Introduction to the 2016 C2C Ride

About the blogger

Your blogger's name is Wayne Andresen, a 68 year old retiree who worked for 38 years in manufacturing, specifically the pulp and paper industry. Although at this point in life my favorite past time is bicycling, I am also an avid reader, and, I am sure my wife Cheryl, if asked, would also say I spend too much time each day in front of my electronic devices. Cheryl and I reside for six months each year in the Spokane, Washington area, and the other six months at Dove Mountain, about 20 miles north of downtown Tucson, Arizona. Living in those two geographic areas allows me to enjoy bicycling all 12 months of the year.

In 2010, the year I retired, a retired coworker and I took a self-contained bicycle trip from Spokane, Washington to Itasca State Park, Minnesota, the site of the headwaters of the Mississippi River. This ride, my first long distance bicycle ride, lasted 23 days and covered 1331 miles. The blog for this ride can be found at this link:  Rick and Wayne's Retirement Tour

In 2015, I signed up for Bubba's Pampered Pedalers Coast to Coast (C2C) ride along with 42 other riders. The ride started at the Pacific Ocean in San Diego and was scheduled to be completed 52 days and  2909 miles later at the Atlantic Ocean in St. Augustine, Florida.

The ride was an outstanding experience until April 4th, 29 days and 1570 miles from San Diego, I crashed my bicycle. I chose to deliberately lay my bike on its side at 12 mph to avoid crashing with another Coaster. The accident resulted in a compound fracture of my right arm adjacent to the elbow joint and 4 weeks in a wheelchair due to a badly bruised right hip joint. The elbow was surgically repaired and I was released to begin riding again in July, about three and a half months after the accident. The blog  for the first 29 days of this ride can be found at this link: 2015 Coast 2 Coast

Your Blogger Wayne Andresen (2015)

My thoughts shortly after the accident were to join this year's C2C ride on Day 29 and complete the ride to St. Augustine. However, it didn't take much time to realize I would not be content without completing the ride as a single event. Consequently, one year later, I am back in San Diego and ready to start the entire ride again!

About Bubba and the C2C Ride

I will let Bubba, our tour company owner and leader, introduce himself in his own words:

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I'm Bubba of Bubba's PAMPERED Pedalers and host of your 2016 Coast 2 Coast Tour.

Born and raised in St Louis, I currently split my time between the St Louis area, Cocoa Beach, FL area and on the road wherever one of the many bike tours take me.

I am a retired police sergeant retiring October 2000 after serving the fine folks of St Louis for 28 years.  Even though I choose to live my life looking out of the windshield instead of the rear-view-mirror, there may be a time or two when I will look in the rear-view-mirror and tell a story or two along the way.

I became a serious-casual bicyclists in 1992 meaning I was doing a lot of riding however was never what many call a "gear-head".   I recall as if yesterday while using the copy machine in the detective's office a fellow police office came up to me and said, "You should try a week long bike tour, they are fun".  That was November 1992 and little did I know how that sentence would change my life.

A week long bike tour was tried, Cycle Across Missouri Parks, 1993.  I was hooked and have ridden in over 60 week long tours from 1993 thru 2000.

My retirement gift to myself was a fully-loaded solo bicycle tour across this beautiful country.  What an incredible experience it was.  It was while doing this cross country tour I decided to start Bubba's PAMPERED Pedalers with hopes of opening the joys of bicycling touring to others.  

I am looking forward to meeting each of you and welcoming you to the Coast 2 Coast family.

Being the C2C Tour Director is a hair raising experience!

 It's ALL Good!

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Bubba does a fantastic job catering to his riders. For last year's 43 riders, there was a staff of 19 that took care of the needs of every rider. Each day's ride was mapped out with a cue sheet along with physical arrow markers attached to the road surface at every turn. Additionally, for riders with a Garmin bicycle computer capable of mapping, GPS files were made available that provided turn by turn navigation for each day's ride. SAG stops with water, Gatorade, soda and snacks were set up every 20 to 25 miles if commercial stops were not available. Also, if there were no restaurants on the day's route for lunch, a lunch was provided. A professional cook also traveled with the group and provided outstanding quality food at breakfast and dinner. Laundry service was provided every 3-4 days. Other staff included a bicycle mechanic and a very capable massage therapist. We stayed in either a Bubba provided tent, gymnasiums, or motels every night. Our luggage was always waiting at our sleeping spot along with an inflated air mattress when sleeping in a tent or gym. It is very easy to see why Bubba's business name is Bubba's Pampered Pedalers!