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Sperryville’s Tony Barrett, a grad student in computer science at the University of Washington, set out on his bicycle from Seattle last month.
First he came to the Cascade mountain range, and there encountered the toughest cycling of what would be a 47-day, 3,000-mile journey back home.
After traversing Nebraska he stopped in a small town in Iowa, where someone told him about the Ragbrai XIX, 9,000 cyclists who every year bike across the state. He was three days behind them, but bore down and caught up. The days he spent with them were the best of the trip, said Mr. Barrett.
He camped in state parks, bringing a tent, one change of clothes and cooking equipment with him. Actually, he started with several changes of clothes and other equipment, but along the way he met a man who was cycling around the world, and among his advice was for Mr. Barrett to jettison all but one change of clothes. That and other excess equipment went out with the next day’s mail, on their way to Sperryville.
After that all he kept was a tent, sleeping bag, air matress and “equipment to do everything I needed to on the bike.”
His best day was 120 miles, and the average day was about 50 miles.
He finished up at the Washington Monument on Saturday, Aug. 10, feeling “elated.”
His parents, Matthew and Mary Barnett of Sperryville, were on hand to welcome him home.
“When I first saw it (the monument) I said, ‘Oh wow, I finally made it,’ ” he remarked.
When classes start back up in the fall, is he going to reverse the feat? “I’m going to fly back and I’m going to laugh hysterically every minute of the eight hours.”
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