Coast-to-Coast Ride.
From dipping rear wheels in the Pacific Ocean in San Diego to rolling onto the Atlantic beach in St. Augustine, Florida — 2,912 miles across eight southern states while the Syscon team kept every client humming back home.
“Larry is biking across the country from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida — averaging 65 miles a day with Cathy driving SAG support, while the Syscon team runs full steam ahead.”
In March 2021, Syscon co-founders Larry and Cathy Wendt set out on a bucket-list expedition along the Southern Tier route: starting at the Pacific shoreline in San Diego, California and pedaling east across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida to reach the Atlantic Ocean in St. Augustine.
Averaging roughly 65 miles on riding days — climbing desert passes, crossing the Continental Divide, pushing through Texas headwinds, and navigating Gulf Coast bridges — Larry rode with fellow cyclists while Cathy drove the support vehicle, mapped logistics, and wrote daily dispatches from the road.
On May 9, 2021, after 53 days on the road and 2,912 miles, the wheels touched the Atlantic surf in St. Augustine. Below is the preserved archive of every pre-ride note, daily road log, rest-day reflection, and finish-line celebration.
Every mile, day by day.
Coast to Coast: The Trip
Larry is embarking on a group bike trip that will start in San Diego, California and end in St. Augustine, Florida. Their 3,000-mile route will take the…
Cost to Coast: The Countdown
Larry is counting down the days as he prepares for his bike trip! As one might imagine, there are many logistics to coordinate before he is able to depa…
1 Day to Start
Two months ago, Cathy put a big “61” on the fridge in the kitchen to start a count-down to the start of my coast-to-coast bike trip. Next to it, she put…
2021-03-12 (Day 1)
I suspect this is going to be an adventure of the unexpected, and today did not disappoint. One size does NOT fit all! In the pre-ride process today…
2021-03-12 Day 2 (First Riding Day)
Today, we started the ride with a dipping of our rear wheels in the Pacific Ocean to be paired with a dipping of the front wheel in the Atlantic after s…
2021-03-14 Day 3
Flat tires and climbing. Two flats, 4,973 feet of climbing. 52 miles. I’m tired. The last week of training in AZ and I got a flat in my front tire from…
2021-03-15 Day 4
Unbelievable wind today – a curse and a blessing. Before we started out, I knew we were going to spend some time on Interstate 8. These are the places…
2021-03-16 Day 5
A lot of desert … A picture is worth 1,000 words in this case. This is a typical stretch of road along today’s ride from Calexico, CA to Yuma, AZ. Just…
Sights Along the Way
March 4, 2021 March 15, 2021 March 15, 2021 March 15, 2021 March 16, 2021 March 17, 2021 March 17, 2021 March 17, 2021 March 18, 2021 March 18, 2021 Mar…
2021-03-17 Day 6
Long ride, lots of agriculture. Headed to Dateland today – some 70 miles. I had never heard of Dateland before, but it is in South Arizona and known fo…
2021-03-18 Day 7
“Grunt” riding. Not much to see on this segment of the ride. It was essentially on one road with a solid 10 MPH headwind most of the way. Fortunately th…
2021-03-19 Day 8
Head winds and lots more desert. Today’s trek was the longest since we started and the 7th day in a row of riding. 78 miles through the desert with litt…
2021-03-20 Day 9
Rest day coming! Beautiful overnight. We are riding from Casa Grande to Catalina State Park near Tucson. The two-peak mountain in the center of the pict…
2021-03-21 Day 10
Rest Day! First rest day of the ride and much needed. Beautiful surroundings along with exceptional shower and bathroom facilities topped it off for us.…
2021-03-22 Day 11
Today was about 40 miles on exemplary multi-use trails running through Tucson. It was an easy ride on paper, but I was completely beat after completing…
2021-03-23 Day 12
Serious climbing from Tucson to Tombstone! For the first 28 miles, we climbed over 2000 feet coming out of Tucson. After that, we had downhill for long…
2021-03-24 Day 13
Lunch, Rain, and Hail in Brisbee. As fun as the end of the day was yesterday, today was the opposite. We started out in cold, rainy weather to head for…
2021-03-25 Day 14
A fast, great ride! We spent the night in Douglas, AZ at the Gadsden Hotel. It is a beautifully restored historic hotel with a rich history including a…
2021-03-26 Day 15
The longest ride so far! Today’s ride was 91 miles and change. Any way you cut it, this is a long ride. Even so, the favorable winds from yesterday cont…
2021-03-27 Day 16
Rest Day! Our rest day is in Columbus, NM today. It is a small state park with a lot of history. Specifically, it is the location of the first aero squa…
2021-03-28 Day 17
A good day, but a hard day. A long ride of 73 miles from Columbus, NM to El Paso, TX. It was very brisk when we started out at 7:30 in the morning. Some…
Gratitude
Gratitude. Today, riding on the long Texas roads, I found myself contemplating all that had to happen to allow me this experience/adventure of a Coast t…
2021-03-29 Day 18
Urban riding. Today we rode from El Paso to Fort Hancock, TX. This was rather fun because we had a complete change of scenery doing some urban riding…
2021-03-30 Day 19
The road to nowhere. Today we are riding from Ft. Hancock to Van Horn, TX. This is a little longer ride – about 75 miles – with a fair amount of climbin…
2021-03-31 Day 20
WIND! A test of our collective riding commitment. For about 45 of the 73 miles we rode, we were facing 23-25mph head winds and cross winds. It was a ple…
2021-04-01 Day 21
WIND! Day 2! We thought yesterday was tough. Today was tougher. While we had some respite from the wind along the route yesterday, there was none of t…
