By Khalida Sarwari
About two months ago, Alberto Sevilla traded in his car for a bike and his office for the road. The 65-year-old Saratoga real estate broker is on a mission to clock nearly 4,000 miles by the end of his cross-country cycling journey.
“This is neither about bicycles nor sports; it’s about the adventure,” said Sevilla. “It’s a call inside of you that causes you to do something stupid like this.”
Sevilla is traveling with his friend Naren Ramanathan, a computer consultant. The two make ideal traveling buddies because they share similar philosophies, Sevilla noted. But road trips have a way of creating or revealing tensions, between even the most kindred of souls, and settling their differences has been the most challenging aspect of this journey, Sevilla said. Consequently, the experience has brought the two closer together.
“You have to work through conflicts,” he said. “You drop your ego.”
The friends set out for the journey on May 21, traveling by plane to Virginia Beach, Va. From there, they set out on their bikes, traversing the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, Kentucky’s Appalachians and the Ozarks in Missouri. The highest elevation they’ve encountered on the trip was the 11,300-foot Monarch Pass in Colorado.
By Day 46, they had traveled 2,700 miles, but had another thousand miles to go before reaching their final destination in Saratoga by the end of July.
Extended cycling tours lead to weight loss, whether or not the rider needs it. Sevilla started at 194 and had dropped to 170 by the second week of July. Ramanathan has suffered the most dramatic weight loss, dropping from 160 to 139. They traveled an average of 65 miles a day at a rate of 10 miles an hour; one day they pedaled 111 miles.
“Let me tell you, we eat like there’s no tomorrow,” said Sevilla.
The eating begins once their alarm clocks go off at 3 a.m. every day. Breakfast consists of oats, bananas, milk and granola. Then they load their bikes and hit the road no later than 4:30 a.m., pedaling for 30 or so miles before taking another break for food.
Once they get back on the road, they continue on their bikes until about 2 p.m. Then they arrive at a hotel or whatever lodging arrangement they made the previous night and eat, wash up, do laundry and do muscle therapy before going to bed at 7 p.m.
“There is no time for lollygagging,” Sevilla said. “I wouldn’t call it a tight schedule, but it is a routine to which we’ve become very adapted and very efficient. In the morning from when we wake up, there is no wasting time.”
For Sevilla, this is his first time doing something like this, although he has attempted shorter trips. He started thinking about it three years ago and started planning it last year. Physically, it’s not addictive, he said. “You do it once, and that’s it.”
But he could be convinced to go another round–just not anytime soon. His 26-year-old son, who’s “a little bit of a wildcat,” has expressed interest in a similar adventure, Sevilla said.
He tries to keep in touch with his two sons and wife as often as he can on the road.
“I can’t wait to get together with my wife and see her. I miss her enormously,” said Sevilla.
Family has been on Sevilla’s mind on this trip. After losing his mother in Peru just days before embarking on the cycling trip, he has had much time to reflect on how much his family means to him.
“This journey has elevated my relationship with my sister,” he said. “The trip has made me recognize the value of people still with me. You turn around and they’re gone.”
Sevilla said he has seen many beautiful places across the country on this trip. The hills in Kentucky were magnificent, and Kansas with its vast open spaces is beautiful. In western Kansas, one can literally see the horizon and the curvature of the Earth. But the most rewarding part of the adventure has been the friendships he and Ramanathan have made along the way.
“You make friendships very fast, friendships that last until the end of the day, and yet I’ll remember them for a very long time,” Sevilla said.
On one occasion, the wife of Jim Gladden, mayor of Nickerson, Kansas, approached Sevilla and his friend at a convenience store in town and offered to let them freshen up and rest for the evening at a cottage she and her husband own. She didn’t mention that she was the wife of the mayor, but someone else at the store mentioned it to the travelers.
On another occasion, Sevilla and Ramanathan stopped at a restaurant in Kentucky to ask about nearby hotels, and a waitress offered her back yard as a campground.
The trip has also served as an opportunity for Sevilla and Ramanathan to be alone with their own thoughts for several hours during the day.
“On a bicycle you’re alone for six to seven hours,” Sevilla said. “You quickly learn what is important in life, what is fruitful, what are your core values. You simply distinguish what is and what is not important in your life.”
Visit crazyguyonabike.com to see photos and read a blog of Sevilla’s adventures on his cross country cycling trip. Search Alberto, click on Alberto Sevilla, and then click on East/West.
