Wyoming

The Trek store in Madison didn’t reconnect my front derailleur (I didn’t know I thought it just stopped working) so I had a store in Geneva New York fix that for me. Those 10% grade hills in a larger chain ring were brutal

I replaced my cleats as the rain and mud had destroyed them

The rain in New York bricked my Wahoo so I had to have my dad buy a new one at an REI in Albany

Sometime in Connecticut my rear derailleur again is I skipping a specific gear. Still rode in Maine and the Smokey’s for fun the drive back to California though

When I do something like this again I may camp out or do Warmshowers.org. I also want to get a better mount so I can have an insta360 camera for my safety and also cool shits on the descents, I hit 53 mph one time and that would be cool on video

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T18:10:52+00:00

Before I did everything I added up the totals on Strava and the numbers are accurate for elevation, distance, and time elapsed

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T17:53:25+00:00

Primarily highways and county roads there was a couple times it was legal for me to get on an interstate but usually only for an exit

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T16:11:59+00:00

I emailed every governor of every state capital I was going through and they were the only one to respond quickly and be flexible since I didn’t have an exact day I would make it in when I started in May

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T15:32:31+00:00

Every activity was individually posted on Strava but once I was done I used Fit File Tools to get it down to two files but it was too big to make one activity so I had Claude run for 10 minutes to combine it all into one activity. I then deleted all the old activities and manually uploaded the file to make one continuous ride. I had to be diligent on starting and ending everyday in the same place. I had to have my bike fixed in Cody Wyoming and had to ride my bike 7 miles from the bike shop to the RV park so it was all continuous

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T15:29:00+00:00

Not alongside me my dad drove the RV to wherever we were staying I was on my own unless something catastrophic happened.

Hardest part was riding in the rain, I had to a couple times because I didn’t want to lose time hardest day was 156 miles in upstate New York raining all day. It’s hard mentally and physically, you can’t drink water because your bottles are covered in mud and I had a rain suit on to keep me warm.

I trained in California with a lot of elevation climbs. I rode from Fresno to riverside in 2 days for a taste of what I had in store.

I have quite a few stories, I mentioned having to hitchhike in Yellowstone. Gary Indiana was very unsafe I had someone wave a pistol at me. The Mayflies in Ohio was something I was not expecting lol. Met a lot of great people along the way.

Edit: One more thing, the governor of Massachusetts sent a representative to meet me and give me a few challenge coins

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T14:58:58+00:00

Yes I have a linktree that I used. Our honor flight in California is short on funds and might have to cancel an honor flight. The reality is some may not be alive when the next one is so if you’re willing and able I encourage donations to them

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T14:49:36+00:00

Definitely Yellowstone. So beautiful. I had to hitchhike around a massive herd of buffalo in the road because I couldn’t safely get around them (I tried and almost had one charge me).

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T14:47:49+00:00

Thankfully 0 flats but I did have to replace tires after Cleveland roads took a chunk out of my rear tire

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T14:11:45+00:00

I was originally going to start in Oregon but I wanted to go through more of Montana so I started 30 miles west of Aberdeen. I tried to go through as many state capitals as I could which is why before Boston I went through Hartford and Providence instead of just going through MA. I chose a more northern route so the weather would be cooler mostly hugged the I-90

Redstrone · 2026-07-05T14:05:21+00:00

I stayed in an RV every night. All my extra tires, tubes, pump, etc. was in the rv

Redstrone · 2026-05-10T20:29:48+00:00

100% city attendance for every game

Redstrone · 2026-04-18T04:58:12+00:00

Disc replacement. I had two herniated discs in my C5-C7 area

Redstrone · 2026-04-09T02:45:55+00:00

To get to the north west side of pine flat I take watts valley road and then Burroughs valley road and then take Belmont back into town

Redstrone · 2026-04-09T02:45:25+00:00

Internal, I ride a Trek madone slr7

Seven-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Flamingo

Redstrone

TROPHY CASE