Best Made Guide Bio: Rick Olson, Tour Cycling Some folks occasionally bite off more than they can chew. I’ve made a habit of it. Lying prone on the side of the highway contemplating quitting on the day one of a three-month, 4,500 miles bicycle trip, I realized I’d really outdone myself this time. But I embraced my altitude-induced sickness and carried on. Sometimes it’s best to begin a trip in the grip of adversity. I spent the rest of summer with grease and dirt under my fingernails, relied on Tapatio as the key ingredient to everything, rested my head on a pillow of rolled up dirty clothes every night and I loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute. I’d never bicycle toured before, in fact I wouldn’t consider myself a cyclist. Yes I cruised to work and around town on an old road bike with faulty shifters, but aside from that I don’t sport spandex littered with logos and I’d never rode more than 60 miles in a day. I didn’t exactly have the resumè for a 4,500 mile tour, but if you consider my trial-and-error ethics and my boring life leading up to this point, I was fit for the challenge.  My trip retraced the old National Park-to-Park Highway—also called the Playground Trail, which a rugged crew of Americans traveled in 1921. The route visited twelve National Parks beginning at Rocky Mt. and traveling counter-clockwise around the west and concluding at Mesa Verde in southern Colorado. At the time, automobiles were fairly unreliable and roads were little more than dirt trails. In short, the trip was a crap shoot and I wanted mine to be the same, which is why I opted to bike it instead of drive it.  No situation has ever felt more vulnerable than traveling by bicycle. Semis graze by; the weather chooses your rate of travel (see 40 MPH headwinds), all your belongings can be easily stolen and your body and bike can fail at any time. But amazing opportunities present themselves in vulnerable circumstances. Adapting to all these variables, I learned more over the course of one summer than any other point in my life. Strangers bought me meals and invited me to their weddings (with huckleberry margaritas and bluegrass music.) I prepared 3-course meals from a handful of ingredients. I rediscovered the beauty of showers in cold creeks and rivers. I recognized the value in simplicity.  Had I spotted Sasquatch, my trip would have been totally complete. Oh well, maybe next time.  Photos, videos and stories from the Playground Tour can be found at www.playgroundtour.com.
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Best Made Guide Bio: Rick Olson, Tour Cycling

Some folks occasionally bite off more than they can chew. I’ve made a habit of it.

Lying prone on the side of the highway contemplating quitting on the day one of a three-month, 4,500 miles bicycle trip, I realized I’d really outdone myself this time. But I embraced my altitude-induced sickness and carried on. Sometimes it’s best to begin a trip in the grip of adversity. I spent the rest of summer with grease and dirt under my fingernails, relied on Tapatio as the key ingredient to everything, rested my head on a pillow of rolled up dirty clothes every night and I loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute.

I’d never bicycle toured before, in fact I wouldn’t consider myself a cyclist. Yes I cruised to work and around town on an old road bike with faulty shifters, but aside from that I don’t sport spandex littered with logos and I’d never rode more than 60 miles in a day. I didn’t exactly have the resumè for a 4,500 mile tour, but if you consider my trial-and-error ethics and my boring life leading up to this point, I was fit for the challenge. 

My trip retraced the old National Park-to-Park Highway—also called the Playground Trail, which a rugged crew of Americans traveled in 1921. The route visited twelve National Parks beginning at Rocky Mt. and traveling counter-clockwise around the west and concluding at Mesa Verde in southern Colorado. At the time, automobiles were fairly unreliable and roads were little more than dirt trails. In short, the trip was a crap shoot and I wanted mine to be the same, which is why I opted to bike it instead of drive it. 

No situation has ever felt more vulnerable than traveling by bicycle. Semis graze by; the weather chooses your rate of travel (see 40 MPH headwinds), all your belongings can be easily stolen and your body and bike can fail at any time. But amazing opportunities present themselves in vulnerable circumstances. Adapting to all these variables, I learned more over the course of one summer than any other point in my life. Strangers bought me meals and invited me to their weddings (with huckleberry margaritas and bluegrass music.) I prepared 3-course meals from a handful of ingredients. I rediscovered the beauty of showers in cold creeks and rivers. I recognized the value in simplicity. 

Had I spotted Sasquatch, my trip would have been totally complete. Oh well, maybe next time. 

Photos, videos and stories from the Playground Tour can be found at www.playgroundtour.com.