Hello and welcome to my Ride Blog
I’m Mark Steelquist and on April 1, 2024, I begin my 3,200 mile cross country bicycle trip from Santa Monica, California to Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This is me towards the end of my ride in 1981 from Key West, Florida to West Quoddy Head, Maine to Cape Flattery, Washington.
If all goes well, the ride will take about 8 weeks. Along the way, I’ll be telling the story of the ride as it happens. I hope you’ll join my on this journey. I’ll do my best to make it as interesting for you as it is for me.
Why ride a bike across the country? There are a hundred reasons that sound like cliches. Cliches aren’t wrong, but you’ve probably heard them before, and no doubt, as the pavement unfolds, you’ll hear few from me too. But I hope to share some experiences that are original, too.
As an Explorer in Residence with the Center for Adventure Leadership, I’ll try to put this experience in the context of the questions, what exactly is adventure, and what do we really mean by leadership. Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “building the bicycle while riding it” to describe a process of creating something useful while simultaneously using it. My ride is just that: discussion s of adventure while on one, observations on leadership while applying it.
The Center for Adventure Leadership is new, and we are trying out various ways to describe what we do. Here’s a possibility for a slogan: “Leadership is going first, adventure is going beyond”. I’m giving this one a spin. Please keep me company along the way!
I’d love to hear from you. Donate to the ride and send along your words of encouragement and tell me why getting kids outside matters to you.
