About
"You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
Psalm 16:11
Background
My name is Wil Armstrong. I am from Damascus, Maryland. I am 22 years old and I just graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with my Masters in Quantitative Finance in the spring of 2021.
Origins of the trip
This trip has been on my mind since high school. After several bike treks with the Boy Scouts of America in middle school and high school, I had a deep appreciation for cycling and pushing my limits. Everyone's body has genetic advantages and disadvantages for different movements and I think my body type is just made optimal for cycling as opposed to other aerobic sports like running, swimming, or rowing (or maybe it's just the last name lol). I've also been huge into physical fitness as a running back for Damascus High School as well as wing/center for the UMD rugby team. Fitness has been a large part of my life growing up.
That being said, I'm not really new to the whole 'ultra endurance' game - especially when it comes to cycling. My buddy Colin McLaughlin and I have done some pretty incredible things when we were bored the past few summers:
2016 - Biked the C&O canal in a day (186mi).
2017 - Biked from Damascus, MD to Ocean City, MD in a day (215mi).
2018 - Biked from Damascus, MD to Niagara Falls, CA in 4 days (375mi).
2019 - Biked from Damascus, MD to Boston, MA in 5 days (450mi).
2020 - Ran the 4x4x48mi ultramarathon (4mi every 4hrs for 48hrs).
2020 - Ran a marathon backwards (exactly how it sounds - ha).
2020 - 'Everested' Gambrill State Park in 21 hours on bike (29,022ft of elevation gain).
2020 - Hiked the '4-State Challenge' consisting of 45mi of the Appalachian trail in 17 hours.
So really, I figure this ride will be refreshing because for once I'm not trying to exhaust my body over the course of a few days. I am hoping to actually enjoy this ride, however, I know it will not be all sunshine and rainbows.
Here is a video I made from our ride up to Niagara Falls in 2018
Why?
Before I embarked on this trip I figured I had to have an answer to the most common question I will be asked over the 2 months. "Why are you doing this?" I knew I needed to have a short and succinct response to this question not only to quickly tell passersby but to also motivate myself when doubt crosses my mind.
The long answer is this:
I believe touring the country on a bike is as close as you can get to total freedom.
You get from point A to point B on your own power, making it a very healthy, sustainable, and ecological way of traveling.
You’ll travel through areas you’d otherwise never see (not being able to ride on major highways makes this easy).
You move at a slow pace and are able to take in more of what's around you.
You’ll be able to plan your own route, pick your own sleeping spot every day and just go wherever you want to go basically. Off the beaten track, literally. A pure form of traveling, away from the buzz and fuzz of modern-day tourism. Into the wide wild world.
This is the perfect window in my life to take the time to do this
Just graduated from college.
No rent to pay.
No full-time job.
No timeline to meet.
No kids.
May never have this level of freedom again.
This may be the most resilient my body will ever be physically
I certainly don't plan to get complacent with my fitness anytime soon, but realistically I may never be as well-rounded physically as I am now ever again and from a training perspective, I would likely have to train a little harder to prepare for this if I was older and in worse shape.
Preparing for this trek not only called for miles on the bike, but actually a heavy dose of strength training
Many studies will show the effects of strength training in preventing overuse injuries
Stamina, efficiency and speed are all advantages, but resilience is a necessity for this type of trip. My strength, which carried over from rugby training during my time at Maryland, makes this point in my life optimal from a preparation perspective. All I needed to add was hours in the saddle and my body would be primed.
This ride is bigger than me.
It gives me the opportunity to do something I love while at the same time making a positive impact in the world.
This ride will never be about bringing attention to myself, but to our amazing God. And so by raising money to fight a disease like ALS, which I've seen first-hand, I hope to shift the focus off myself and onto something in need of that awareness.
This is my way of taking up my cross daily and creating extrinsic motivation to get this trip done.
“The core of man’s spirits comes from new experiences”
“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.
The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
-Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
I tend to speak very romantically about this trip but deep down I’m also very realistic about it. I expect to be confronted with internal struggles along the way. There will be plenty of days where I’ll question why I am doing this which is why I believe it's important to have those "why's" written out.
Nonetheless, I am certain this trip will expose me to parts of the country, myself and my relationship with God which I'd never otherwise know. I believe, this adventure will be life-changing and enrich both my heart and soul.
So the short answer is this:
Because touring is a way to use God's gifts to make a difference in the world, the stars may never be more aligned, and touring makes me feel clear, focused, and alive.
*Naturally, the direction I am riding is 'Against the Wind' going from East to West. A lot of people tried to tell me to start on the west coast, but how could I say no a little added challenge?*