In the spring of 1980, a bunch of my buddies were making plans to do a bicycle tour from my home town of Manhattan, Kansas to Bay Lake Minnesota. The whole exercise of planning and preparation was quite intriguing. Not a cyclist, and only 19, I was feeling left out.
That summer I started making some real cash and invested in a Raleigh Super Grand Prix, with panniers, fenders and such. Owning the cool stuff was way more fun than trying to get in shape. However, over a few months I was beginning to venture a little further from home and the rides got longer.
