The Elephant In The States: Cycling Through America During Tense Times On The North American Epic

Camille Kirby is the Content Creator on the 2025 North American Epic Cycling Expedition. She looks back at the Expedition’s time in the USA.

Surrounded by saguaro cacti, desert mice and dilapidated ghost towns, the North American Epic, on its journey from the Arctic to Panama, reached its half way point in Salome, Arizona (pronounced “sal-oom” by some locals, “salami” by others). Riders and crew have come and gone, frigid nights have been had and glorious rides alongside wild bison, elk and deer have been witnessed. But those who started in the Arctic are still in the present, feeling the enormity of what they’ve already cycled in time that is speeding by.

On the subject of the achievement and the feeling that there are still so many more kilometres to tackle, Camia Young, an American living in New Zealand for the past 25 years, throws out the proverb, “If you want to eat an elephant, it’s one bite at a time.”

An apt quote, indeed, but you can’t help but think about a different proverbial ‘elephant’, the one that’s in the room as we cycle through the United States – the current political atmosphere. It’s a frequent conversation; many are actually surprised they haven’t encountered anything they’ve been reading and watching in the media. “Politics have a much smaller profile than what you see online,” says Jim Hodgkins, from Great Britain, “this tour has actually been the inverse of a normal trip to America for a Brit.”

Of course, Jim is referring to our route that runs along and through some of America’s greatest national parks – Glacier, Yellowstone, Arches, Canyonlands, the Grand Canyon. In his experience, “No Brits go to Yellowstone because it’s not near a Disney property.”

He’s learned it can actually be 50 miles between coke stops, and that it’s just as thrilling to ride along with a singular bird than to see a bear or a deer. Jim’s favourite ride day was our meandering course through Monument Valley. “You’re just cycling towards it all day. You stop to take a picture, and then you just keep stopping for 50 miles until you’re finally past it.” Jim says this as we sit at a picnic table at a remote campsite in Mingus Mountain, a quite hilly area in central Arizona. Jim and I both agree – we hadn’t realized Arizona had any hills! The desert always feels like a flat sort of place.

That exact notion, of being surprised by the States, seems like it’s been a running thread in this group. This cycle through the U.S. has given a new context to the country for those who’ve seen its coasts and its cities; this is one of the most diverse geographies in a single nation. Keith Elliot, also from the U.K., “wanted a route that was rural and went away from the cities.” His belief was, “I probably won’t come back to the States in my lifetime so it was perfect.” And what a lovely notion that is, one can ride through the most remote, the most stunning parts of a country that can seem to be otherwise a mess on TV screens and the Internet.

Camia Young, who’s been away from the States for quite some time, has spent much of her riding thinking about how the U.S. has changed over the 25 years she’s been gone. An architect by field, she’s “seeing the states through the view of architecture,” and has found the communities we’ve been cycling through to have an uninspired way of building. A main point of conversation around the national parks we’ve been staying in is how unique the communities that live around them are; whether camping in the Navajo Nation or the boondocking towns of the Sonoran desert, we’ve encountered such an array of sub-communities within one country.

So sitting around a campfire in that town of Salome, celebrating an epic milestone in a trip that runs from July to December, it was nice to feel like we still had so much to go. So much more to explore, to learn and to unlearn, just as we’ve been doing in the States. We have declared ourselves immensely lucky to be riding through such gorgeous national parks as what seems like chaos unfolds around us – even the very parks we ride through have uncertain futures.

This journey through America has felt like a revelation; this territory we call the United States of America is a lot more nuanced, a lot quieter than a lot of us had known. The adventures of following the Rockies from Canada into the U.S. or entering the Sonoran desert in Arizona and exiting it in Baja California, they pull apart the notion of borders and see the land for what it is; simply land. It’s not just the country flooding the news networks, it’s also a large expanse of ancient territory, fascinating people and kilometres upon kilometres of some pretty great bike riding. From Canada to the U.S.A. to Mexico – it’s all one land mass, one ready to be explored and revered. Meaningless borders. Meaningless separation. Just one big vast beautiful (bike) ride.

Next up: Nos vemos pronto en México!

RELATED
TOUR

North American Epic

This incredible expedition is the only cycling tour that covers the entire North American continent, from the shores of the icy Arctic Ocean to the...