Meredith Johnson recently made a decision to go into semi retirement. But he won’t be planting flowers in his garden or heading to Florida to relax anytime soon. Meredith opted to cycle from Los Angeles to Boston instead of a typical retirement plan. He’s been prepping for his trip using yoga and, and of course, cycling A LOT!
We’ll be following Meredith here on the Outdoorzy Blog as he makes his cross-country trip this summer. I’ve asked him to tell us a little about himself. Here’s what he said…
My name is Meredith Johnson from Bowling Green, KY. I am 60 years old and have been a businessman throughout my career.
My plan now is to take a few years off and I MIGHT go back to work. I am hopefully cycling to find the next challenge.
I started a Yoga practice two years ago and with the additional cycling training for our tour, my wife says that I am never home to help her… She just doesn’t understand!
On my bucket list was to ride my bike across America. I have been cycling for 15 years. I have completed the RAGBRAI ride across Iowa and the California section of Highway 1, but this is my first long distance tour.
Meredith starts his journey today in Los Angeles and will arrive in Boston on June 28th. Many of us have considered a long distance trip like this at some point, but Meredith has taken it on without looking back. We look forward to following along and learning a bit about what it’s like to cycle cross country!
A couple of weekends ago, my fiancé and I were watching MTV. They had a “True Life” marathon on and I will admit; I am a fan of the 60 minute documentary. When we turned on the TV we had about 10 minutes left of the current show and the Tivo guide showed us the next program, “A Map For Saturday”. Thinking it might be a True Life that involves the outdoors, I was ready to watch it.
As the show starts, the narrator goes into his story and about the show. The guy, Brook Silva-Braga, leaves a nice job with a TV network to travel the world with clothes in his backpacks and several pounds of video equipment. He sets out to see the world for a year by himself and along the way he meets many new people or as one guy puts it, “friends for a day”.
“It makes me laugh when people say I could never do what you’re doing. All our friends gave us six weeks and then we’d be home and it now been 14 months.”
Karen: 21, England
“In fifty or sixth years I’m dead. I want to say, ‘I had a good life’.”
Jens: 27 Germany
“I’d like to travel 364 days and go back for Christmas.”
Bill: 27 Northern Ireland
The people he meets along the way are also solo travelers, some are just starting out, others are in the middle of their adventure, and some are heading home. The solo travelers he meets and travels with from one location to another help tell the story of why and how they are traveling as well as share some personal accounts of their own travels.
At times lonely and difficult; more often joyous, and always adventurous. In the end, Brook travels for 12 month, and travels by plane, train, automobile and by foot to 26 countries on four continents.
Sarah Wilson contact us earlier this week and told us about a pretty interesting project she has going. She is producing 7 interviews over 7 weeks of people she is calling “Adventure Heroes“. These are people who have had their lives touched and changed by different outdoor adventures.
The interviews are free to listen to initially at the time of the broadcasts, but can also be purchased to be listen to at later dates. We here at Outdoorzy do love a good interview. Thanks Sarah for the tip and we can’t wait to hear these interviews.
I got the opportunity to interview Don Mann the other day. He’s the brainchild of the Primal Quest Adventure Race series. Don is arguably the biggest organizer in the sport of Adventure Racing. Don has staged more multi-day, multi-sport races than any other individual in the world.
He not only commands the PQ, but has pioneered a PQ Sprint Series of 4-6 hour races that are fast and furious.
Here’s what Don had to say…
Wade: How the heck did you find yourself in this job?
Don: Back in 1995 I was on Team Odyssey. I booked our travel and did alot of logistical planning for our team for the races around the world. At the time it cost $16,000 per team to do it. I thought it would be easier and less expensive to do a race series in the U.S.
Then I planned the Beast of the East and people loved it. Then 7 years ago I went to Hawaii to do some team building with Bill Watkins. And now we have Primal Quest because of Bill and his wife’s support. (Bill discussed the race with Don and then Dan Barger was CEO/Race Directory for 3 PQs.)
Wade: Regarding the Primal Quest Sprint Series; it is billed as “The World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition”!! What aspects of the races make them “the most challenging?”
Don: The sprint series will be 4-6 hours races. The winner should finish in around 4 hours. It will include trail running, technical mountain biking, and non-technical paddling. There will also be ropes obstacles; a cargo net, rope bridge, and low crawl. We will also have “log pt” which is running and working together while carrying a telephone pole.
Wade: The big PQ race this year starts June 21stin Montana. What were some of the other locations considered, and why was Montana chosen?
Don: Colorado, Idaho, and Montana were three locations we considered. We had friends in Colorado and Idaho who planned beautiful courses. But when we got to Montana and saw the course we knew. Conrad Anker and Jay Smith are out there working on the mountaineering part of the course right now.
Wade: What kind of loot can the winners of Primal Quest Montana expect to take home?
Don: $100,000 in cash. It costs $12,500 for a 4 person team. Newsweek called it “The Superbowl of Adventure Racing!”
