Overcoming Limits, Embracing Adventure

Jerry Kopack [00:00:02]:
Welcome to Bike Life, a podcast from the Warmshowers Foundation. Here we celebrate our global community of touring cyclists and hosts who make life on the road unforgettable. Through stories, insights, and shared experiences, we explore the connections that fuel every journey. Whether you're pedaling across countries or welcoming travelers into your home, you're part of a movement rooted in generosity and adventure. Discover more and join the community@warmshowers.org now let's hit the road together. Hey, everyone, this is Jerry Kopeck, the host of Bike Life, coming to you from the Rocky Mountains of Breckenridge, Colorado. Now, if you're looking for some inspiration today, settle in because you're in for a treat. Geoffrey McElfish is a cyclist whose strength goes far beyond the miles he rides.

Jerry Kopack [00:00:56]:
He lives with CMT1A, a form of peripheral neuropathy that makes walking difficult. On a bike, he finds freedom and strength and joy. Last summer, Jeffrey completed a 10 mile tour along the Ohio river from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati. It was captured in a PBS documentary called Jeffrey's Journey. And you are gonna wanna watch it. Hey, Jeffrey, welcome to Bike Life.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:01:20]:
Glad to be here, man. Thanks a lot.

Jerry Kopack [00:01:22]:
Now, I have to tell you, when I first read your application, I immediately watched documentary and I thought, I need to talk to this guy. So can we start with the basics? Tell me about CMT1A and maybe when were you diagnosed?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:01:35]:
Okay, so CMT1A, like you said, is a peripheral neuropathy. And basically it's a degenerative illness. So it starts at my brain, and the signals that go out into my body for movement, they. They basically get dimmer the further away from my brain that they are. So at the more distal points of my body, my fingertips, my hands, my toes, my feet, that signal has lost its strength. That causes me to lose muscle tone, which causes the tendons to contract, which gives me hands where my fingers want to bend in like this. Great for gripping the handlebars. Not so wonderful for a Ziploc baggie.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:02:20]:
So I was diagnosed early on. When I was a kid, they noticed my foot started to turn in when I was running to base in baseball. But I didn't get a real genetic testing until about eight years ago where they pinpointed exactly what it was that I had, which was CMT1A, and that's where that comes from.

Jerry Kopack [00:02:40]:
Wow. Okay. And have you noticed any progression?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:02:46]:
Absolutely, yes. So it's been very, very slow basically my entire life, or ever since, my growth spurt, if you will. But for my whole life, it's just slowly gotten worse. Sometimes it's almost imperceptible. It's like I wake up one morning and I can no longer do something. But otherwise, it's just, you know, a slow slide down that. Down that ramp.

Jerry Kopack [00:03:12]:
Wow. Okay. So what I know about neuropathy, I think about it as like, a tingling or numbness sensation. Is that what you experience?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:03:21]:
I do have some numbness. Not a whole lot in the way of tingling. And I will also put it out there. I'm very, very lucky that I have really little to no pain. I do have some pain, but it's not, you know, it's not keeping me off of the bike or keeping me from doing things that I want to do.

Jerry Kopack [00:03:42]:
So is pain a typical effect?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:03:45]:
It can be, but it is not consistent. CMTA is really widely varied. There are quite a few different types, and some of them have more pain than others.

Jerry Kopack [00:03:56]:
Gotcha. Now, things that maybe slow down the progression.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:04:01]:
Unfortunately, at this point. No. Which I will tie in to the bicycle real quick. Right. So in the in when I got that real diagnosis, and they had told me this before, but this was a moment where they flat out said to me, hey, there's nothing that we can really do for you. Your best bet is exercise and do not get hurt. And that was when I, you know, like everyone else, I've ridden a bicycle my whole life for kicks and joy and fun. But that was the year that I went out and purchased an actual road bike and started putting some miles on.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:04:40]:
That was my exercise. It was a way for me to raise my heart rate that I couldn't do with walking or running. I'm not running anywhere. So it was that moment that caused me to go and seek out the bicycle.

Jerry Kopack [00:04:54]:
Okay. That was my next question. So you've been a cyclist for most of your life. You grew up in the Midwest, so you probably used to bike to school and bike to your friend's house. You've always been on a bike of some sort, right?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:05:05]:
Yeah, I remember running home because I lived close to my grade school. Running home and getting on my bicycle so I could fly through the streets and the crossing guards would yell at me, and I would yell, I've already been home.

