Day 2: ‘Ride as far as you can, John’
Route: Grantsburg to River Falls, Wisconsin
Distance: 89 miles
I staggered into the door of the Crank Worx Bike Shop in River Falls, Wisconsin, with two hours to spare.
“You made it,” said the young man behind the counter.
“Are you Jessop?” I asked.
“That’s me,” he said.
Together, we hoisted my gear-laden bike up and locked it into the repair stand clamp. Jessop took off the damaged rear wheel and latched it into the truing stand. As he worked, I recounted the story of how I’d broken the spoke the day before.
My plan had been to ride from Grantsburg, Wisconsin, where I’d camped for the night, a short 27 miles to St. Croix Falls to a shop I knew about there.
But that morning as I Googled directions to the shop, I noticed something in red before I clicked on the directions.
“Closed today.”
On a Tuesday? I called the shop and got a message. I sent the shop a message on Facebook and, sure enough, someone at the shop replied confirming that they were closed on Tuesdays. The person said he would have come in anyways, but he was out of town.
More adventure. More choices. With the help of a friend, I had gone through a list of all the bike shops in a 50-mile radius of Grantsburg, calling one after another. Most were closed. Some were out of business.
But, at Crank Worx, Jessop had answered the phone. He later told me that when he heard the phone ring, he thought about not answering. The shop wasn’t even open yet. But he did.
If I was going to ride all the way to River Falls on what proved to be a very hot day, it would mean another long day on a bad wheel, traveling up and down some very hilly roads. The shop closed at 6 p.m. It was going to be a close call. I asked Jessop if he’d be willing to stick around until I got there. There was a short pause before he said, yeah, don’t worry. He’d be there.
In the end, I had made it with a few hours to spare. Jessop asked me a little more about my trip. How far was I going? (I wasn’t sure.) What route was I taking? (I didn’t quite know).
He was soft spoken and friendly. He told me he was an Industrial Design major at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in nearby Menomonie. He said he’d done some long-distance cycling himself. He wasn’t bragging. He was just talking. “I’m kind of into the whole Ultra-Marathon thing,” he said.
I was able to get out of him that he had ridden across the United States. In fact, he liked it so much, he had done it twice. The second time he’d done it over a Christmas break from college — in three weeks, going from east to west and into the prevailing winds.
My bike repair and a few energy gels cost me just $12. Jessop gave me directions to the River Falls municipal campground. I thanked him and headed for the door. I turned to wave goodbye.
“Just ride as far as you can, John,” Jessop shouted as I left.
The next morning, I was up, packed and on my bike by about 6 a.m. I rolled out of a sleeping River Falls and made my way toward the Mississippi River and a day on the Wisconsin Great River Road.
Once out of town, I was enjoying the morning on some stunning, quiet roads. I had stopped to take some pictures of cows along and was just back on my bike when I saw in front of me a biker crest the hill, coming in my direction.
With his helmet and glasses on, I didn’t know who it was. But he knew me.
“Have a great ride, John!” shouted Jessop as he whipped past on what I would come to learn was his regular, 73-mile commute to work.
Out of curiosity, when my trip was over, I did a little searching and found out more about Jessop. His full name is Jessop Keene and the former cross country and track athlete had accomplished many things he didn’t tell me about. He had actually broken the record for the fastest ride across the state of Wisconsin in August of 2015. He had ridden a total of 289.9 miles in 12 hours and 10 minutes, averaging 23.83 miles an hour. The next fastest speed in the record books averaged 19.76 miles.
In June of this year, Keene set a new record in the National 24-Hour Challenge in Michigan, riding 516.7 miles in 24 hours, averaging 21.5 mph.
Ride as far as you can, John.
I said it to myself many times over the course of that journey. I’m still saying it.
