CYCLING FROM SARATOGA, CA TO SARATOGA, NY
Spa City man cycles from Saratoga, CA to Saratoga, NY in 50 days
It took 50 days of cycling across hot plains and high mountain passes, but Derek HasBrouck found what he was looking for.
The 57-year-old Spa City resident recently completed a 3,300-mile cross-country trip from Saratoga, CA to Saratoga Springs, NY, with stops in Saratoga Springs, Utah, and Saratoga, Wyoming along the way.
The adventure, inspired by the Paul Simon song, “America,” gave him a deep understanding and appreciation for people and places across the U.S.
But his journey was the exact opposite of the kind Simon sang about: “Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, They’ve all come to look for America.”
HasBrouck’s experience was much slower paced.
“You can see a lot more at 15 miles per hour than you can rushing here and there 80 miles per hour,” he said. “It really is a worthwhile investment of time. From sand dune mountains on the Indiana Lakeshore to Wyoming alpine lakes near Battle Pass, our landscape is spectacular. I just wish everyone could get outside and en-
joy it.”
He explored out-of-theway places such as Marshall, Mich., where he sought out family ties at the Stow-Hasbrouck House, once owned by Matthew Hasbrouck, a distant relative and former New Yorker whose French Huguenot ancestors came to America from Europe to escape religious persecution during the 16th and 17th centuries.
“Three things stood out to me during the trip,” HasBrouck said. “One is the great dispersion of immigrants all across our country. I met Americans of South Asian descent operating motels in eastern Utah, recent immigrants of Hispanic descent being key to the survival of farming and ranching towns in Nebraska, and a young American-educated civil engineer from Ghana studying for a master’s degree in cybersecurity while driving for Uber in Utica, N.Y. Diversity is simply who we are.”
“Also, as much as some of us may think we understand life throughout America, life in rural America simply is different than life in the more populated areas, and perhaps specifically along the coasts,” he said. “When the nearest Walmart is 75 or 100 miles away, you live life differently. Unfortunately, we as a society do not seem to value or respect some of those differences and the result is unfortunate, offensive terms like ‘flyover country.’”
But perhaps most of all, HasBrouck was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of America’s natural wonders.
“The toughest four days were at the start,” he said. “There were two really hot days getting across California’s Central Valley and then two days going what felt like straight up to get over the Sierra Nevadas. After that, life was pretty good.”
Averaging about 65 miles per day, this was his first attempt at such long-distance cycling. “I had ridden the 100-mile route in the Saratoga Tour de Cure a few times, but I have never strung together multiple days of any significant distance,” he said. “I just felt like I needed a solo adventure. I’ve had the opportunity to visit all 50 states and all seven continents, so this was next in some way.”
HasBrouck is a partner and an energy industry expert for the PA Consulting Group, an international innovation and transformation consultancy headquartered in London, England. He has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from RPI and a master’s degree in management from Northwestern University.
He grew up in Millbrook, Dutchess County, where he gained fame as an 8-yearold riding his bike, dressed up as Uncle Sam, in a local Fourth of July parade. The picture wound up on the cover of that week’s New York Times Magazine.
His career has taken him from coast to coast, living in Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, and California before returning to upstate New York in 1992, and settling in Saratoga Springs 10 years later.
HasBrouck enjoys cycling to stay fit and biked about 100 miles per week to prepare for the trip. “What I learned is that it’s much more about mental toughness than physical conditioning,” he said. “I did some planning, but not a lot. The route was determined by connecting Saratoga, CA. with Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and allowing for visits to Saratoga Springs, Utah, and Saratoga, Wyoming. The other constraint was my roughly 100-mile maximum distance per day as I was using motels and, especially in western Colorado and southern Wyoming, I had to plan around where motels existed.”
Free, municipally-operated hot spring pools in Saratoga, Wyoming are open around the clock, 365 days per year. It’s a small, quiet town in the southeast part of the state.
In contrast, Saratoga Springs, Utah – between Salt Lake City and Provo – is one of the fastest-growing communities in the country. Incorporated on Dec. 31, 1997, its population exploded from 1,003 in 2000 to 17,181 in 2010.
“The hot spring there is privately owned in a gated community,” HasBrouck said. “It’s a nice town, but it doesn’t have the downtown, we have, which is what I was looking for. It seems more like Exit 15. There’s lots and lots of construction.”
While riding, Simon’s “America” and many other tunes played through HasBrouck’s mind, in rhythm to the relentless spinning of his bike’s wheels for hours on end. In one instance, he came up with his own new lyrics for Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” such as: “And the pedals go crank, crank, crank, crankedy crank!”
Except for a few flat tires, a snowy morning in Nebraska, and heavy rains in Simcoe, Ont., HasBrouck encountered few difficulties.
“I’m very glad to be home,” he said. “I got a very nice welcome from friends, with posters and balloons, and enjoyed a nice bottle of champagne. With this week’s weather, I’m, very relieved not to be trying to make any more mileage.”