Wade:For our Adventure Racing up-n-comers reading this, what would you say is the best advice you can give them on training for a race like Primal Quest Montana?
Don: If you’re an outdoor lover these are for you. Adventure Racing is a thinking persons sport. And, it is easier to train for an Adventure Race than other sports because there is less chance of burn out from the variety of training options you have. You can go to the gym, road ride, trail ride, paddle, or run depending the weather or how you feel that day. You can grab a bike, do some trails, then do them faster. It becomes so fun you don’t even realize you’re training any more. But, do it because it’s fun.
Good advice Don. Thanks so much for the interview!
Everyone be sure to check out EcoPrimalQuest.com for all the details on the Montana race as well as the sprint series.
I had the honor of interviewing Andrew Skurka this week. For those of you unfamiliar with Andrew; he is a long distance backpacker who has some amazing records under his belt. His most recent feat was to complete the Great Western Loop, a 6,875-mile footpath that consists of a network of five existing long-distance hiking trails. Yeah, almost 7,000 miles! It was also announced this past week that Andrew will be recognized as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. I’ve caught up with him a little over a week after he got off the trail from this 7 month journey, and here’s what he had to say.
Wade: With so many challenges and such an amazingly long trip, what was the lowest point for you on this trek? Andrew: There were a handful of lows, all mental, not physical, though sometimes
the physical part exacerbated the situation. The first low was in
late-May/early-June in California, from around Donner Pass to Castle Crags
State Park — I had just had one of the most amazing backcountry experiences
in my life (through the High Sierra in mid-May, 5.5 days without seeing
anyone and 400 miles of this outdoor crown jewel all to myself) and then
walked into the logged-over and scenically inferior stretches of northern
California. Another low was near Washington’s Glacier Peak Wilderness — it
was the end of a 5-week 900-mile stretch in which I’d walked on snow and had
been tortured by mosquitoes every day while maintaining a 37.5-mile pace,
and I was completely mentally drained. The last low was after the Weminuche
Wilderness in southwestern Colorado, which represented the last major
challenge of the hike — once I entered New Mexico I knew I was going to
make it (because I was no longer at risk of getting caught by the winter
weather) and the terrain really mellowed out.
Wade: You’re known for going ultralight. What was the one item you wish you could
have had room for in your pack? Andrew: While I’m ultralight I’m not a masochist. If I really wanted an item I
would have just carried it. So, to answer the question, nothing; I had
everything I needed and wanted. Gear is just a means, tools, to enjoying
the outdoor experience more — I don’t go light for the sake of going light.
Wade: What is the one piece of advice you would give to a would-be long distance
trekker? Andrew: Long-distance hiking is incredibly romantic — the idea of spending weeks
or months at a time in some of the most beautiful backcountry areas in the
world is almost universally appealing, especially when contrasted to the
fluorescent lights, traffic jams, and overwhelming email inboxes of modern
life. But long-distance newbies need to realize that the reality of
long-distance hiking is not always pleasant: you can’t just “float” by like
you can in “the real world” — there are always miles to be walked, stormy
weather to fend off, fatigue and soreness to treat, discomforts to cope
with, etc. You have to earn the “Wahoo! moments” — the sunsets, wildlife
encounters, 12,000-foot ridgewalks, and trail magic from generous locals.
If you understand the work-to-reward ratio of long-distance hiking, and if
you’re okay with it, you’ll have much more success and you’ll enjoy yourself
much more.
I also strongly recommend to newbies that they get a step-up on the
learning curve before they begin their hike by: (1) reading backpacking
books and online content (start with the “How to GoLite” section on GoLite.com and “Lightweight Backpacking & Camping,” edited by Ryan
Jordan); (2) following the experiences of others on your trail of choice
(like through trailjournals.com); and (3) most important, GET OUTSIDE in
order to develop skills, become more familiar with your gear and
maps/guidebook, and understand better the terrain and weather. Ideally go
with a more experienced backpacker who can transfer knowledge they have
learned from others and from their trials and errors.
Wade:What’s next? Andrew: I just finished 1.5 weeks ago and I don’t have anything concretely planned
at the moment. I envision some “small” hikes this summer that share a
similar environmental message with the Great Western Loop and/or that I will
equally enjoy and learn from. The next opportunity to do a BIG hike will be
in 2009 because of the time it takes to develop the idea and to do all of
the planning. I’d have to imagine that this hike will be in Alaska or
overseas.
I was interviewed Sunday by a radio show called Travel Hub. The show is part of World Talk Radio which broadcasts on stations all over the country, the internet, and Sirius satellite radio. The hosts are Jeff and Rochelle. They’ve traveled all over this planet and run this radio show specifically for people who love to travel. They wanted to see what Outdoorzy was about so I filled them in. I also spilled the beans a little about some upcoming additions to Outdoorzy.
This is 19 minutes of the finest radio the world has seen. You may want to skip forward to about 2 minutes into the recording to skip the commercials.
You can listen to the interview on the player below.
I got the opportunity to interview Don Mann the other day. He’s the brainchild of the 
