Cadence Cyclery riding across the Southwestern

The last weeks our Norwegian man in town, Jonas Orset, did an epic road and bike trip from McKinney and all the way to Los Angeles and back. Jonas put the colours of Cadence Cyclery in 6 states and 2 countries during his 11-day round trip. A trip for a good cause. The Hope Journey. Here’s his own-written recap. I’m sure you have heard about slavery. But did you know it’s never been more slaves than it is today? Modern slavery is a global issue causing more than 25 million children, women and men worldwide to live a life deprived of freedom. USA is the land of the free, and I wanted to meet and hear what people knew and thought about modern slavery during my road trip to LA. My mid-goal was to race the Saddleback Gran Fondo in Irvine, CA, as a part of the Gran Fondo World Tour I won the last two years. The Saddleback GF was a charity event raising money for Pediatric Cancer Research. It’d be a long drive. I couldn’t just do it as a drive, that would both kill me mentally and physically, so I got in some stopover both to ride my bike and see some of the amazing places America has to offer, while meeting and talking to people along the way. DAY 1: My westbound journey started from Texas, and I had a long day in the car even though I got in a short ride crossing into Oklahoma, where I had a chat with some locals about what’s important in life, before eventually crossing into New Mexico. READ FROM DAY 1: Family first in Oklahoma https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/family-first-in-oklahoma/ 2338836979513639/ DAY 2: My morning started with a few hours drive towards Albuquerque. The foggy morning weather eventually cleared up, so I decided to go for a ride from a town called Moriarty. I followed the old Route 66 to a place called Edgewood where I met an interesting character dressed up like the Statue of Liberty. I had a chat with him. Different cause, but we both wanted to set people free. READ FROM DAY 2: All about freedom in New Mexico https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/all-about-liberty-in-new-mexico/ 2339971849400152/ DAY 3: I woke up in the trunk off my car for the 2nd day in a row on day 3. This time in a small town called Cameroon just off Grand Canyon. A chilly morning, and event snow up the mountain. Still I got up and had a good view on the amazing canyon. Such an incredible place! Later the same day I came to a town called Kingman where I got in a good ride to a small old gold-mining town, Oatman. A really cool place, looking like it was still year 1900. I met a nice guy from Montana, who was eating ice cream in the historic town. Later that evening I drove the last bit into Las Vegas which was a fascinating site for a boy from the small kingdom up in the north of Europe. We don’t really have anything like that where I’m from. I had a small spinn downtown looking at some of the crazy stuff going on. I don’t personally support the values of Sin City, but it was still an amazing place to see. READ FROM DAY 3: Icy in Arizona https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/icy-in-arizona/2342063612524309/ DAY 4: The day started with heading to the Death Valley. I met a few inspiring people at the Death Valley Junction, two riders doing a bikepacking from San Francisco to Denver. I always get fascinated talking to people that are doing things outside the norm. After a short chat I went on to the Death Valley National Park. I got my bike out the car getting ready for a good ride myself. I rolled down to -170 ft below the sea level. The lowest I’ve ever been. From there it can only go up, and it did. All the way up to Dante’s view at 5,476 ft. 26 miles of consistent climbing! I got a great view at the top in sunset. It was epic, but so cold. And the downhill was therefore not very pleasant. But I got back to my car and continued on to California. READ FROM DAY 4: You never know in Vegas https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/give-all-a-chance-you-never-know-invegas/2343616215702382... DAY 5: My fifth day offered a last drive into LA and I got a sweet ride seeing some of the world-famous places from the movies. The Hollywood sign from the Observatory, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Santa Barbara and Venice Beach. I was pretty much overwhelmed by being these places. Really cool to cross them of my bucket list. I ended my day driving down to Irvine to park and sleep in the Walmart parking lot. READ FROM DAY 5: Alive in Death Valley, Footsteps of the stars in Hollywood https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/alive-in-death-valley-footsteps-of-thestars-in-hollywood/... DAY 6: This is what I came for, the Saddleback Gran Fondo and the first race of the Gran Fondo World Tour. It started real early at 6 a.m. so good I slept nearby. It was a noncompetitive event, so it most importantly was to finish. However we quickly made a leader’s group of 6 riders doing the 100-miles in a good tempo. We weren’t drilling it, so I had time to enjoy the Californian hills and the Pacific coast line. A great day on the saddle. In the evening I went back to Hollywood to stay the night in the guest room of the son of my fathers friend, which is living the dream trying to make it as a big time film producer in LA. Another Norwegian enjoying the US. READ FROM DAY 6: Riding for a cause in LA https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/riding-for-a-cause-in-cali/ 2348070085256995/ DAY 7: It was the