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By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
There are two types of people who live in the United State of America.
The 328 million people.
And one Jared Fisher.
Fisher is the bicycling ironman/marathon man from Las Vegas (Blue Diamond, actually) who is pedaling coast-to-coast solo from San Diego, California to Jacksonville, Florida in two and a half weeks or so. He and wife Heather own the Las Vegas Cyclery bike shop in Summerlin and the Escape Adventure bicycle touring company, plus other bike shops in Reno and Moab, Utah.
To call Fisher a “hardcore” bicyclist is like calling Oprah an “interview enthusiast.”
Why is Fisher biking across the country solo? Well, he biked 3,421 miles across the country the northern tier of the U.S. in 18 days in July 2019. So, what the hell, he might as well bike the southern tier of the country, too.
It’s easy to follow Fisher’s trek across America. He bikes like, oh, 180 miles or so a day and then finds time to post a rather comprehensive daily report with lots of photos on his Facebook page.
Here are first-person highlights from Fisher’s daily Facebook posts. Check out his Facebook page for more words and photos.
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Day One: San Diego, California to Colorado River, Arizona
After a wonderful surprise from my brother Grant showing up with my dad in San Diego and our good friends Craig and Michelle joining us for dinner, it was a spectacular night riding from the coast of San Diego up to the top of the mountains and down to the Mexican border by sunrise …it was spectacular. Beautiful sunrise and very little traffic if any at all! I got to see that beautiful wall that separates Mexico and the United States. I often wonder why there are so many border patrol on the American side and none on the Mexican side… Hum… Could it be America is fantastic?
Day 2: Colorado River, California/Arizona border to Phoenix, Arizona
Day 3: Phoenix, Arizona to Gila River, Arizona
Day 4: Gila River, Arizona to Caballo Reservoir, New Mexico
Day 5: Caballo Reservoir, New Mexico to Fort Hancock, Texas
After sleeping on a dirt road with quite a few rocks underneath of my sleeping bag I woke up late at 6 AM and spun my way through the world-famous green chili fields of Hatch New Mexico along the Rio Grande River. Notice in the photos the Rio Grande River has approximately zero water. Somehow they’re still growing cotton pecans and chilies.
Day 6: Fort Hancock, Texas to Alpine, Texas
Day 7: Alpine Texas to Sanderson Texas
I had to basically quit about eight hours early . . . The headwinds started at mile one and finished at mile 85. They were up to 40 miles an hour in my face and never let up except for a few moments here and there. I can’t pedal in this any longer…I’m gonna have to wait out the wind and probably leave in the middle of the night to make my way east. I wanted to quit about 85 times today that would be once every mile.