Why the Frizbo Fifty?

Last week, I dropped my daughter off at the University of Illinois, where she will begin life as a freshman and my wife and I will begin life as "empty nesters." This was not my only milestone this year. In March, I celebrated my 50th birthday. At the time, I contemplated ways to mark the passing of 50 years: drink 50 beers, call 50 old friends, spend $50K on a new car, but the summer was busy and nothing was done. Now, with the summer over and the kids off to school, I really am peering over the precipice. What will I do with the rest of my life? It must be something that gives me a long-term goal, something that's inspirational and aspirational, something that gets me out of the house, and something with a 50 in it.

A new (unofficial) bike route starting from my driveway

The epic journey has always appealed to me: spend a summer hiking the Appalachian Trail or sail solo around the world and then write a book about it*. Having read many of these books, I’ve learned that epic journeys have some downsides.

First and foremost is the need to take time off for your epic journey. Who can afford to take the summer off to rollerblade around Lake Superior with two kids in college? A common solution for Appalachian Trail hikers is to "section hike" the AT by taking off a week or two each year to hike a section of trail -- picking up where you left off until you have traveled the entire distance from Georgia to Maine. Admittedly, this approach is not quite as impressive as doing it in one go, but it's still somewhat "epic."

Second is logistics. Ernest Shackleton, the godfather of epic journeys, spent years preparing for his expeditions to the South Pole. Two actors who motorcycled from Scotland to Cape Town needed a couple of supply trucks following them. For me, such logistical requirements are not practical or even feasible.

The third downside is the "bad stretches." Any kind of long-distance journey includes parts of the trail that, frankly, suck. A cross-country cyclist discovered that the only road through a mountain pass had no shoulder and was the route preferred by truckers. One epic journey book author, boating from New York to the Pacific Ocean, described the stretch of canoeing the upper Missouri by simply repeating the word "river" for five pages. "River, river, river, river, river, river, river, river, river, river, river, river, mud flat, river, river, river, river..." Do you really want to forgo your summer so you can bike in 100-degree heat through the endless wheat fields of Nebraska? Wouldn't it be better to cherry-pick the best parts.

After much thought, my proposed epic journey is the "Frizbo Fifty." The goal is to bicycle in every one of the 50 states of the United States of America before I celebrate my 60th birthday**. The rules are I must bike at least 10 miles in each state and the total number of miles must be 2,800 miles (the distance between New York City and San Diego)***. To accomplish this, I will need to bike five states a year and average 56 miles per state -- totally doable.

The Frizbo Fifty is by definition section hiking. Periodically, I will take a week or weekend off for the "epic journey", returning before my inbox overflows. Logistically, I just need to throw the bike on the car-top carrier, the camping gear in the back, and I'm off. Living in Chicago means much of the country is within a two-day drive. And the best part is, every state has at least one really nice biking trail.

-- Patrick Frisbie (aka Frizbo)

*Epic Journey Books:

• "A Walk in the Woods" -- very funny!
• "Long Way Down" -- dreadful.
• "River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America" -- thoughtful, inspirational.
• "The Endurance" -- Shackleton! Say no more.

**Covid-19 Amendment -- since the pandemic shutdown travel, biking and my 60th birthday party, I am deferring the official celebration of my 60th birthday until I can get on a plane for Hawaii.

***I've realized I don't want the Frizbo Fifty to end too soon, so I've extended the mileage to 5,000 miles.