Jerry Kopack [00:05:21]:
I love that. And so you're in Ohio still, right?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:05:23]:
I'm in Ohio, yeah. Dayton, Ohio.

Jerry Kopack [00:05:26]:
Got it. So talk to me about the. The Dayton cycling community.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:05:29]:
The Dayton cycling community is pretty intensive. We've got a Dayton cycling club. We've got the Major Taylor's group. Both heavy numbers. Today was bike to work. Pancake breakfast. We saw hundreds of cyclists literally downtown getting their pancakes and sausage and coffee. Just a really huge amount of people that come out here in cycle.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:05:52]:
And as you may or may not know, Dayton has the largest paved trail network in the nation. 350 plus miles of paved trails.

Jerry Kopack [00:06:03]:
What, 300 miles over.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:06:07]:
Yeah. So I'm in a really good spot to do this.

Jerry Kopack [00:06:10]:
Wow. And people talk about like. So I grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and we have a great network there, and people talk about Europe and the communities there, like Amsterdam and those places. But 300 miles is amazing.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:06:23]:
It's a lot of miles. And every year the amenities that become available along those bike paths and bike trails just get better and better.

Jerry Kopack [00:06:32]:
Wow. Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:06:33]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:06:33]:
So I want to talk about your documentary, Jeffrey's Journey. And I have to tell you, I've seen it. I've seen it twice. It's a really terrific storytelling. Incredible cinematography. Some of the aerial shots are amazing. I love that we have drone footage as a capability now.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:06:49]:
Right, Isn't it? It's astounding.

Jerry Kopack [00:06:51]:
Yeah. And the film is such a wonderful blend of humor and of history and, of course, inspiration. So what was your motivation to make it so really?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:07:03]:
It came out of an idea of representation for disability and accessibility and kind of adventure sports. So I've been doing these cycling trips for a while. I've done a road to Niagara Falls. We've got the Ohio to Erie Trail. I did something called the Midwest Triangle. So from Dayton, I went to Chicago, to St. Louis, back through Indianapolis, back to Dayton. And then last year, I rode my bicycle across the country.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:07:33]:
I made it from the entire Southern Tier solo, self supported. I rode from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida. And I did a lot of journaling, if you will, writing. I did social media. I also did Cycle Blaze. I had an account on Cycle Blaze, which is like a. The.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:07:53]:
The Coke to crazy guy on a bikes. Pepsi. Yeah, but so that was that. That caught some attention and somebody was like, you know, this is a fantastic story. The producer, Richard Wonderling was like, this is a fantastic story. We have got to get this on film. And it took a long time to get it together, but we finally did. So.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:08:16]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:08:17]:
Wow. I didn't mean again. So I've watched the film. I try to engulf myself in your story. I didn't realize that you had done so many other massive expeditions.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:08:28]:
Like.

Jerry Kopack [00:08:28]:
Yeah, coast in the U.S. i mean, that's 3,000 miles.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:08:32]:
It was over 3,000 miles. And, you know, I went. I went east. So I started in California. And so that was a challenge. That was some of the hardest writing I've ever done, hands down.

Jerry Kopack [00:08:47]:
Did you. Do you come over any big mountain passes like Colorado?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:08:52]:
No, I came through, you know, Alpine, California, down into Yuma, through that route.

Jerry Kopack [00:08:59]:
Okay. So you get more like desert exposure then.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:09:02]:
I did. It was March, so it was beautiful. It wasn't too hot, but it was nice.

Jerry Kopack [00:09:07]:
Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:09:07]:
Okay. So the day I left San Diego, it hailed ice on me and then it snowed in Alpine, so I took a day off. Day two, I took a day off because I didn't want to ride into the snow. I was prepared for cold temperatures but not for snow. So, yeah, it was a trip, man.

Jerry Kopack [00:09:29]:
So I want to go back to talking about your film. What was it like cycling with a film crew? Like, did you feel like you're a celebrity and like everyone's following you around? Was it kind of annoying? Like, what was it like?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:09:40]:
I wish it was a trip, man. So I am having a disability and growing up and this culture pushed me to be pretty invisible, if you will. I have. I had a tendency to dress down. I didn't draw too much attention to myself. So doing this documentary and it's why I write, it's because I can hide behind the pen, if you will. I don't mean hide, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah, so.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:10:08]:
So getting in front of the camera took some getting used to, but not that much and I didn't show it. I really enjoyed it. I decided straight from the get go that the only thing that I can do is be honest. And if I'm going to be honest, then all I have to do is act natural. That's just how I'm going to go about my business and just go for it. That VO work, the voiceover work, was it. It started out like, oh, I don't know, you know what I mean? Like my voice, I don't know. But it ended up.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:10:41]:
I really enjoyed it. It was fun.

