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From San Francisco to Michigan: The Solo Bike Ride that Connected Taylor’s Family · Roam Alone

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Rome Alone, the podcast for anyone who's ever wondered what it's like to go it alone, only to find out it's better than they imagined.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Teresa Stevens.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Today's guest did not set out to become a solo traveler.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Taylor Nichols is a career actor, a husband and father, and the host of his own podcast, Bike Talk.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: But a few months ago, he did something he'd never done before.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: He got on a bike in San Francisco, said goodbye to his daughters, and started pedaling all the way to East Lansing, Michigan to see his 101-year-old father.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Almost 3,500 miles, 53 days, entirely alone.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Taylor thought he'd be uncomfortable going in alone.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was wrong.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Today we talk about what changed his mind, the people he met along the way, and what it felt like to finally roll up to his dad's door after nearly two months on the road.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So my guest today is Taylor Nichols.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: He is the host of the podcast called Bike Talk.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Taylor.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks very much, Teresa.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to see you.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Good to see you as well.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the average bicyclist, you know, they may take a ride for 20 miles on a weekend, maybe a couple of midweek rides for five or 10 miles.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have gone bike riding for 4,000 miles.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: So this isn't just a bike ride.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me why you're doing this.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's um I I actually only did uh 3,461.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're such a slacker.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I had to change my route at the end of the trip because I had to interrupt the trip for a few days for work.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: But it's something that I've wanted to do for a long time.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've been a biker for a long time, and I have wanted to bike from A to B, not just go out and do a loop or something like that.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I've done a few short trips.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I did one with my brother and I've done one by myself.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the name of your show is Roam Alone.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: That was my big fear of being by myself.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I always don't do well by myself.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I I learned to roam alone very well.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's empowering.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have two daughters, and they live in San Francisco, and I live in Los Angeles, and my father lives in the house I grew up in, which is where I am now, in East Lansing, Michigan, and he's 101.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to connect my daughters to my dad.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to connect these two young women that I have been so a part of raising to the man who raised me.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I did not feel the need to put my rear wheel in the Pacific Ocean and my front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people do that.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're out on the road doing a trip like this, you meet a lot of people that are going from coast to coast.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And some of those miles are less than the mileage I did.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I just I wanted to connect two parts of the family.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so I thought San Francisco to Michigan, the Golden Gate Bridge to the Mackinac Bridge would be a good way to do it.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I set out to do that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love that so much.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: What did your daughters think about this?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: They thought it was kind of crazy, but they liked it, I think.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think they were kind of like, hey, go for it, you know.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I took the train from Los Angeles up to San Francisco and spent a couple of days with them and kind of finalizing the stuff for the trip.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then I met them and some of their friends and some people who listened to our show, Bike Talk, at the Marina Green, which is the north part of San Francisco, right there by the Golden Gate Bridge.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we had a coffee at Phil's Coffee.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you know Phil's Coffee, but it's familiar.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Really good coffee.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And uh then I rode across the bridge and I started this trip, and it took me 53 days.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Was it the length of time you were expecting, shorter, longer?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was just about the length of time I was expecting.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I was expecting two months.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, with the time that I took off to go home and and work and the time that I then cut out of the trip because I went home, I cut about 400 miles out.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it would take me two months.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's just about what it took me.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And congratulations, you literally just finished last night.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: I finished last night.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a hot, muggy day.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it was like, oh God, I'm glad I'm done.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Michigan weather, right?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me what what was your dad's reaction upon seeing you finally arrive?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he was so cute.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: He was sitting in the driveway in a little folding chair.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I told him I would be there around 6 p.m.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I called him right around six, I guess, and said, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be about 15 more minutes, you know, because I was kind of working my way into town.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Again, this is the house I grew up in, my dad, you know, where he lives now.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I had the paper out all around this neighborhood when I was a kid, and I would ride my bike for the paper out.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: So when I was coming home, I rode part of my paper out and rode into the driveway just like I used to, you know, in the morning after doing papers.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And my dad was sitting there to welcome me.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it was the cube.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Really nice.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So much.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: He must have been so proud of you.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think he was pleased.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think he was pleased.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: What did he say when you first mentioned doing this bike ride from California to Michigan?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Said you what?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think he was surprised.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: I did not tell him for a long time while I was planning it, in case, you know, you know, one of the things about actors, I'm an actor by by trade.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, one of the things that they say about actors, if you want to get a job, plan a trip.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And the minute you buy a ticket or plan a trip, you you get a job.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I planned this trip and I didn't get a job.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, I guess I'm doing this bike ride.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: I waited till the last minute when I knew I was going to do it, and then I told him.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Why did you decide to do it alone?