Markell: Wouldn't trade bike experience; couldn't pay him to do it again
Three things you might want to know right off the bat about former Gov. Jack Markell's cross-country bike trip, which ends in early August in Rehoboth Beach:
1. Yes, his butt hurts. "You might as well light a match and keep it there, honestly," he says from Rochester, Minnesota.
2. The temperatures, which have included lows in the 40s and highs in the triple digits haven't bothered him. But he's learned to hate the headwinds he's had to pedal into for hours on end.
3. Yes, it's been harder than he expected. He had to walk his bike up 1.5 miles of steep grade in the Tetons, but the scenery, company and glorious moments have made up for it.
Markell's trip is designed to draw attention to physical fitness and community health while raising money for Motivate the First State, a website that turns exercise time into donations for seven Delaware charities. He's riding with a group on a 3,700-mile route put together by a company that organizes trips.
"You do what you need to do to get through the day," Markell says. "Sometimes it’s fantastic, like when we went through the Badlands, which I’ve never been through before. The Badlands are just amazing. Just beautiful. Some days it’s a total slog."
The wind and the condition of the road determine what kind of day it is for the riders.
"If the wind is with you, it's a good day," Markell says. "If the wind is not with you, it's not a good day. The main things that go into it are the wind and the surface of the road. If you have a really smooth surface, that's great. But if you don't, like today, we have mile after mile after mile of just kerplunk, kerplunk, kerplunk."
One of his fellow riders joked that if there had been a thumbtack on his bike seat, it might have felt better. Markell agrees.
Friends and family have popped in and out of the trip since June 19 when he dipped his bike wheels in the Pacific Ocean off Oregon, where his wife, Carla, saw him off. His daughter, Molly, and her boyfriend surprised him in Boise, Idaho, for one of the few rest days. Online a few weeks ago, Markell lamented the departure of his friend Bob Pincus, a Delaware lawyer who rode with him for five days and who apparently also is Lord of the Tailwinds.
Delaware State Sen. David Sokola just joined Markell on the road and will ride with him to Rehoboth Beach.
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Most of the daily rides cover less than 100 miles, but the group has had quite a few "centuries" as they call biking that distance in one day.
Markell says he drinks constantly. He carries two water bottles and refills them several times a day. He also buys juice or a sports beverage on the route.
The bikers stop at Dairy Queen any time there is one, he says.
"I eat a lot more than I eat at home," he says. "It's going to be an adjustment going home and not eating like this. I eat pretty much everything in sight."
He has no idea if he's lost weight, but guesses he's lost a couple of pounds.
"I wish I had lost a few more pounds before I started because getting up those hills, a few pounds would make a big difference," Markell says.
Within a few days of embarking, he had an evening routine established. He gets to his hotel room and showers. Then he washes his clothes in the sink and hangs them to dry overnight, so they are ready to go in the morning.
"I stretch. I eat. I catch up on my email and the world news and I go to bed very early," Markell says. "This morning we started at 5:30 a.m. It's a very full day and I have to be in bed early."
He's ridden both a Fuji and a Cervelo bike, both lightweight models designed for long rides.
There are no rain days, although the group did huddle in the lobby of a hotel during a tornado watch.
"Our schedule is set," Markell says. "We have to be at the next hotel. The only time we don't ride is if it's lightning. But if it's raining, like yesterday, we ride."
One of those stops in the rain was at a Mountain Lake, Minnesota, cafe. The women there found out Markell was a former governor. When they discovered he hadn't run for a third term, one of them speculated out of his earshot that the "big guy," U.S. Sen. McConnell, must've called Markell and told him not to run.
The riders average 80 miles a day, which can be done in five hours with a good road and cooperating wind, or can take eight hours with a headwind or bad road, Markell says.
He thinks they've climbed more than 12 miles.
And he's had a couple moments when he wondered if he was crazy.
"I'd say that's happened a number of times, including today," Markell says. "But I have said and told the staff that it's ironic that I'm paying to do this because you couldn't pay me to do it again.
"I'm very glad to be doing it, honestly, because it's a great experience. I would say it's more dangerous than I had expected, because it is, and it's harder than I expected. Most importantly, I miss Carla and being away from Carla for just days. I've never done that before."
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Markell says he wouldn't have done anything differently to get ready for the ride. His trainer, Deborah Leedale-Brown, got him into great shape, he says.
He knew he would really miss the Delaware State Fair and noted online that the smell of rural Wyoming reminded him of the fair, in a good way.
He's not sorry he missed the finale of the legislative session, which ended with Gov. John Carney calling an emergency session to pass a state budget.
"As painful a day as I was having that day, I think Gov. Carney was probably having a more painful day, and I'm very happy for him that he was able to get the budget done a couple of days later.
"I did not miss the legislative session. At all. Exclamation point."
Contact Betsy Price at (302) 743-6006 or beprice@delawareonline.com.
In his own words
Former Gov, Jack Markell has been posting dispatches from his trip on Facebook and other social media. Here's a roundup of some of the most amusing entries, which have all been edited for brevity:
June 19: Greetings from the Pacific coast! Rode 26.3 miles (round trip) to the beach at Fort Stevens State Park, so I could dip my back wheel in the Pacific Ocean. Plan to dip my front wheel in the Atlantic in a few weeks! #KeepingUpWithJack
June 20: The day before I left Delaware for Oregon, I spoke to a friend of mine from Chicago who rode his bike across the country a few years ago. He gave me some great advice: “Never look at a map of the whole country to see what kind of progress you’re making…it’s too daunting.”