Jerry Kopack [00:10:42]:
So, by the way, thank you for translating the VO for us non celebrity film stars right now. You know what VO meant. I appreciate that.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:10:51]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:10:53]:
So 10 day trip. Talk to me about the route and why you wanted to film this trip as opposed to all the other routes that you've done.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:11:01]:
So we wanted to tie in some of the history and Richard has a long career with PBS and think TV here locally. And so he used to do a series called Our Ohio and it's something that interests him very much. So we wanted to kind of go along those old steel City corridors along that river right before highways and what railroads that waterway, the Ohio river was our main transportation. And so we saw a ton of potential to show what has happened in that Appalachian area over time through the lens of cycling. And it's an area that doesn't see a lot of cyclists. There were a lot of people that were not familiar with having bicycles on the road. So it was, you know, there were parts of it that were just downright dangerous. There were, you know, no shoulder roads, pretty tight areas.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:11:57]:
But.

Jerry Kopack [00:12:00]:
Yeah, I was gonna, I was gonna mention that some of the footage of you on the highways with semi trucks and concrete barriers looked. Looked a little harrowing, I'm telling you. How'd you kind of settle into that?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:12:14]:
So one of the editors said, you know, are you just purposely selecting all of the footage that have 18 Wheeler long haulers in it? And it was like, no, that's just the consistent type of vehicle that you find on those roads. Yeah. So interesting. It was all good. Except for the. Those concrete barriers. Yeah. Because, you know, they hem you in and it's like.

Jerry Kopack [00:12:37]:
Yeah, you feel squeezed, right?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:12:39]:
Yeah. Because usually when I'm riding on a highway, if I hear that rumble strip, I've got the option of just ducking straight into the shoulder, like into the grass, you know, but having that wall there was like, little sketchy.

Jerry Kopack [00:12:52]:
What was a typical day? Like, like, how did you start your morning? Like, I'm assuming from watching your film, you get up with some, some mobility, some exercises, but like, you know, take me through a typical day on the road with you on this process.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:13:04]:
Yeah, so generally I will wake up and everything is wet because. Right, you're bicycle touring. That's just how it's going to be. And so I will. I carry a small little stove and I make myself a cup of coffee and I usually stop and get some cold food that I can have for breakfast. And then I do my meditation, which is usually 10 to 25 minutes, whatever, kind of get my head straight for the day. Which is very interesting when you're bicycle touring because it's hard to break free of that mentality of all of the things that you need to do to get your yourself underway. You can be.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:13:36]:
I can be a little bit anxious about hitting the road. So that gives me some time to kind of like revive and catch my groove. And then I pack it up and hopefully things are dry. Sometimes they're not. I usually pull it out for lunch and let my tent wave in the breeze and dry out some more. But that usually Gets me going for the day. I try to camp whenever possible. I can't afford to stay in hotels.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:14:00]:
I don't stay that way if I. If I can avoid it. But yeah, and then I'm on the road. I try to do like two kind of sessions. I'll do a early morning session, take a nice little break in the middle of the day, and then do another afternoon session and get where I'm going.

Jerry Kopack [00:14:17]:
Yeah, that makes sense. Was there a favorite section of the route that you really enjoyed?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:14:22]:
Absolutely. So that section, it's down near Athens, Ohio. It's Meigs county right there. You're right along the river. It's a little hillier, but because of that it has just, you know, the beautiful scenery. It's just absolutely terrific. I want to throw in real quick on that day to day thing. Yeah, there's.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:14:43]:
That's one thing about the film crew. Some of those shots, some of those bridges, not the. Not the crazy one where I enter Ohio. Yeah. So some of those. Yeah, some of those bridge shots. I rode across that bridge two or three different times so that we could.

Jerry Kopack [00:14:57]:
Get that to get the shot. Yeah, yeah.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:15:00]:
Generally. Yeah. So, you know, they, they kept me out of any real dangerous scenarios. If we got the shot once and it was kind of sketchy, that was it. But yeah, so that was unusual. I don't like to. To do that, that backtracking, you know what I mean? I'd rather loop than out and back, so.