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Is it because nobody else was crazy enough to do it with you?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it something you wanted to do by yourself?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: It is something that I wanted to do by myself.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, a friend of a good friend of mine who used to live in Los Angeles and moved to the East Coast actually did come and meet me in Oregon for about five days.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And he and I rode together for five days, and that was also really fun.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed it.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: But he met me after I had been on the road for about two weeks, and I was in kind of a groove and I was doing my own thing.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, this friend came and it was really wonderful to be with him.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And he's a good old friend, and we hadn't seen each other in many years, but he upset my rhythm a little bit.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, so when he left, I was sad to see him go, but I was also kind of glad to get back on the road by myself.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of people that I interview that say the exact same thing that maybe they're taking their very first solo trip ever.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they realize that they're doing so well by themselves.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: If a friend were to join them, it'd kind of mess up their rhythm of the day, what they want to do.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: There, now they got a compromise, now they have to talk to people, you know, right?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: They can't sleep all day or read all day or something.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I found I just met more people when I was by myself.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: My buddy Mark is also very sort of gregarious, and and we talked to many people, but we were also a self-contained unit, he and I, and we did not need other people necessarily.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're on your own, it's not that you need other people, but you reach out more often, I think.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and I really liked that aspect.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you you have this desire to really connect with people that wouldn't otherwise, because like you said, you've you've got somebody already.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you'd see somebody in a bar and say hello or strike up a conversation, but it's not the same when you're up by yourself.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a couple of people that stand out to you in your memory of those who you met along the way?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, totally.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Both people that were doing the same thing I was doing, uh a cross-country bike trip, and some of the people who helped me out.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I got in kind of a bad situation where I was sort of stuck and it all of a sudden started to pour, just pouring rain.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: And here I was with this bike with, you know, 35, 40 pounds of gear on it.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I'm wet, and I have to get to this certain location, and I'm not gonna make it.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, what am I gonna do?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And this woman rides by on a bike in the rain and says, Are you okay?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I say, Yeah, blah, blah, blah.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And she says, Well, get on my wheel, let's ride.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, Okay, so I got on a wheel and we were riding.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: She was on an e-bike and really moving.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I was struggling to uh keep up with her.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: She said that her partner was gonna pick her up when her partner caught her on the road.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, about 10 miles down the road, uh, her partner passed in an RV and she stopped and got out and welcomed us.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: And Sherry was the woman's name who picked me up.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: But they put my bike in their RV and I got in their car soaking wet.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: And uh her partner handed me a beer, which was pretty great.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then they they drove me 50 miles out of their way to drop me off where I needed to be.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then they had to turn around and drive back 50 miles.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And in a rainstorm in an RV with the price of gas, that that was a real gift, you know.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was a real generous act on their part.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I remember her very well.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: We had a great time talking, and it was just one of the really fun things about a trip like this.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people are intimidated by solo travel, they have fears about going somewhere alone.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you mentioned also having just some fear before getting started.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: What was it that you were afraid of, quote quote?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm not sure afraid's the right word.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um unsure of.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, unsure of.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, again, being an actor, I I travel a, you know, a fair amount.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I go to Boston or Dallas or Vancouver for a couple of weeks at a time.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Actors don't work every day.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the director works every day, and and maybe the lead actor works every day, but lots of times you work two or three days and you have two or three days off or something like that.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I would just be a little bit uncomfortable, you know, going into restaurants by myself to eat dinner.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I don't, I'm, you know, I'm 60 years old.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't, and I don't need to feel that way.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I get it.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people do.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people do.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny because breakfast I don't mind, but dinner and stuff, I didn't know how I was gonna be being on my own for for two months.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I learned that I really dug it.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's fantastic.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Did it take a minute?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Did it take a minute for you to settle into stopping at night or stopping for dinner or stopping for food?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: We can buy yourself.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was so busy with the ride and setting up camping and things like that.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: It really did not take long.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: I quickly got into the groove of this is what I have to do.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta do this, I gotta do that.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: I have a little bit of free time.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's when I would reach out and talk to people and you know, ask them for directions or help or something like that.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, no, it really didn't take time.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: It maybe I wasn't as bad at it as I thought all these years.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: You just had to do it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: You just had did you ever get lonely on the road?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I did not.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: I missed my wife and my family and and all of that, but I I was not lonely.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and again, I think that's because I was I was busy.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: I had a goal.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the thing about traveling from A to B, as opposed to doing a loop, is you you have a goal.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: You you really have to get to the next place, the next campground, the next town, the next food, the next water.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so that kind of kept me going.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think you've learned about yourself traveling this far on a bike by yourself?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to being comfortable being a left.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: That I can do it.