weekend of the Redlands Cycle Classic and I went over to race the cat 1 crit in Redlands Downtown. I start to get why everyone are talking about the US crits. They are well-organised, fun and there’s a lot of them. It seems to be the main type of racing you are doing over here. I had another good experience from Redlands, and got a couple primes underway. In Vegas spirit I went all-in for the win and had a massive attack with 5 laps to go. I made a good gap and at some points it looked promising. But a team really got organised in the chase and caught me just before the last lap. A bummer, but a decent attempt, and maybe it next time stays? I’ll keep trying. READ FROM DAY 7: The priceless people behind the scenes https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/the-priceless-people-behind-the-scenes/ 2350396001691070/ DAY 8: I got in a few hours drive after Redlands and woke up in Blythe. After a morning coffee at Starbucks I went on eastwards. It was great weather today’s plan was to check out the huge climb of Mt Lemmon outside Tucson. It was a good drive to get there and already 5 p.m when I got started, so the sun was setting and I definitely wasn’t prepared about for the temperature drop higher up, especially in the shadow areas. But I used my Norwegian viking spirit to push through the cold and got up. What a huge hill. 5446 ft over 21 miles. I didn’t go fast, just finding a rhythm and enjoy it. Which I did, except the freezing chill. READ FROM DAY 8: Aiming for the Sky in Tucson https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/aiming-for-the-sky-in-tucson/ 2362525930478077/ DAY 9: I started to get used to sleeping in the trunk, so I got another in before continuing east. A few hours drive took me to a place called Lordsburg, NM. The weather was great so I rolled over for today’s training ride. I looked up a road leading me into Gila National Park. That must be good, I thought. I got on the bike but quickly realised I was not very welcomed on this road. The trucked passed me in 80 mph with few feet apart. I got pretty anxious, and started to look more behind than forward. Sometimes the car drivers in the US are just insane. But I made my training and got another session in the bank. The evening I drove back to Texas and passed El Paso. I had found a host on warm showers inviting me to stay in her home near Tornillo. Great hospitality and sweet to be back in a proper bed. READ FROM DAY 9: Great hospitality in Texas https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/open-hearths-and-borders-in-el-paso/ 2352671651463505/ DAY 10: Waking up so close to Mexico makes an adventurer like myself start dreaming about putting my feet on Mexican ground. I’d hear stories about danger, but my host, Mary, calmed me down. I made a route on Stava and planned to ask some American border guards about the safety before I went across. But when I came to the border there were no-one to see, and suddenly I had passed the Mexican border. I was planning to ask someone there about safety, but I guessed, since there’s no-one to ask I’d just ride on. It was an interesting ride and I added a few sweet spot intervals made it both a small adventure and a good session. I got a few times chased by some dogs, with was the worst part of the ride, but coming into the US border I understood I’d been lucky. This was a cartel-runned area and one of the most dangerous parts along the border. Man, I guess I had angel guardian and I now get why all the houses were ruined. It was a war zone. RECOMMENDED READ FROM DAY 10: In the streets of traffickers https://www.facebook.com/notes/jonas-orset/crossing-into-mexico-in-the-streets-oftraffickers/2354452... DAY 11: Last night I was getting close to Dallas, and could have driven all the way to McKInney, but I wanted to check out Stockyards in Fort Worth before delivering my rental car at the airport rental service. A sweet old town and a great place to see. A taste of the Old Wild West. Pretty cool and something else than Norway’s national history. After my ride I went to meet Jim Goodyear, my host in McKinney, and I delivered my car before we headed off to Fair Park Thursday Night Crit. I didn’t race that night myself, but watching Jim and another 100 of riders really loving riding their bike was a perfect way to end of my Hope Journey. It’s been a pretty massive experience, but I have really enjoyed it. Both seeing and riding in all these famous places, racing in California, but maybe most of all meeting and talking to so many good people. I believe in the great value of trying to understand other people, people with various backgrounds, and have other thoughts and beliefs. That people are different doesn’t mean we shall not get to know them and learn from them. We all have our stories and we all deserved to be heard. The facts that 25 million people are caught in modern slavery, and deprived their freedom are not only injustice to the abused ones, but an assault to the whole humanity. I belive all people should have the rights to live a free life. A life of liberty, equality, diversity, and unity, the core values of America. Cycling is a great way to experience freedom and meet people. With Hope Journey I wanted to raise the awareness and get people together to stand up against modern slavery. I wish you want to walk with me on this mission. I want to thank you to Cadence Cyclery for the opportunity to come to the US to ride and share my mission through cycling. Now it’s time to get back to Texas to race!