Jerry Kopack [00:15:17]:
Well. And you know, once this, once this film takes off and goes viral, celebrity stardom is going to hit you and you're going to be having like stand ins or stunt guys.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:15:27]:
I know, right?

Jerry Kopack [00:15:28]:
To do these repeated sort of out and back sessions to get the shot.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:15:31]:
Right. I can see it now. I can see my stunt double practicing my gait. Good luck.

Jerry Kopack [00:15:38]:
I love your humor, Jeffrey. So when you got finished with this route, were you ready to be done? Were you like. I think I want some more.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:15:46]:
I was thinking I would ride home because I was in Cincinnati and I'm just an hour. I'm an hour north in Dayton. But I was done.

Jerry Kopack [00:15:53]:
Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:15:53]:
I was done. So my wife was ready for me to come home.

Jerry Kopack [00:15:58]:
Okay. Yeah. So I want to. I want to come back to talking about your partner. But one thing I noticed in the video. Do you ride in sandals?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:16:08]:
Yes.

Jerry Kopack [00:16:09]:
Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:16:09]:
They are clip in sandals.

Jerry Kopack [00:16:11]:
Interesting.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:16:12]:
Yes. Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:16:14]:
Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:16:15]:
That really helps me to know where my feet are and to keep my feet in the same position. I do pretty well except for when I spin out when I'M going too fast and I'm in a really high gear or low gear, whatever. And you know, the pedals want to crank real quick. I will slip. My, my feet will slip every time. So the. Yeah, so the sandals just really help me out a lot.

Jerry Kopack [00:16:41]:
Now, is it easy to kick your ankle out to unclip?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:16:45]:
This is interesting. First of all, I have those clips set at their maximum weakness, so it is easy for me to get in and out of them. And then the other thing is I have to click oxymoron.

Jerry Kopack [00:16:56]:
By the way, Maximum weakness it is, right?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:16:59]:
Yeah. I have to kick my heel in to get my foot out. I can't spin my heel out, which means I have to be careful on the right because I will drive my heel into my chain. So it takes a little bit of practice. But don't all talk about oxymoron. Clipless pedals. Right, Right.

Jerry Kopack [00:17:21]:
Because the toe clips are actually the straps right over your pedals.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:17:25]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:17:26]:
There's nothing clipped into those. You're just kind of into these kind of basket with a strap around it, which is not clipped in.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:17:31]:
Right. I'm using actual, you know, what are they? SPD clips.

Jerry Kopack [00:17:36]:
Yep.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:17:37]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:17:38]:
Yeah, I love that we can, we can sort of nerd out on gear talk because. Yeah, we're definitely going to get to that later in our talk here. So ready for it?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:17:46]:
Yeah, sort of.

Tahverlee [00:17:49]:
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Jerry Kopack [00:18:36]:
All right, so you had mentioned that when you're on a bike, life is better. Can you describe what it feels like in your body or in your spirit when you're riding?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:18:45]:
Yeah. So if you can imagine what it's like to slowly lose your mobility and to not be able to run through a meadow full of flowers and thinking about that and how, what a bummer that is. And then I get onto the bicycle and I can zip and I can zoom And I can, you know, I can get going and I have that freedom of mobility that is like running through that field of flowers. It gives me that feeling. It gives me that sense of joy that I am able to, you know, to, to feel my body move, feel my muscles pull and tighten and flex and just enjoy my human body. So it's a big deal for me. It really is.

Jerry Kopack [00:19:39]:
Yeah. And as you mentioned earlier, it allows you to sort of ramp up your heart rate, get your, get that going, get your, your, your oxygen really pumped up. Otherwise, like you said, you, you're not, you're not running to get your heart rate up at this point.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:19:53]:
So.

Jerry Kopack [00:19:53]:
So.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:19:54]:
Right. Yeah. So the cardio work is difficult. And I'll be honest, if I try to swim, I sink like a stone. So I'm not doing much swimming, although I enjoy the water. But it wasn't a, wasn't an exercise for me, so.

Jerry Kopack [00:20:05]:
Wow. Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:20:06]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:20:07]:
If you don't mind, I want to pivot a little bit and talk about your partner, Tracy. You guys have been together since high school, it sounds like, right?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:20:13]:
Almost. Yeah. We had a few years in the middle that were lost, but we've been together since then. We were married in 2001.

