J-E Editor
Every summer the roads of Webster County come alive as the annual migration of bicyclist from coast to cost along the Trans American Bike Trail begins. The 4229 mile route has it’s terminuses in Astoria, Oregon and Yorktown, Virginia, with many hotels, fire departments and hostels along the way.
The route passes through ten states, along the way giving riders scenic veiws of Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Riders will also experience both lush, green mountain roads and the dry, desolate Great Divide Basin.
In the early part of the season, typical the first of June, nearly all of the riders passing through the county are heading west, like Leia Crosby and Celia Whitehead of Maine. These young ladies left Fredericksburg, VA on May 19, and paused for a breif lunch at the Sebree Dairy Bar on Monday, June 8.
“We started the morning at the Utica Fire Department, and we’ll go until we feel like stopping,” said Whitehead.
The two have an arrival deadline on August 15 in Portland, Oregon. That is the day one of their friends is getting married.
In the coming weeks, travelers heading west will encounter a different breed of cyclist. On Saturday, June 6, the 41 competitors in the Trans American Bike Race left Astoria bound for the east coast. The leaders will complete a trip that takes nost cyclist three months to finish in just weeks. The 2014 winner, Mike Hall of Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, finished the race in 17 days, 16 hours and 29 minutes.
On Monday at noon, this year’s leader, Jesse Carlsson, 37 of of Melbourne, Australia, had traversed nearly 650 miles in only two days. That rate could put him in Webster County by this weekends.
For updates on the Trans American Bike race and to track participants as they make their way towards Webster County, visit: http://trackleaders.com/transam15
Reach MATT HUGHES
at 270-667-2068 or
matt@journalenterprise.com
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