Cycle America rides into Worland

WORLAND - Nearly 60 bicyclists from Cycle America rode into Worland Wednesday. The group started in Seattle and will be travelling to Boston, according to Cycle America owner Greg Walsh.

"Cycle America is an organization that's been organizing bike trips across the United States since 1988. In around 2000 we started including Worland as far as one of the overnights," Walsh said.

According to Walsh, there are approximately 58 to 60 cyclists. The trip is about 42,000 to 43,000 miles. "It's in nine segments. Each segment represents nearly a state in some way. It is 64 days and we ride six days and take one day off," he said.

The group went from Seattle, Wash., to Missoula, Mont., to Jackson. Today they head to Buffalo and then to Devils Tower. "We will continue all the way to New England," Walsh said.

"It's mostly a northern tour during the summer time. In some ways when you're planning it out and thinking of things to include one of the notables would be the Cascades. We have had the different mountain tributaries, the Rocky Mountains and the Big Horns are something I knew of. We get an opportunity to almost bend a little bit to see Devils Tower and include something interesting," Walsh said.

"When you're touring across the United States sometimes you have to bend a little bit because there is something interesting to look at. I've been through this area before and thought a lot about including it," he said.

Walsh said there are people from Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada and United States. "There are a lot of different stories here. There is young and old. We have a girl from Italy about 19 years old and we have people who are much older. We have a father and son and the dad is blind. They are on a tandem. There are a lot of reasons why people are doing it," he said.

"For myself I enjoy organizing it, I'm fascinated. There are some people that have chosen to do it for personal reasons, if not philanthropic. I haven't thought to be in the fundraising business so to speak and in some ways there are a lot of people that we attract and we help support it. There are people inside this group doing it for more than just enjoying it, but they have combined it with something that is dear to them," Walsh said.

"It's fun and in some ways believe it or not it's more available to people than they think. The interesting part is if you're just not out of shape and you wanted to do it, it's more possible than people would imagine in the sense that you take one mile at a time," he said.

Walsh said one of the core backbones, is the idea is that you have communities that are a little bit more available to accommodate people.

"We like to mix it up and be in the community. A good portion of the bicyclists are staying on the community center campus. We want them to walk the hallways of the high schools, see the trophies and accolades of each town, it's fun," Walsh said.

Cyclist Doreen Garner from Ontario, Canada, said, "Coming through the canyon was my favorite part of the trip so far. I've seen such beautiful things. I've been biking seriously about six years and a lot of people here have cycled all their lives and some less than I have. I used to do week long trips and I saw this online and I thought that it would be cool to participate in while I still can. The ages here range from 19 to 74."

Cyclist Hilary King from Australia said, "I've been biking about seven years. I actually wanted to travel across America just to see America, that's what I'm trying to do. This is the best way to experience America. I've done quite a few multi-day rides in New Zealand and Australia and thought why not nine weeks. It's just been magnificent, I took a selfie with a moose and we had a beautiful ride through Teton Pass. Going through Grand Teton National Park was just spectacular. It was absolutely gorgeous."

While in Worland, the group dined at Firenze Italian Steakhouse and had breakfast at Ranchito.