Jerry Kopack [00:20:21]:
Wow. Incredible.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:20:22]:
I know.

Jerry Kopack [00:20:23]:
Does she tour with you?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:20:25]:
She used to. She was hit by a car in Florida. A very slow moving incident. She did go to the hospital, but she is fully recovered physically, but mentally she's no longer doing it.

Jerry Kopack [00:20:36]:
Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:20:36]:
It's just not going to work for her. She still rides with me on the bike pads, but we're not interested in getting her out onto any roads.

Jerry Kopack [00:20:44]:
Got you. But she fully supports you and all your crazy adventures.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:20:49]:
Yes. Now that's a difficult thing to do. Right. So it isn't like a celebration that I'm going to leave for a month.

Jerry Kopack [00:20:56]:
Sure.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:20:56]:
That I'm going to be riding on roads and whatnot, but she does understand what I'm doing and why I'm doing it and that, you know, that's huge for us. So.

Jerry Kopack [00:21:05]:
Yeah, because there's inherent risk in any tour, especially like going across the country and places you haven't been. But she knows that this is what you want to do and probably more so this is what you need to do.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:21:17]:
Yes. Yeah. And she supports it. She, she really gets it.

Jerry Kopack [00:21:20]:
So that is, that is so important.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:21:23]:
Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Goodness. Thank goodness for her, you know what I mean? And I set my alarm and I call her every single night and I text her every single morning. I send her the same morning text every Time I am awake and safe.

Jerry Kopack [00:21:39]:
Awesome.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:21:39]:
Every morning I wake up in my tent. That's that. I should have said that. That's the first thing I do in my tent. Send that text, let her know that everything is good.

Jerry Kopack [00:21:47]:
So you had mentioned that you traveled across the country from west to east. How long was that trip?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:21:54]:
As far as 75 days it took me.

Jerry Kopack [00:21:58]:
Holy moly, man.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:21:59]:
Yeah, I hit it like it was insane. One night I spent a night in a Red Cross shelter in Texas because of the flash flooding. It was. I got some footage of it. It's amazing. There was water everywhere. And I felt it was. You know, I roll up to this Red Cross shelter and there are people in there that have, like, photo albums and their kids, you know, things that are important to their kids.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:22:30]:
And I've basically got my home on my bicycle. Right. I've got pillow and blankets and everything that I need for a comfortable night's sleep. And so I'm in this shelter with these people who are, you know, potentially losing everything. It was. Yeah, it was a trip, you know, Perspective, Right? Real perspective. Absolutely. Yeah.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:22:51]:
So. And then I get up in the morning and I just. I leave and it's all behind me, you know, and this is their. This is their life. This is where they are. So it was an eye opening experience.

Jerry Kopack [00:23:01]:
That's one of the things that I've experienced, too. Bicycle touring for myself in faraway countries where people don't have some of the nice luxuries or benefits or niceties that we experience and get and we may take for granted.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:23:15]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:23:16]:
And so I've been in places like India or Nepal where just getting into school for kids is a, you know, is a five mile walk or going and retrieving water. Like, I think about when I wake up in the morning at my home in Colorado. I go to the sink and I turn on the faucet and water comes out. Clean water can drink it too.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:23:36]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:23:37]:
The thing is that we take for granted. It's like, man, people ask me, like, hey, if you're having a bad day, like, I got no problems, man. Like, okay, yeah, yeah.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:23:44]:
Yep. So then the next morning, I wake up and I take off on my bicycle and it's very cloudy and overcast. And I noticed that the water just keeps getting higher and higher. It's covering parts of the road. And finally the sun peeks out behind these clouds, and I realize I'm going the wrong way. I went eight. I went eight miles the wrong direction because I was on the phone with my wife. Talk, talk, talking.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:24:08]:
And I'm like, why is the water getting higher? So I had to turn around and go back. Yeah. Long day, long day. That's awesome.

Jerry Kopack [00:24:19]:
So what do you use for use like a navigation app then.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:24:23]:
I do everything on my phone.

Jerry Kopack [00:24:25]:
Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:24:25]:
All of it. Yeah. So I, I did, I baselined everything with the ACA Southern Tier for that ride and then built out anything I wanted to change later. Through what? I don't know, ride with GPS or something like that for little short stints. Like if there was a poi, I wanted a point of interest I wanted to see somewhere else, I would go and check that out. But for the most part, everything is on my phone.

