The Great American Ride
The Great American Ride, sponsored by Sports Backers, is a 3,700-mile virtual team bike ride that follows the route of the Great American Rail-Trail from La Push, Washington to Washington, DC. Participants can do the ride on their own, but most join a team which typically consists of 4, 8, or 12 riders. Competitors track their own mileage using Strava, Garmin, etc. and then self-report their progress.
Once the ride starts, members can track their team’s bib number as it moves across a virtual map in real-time. At the same time, competitors can track both their own and their team’s standings on individual and team results leaderboards.
The Great American Ride serves as a fundraiser for the Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC), the organization behind the Great American Rail-Trail project which has ambitious plans to create the nation’s first cross-country multi-use trail, stretching more than 3,700 miles between Washington State and Washington, D.C. The vision is for it to be an entirely bikeable and walkable pathway, largely separated from vehicular traffic while connecting over 150 existing rail-trails, greenways, and other multi-use paths. As of now, more than half of the route is complete, with over 2,000 miles already on the ground.
Badges Celebrating Important Milestones and Dates
To motived teams and individuals, badges were awarded for milestone distances, hours cycling, challenges, and fun days to celebrate.
Milestone distances badges included…
- First Mile Logged
- • 50 Miles
- •100 Miles
- • 150 Miles
- • 200 Miles
- • 250 Miles
- • 300 Miles
- • 350 Miles
- • 400 Miles
- • 450 Miles
- • 500 Miles
Hours cycling badges included…
- • 15 Miles
- • 30 Miles
- • 50 Miles
Challenge badges included…
- • 5 Day Streak
Special day badges included…
- • Start Line – April 5
- • Two A Day – April 12
- • National High Five Day – April 17
- • Sunday Ride – April 20
- • Celebrate Trails Day – April 26
- • Fast Friday – May 2
- • May the Fourth Be With You – May 4
- • 1 Month Down, 1 Month to Go! – May 5
- • Great American Rail-Trail Launch Day – May 6
- • Memorial Day – May 26
- • 600th Rail-Trail Opened June 4th 1994 – June 4
- • Final Day! – June 6
Joining in on the Fun
This wasn’t the first year Team Dawn Patrol made the virtual trek across the United States of America, but it was the first time my husband and I joined our group of friends for what turned out to be far more fun than I’d expected.
On Saturday, April 5th we started our journey in La Push, Washington working our way toward DC, with a deadline of Friday, June 6th. There was competition aplenty along the way as not only our team competed with other teams to see who would arrive in DC first, but there was individual competition within our team, and beyond with competitors from other teams. Once we arrived in DC, we immediately turned to make our way back to Washington as the competition continued to see which team could log the most total miles.
Introducing Team Dawn Patrol
It’s time to meet Team Dawn Patrol who logged miles in Virginia, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and Italy! Top left is Chuck our coach and team leader for the Great American Ride, top middle is Chuck our fearless leader and the founder of Dawn Patrol, and top right is my amazing husband Bill. Left of the logo is Dave and right of the logo is Rick. On the bottom left is yours truly, bottom middle is Terry, and bottom right is Tom. All are super fun and have become great friends over the years.
Important Dates for Our Team
April 24 – We reached the half-way point across the USA.
May 8 – We made it to DC!
May 24 – Our two Chucks informed us that Team Dawn Patrol was in second place overall.
May 25 – Dawn Patrol moved into first place!
June 2 – We made it back to our starting point in Washington state with 7,418 miles under our belts.
June 6 – Dawn Patrol solidly finished in first place with 8,370.93 total miles to the second place team’s 7,170.87 miles.
Team Dawn Patrol Awards
Out of 416 competitors making up 53 teams, Team Dawn Patrol earned the following distinctions…
- • Arriving in DC – 12th place
- • Team with most miles – 1st place
- • Top 5 overall finishers – Deb 3rd place
- • Top 10 overall finishers – Chuck 7th place
- • Top 25 overall place – Bill 22nd place
- • Top female finishers – Deb 2nd place
- • Top male finishers – Chuck 5th place
We were happy to ride virtually into DC in 12th place out of 53 teams, but the competition didn’t end there. We immediately turned around while continuing to log our miles with a goal of making it back to our starting point before the competition was over. This is when we really started pushing ourselves and each other to get out there and ride.
Once we made it back to La Push, Washington, Coach Chuck challenged us to continue riding and set an 8,000-mile goal. Team Dawn Patrol rose to the occasion and solidly finished in 1st place with 8,370.93 total miles to the 2nd place team’s 7,170.87 miles.
Event Swag
On the last day of competition our Great American Ride swag arrived which included a participation medal and 100% cotton unisex t-shirt.
Final Thoughts on the Event
This event was exactly what I needed to motivate me to get back to riding after taking unplanned time off during much of February and March. Team texts and emails sparked the joy of riding back into me as my competitive spirit was reignited. I’m so happy my husband and I joined this year’s event and look forward to being part of the team competition again next year!
Celebrating riding 1,859 indoor and outdoor miles between April 5 and June 6…
Questions
- • Had you previously heard of the Great American Ride? ~ yes, from my Dawn Patrol friends
- • Have you participated in such a detailed and well organized challenge? ~ this was a first for me
- • Have you participated in any sort of challenge that had you logging miles to get from point A to point B? ~ Many years ago when I worked for The Health Club of Reston, I ran a challenge called Race Across America where participants logged their miles in a notebook at the front desk. Once participants logged enough miles, they earned a t-shirt with an event logo and map of the USA on the front.
I’m linking up with Zenaida of The Running Teacher and Jenn from Runs with Pugs for Tuesday topics Link-Up. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!
This really sounds like a solid event, especially with al the accolades along the way. I can see it’s also a great way to relish in team support and encouragement (and a little competition, from within, never hurt no one). During Covid, I took part in a virtual running challenge, the Illinois Criss Cross. We had to log miles, starting (virtually) from the southern-most point of Illinois, then proceeding northward. Once there, the route changed from east to west. I think we had six (or eight?) weeks to complete all the miles. We had to continuously log the miles online, so we could see where we stood in comparison to everyone else. We got some great swag…a flannel-lined 1/4-zip that I wear all the time, a hat, medallion (for doing both the N/S and E/W routes), and a participation medal. Nice job, everyone!!!!