June 22: I'm in Prineville, Oregon, after riding 59.5 miles and climbing 3,180 feet. Our ride leaders described today's ride as an "active recovery ride." One of my fellow riders said that back home, "active recovery means a couch and some iced tea."
June 25: I'm in Baker City, Oregon ... The hills are killers for speed — today there were three of them! A number of my fellow riders (and I) are wearing apparel from W.L. Gore. I love telling them Gore is based in Delaware!
June 25: A new first for me: we rode today for 13 miles on I-84. I've never ridden on an interstate before (back east, it's prohibited and in the west, it's allowed when there are no alternatives). The shoulder was good and wide and there wasn't much traffic, so it wasn't bad.
June 26: A gorgeous ride through western Idaho into Boise. Best view? (His daughter) Molly and her boyfriend Thomas surprised me in Boise ... Tomorrow is a day off in Boise. It's been great but I'm glad to be off the bike for a day.
June 30: I'm in Burley, Idaho ...Today was a slow ride with a stiff headwind pretty much throughout. My friend Bob (Pincus) was WAY ahead of me, beating me to the food stop by miles. I asked if he had a chance to catch up on a few emails waiting for me (Bob is a lawyer back home). In his unique way, he told me that I was so slow, he had time to write a full brief.
July 2: I'm in Idaho Falls ... Today was the day of the dog -- as in dogs chasing us. We were warned about it last night and on cue, the dogs came running. I learned a number of techniques...ride toward the dog, squirt water at the dog, or my favorite, speed up faster than anybody else in your group. My problem is I'm just not that fast.
July 3: I'm in Jackson, Wyoming after riding 90.6 miles and climbing 4931 feet. My average speed was 10.3 mph thanks to the hardest climb I've ever attempted. If there's a more spectacular ride, I don't know what it is. The Tetons are just gorgeous ... With a grade between 8 and 11 percent, I walked about a mile and a half up to Teton Pass. So now I think of my adventure as America by bicycle and foot!
July 6: I'm in Casper, Wyoming after a 119.4 mile ride ... with one turn ... This part of Wyoming smells like the Delaware State Fair (I mean that in a good way). I miss the Fair and am sorry I won't see many of my friends there this year ... As of today, we've traveled 1359 miles. Of that, 1.5 (up Teton Pass) was by foot and about 32 miles was in a van because the Teton National Park honchos wouldn't give us a permit ... So we all had to be shuttled.
July 9: I'm in Hot Springs, South Dakota ... A few days into the trip, I met Dirk from South Dakota. He asked about my party affiliation. I told him I was a Democrat and he proudly told me he is a "staunch Republican." Today, he told me (jokingly) he was worried about my riding alone through all of these Republican areas, so we rode together for a while.
July 12: I'm in Kadoka, South Dakota after riding through Badlands National Park. This park is stunning. The pictures do little justice. And just as I was about to leave the park, I ran into two members of the Shahan family from Pike Creek, who are doing their own road trip across country. Autumn is a student at Skyline Middle School, where I used to volunteer in Ms. Richardson's class for Junior Achievement of Delaware. Such a small world!
July 13: I'm in Chamberlain, South Dakota. We passed the halfway point of our journey today. Alastair and Chris let me draft off their tandem. It was great while it lasted — but I was gassed for the rest of the ride. Some days we enjoy. Some we endure. Today — we endured.
July 14: I'm in Mitchell, South Dakota. Once again, we had a headwind for virtually the entire ride. Of course the folks who worked in a local store said to me, "if you think that's wind, you don't know anything about wind."
July 15: I'm in Sioux Falls, South Dakota after riding 72 miles. The winds turned back in our favor which significantly improved our moods. A lot.
July 19: I'm in Rochester, Minnesota ... Minnesota nice showed itself when we set up an impromptu SAG (Support and Gear) stop in front of a church. Within minutes church members showed up to welcome us and unlock the facilities. Very gracious.
July 20: I'm in La Crosse, Wisconsin after riding 87.2 miles ... It was a great ride for three reasons:
A. We took a fantastic bike path from Rushford to Houston, Minnesota.
B. I was able to climb a very steep (10 percent grade) hill that was a mile long about eight miles east of Houston. This is the same kind of hill — though shorter — that I walked up at Teton Pass.
C. We crossed the Mississippi River!
July 21: I am in Mauston, Wisconsin ... We arrived soaking wet. As a result of the rain and associated high water and flash floods, we had an unanticipated detour... We rode Route 71 instead and a fellow Delaware cyclist — David Miller, a teacher at St. Andrew's School — found me on the road in Wilton, Wisconsin. Delawareans are everywhere
July 23: Immediately upon arriving in Manitowoc, a number of us headed out to a laundromat. It was definitely time!
July 25: I'm in Mount Pleasant, Michigan ... I was joined on this ride by John Willmoth, an old friend, who rode 112 miles like it was no big deal. He immediately became the most popular person on the tour because his wife, Karen, baked seven delicious cakes for the cyclists.
Hard to believe I will be home in less than two weeks and I can't wait to see Carla, Molly, Michael and my mom!