Jerry Kopack [00:24:51]:
Good. Yeah. So you mentioned ride. The GPS is that kind of your go to app that you use?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:24:57]:
I flip back and forth. I go. Sometimes I do Strava, sometimes I do ride with gps. I've been known to do something called Footpath, which is a little bit cheaper and will generate some good routes. I like that also. But yeah, and Google Maps. I spend a ton of time, of course, on Google Maps, which is terrific.

Jerry Kopack [00:25:18]:
It's extensive, it's detailed. I mean, think about, we first started bike touring, at least for myself, 20 years ago. Everything was paper maps.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:25:27]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:25:27]:
Which was great. I felt like an adventure. But it's, it's a little bit more difficult to navigate because you didn't always know where you were on that map and then you didn't always know like, what the topography looked like. Is this going to be an 8% gradient going up or is this going to be a rough road or a paved road? Like all these offline apps that we have, like, well, touring became a whole lot more approachable.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:25:49]:
Yeah. Much, much more accessible.

Jerry Kopack [00:25:52]:
Nice. So along this 75 day route, were there any moments of kindness or generosity that you experienced along the way from people outside of, say, the Red Cross?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:26:03]:
Oh, absolutely. As you. I mean, daily. First of all, I'll say this. I did not have a single negative experience with a person on that entire ride. Really? 75 days with no, no sketches, no, you know, this or that. I had no issues. So road rangers? No, nothing.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:26:24]:
Like, I mean, cars. Yeah. I don't know, but people. Very chill. And then, you know, the people that I met along the way are absolutely terrific. And of course, most of them are Warmshowers hosts, you know what I mean? Like, I stayed with a ton of people as I went across the country and it was. Yeah, Warmshowers is like, for me, I almost don't even want to say it. It's like the.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:26:51]:
One of the last unspoiled places on the Internet. Yeah. The people are still wholesome and good and caring and kind. So, yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:27:03]:
Yeah. We're a host in Breckenridge. So where I live, there's three major routes that kind of come right within a mile of my house. So there's the Trans American route that goes west, east, east to west. There is the Great Divide route that goes from Canada south to down to New Mexico.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:27:21]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:27:21]:
And then there's also the Colorado Trail, which is kind of like an off road bike packing route. And they all come within a mile of my front door. So I am so fortunate that I get to experience all these people traveling from not just other parts of the state, but our country and then other places around the world. So really, really cool experience. Meeting some amazing people.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:27:42]:
Absolutely.

Jerry Kopack [00:27:43]:
Yeah. So I want to pivot and I want to do some rapid fire questions. You game?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:27:50]:
Yes. Is this a psychological test?

Jerry Kopack [00:27:54]:
No Rorschach stuff. You're right. So first off, sounds like you're a bike guy. What kind of bike do you have?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:28:02]:
Okay, so I'm coming off of a Trek 520. That bike was 30 years old. I've just updated to a new bicycle. I got the closest thing that I could get to a Trek Checkpoint slr, but it's called a gravity bike. So it's a carbon fiber bicycle adventure bike with disc brakes, hydraulic brakes. Easy. I got. I went down to a one by 11 gear box.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:28:30]:
So I'm only having to shift with one hand, which makes it easier for me. So, yeah, I'm riding a carbon bike now.

Jerry Kopack [00:28:37]:
Is that drop bars or flat bars?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:28:39]:
I put flat. Well, I ride. Do you know the Orange Velo crazy bars?

Jerry Kopack [00:28:44]:
I don't, but I'll look those up.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:28:46]:
They're pretty wide. Okay. Like they've got a little. They've got some sweep to them, but they're pretty wide. But they also have the horns out here in front.

Jerry Kopack [00:28:55]:
Yeah.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:28:55]:
So you can stretch out forwards also and then still pop to the sides when you're on the highway and those 18 wheelers pass by you with that wind gust, you can keep control.

Jerry Kopack [00:29:05]:
Yeah. I was going to ask you, since you're going down that direction, have you made any modifications to your bike?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:29:11]:
Minor. Just those sandal clips where I clip in with my feet. And then the. I was using grip shifters. I went from bar end to grip shifters and those helped me out a lot. But nothing. Nothing other than that I keep my seat pretty low. It's easier for me to reach the ground, I can't go up on my toes with my foot.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:29:36]:
I have to be flat footed on the ground. So my seat is a little bit lower, but otherwise I'm riding a traditional setup.