• 12:32
  unknown: Yeah.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know that I ever thought that I couldn't do it, but there were times when it was hard, when I was on gravel roads, and gravel roads, the bike just doesn't move as fast.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's bumpier.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: And there were times when they were just really long, exhausting climbs.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: And times when it was cold, and then times when it was hot.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I ever really thought I'm gonna stop, but I think what what I learned about myself was this you could put me down anywhere, and I can kind of figure out how to safely navigate the next few days to get back to where I need to be.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that and that is an empowering feeling.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: It absolutely is.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've done a couple of hiking treks that are multi-day.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not 4,000 miles, but for example, 40 miles over the course of seven or eight days.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, when you're doing multi-day treks of any kind, hiking or walking or biking, the mental game is as powerful, I think, as the physical part.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Did you just start getting mentally exhausted anytime?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what am I doing?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Doubting yourself, why am I doing this?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know why, but really why?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Start really questioning yourself.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I yeah, I I totally did.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I played a lot of games to keep my mind, you know, in in a good place.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: I recited Shakespeare a lot because, you know, I was on roads in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of Montana and Idaho and North Dakota.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: It would be five or ten minutes before a car would come by.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you would hear the car miles away or a mile away.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was really alone a lot.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: And reciting the Shakespeare felt good.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that kept me going.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: I did a lot of talking to myself about, you know, things I should say to people or things I would say to people or things I should have said, you know.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: So those kind of things kept me feeling sharp.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Would you recommend that pretty much anybody should travel alone at least once in their life?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I I would not have said that until I did this trip, until I heard that you had a podcast called Rome Alone.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's like I never really thought, like, oh, there's people out there who really do do that.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh I totally think that, yes, people should give it a shot.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing, amazing.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: So what would be next for you?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Another 4,000 mile trip.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people have said to me, Are you riding home?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah and uh I'm not, I'm gonna fly home, but I do have this feeling like there's still more road out there, and I haven't really done it all.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I really wanted to do that northern part of the United States.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think I I would look at doing uh another long bike ride, maybe not 4,000 miles or or 3,461 miles.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe a different region, Vermont, the, you know, the deep south, uh, you know, something like that.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because I live in Los Angeles, the the Southwest, I feel like I I know that and have done that.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd like to do some other areas besides that.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: But yes, I I I think it wed a whistle for me.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: How long did you train for this?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I didn't really train that much for it.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um You know, it's always people like you that don't train a guy to do a mountain.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: I had to train for like four months almost full time.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: But you're you're a you are a bicyclist, so you're probably in bike shape, right?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pretty much.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: I did put the bags on my bike.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're they're called panniers on my bike, and I did did put weights in the pantiers and ride around town and and ride up to some of the canyons near my house in Los Angeles, and to kind of get used to the weight and how much it was slowing me down and how the bike handled.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I did train, but I didn't really set a training regimen, a regimen to make sure I was okay.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: You winged it, basically.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: I I winged it a little bit.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you think when you think about going from California to Michigan by bicycle?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: How would that be different if you were driving?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I've done it you know many times in a car, but it's just completely different.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Being on a bike is moving at the pace of observation, at the speed of observation.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I did not stop at one historical marker or one vista or one unusual landscape and just look or take a picture and in a car.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: You leapfrog those things, you know, because you're going 70 miles an hour, you can't stop, or you're moving so fast you can't really see that vista except for out the out the window.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was the big thing for me.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: I I really felt a part of the land.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty cool.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, what were you feeling when you rode up to your dad's house?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: You saw him sitting there.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: What emotions were going through your mind?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just how how great he is, you know, how how great my dad is and how cute it was that he was sitting there in the driveway, how glad I am that I mean, I'm in my 60s and my father is still alive.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's really wonderful.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he's healthy and happy and and seems to be doing well.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think the lesson I've kind of learned from my dad is you don't get to pick when you are born or when you die.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think my dad set out to live to be 101 or 102.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's living that long.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: And he's, I think his viewpoint is hey, I'm alive, so I might as well still keep doing things.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So he still volunteers and he still works on a lot of issues around Lancing.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the lesson, you know, is you don't get to pick when you die.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: So you might as well just keep living.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Those are kind of the feelings I was feeling as I was coming home.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm glad I did this trip while I was still able to do it.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: What would you like people who are listening right now to take from your ride, from your experience with this?