Kyler's Shadow-in-the-Night Orbea Orca
Kyler is a man of taste and style, so it follows that his bikes are equally refined - like this muted Orbea Orca, devastating in dark hues.
December 11, 2024
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INTERVIEW
An Orbea Ordu, One Big Ride and Love at First Sight
Most big rides still end at home. Not the one our client and friend, Mike, took across the States. We spoke to him about his epic trip along Route 66.
WORDS
Regroup staff
PHOTOS
Regroup
When most of us head out for a big ride, if we’re not waylaid by errant sealant or an inspirational muffin, we still hope to be back by dinner. Others take the idea of a big ride to extremes, like Mike, a customer and friend of Regroup, who decided to see the whole States from the saddle and ride cross country from Santa Monica to D.C, taking in as much of the legendary U.S Route 66 along the way. He didn’t make it back for dinner, but he did enjoy many excellent adventures and raise much-needed funds for a project that means the world to him. In January, we connected with Mike to hear his story and what went down on a roadway that resonates with adventure, freedom and the pursuit of the unknown.
Hey Mike, nice to meet you.
You too, Pete.
So you rode across the States.
Haha, yes indeed.
Walk us through the when and wherefores of it all.
We pushed off from Santa Monica Pier in 2021, with about 150 fellow cyclists to ride me out of town. Like me, they were all members of the Major Taylor cycling club, of which LA has a big community. It was a great way to start the journey!
And you aimed to finish the ride in Washington D.C.
Correct. I picked D.C. because I started my career in the Peace Corps, and the headquarters for the Peace Corps is in D.C., as is the embassy of Niger, where I had my first teaching assignment. The idea of going west -to-east came about to try to benefit from the winds, which are more likely than not to blow in that direction. And it worked. We had a few days where I averaged over 20mph.
Dreamy days, indeed. What was your cadence for the trip, and what were your planned miles and rest days?
I planned to ride 100 miles a day for three days, then take a rest on the fourth. And that’s how it played out, except towards the end when I upped the riding to five days in a row just to get it done. My crew were tired, I was tired, and you know, the excitement of the finish line.
You kept up a great pace, though. How long did it take?
Thanks, Pete. We completed the ride in 31 cycling days, covering almost 3000 miles. It was quite an adventure.
And Route 66 must have made it even more of an adventure. Can you speak about that aspect of the ride?
In truth, there aren’t a lot of cyclists who ride Route 66 because it disappears in a lot of places. Sometimes I had to get up on the Interstate, which felt incredibly dangerous. That was when I relied on my SAG Vehicle and support.
Isn’t cycling on the Interstate illegal in the U.S.?
It is, but in Arizona for example, they let you do it, as they know that Route 66 runs out of road, leaving you with no choice. The Adventure Cycling Association, a great resource, maps cycling routes across the U.S., so I joined the organization and purchased their maps to download to my phone. You download the routes from the Adventure Cycling Association in blocks of 200 miles, so I managed, with the help of many battery packs, to keep my phone on and able to help me navigate.
And that’s when you found Route 66 would suddenly disappear?
You’d find yourself looking at dust. No road! So, in those instances, I had to get up onto a major highway before catching a sign for Route 66 and getting back to it.
When they built the Interstate, they had to go over Route 66 in some places, which is why it so often disappears. However, to correct the impression that Route 66 is spotty at best, there were several day stretches where I stayed on the road and didn’t have to find an alternative. It’s still possible to travel large distances on it and get a sense of what it was in its heyday.
Why did you want to cycle on Route 66?
Mostly for historical reasons. I wanted to say that I rode my bike on Route 66 and stopped at some little motels – which still exist! But then you also see old abandoned buildings, gas stations, and cars from the 50s now shells slowly being sucked into the earth.
Echoes of America’s past.
Yes, but also continuity. You get a sense of going back in time from cycling on the road, a sense of a slower life. And so many places have been kept up quite well. Even when we’d get to a city with a modern hotel, I would hunt out some little Irish motel. I wanted that experience. It was really something.
Your ride sounds like the opposite of endurance cycling, with its speed at all costs and who-cares-where mentality.
There sure was a lot of life. It had to be about the experience, the place and the people along the way.
You mentioned that you had SAG support. What did that look like?
I had been contemplating doing the ride solo. But when my friends heard about it, I got an offer from a buddy who was out of work at the time, and another, a teacher who was on summer break, and they both wanted to come along. There’s some pressure with that, of course. I might have wished to meander a bit or explore somewhere, and they might have wanted to press on, but overall, it was incredible having support and so generous of them both to offer their time.
Can you talk about the money you raised on the ride and what that was for?
With pleasure. I’ve been a teacher for most of my career. One of the big reasons for doing the ride was to leave a legacy scholarship at the High School where I had taught for the last twenty years. With the proceeds from the ride, which totalled some 50,000 dollars, I set up the Mike Finnegan Health and Wellness scholarship, which any student can apply for.
How does that process work?
It’s really tailored to a specific type of student: the minority kid with grit and character who’s had a tough start. The scholarship aims to help them get into the health and wellness space.
Adventure and altruism - I love it.
Thanks, Pete. It was the perfect opportunity to bring them both together.
Changing direction for a moment, how did you connect with Regroup?
During my research for my ride, Tucson, Arizona, came up as one of the best places to cycle and train – you might know about Mount Lemmon here and its 9000ft elevation. The GCN crew from the UK did a feature about it recently.
I’ve always wanted to ride that mountain.
It’s a good one, for sure. Anyway, after all the research, I decided to take a trip to Tucson during Spring Break of my last teaching year and use Mount Lemmon as the base for some of my training.
That’s all well and good, but I believe there’s a bigger story here.
Ah, my Airbnb! Well, the woman who hosted me at the place in Phoenix where I stayed for one night before heading to Tucson is now my wife. We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary just last week!
Are we talking love at first sight?
It was. We had that magic moment. She opened the door, and we just looked at each other.
I’m welling up.
Honestly, it was magical. And the thing is, I picked an Airbnb that was way out from the airport. I never do that! I don’t know how it happened. Anyway, that night, we had beers and pizza and chit-chatted. Long story short, I had to leave the next day to train, but I left her a note, and we kept in touch, and the rest is history.
Beautiful. And with your new Arizona credentials, Regroup wasn’t far in the future.
Absolutely. My buddy told me about the shop – bikes and coffee. Come on! The first time I went, I saw this beautiful Orbea in the window. I asked if I could take it for a spin, and the guys were good enough to let me test it. They put pedals on it, and I went for a quick loop. I loved it. A few days later, it was mine, a stunning Orbea Orca and my perfect climbing bike.
That’s a good one. And now you have another Orbea, an Ordu time trial bike, if I’m not wrong?
I’ve only test-ridden it once because I’ve been recovering from an injury, but man, does it go.
Do you plan to race it?
Well, I’ve been involved with triathlons since I left university. I never did any standalone road races, and when I got some knee issues, I had to put cycling to the side. But after I retired, the fire returned, and I got my knee and race licence sorted out. And you know, I haven’t looked back. I got the bug bad!
What’s your favorite discipline?
I just love to go as fast as humanely possible on the bike. So, of course, I ride time trials. I just love it, man, the suffering, the searching for gains, the aspect of racing yourself and always trying to beat your previous time. This past summer, at 64, I beat the time I had laid down when I was 33 at the Cleves time trial. I beat it by 20 seconds. It was amazing to me that I could do that.
It just shows that it’s never too late to give it a go.
Right. That holds true for so many things in life.
On that positive note, I’ll say goodbye. Thanks for your time, Mike. It’s been a pleasure talking to you.
You too, Pete!
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