Chad Terrell’s idea of a big way to commemorate turning 50 took him several months and 4,500 miles to complete. He had long wanted to ride a bike across America and when he was 46 he started preparing to do it. And the goal of completing the TransAmerica Trail while he was 50 kept him pedaling from Oregon to Virginia.

Terrell says the he learned he wasn’t as fit as he thought he was but the route took care of that for him. By the time he was in Idaho he was enjoying the hills and described meeting a man who offered him a cold drink at the top of a hill as a “Trail Angel”. “A Trail Angel is someone who offers you help or a small good while you’re on the trail. Just someone you run into,” said Terrell. The man had a beer with Terrell as they sat on rocks and talked and enjoyed the view. “That was trail magic,” said Terrell.

Terrell points to the simplicity of life on his ride as being a special experience. He ate, slept and rode his bike most days and rested about one day a week. After a rough day, sore and tired, it would only take a couple hours back on his bike the following day to once again enjoy that simple act of riding. “It would feel like I was on a nice, sunny, Saturday morning ride.”

~~~

MORE - BIKEIOWA's Oct. 25th 2021 Feature: Iowan completes 4,228 mile TransAmerican Bicycle Route for his 50th birthday