Trio of Albuquerque bicyclists rode over 3,000 miles in 56 days. Here is their story.

When Lars Larsen dipped his bicycle tire into the waters near Seattle on May 20, it marked the realization of an idea that had been floating around his head for several years. Born and raised in Albuquerque, the 21-year-old said he felt the urge to embark on a grand adventure.

“I love traveling and experiencing other places, and I didn’t feel like I had done something big enough,” he said. “And then I heard about people biking across the country, and I was like, ‘I think I could do that.’”

So he set about planning the trip for this year, including the route he would take and the equipment he’d need to complete this epic challenge. He also mentioned his plan to several of his friends, who were intrigued by the prospect of it.

“I thought that’d be a fun idea, but I hadn’t taken it seriously at all until Lars actually started getting it together and I realized this is a real thing,” Ezra Duree, one of Larsen’s friends, said. Seeing the plan begin to take shape, Duree and two other friends of Larsen, Francis Packard and Conor Donovan, decided to join the ride.

All in the group are Albuquerque residents, seasoned bikers and had taken several smaller rides around New Mexico together to get acclimated to distance and elevation changes they were going to encounter during the trip. When the calendar rolled around to May, the group flew to Washington to begin the journey.

Over the course of the next 56 days, the group bicycled over 3,000 miles through 12 states on their way to the East Coast. From the snow-covered mountaintops of Montana to the lively city streets of Chicago, they rolled through it all. Duree would only ride with the group to the border of Montana before deciding he was ready to head home.

“I was missing my hometown and my warm bed,” he said laughing. “So I said, ‘Guys, I’m done,’ and everyone was super-supportive.”

The other three riders pressed on from there. One would think the biggest challenge on a ride of this scale would be the wear on their bodies and the physical fatigue, but Larsen and Donovan said that was the manageable part. It was the mental fatigue that began to whittle at them.

“You get used to waking up and pedaling, but when you’re looking at the road and you’ve been riding with the same two people for hours on end, your mind starts to run out of things to talk about,” Donovan explained. “So you had to find things to keep your brain active and morale high, for yourself and the other two guys.”

The group joked that their moods throughout the day would go in almost a cyclical pattern. They would wake up in the morning feeling grumpy, become more upbeat and talkative as they began riding, then revert to being grumpy and tired during the last few hours of their daily ride. Sometimes arguments would arise during the evenings before they went to bed.

Despite this roller coaster of emotions, the three remained committed to their goal of biking to Coney Island in Brooklyn. When mid-July rolled around, they could see the silhouette of New York City in the distance.

“It honestly didn’t feel real. At that point I was you’re so used to riding your bike, it just felt like a normal ride,” Larsen said. As they biked into the city and eventually reached Coney Island, their families were there waiting to greet them. After sharing hugs months in the making, the trio completed their trip by dipping their tires into the waters near Coney Island. And they even went for a swim.

Now, more than a month removed from completing the ride, Larsen was already thinking of his next grand adventure. He floated the idea of bicycling across another country in a few years. In the meantime, he’s content with making shorter trips.

“Maybe we’ll get dropped off in Denver and ride down to Albuquerque,” he said.