As you might know, a 15 person van and trailer accompanies our route. The trailer holds all our baggage, our food and our water. Each day, one of the four leaders drives the van and sometimes there are extra riders in the van. This is because in a cross country trip, sometimes things happen that cause riders to not be able to travel via bicycle.
People can get in accidents and be physically injured. Bicycles can get broken to the extent that they are unrideable and the teammate must travel in the van until they can get to a city with a bike shop or a part and fix the bike. Sometimes people get sick and have to ride in the van until they recover or are able to see a doctor.
All in all, our team has been incredibly lucky because no one has gotten seriously injured. As a comparison, a young woman on SC2SC had her Bike & Build adventure cut short because she had to be sent home for surgery because of driver carelessness. All my teammates are still en route to the west coast, even if many have had to ride at the van at one point or another, myself included.
I had to ride in the van for the remaining 60 miles into Biloxi MS because of the accident involving a driver and their trailer. I also had to ride in the van for the last 16 miles of the ride into Las Vegas NM because of extreme dehydration and altitude sickness.
All in all, our group of 32 is very lucky to have such an amazing support structure. Our four awesome leaders have done an amazing job of ensuring that all 28 riders make it to the west coast safely.
Thanks Maddi, Greg, Claire and Dan K!
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