2021-04-22 Day 22
Rest Day! We stayed in Marathon, Texas an extra day for a rest day. There was an excursion to Big Bend National Park, but I chose to stay back and just…
2021-04-03 Day 23
A beautiful start and shifting winds. The day started out cool, but not cold, and no wind for the first time in days. Of course, before each day all t…
2021-04-04 Day 24
Mechanical Mishap, Rain, Wind Easter! We started out the morning with a 6:45am reading of John 20 1:18 and prayer requests and blessings on this importa…
2021-04-05 Day 25
A much brighter day. Some fun sights along the way. Today’s ride was so much better than yesterday. We did still have the wind in our faces and the Texa…
2021-04-06 Day 26
After six-and-a-half days on Texas 90, we are finally parting ways with this road. Major lessons learned: Texas is not, in general, bike friendly Chip a…
2021-04-07 Day 27
Rest day! The rides day-to-day are much more encompassing and consuming than I had imagined they would be. My picture of life on the road was that I wou…
2021-04-08 Day 28
Fun hills, hills, and more hills – AND – crossing the halfway point! No, really – it was fun. Most of the riders agreed. Today we entered the Hill Count…
2021-04-09 Day 29
More Texas Hills, but more challenge, too. Today we are continuing in Texas Hill country starting from the Kerrville campground. Similar terrain as yest…
2021-04-10 Day 30
Long-horn cattle. Third day of Texas Hill Country. For the first time, we saw some true “Long-horn” cattle. Quite the magnificent animal. (Spoiler alert…
2021-04-11 Day 31
Injury! Another beautiful day for riding. We exited the Lockhart campsite largely as a group, which makes for a neat video. When I see these pictures in…
2021-04-12 Day 32
Forced day of rest. Since I’m on a forced day of rest today, I asked John Schafer to share his pictures today with me. So he is going to be our “guest b…
2021-04-13 Day 33
Rest Day! This was a full rest day for the entire team. I was still at the hotel trying to get off the injured reserve list during this day. Overall, a…
2021-04-14 Day 34
Back on the bike – at least for part of the day! After waiting exactly three days (36 hours) as per the doctor’s orders, I was ready to ride again. This…
2021-04-15 Day 35
Back on the bike … mostly. Last night, we stayed at the Shephard Sanctuary. This was an odd little place that had small (very small) little cabins just…
2021-04-16 Day 36
Finally exiting Texas! After 19 days and about 1,076 miles of the much maligned (and rightfully so) chip and seal road surfaces, we are leaving Texas. A…
2021-04-17 Day 37
Our first full day in Louisiana! Today we left Deridder, LA and are heading to Opalousas. The first thing I managed to do was to stop and try to take a…
2021-04-18 Day 38
Crossing the Mississippi River, the “swamp” road, and a generally busy day. Currently, there are 21 riders. There is no specific protocol for riders to…
2021-04-19 Day 39
Rest Day! Today was a rest day at a Girl Scout Camp in Franklinville. There was no Internet and little phone service, so I did what I should have give…
2021-04-20 Day 40
Putting in the miles! A special message for Aunt Toni: being careful with choices. Today was about putting in miles. The route is a straight east shot…
2021-04-21 Day 41
Leaving Louisiana and crossing into Mississippi. We had a very nice facility to stay in last night. The big event today is that we are going to cross in…
2021-04-22 Day 42
A very brisk morning to start the day! Today we started riding with the temperature in the 40’s. We have a limited amount of clothes because of bagga…
2021-04-23 Day 43
Duct Tape is magic! One of my 4 allowed bags had a huge rip in it this morning. Fortunately, we had some duct tape available. This stuff is the traveler…
2021-04-24 Day 44
Rest Day! Really needed the rest day today. The location, Dauphine Island, is great. It has a long beach front on the Gulf. I walked the beach for a whi…
2021-04-25 Day 45
A Ferry Ride. Mullet Throwing contest. US Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. Today starts with a ferry ride. A first for me and more unique because it is on…
2021-04-26 Day 46
A very short ride! Today, we had a very short ride – the shortest of the trip. It was only 31 miles. There were some options to go further – and man…
2021-04-27 Day 47
A New Food Truck. Putting in the miles on US 90. As I mentioned in previous posts, we get a new food truck to follow us and provide meals with each new…
2021-04-28 Day 48
Leaving a historical town – DeFuniak Springs. The town of DeFuniak Springs has some history. There are a couple of unique things that we saw. The first…
2021-04-29 Day 49
A big mileage day. Heading into the big city! We are putting on a big push to finish the ride. The last 9 days of the ride do not have any rest days and…
2021-04-30 Day 50
Another big mileage day. A great bakery in a historic town! We cross a river made famous by Stephan Foster. Today is another significant mileage day – j…
2021-05-01 Day 51
May Day! Al … most … there …! It is May Day and all the riders were greeted with a thoughtful flower in the morning. The campground setting was very n…
2021-05-02 Day 52
Last big ride!!! After over 2,900 miles, we finally see an alligator! One last big push today – 80 miles. That will make a total of 300 miles in the pas…
2021-05-03 Day 53
Final day! We reach St. Augustine! Today is the day! We complete the ride and move on with the rest of our lives. After 52 days and about 2,900 miles, w…
The Celebration!
Walking with bikes, friends, and family to the St. Augustine Beach to dip our tires in the Atlantic ocean. A perfect end to a wonderful experience!
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