Jerry Kopack [00:29:42]:
Got it. And can you stand up when you pedal on big hills or no?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:29:47]:
Excellent question, Jerry. Thank you. No, no.

Jerry Kopack [00:29:51]:
Okay.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:29:51]:
I do all of my ride, all of my riding seated. And everyone tells me you should have just as much power in the saddle or the seat as standing up. So I think they're just trying to make me feel better.

Jerry Kopack [00:30:05]:
Yeah, I've watched the guys in the Tour de France and they're going up the steep hills and the Alpe d' Huez and the Alps. They're standing.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:30:12]:
Yeah, they sure are.

Jerry Kopack [00:30:14]:
Yeah. Okay, so it just means you're stronger because you're sitting. You're pushing more watts, more power that way.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:30:19]:
Yeah, maybe. Probably not.

Jerry Kopack [00:30:21]:
So your bike, does it have a name?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:30:24]:
Okay, so the, the, the. The Trek did. Yeah, they both do. The Trek was named Fanchon. And that's from an old Mary Pickford silent film called Fanchon the Cricket, where basically her character falls in love with a man, some dude who is about to die and the only thing that saves him is her love for him. So her name was Fanshawn. That's where that came from.

Jerry Kopack [00:30:47]:
Wow.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:30:48]:
Yeah, if you like old silent films. Check it out. It's a. It's a great story. The new bike is named Pagoda because it is definitely like a temple on wheels for me.

Jerry Kopack [00:31:00]:
Wow, you're deep. And I feel very shallow because my bike is named Kermit after the. Kermit the Frog, because it's painted Kermit green. And some of the places I've ridden it. You've heard his old saying, like, it ain't easy being green. Yeah, Some of the places I go, like, it's not easy. So anyways, nowhere near as cool as Fan Sean, so kudos to you, sir.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:31:24]:
Thanks. I'm trying to think of my wife's. My wife named her bike. I think it's. It's something like Jolly Good Ride or something.

Jerry Kopack [00:31:34]:
It's. It's a little wordy. It's a little wordy. I don't know, quite the same. Not quite the same snap or ring to it as Pagoda, but it's okay. It works for her. How about a favorite snack food that you always keep with you on your bike?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:31:47]:
Bananas. Hands down. I always carry bananas. It's something you can get at almost any gas station. So I do peanut butter banana burritos. Yeah, that's what I eat.

Jerry Kopack [00:31:59]:
Okay. Favorite piece of gear that you carry with you could be like a vest or a jacket or a tool or something.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:32:09]:
Yeah, I mean my phone is obviously would be the one. But as far as that, I would say, you know, maybe those sandals, I mean, they were my last piece of. They completed my all weather riding. So once I got the sandals, if it rained I could just keep going. Yeah, so I'm gonna go with my sandals. I really love my sandals.

Jerry Kopack [00:32:31]:
I. I'm with you on that. I'm a sandal kind of guy too, because they are so versatile. Like if you get cold, well, you put socks on. If you get wet, well, hon, you throw a plastic bag over your foot and then shove it in the saddle.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:32:43]:
Yep.

Jerry Kopack [00:32:44]:
But when it's hot, nothing better than cool open toes, right?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:32:48]:
Yeah. And also I get this awesome pattern on my feet from the sun.

Jerry Kopack [00:32:53]:
Yeah, I know exactly what you are talking about. What did you learn in your travels that you didn't need, that you got rid of?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:33:04]:
Trying to get to the next spot. Trying to like, you know, just getting, setting out with the intention of just getting somewhere. You know, I, I never really raced from point to point, but I started out with this idea that I needed to cover some territory for the day. And it, you know, I quickly learned to just go with. With how it's going to be some days. You know, on that cross country trip, I only rode 10 miles, 12 miles for the entire day. And it was, you know, sometimes I. You think maybe that's, you know, not the accomplishment that you're looking for.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:33:43]:
But I kept moving and that's what, you know. Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:33:48]:
I mean, what a great takeaway. Just keep moving, right?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:33:50]:
Yeah, just keep going.

Jerry Kopack [00:33:52]:
Okay, so one more rapid fire question. Which do you hate more? Wind, Heat, Rain, Cold wind. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:34:05]:
The wind has a mind of its own, Right. It somehow manages to find you and get in all up in your face no matter what you're doing. Right.

Jerry Kopack [00:34:14]:
Yeah, I am the same way. It has a way of just carving into my soul and just mentally debilitating me.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:34:20]:
Like, it's tough.

