Paul Carnahan

May 7, 2026

by Tom Ewing

Paul Carnahan was a senior at Brattleboro High School in Vermont when he completed a 4,200 mile ride across the United States as part of the Bikecentennial. Carnahan’s journey was recounted in the Brattleboro Refrormer, November 18-19, 1976, which included a detailed account of the final days in Virginia as well as a map.

Carnahan began his cycling trip in Oregon on June 13, 1976, and ended almost three months later on August 28, 1976. His group averaged about 65 miles each day, as “Emphasis was placed on seeing the country and people, not on speed.” 

After recounting the trip from Oregon in Colorado in the November 18 issue, the remainer of the trip from Colorado through Kentucky and then through Virginia was discussed in the November 19 issue. While the western section had the highest mountains, first the Ozarks and thenwestern Virginia presented a different kind of challenge for eastbound cyclists: “The roads in the east go straight up and over mountains rather than winding back and forth in a series [of] switchbacks as in the Rockies.” Carnahan praised western Virginia as “a very beautiful section of the country. Small farms occupy clearnings in the tree covered hillsides. The area has not been penetrated by the large masses of people as on the eastern seaboard and provided some pleasant biking.” After crossing the Blue Ridge, “we crossed the fall line and entered the flat Piedmont Plateau. The miles flew as we pushed for the coast.” When Carnahan’s group reached the official end of the journey, “There were no brass bands or waving flags as we rode up the dirt road to Chicahomany, after spending 12 weeks pedaling loaded bicycles across the country.” On the following day, they rode “unloaded bikes” to Yorktown, where they dipped their front wheels “in the Atlantic Ocean.”

On the drive back to Vermont, Carnahan reflected on his journey: “It had been a long summer, a summer of hot and cold, of trauma and laughter, of teaching and learning, or challenges and defeat, of closeness and solitude; it has been a rewarding summer. As I sped along at an unprecedented 60 m.p.h., I began to realize how fortunate I had been to have had such an experience.”