Against the Wind: Setting a World Record
On May 4, 1984, I embarked on a bike race beginning in Savannah, GA and ending in San Diego, CA with the goal of breaking my own world record time. This was the third time and last time I attempted this race.
“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
In 1982, I set a new world record, biking from Savannah to San Diego in just 15 days. I was out to prove something! Five years before the 1982 race, I was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident. I was told by my doctor that I would never walk again without help. At first, I surrendered to this prognosis, riddled with pain and doubt. However, I came to realize that my disability was not so much in my legs, but in my mind. Cycling became my road to full recovery and I wanted to use the race to show anyone that they could accomplish their goals. I hoped my story would be a source of inspiration, proving that you could go from being on crutches to riding a bicycle across the country. I wanted to prove the truth of the famous utterance by Winston Churchill, “If you are going through hell, keep going.”
I knew I could beat my original time. I tried in 1983 and I was on a pace to break my record, when a desert whirlwind called a dust devil threw me from my bike. I broke my collar bone, just 380 miles short of my goal. In May of 1984, I returned to Savannah for a final attempt. The streets were lined with supporters as I began the race – our documentary film crew, five television stations, many of our friends, and hundreds of strangers. It was easy to get caught up in the excitement with all that adrenaline pumping. The film shows me leaving the courthouse with one of my mechanics singing Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.” But I wasn’t a block into the race when it hit me what lay ahead. Another song, Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind,” started playing in my head. There’s a line in the song, “Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then,” that seemed apropos of the moment.
For the first few days, I fought aggressive winds between 30 and 40 mph. I had three states behind me and five ahead. My body was showing the effects of the struggle against the wind. The pressure I had to put on the pedals made my feet swell so much that I had to cut open my shoes. My neck hurt, and my hands were so numb that I had to shake them every few minutes to get the blood flowing again. By this point, I looked forward to only two things: eating and sleeping.
State by state, city by city, mile by mile, and inch by inch
The headwinds were relentless, and I battled them for all but 12 of the 2,600 miles across the country. Facing that kind of challenge changed my perspective on everything. State by state, city by city, mile by mile, and inch by inch, I had to fight my way toward California. That focused intensity gave me a kind of clarity that I had never experienced before. I remember the exact moment when I realized that good enough was neither good nor enough.
I arrived in San Diego on May 15 at 5:15 p.m. PST. In the final hours of the race, I endured stop-and-go traffic. I had no idea how exhausted I was until I was forced to stop. As long as I was moving, I could not feel the full extent of the pain. I had lost seven pounds in the last three hours of the race, because my body was just breaking down. We finally made a right turn onto West Broadway, and I could see that the street was lined with people. My adrenaline was pumping. This was the best, if also the most painful, part of the journey. In that moment, I knew several things with absolute certainty. I would finish this race. Being forced to dig deeper than I ever had before, I discovered who I really was. No situation that I would face from here forward would ever look as difficult.
I finished the race 11 days, eight hours, and 15 minutes after leaving Savannah, setting a new world record. I slept a total of 22 hours, or less than two hours a day. At the age of 40, I broke my own record by more than four days and again became the fastest person to cross the southern United States on a bicycle. As I lifted my bike into the air on the courthouse steps, it started to sink in – nothing would ever be the same.
That night, my wife Donna and I hosted a big dinner at our hotel to thank everyone for their help. It was the first real meal that I had had in more than 11 days. I ordered my favorite dish, abalone, a real California delicacy. It was delicious, but I was so tired that I actually fell asleep in my food; I could not muster enough energy to keep my head up and eat. After saying goodbye to everyone, Donna and I went up to our room to get our first good night’s sleep. On the nightstand before climbing into bed, I lined up half a dozen unwrapped Snickers bars so I could just grab them and eat them anytime I awakened. That night, even with the candy bars, I lost an additional five pounds because my body was still breaking down and burning so many calories from the exertion.
