Most people can't exactly recall the day they learned to ride a bicycle.
Rick Ausel can.
"I've been an avid cyclist since I was four years old," the 57-year-old Oil City resident said. "That's when I stole my brother's bike."
His enjoyment of pedaling a bicycle has taken him many places, but it wasn't until he retired from the Oil City Fire Department in February that he finally had an opportunity to realize a lifelong dream.
"I had taken several weeklong trips before, but I always dreamed of riding across the United State on a bicycle," said Ausel, who served as a firefighter for 34 years. "I wanted to see this country from a different perspective and to see how our early pioneers were able to do it."
Not long after his retirement, Ausel began putting "the wheels in motion" for his bike trip across America.
It would be a journey that he will never forget.
He would not only be challenged by rugged terrain, which saw him go up and down many mountains (including the Rockies), but by Mother Nature herself, who would hurl nasty weather his way at a moment's notice.
"In the mountains, the weather can change dramatically," Ausel said. "It can drop 30 degrees and start raining in no time. And, in addition to the wind, dust and snow, there were many times that I raced for shelter against rain clouds ... and I usually lost."
But, as difficult as it seemed at the time, Ausel would end up spending a little more than two months on the Trans-America Bicycle Trail, log more than 3,500 miles and lose 22 pounds.
"When I started, I weighed 180 pounds and I came back at 158," he said laughing. "And it wasn't because I wasn't eating. I ate a lot. I had more than my share of big breakfasts and ate a ton of pancakes. I'd stop for lunch and dinner, ate candy bars and a whole lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along the way."
Ausel's journey began on April 22 in Yorktown, Va., where he said good-bye to his wife of 21 years, Dawn, and his 20-year-old son, Andrew.
And off he rode, with credit cards, $500 in cash and $2,000 in traveler's checks.
In addition to his bike and necessary accessories (helmet and tire repair kit), his other belongings included a pen and tablet, three changes of biking clothes, a pair of sandals and a pair of cycling shoes, a pair of slacks, wool socks, lined gloves, a Gore-Tex rain jacket, tent, sleeping bag and pad, a fleece jacket and a stocking cap.
"I thought I had everything I needed, but I ended up buying a dress shirt for a buck at a garage sale," he said.
Virginia was the first of nine states Ausel would trek through.
"I rode 105 miles the first day," he said. "It was a long trip through Virginia, going up and over some pretty steep hills. It was also rainy and foggy, but the Blue Ridge Mountains were beautiful."
As Ausel advanced into Kentucky, an Elvis Presley song popped into his head.
"I was singing "Cold Kentucky Rain" when I got into the state and it couldn't have been more appropriate," he recalled. "It was cold and just plain miserable there. I also got lost several times and I never knew there were that many hills in Kentucky."
Happy to leave The Blue Grass State in his rear-view mirror, Ausel rode a ferry across the Ohio River and into Illinois, which turned out to be a quick trip before heading into Missouri.
"There were a lot of steep dips in the trail and my legs always seemed tired after riding," Ausel said. "And the Ozark Mountains were much steeper than I'd anticipated."
His next stop was Kansas, and while the terrain was mostly flat, Ausel was greeted by continual gusts of wind.
It was also there where he met up with an Englishman named Paul Hodge, and the two would proceed to ride together (off and on) for more than 1,000 miles.
"I lost him a couple of times along the way," Ausel said. "One time, he wanted us to stop because of bad weather, but I went on ahead. He ended up getting a ride with someone and caught up."
Ausel's odyssey began to get real interesting when he ventured into Colorado.
The following is an excerpt from his journal:
"I started out with a tail wind for the first 60 miles, so I decided to go to Eads (Colorado). What a mistake! First, the tailwind turned to a headwind, then a dust storm and finally, a cold front. It got so bad that a lady in a pickup stopped and gave me a ride in the back to Eads."
Ausel then encountered the Rocky Mountains.
"The hills are longer, but they're not as steep," he said. "I hit a dust storm and the weather became very unpredictable. I knew I was getting pretty high up because I started breathing twice as fast. One thing I started to notice, however, was that my body, especially my legs, seemed to recover faster as the trip wore on."
Once through Colorado, Ausel pedaled into Wyoming and right into a nightmare.
"When I got to the top of Togwotee Pass (elevation: 9,658 feet), I thought I might die up there," he said. "I didn't really notice the cold when I was going up, but when I got to the top, it began to sleet and it was bitter cold coming down. My glasses fogged up, I couldn't see the road and my hands were so cold that I didn't know if I was squeezing the brakes or not.
"I stopped at a gas station about 10 miles down and bought a pair of gloves for 51 cents," he added. "It was my best purchase of the entire trip."
With the Togwotee Pass thrill ride behind him, Ausel's adventure suddenly took a turn for the better.
The next day, he went to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park.
"The Tetons were magnificent," he said. "The two things I really wanted to see on this trip were the Tetons and Yellowstone, even though the road into Yellowstone was in terrible condition."
After a quick trip through Idaho, Ausel entered his final state ... Montana.
"In general, the weather got better in Montana, even though there were a couple of nasty days early on," he said. "It's a very scenic state and I went to McDonald Lake, which was absolutely gorgeous.
"I also had some of the biggest pancakes I've ever seen," he added. "They were so big that I asked the waitress what was the best way to eat them and she told me to start in the middle and work my way out."
Ironically, it was also in Montana that Ausel had some tire trouble.
"I only had three flat tires the entire trip, but I had two of those flats on the same day," said Ausel, who noted that he also replaced a rim, front derailer, chain and sprocket during his excursion.
On his final day, June 26, Ausel biked 15 miles on the famous Sun Highway and headed to White Fish, Mont., where he caught a train back to Cleveland.
"There was only one day on the entire trip that I didn't put any miles on my bike," he said, estimating that he averaged about 60 miles a day. "I usually went to bed about 8 p.m. and got up about 5 a.m., but I found that I didn't sleep as much as the trip went on."
As a retiree, Ausel admitted he wasn't trying to complete the journey in record time, even though he did have somewhat of a deadline.
"I really had no timetable, other than that I had to back for my wife's birthday on Aug. 23," he grinned. "She probably wishes that I'd have been gone a little longer because she remodeled our upstairs and a room downstairs during that time ... and did a great job, I might add."
Ausel's days of trekking across the nation by bike are history, but he still has a yearning to ride and explore.
"I wouldn't do this trip again, but there's a trip down south that's not supposed to be as rough," he said.
All in all, Ausel will always remember his cross-country adventure.
"What I'll remember most is how nice the people were ... there were so many people along the way who would help out, even though I was a complete stranger to them," he said. "I'll remember the dogs that greeted me in Kentucky and the "Cookie Lady" who has run a hostel halfway up the Blue Ridge Parkway since the trail opened in 1976.
"This trip was fun, but it was also grueling," Ausel said. "It was worse than I expected and it was better than I expected, depending on what kind of weather I had."