Jerry Kopack [00:34:21]:
I can mostly deal with heat. I'm not great with heat. But rain, you know, we've got Gore Tex cold. I'll put on some insulation. But I'm with you, Jeffrey. Wind, just. Just my brains.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:34:34]:
I think in the documentary I say that something like, you know, wind knows how to throw that sucker punch. You come, you know, you come around or you come out of something and you're like. Or you get to the bottom of the hill. And it's just like this headwind, right? Like swooping down the hill, trying to take you out.

Jerry Kopack [00:34:55]:
Yeah, yeah. Than like a downhill headwind. We actually are having a pedal. Like, come on, where's the payoff?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:35:03]:
I know. We were talking about that this morning. That's so funny. Yeah, and it is. You know, it's just. It's. It's also something like you talked about mentally, where it's like, in the beginning, I wanted to fight the wind and I realized, you know, you can't do it. You have to.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:35:18]:
I have to settle in. Yeah. I have to settle in and deal with it and just make my pace.

Jerry Kopack [00:35:25]:
So you had mentioned going back to your documentary, that you don't really benefit from this financially. It's really more about spreading the message. So what message you hope people walk away with after watching Jeffrey's Journey?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:35:37]:
I want people to walk away with the message that the journey really is the bliss. That the journey is really what it's all about is, you know, suffering exists, and that's just how things are. And when you start to embrace it, you can start to move beyond it. So that's really my message is stay mobile, stay active, Find what brings you joy, that gets you off of the couch and go for it.

Jerry Kopack [00:36:12]:
I. I wish you could see my arm right now. Like, I have goosebumps, man.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:36:16]:
Okay. Yeah, you bet.

Jerry Kopack [00:36:18]:
That's amazing. And finally, I know you're on the road a lot. What's next summer plans?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:36:24]:
I leave for the C and O and the Gap on June 1, and I am ready to go. We're going to drive to. We're going to drive to Pittsburgh. It's only four hours from here. Then we're going to take the train with our bikes into D.C. and then ride back to Pittsburgh. So, what, six or seven days on the CNO and the Gap, you know, no cars, nature. Should be a good time of year.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:36:48]:
Yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready to go. It was a long, wet, cold winter, I understand.

Jerry Kopack [00:36:55]:
Yeah, it just snowed here where I live, last night, so.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:36:58]:
Yeah, I believe it. Yeah, you're up in those mountains.

Jerry Kopack [00:37:02]:
Oh, man. I want to thank you so much for taking the time and sharing your story today. So for our listeners, how can they find. Find your film or follow your travels?

Jeffrey McElfish [00:37:13]:
Wonderful. Thank you so much. So you can follow me on social media. I'm on just about everything under Juicy note. It's all one word. I know, it's kind of weird. J U I C Y M E, L T. But it's just some, it's, you know, kind of like that trail name, that buffer between you and reality on social media.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:37:33]:
So you can follow me daily on there and find out what I've got going on. For the documentary, you can just search Jeffrey's Journey. It's on the PBS link in YouTube and it is, it pops up pretty easy to find. So it's also available on Passport, the PBS Passport app. But that's a little. I don't know how that works nationwide. I don't know if it's going to be on your passport or not, but you can definitely find it on YouTube.

Jerry Kopack [00:38:02]:
Yeah. And YouTube is not just nationwide, it's worldwide. So easy place to find it. And we're going to have links to all these things in our show notes, so people are going to find you.

Jeffrey McElfish [00:38:13]:
I appreciate it, man.

Jerry Kopack [00:38:14]:
All right, well, I want to thank everyone for tuning into my conversation with Jeffrey McElfish. If you enjoy our show, give us a like a share to social channels or maybe just tell your friends. These stories hopefully will inspire you to set off on your own bicycle adventure and maybe make the world feel a little bit smaller, one pedal stroke at a time. My name is Jerry Kopak, and until next time, keep the wheels rolling. And the story's coming. Thanks for joining us on Bike Life. I'm Jerry Kopak, and I hope you enjoyed today's episode as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you. Please leave us a rating and review or just tell your friends.

Jerry Kopack [00:38:51]:
This helps us reach more cyclists and hosts around the world. To learn more or become part of the part of this amazing community, Visit us@warmshowers.org or follow us on Instagram at warmshowersoreg. If you'd like to be a guest on the show or have a question you'd like us to explore, email us@podcastarmshowers.org.