Just days after his 65th birthday, Jon Chaykowski will hop on his touring bike – one of the four bikes he owns – for a ride down the west coast of the United States, from Vancouver, Canada and to Tijuana, Mexico.
The 36-year Manhattan Beach resident departs August 18 on the 1,700-mile adventure to raise money for the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation. The father of two has a daughter, Kelsey, who’s a sophomore at Mira Costa High School. “I’m very much a supporter of schools,” he said.
Chaykowski is no stranger to the road bumps that come with the challenge.
He’s done it before.
Five years ago, he completed a similar project, during which he cycled 3,100 miles across the United States, raising $20,000 for Manhattan Beach schools.
And in the 1980s, he and his wife participated in Iowa’s cross-state bike ride. Twice.
The lifelong rider joined a cycling club in Torrance when he was 13. “I’ve been riding up in the hills of Palos Verdes for the last 50-plus years,” he said. “It’s been a continuum for me. Training just means the way I’ve been living.”
For his upcoming trip, so far he’s collected a few thousand dollars in donations, and is anxiously looking for more support.
While he decided a few months ago to make the journey, he’s been seriously planning for about a month now. He whipped out a map, highlighted his planned route down the coast, and set out to find campsites at which to stay along the way. “I’ve picked the ones that have hot showers,” Chaykowski said. “Some say no showers, some say cold showers – I scratched those off my list.”
He plans to cycle 75 miles each day, scheduling him to roll into Manhattan Beach on September 8. He’ll complete the remaining 150 miles to Mexico the following weekend.
With long distance tours, Chaykowski said it’s important to focus on one mile at a time. “You’re not trying to rush to the end of the day because there’re days and weeks ahead,” he said.
One of the most rewarding experiences during his first trip was witnessing the kindness of strangers. He’d often pitch his tent – with permission – outside local fire stations or at campsites, but sometimes, people he met along the way offered to host him in their homes.
He recalled the Smith family in Lazbuddie, Texas hosting a family reunion while he was passing through. Chaykowski began telling his story to the oldest generation of Smiths and retelling it and retelling it as new family members trickled in.
The Smiths pointed Chaykowski to a local church to find a place to stay. Upon arriving, he was surprised to see that his new friends followed him to the church to make sure he found it, and later invited him to stay at their home.
By then it was dark out. The Smiths trailed behind Chaykowski in their car, lighting the bike path for him, guiding him to their home.
Chaykowski imagines the journey down the coast will include less interaction with locals and more interaction with cyclists, as the coast is rife with them. During his first trip, on the other hand, he saw not one cyclist. “This trip, I expect to see dozens of riders every day, every afternoon, every evening because the coast just so popular,” he said.
But the new route has its perks. Chaykowski plans to visit and stay with friends in Seattle, Moraga, Cambria and Solvang, and his son in San Diego.
He still rides with avid South Bay cyclists, the Donut group, on weekends. “The camaraderie of the group is nice,” he said, adding that group members keep one another motivated. With the group, he bikes for about 125 miles every weekend, he said.
Four mornings a week, starting at 6:30 a.m., Chaykowski cycles for just more than 30 minutes on his cycling machine at home.
Chaykowski plans to bring 75 pounds of materials on the road, including his bike. The 43-year Boeing engineer designed and sewed together custom bags to fit on his bike, which will carry an extra set of clothes, a camping tent, sleeping bag, a razor, three 20-ounce water bottles, bike repair equipment and rain gear. “I’m fully self sufficient,” Chaykowski said, of being on the road.
For food, he’ll carry cereal and power bars, and he’ll stop to pick up milk daily. To decrease the weight on his bike, he picks up lunch and dinner from restaurants or grocery stores on the way. “I get food on the road because I want to cut down the weight of not having to have a camp stove and cooking pots and pans,” he said.
There’s one thing he can’t stand that’s completely out of his control. “Rain is the thing I hate the most. Hills, wind, anything else is nothing compared to rain and being wet – and it’s unsafe.”
But even rain wouldn’t cause him to pull over. “You pick good weather, but you take what you get,” he said.
On another trip, he peddled more than 60 miles in the rain. “My wife says I’m sort of goal-oriented, so that may be part of the drive to go from one point to the other,” he said, of staying focused during long tours.
Chaykowski anticipates the journey to be invigorating. “When I came back from the last one, I was just in top shape, I was not worn out,” he said. “Maybe I was tired, but I wasn’t worn out.”
Above all, he hopes his trip inspires others to achieve their dreams. He hopes strangers reading his story can say, “Hey, this guy did that; why don’t I try something?”
For more information or to donate to Jon Chaykowski’s ride down the coast, email him at rideformbef@yahoo.com.