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow, that they can do it too.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I I know that that you know, people always say follow your dream, and you know, a lot of that's BS.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I do think if I can ride my bike from San Francisco to Lansing, Michigan, carrying 40 pounds of gear, if our leaders make the roads safe, people can also choose to ride their bike to the grocery store or to school or to work.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that'll break our car dominance uh a little bit.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the things I really notice is how noisy cars are and trucks.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just awful.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's how how much sound they make, how much smoke they spew.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so while I mean, I have a car, I'm not like, you know, uh crazy necessarily.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: When you live in LA, you have to have a car.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think that's what I'd like people to take away.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: That that if if I can do this on a bike, maybe they can go to their friend's house or their children can go to the park or school, or you can go to work or the store on a bike.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you would be surprised how empowering that is, and how much faster it is, and how and how really wonderful you feel when you get back from running your errands on your bike.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Talking about the car and the sound that they make, the fact that you heard them miles away.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then the opposite of that, which is when you were riding and there was nothing around must have been so quiet.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, and really, really peaceful.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's a real metronome quality to a bicycle.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: I just got in that mode, that mode.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's when I problem solve, when I think, when I meditate.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was wonderful.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: To go off that a little bit, I realized that almost every day I hit one period where I really pushed it really hard, and one period where I was kind of exhausted and tired.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: I also noticed that when I had the wind at my back, when I had a tailwind, it was much easier to get in that mode of going hard and riding and really enjoying the ride.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And when I had a headwind, it was much easier to sort of like, I'm so tired.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is so hard, and go slow.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I made the realization my life has been so privileged that it's been easier.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: I've had a tailwind much of my life just because of when I was born and where I was born and who I was born to.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think about people who were born with a little bit of a headwind and how much they have to overcome to really enjoy the part of their life that the tailwind can help them provide.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: 10 years from now, what's one moment from this bike trip that you will remember forever?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: The tunnels.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: I went through this series of um, you know, lots of bike trails are on what they call rail trails, rails to trails.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: They're old railroad lines that have been the tracks have been removed, and now it's a bike trail.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: And there's an area in Wisconsin called the Sparta Trails.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: And there are these kind of wild trails.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: I rode on this trail for about two hours and didn't see anybody.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And wow.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Slowly climbing.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And when I got to the The sort of top of the trail, there was this tunnel.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: And this, you know, it's not a big car tunnel.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really small little tunnel with a dirt floor.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And when I went into it, I couldn't see the end of it.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was a little creepy, like, I'm gonna go into this tunnel and never come out.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: And possibly never come out.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it was about a mile long.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it took me about eight or ten minutes before I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Literally.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I I had lights on my bike, obviously.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to do it.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, what it was almost raining in the tunnel.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Water was coming in the tunnel, and it was just really a magical experience.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: If if people who listen to your podcast are roaming alone, that they they might like bike talk because but because bike talk is uh is a show about using the bicycle as a tool of transportation, not just a sport tool or uh or a toy for a child.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we talk to advocates and journalists and politicians and authors about how we can build an environment that creates space to ride your bike.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure where you live in Louisville, but I know Louisville fairly well.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: And like Brownsville Road and some of those roads are really tough to ride on, I'm sure.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: But but if you want to go a little bit east, you know, how how would you get there on your bike?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's up to, I think the governor of Kentucky is is is pretty progressive, but I'm not sure how the city council is and whether those leaders are helping Americans and and Louisville or whatever you all call yourself, be free to choose the type of transportation that best suits their need so that everybody doesn't need to get into a car to run every errand.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think that that's a worthwhile goal.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: It makes your neighborhood quieter, cleaner, safer.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, cars kill, not cars, drivers of cars kill 45,000 Americans every year.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And if our water system did that, or our sewer system, or our aviation system, or our trains killed that many people a year, we would do something about it.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what bike talk is trying to change.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put the link on the show notes so anybody who's listening right now can just click on that to listen to your podcasts.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Taylor, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a pleasure, and I'm in awe of your 4,000 mile track.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you, Teresa.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's wonderful to meet you, and I'm really glad that we had the chance to speak.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's Taylor Nichols, actor, first-time solo traveler, and host of Bike Talk on 53 days, almost 3,500 miles, and the surprising gift of his own company.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: If this episode moved you, go find Bike Talk wherever you listen to podcasts and give Taylor a follow.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're sitting with your own version of, I don't think I could do that alone, I hope this one's a nudge.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the fear of solitude is just standing between you and something you didn't know you needed.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Roam Alone.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe, leave a review if you've got a minute, and I'll catch you next time.