Ride in all 50 states

West Virginia was my 50th and last state to ride my bike in. It took 60 years to ride in all 50 states. But I am sure when I got my first bike at age 12 and rode around Los Angeles, CA I had no idea that some day I would ride in all 50 states. Before I retired (in 1994 at age 57) I had ridden in only 3 states, CA, OR and WA. After finishing the tour to ride The Natchez Trace we headed for WV. Arriving in Huntington, WV we checked into our motel and then went out for a ride. That first pedal in WV was very emotional for me, I could feel it inside me - As the day went on it really sunk into me - I had done it, all 50 states.

This is how I did it. Only the new state(s) are listed. Most of these tour were done with my riding partner David. Details of most of these tours are on separate links on this web-site.

My local newspaper did an article about my 50 state accomplish. Below is this article (I had to take out some punctuation, the wed-site just did not like it, mostly quotes and apostasies - sorry.)

Triumph of a long-distance biker

Tuesday, April 07, 2009
By Susan Gordanier
The Hillsboro Argus

The Argus last visited Tom OBrien in June 2003.

Back then, the Rock Creek resident had just completed a 2,736 mile bicycle trip tracing the course of old U.S. Route 66 from Santa Monica, Calif., to Chicago. Later that same year he flew to Hawaii to visit an old grade-school friend and, as he does just about every day, he spent time riding, this time around Oahu.

After his return from that trip he realized that his love of cycling and long-distance treks hed taken since his 1994 retirement from Wacker Siltronic Corporation had taken him to 35 states.

With so much already accomplished, he set a personal goal to add the remaining 15 states to his log.

In the summer of 2004, OBrien and his long-distance riding partner David Siskind, of Minneapolis, headed to Alaska. Tally:36 states down.

In 2006, the pair pedaled what OBrien calls The Great Circle Tour, from Minneapolis through Wisconsin and on to both peninsulas of Michigan - his 37th state - then looping to northern Minnesota and back down to Minneapolis.

The next year, a special designed trip added brought OBrien eight states closer to his goal. He biked in South Dakota and Nebraska on one leg. Then riding down the East Coast from Massachusetts, he added Rhode Island, Connecticut, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

In the Summer of 2008, OBrien and Siskind designed a trip to follow the route of the old Natchez Trace, an ancient trail that wound from the southern end of the Mississippi River, through Alabama end ending at salt licks in Tennessee.

This route added Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas to OBriens tally. Only West Virginia remained, and Siskind resisted taking a detour there just s his friend might complete his 50-state goal. (Siskind lacks only Hawaii on his personal list.)

OBrien triumphed through. The pair took a car to West Virginia so they could spend some time riding in that state.

OBrien says that technically, within the biking community, all thats necessary to count having ridden in a state is a single turn of the pedals. No one, however, would do that, he says, and in his own case, the state in which he actually rode the least distance was Kansas - about 15 miles total. His Route 66 trek had cut through the southeast corner of that state.

Compare that to the over 2900 miles he and Siskind covered just in Alaska on their 2004 tour, when they traveled almost all of Alaskas major paver highways.

OBrien dismisses anyone who misinterprets his accomplishment and says they could never do what hes done, or complete some other personal goal requiring long-term effort. They could just not today, he says. You have to start small.

OBriens Web site has separate entries describing in detail the many bike adventures of the Tired Old Biker, as he calls himself. To explore his history, visit http://www.tomo105154.com

Thanks Susan you did a very nice job - TOB