 Friends of love cycles all of you who have been following our bike adventure all the way across the country Good to see you Hello, here. We are and if you're again if you're not a fan of love cycles if you haven't watched love cycles You really should link below So we're gonna do a little video kind of recapping our experience. What do you think about that? Good I guess I'm asking you. Oh, I think that's a great idea No Well, we started in Astoria, Oregon Not to be confused with the story in New York and we went all the way to Brooklyn, New York City I was about 3500 miles We took a northern route people kept asking if we were following the northern tear route from adventure cycling And we weren't specifically following that we did meet up with some of those riders every now and then but essentially our goal was to create our Adventure as it played out and we got tips from locals about good routes we use Google Maps a ton and We just every day would wake up and we didn't quite know where we would go and we just kind of Made it happen so we shared our route in the description of this video and every video in the love cycle series so check it out there's Some notes in there about places we ate and cool things we saw But yeah, one of our goals was to try to get the backer get to the back roads of America the rail trails the Forest roads look at her go. She's like a little monkey and we ended up doing about a thousand miles On dirt, which was really cool. We got to see some places that we wouldn't have gotten to if we stuck to the more traveled routes and it's a good thing. We had our gravel bikes gravel grinding The great thing about gravel bikes is that you can go off road a little bit You can't go mountain biking on a gravel bike, but you can you can handle some pretty gnarly dirt roads Whereas if we were on traditional touring bikes with skinny tires, it's not comfortable to ride on gravel roads So we loved our trek checkpoints. They really opened up just so many other possibilities to us Dirt roads are the best if you're out there thinking I want to go on a bike tour someday I would highly recommend looking up the rail trails and dirt roads Traffic is the big enemy to bike touring. It's not fun to have traffic whizzing by you all day long Of course, that's a big part of bike touring But if you can get off the major roads go into the rail trails go into the dirt roads They'll just be able to breathe a lot easier and life will be way better It's wazer to find camping on those dirt roads. You're in the middle of nowhere, and this is a lot more nature and peace out there It's crazy to think back to our very first video sitting right here back in June talking about this adventure We're pretty excited about things And some of the goals we had out had for our trip and I think we accomplished most of our goals Right. Yeah, we um, you know, we set out wanting to connect with the part of America that Neither of us felt that we knew particularly well And so we're like well, how can we do this in a way? That's really true and authentic to us and where we're at right now, and we're a new couple We've been together about three months at that point Yeah And so we decided to go across the country asking strangers for love advice love advice And we didn't know how people would react to this we didn't think of it they would have thought it's like to touch you feely new-agey weirdo and Right away people were so on board with it Yeah, it's really neat the way that people just opened up so immediately and Unauthentically to us. They just shared with us some of these really deep true emotional stories and philosophies and thoughts and And and it created some bonds that I think will last for life. I'm so grateful for that It was an incredibly rewarding experience to have done that And not only was it beneficial for us to be hearing this love advice from people who had been married for many years But I think it was really fun for them because we gave them the opportunity to talk about something with their partner Usually right there about how much they love them and why their relationship has worked and the challenges They've overcome together. So it was fun to like see them open up and light up and it was it was it was really special And a lot of times we met these people at gas stations and they'd be like, oh, what are you guys doing? And you know a conversation would be two or three minutes long and we'd be like, oh, we're asking for love advice Do you have any love advice? They'd be like, yeah, and like right away after minutes after knowing some people They just spilled their spilled their hearts to us and it was it was beautiful. It was beautiful Yeah, and we connected with you know farmers in the middle of backwoods, Oregon And we connected with the you know Harley guys of the motorcycle road. I love the Harley guys I love the Harley guys. I love those guys. We spent two nights with those dudes That was another example of just total spontaneity. We were riding through this town We weren't expecting to stop because we wanted to get more mileage But we saw a sign for a motorcycle rodeo. We're looking for the biker show Yeah, we're looking for a biker rally Next thing, you know, we're camping with like 300 Harley dudes checking out their motorcycle rally It wasn't just a bike ride we were filming all day every day And these are the lengths I go to get you those pretty shots Which is something that I'm used to but something Ali is definitely not used to do you want to talk about that? Sure. Yeah, I would say that Documenting the trip was the most challenging part of it you know Having a camera as a third person along on the journey really shifts the dynamic and also working together new relationship We're just figuring out how to work together as a couple to add in how to work together as you know a Three-person relationship with this camera, but also You know as a production team was a whole other element on top of that all the Logistics and the problem-solving and the which direction do we go and being you know uncomfortable and working hard all day? Yeah, when we first started I was trying to put out two videos a week and It was so stressful I mean to ride your bike all day and then set up camp and then try to find some flat area to put your laptop on and Start editing and on the rest days that really didn't turn out to be rest days Because I was editing for ten hours till my eyes were bleeding in front of my little Laptop, it was just it got to be way too much. Oh, hi there. Welcome to my big beautiful outdoor editing studio This is how I make those videos for YouTube. I finished the day of riding and I sit here And then I go to sleep and then I kiss Ali and that's why I decided to stop editing the videos you know, I think we were in Nebraska and Call it quits and you know said that I'd get back to it when we finish the ride And that was the best decision that I made because I was Allowed myself to be a lot more present in the situations I mean the whole goal was to be with Ali and have this romantic beautiful trip together and The first part of it, you know, it was it was great But I was like there were so many times where I was just so tired and stressed out where I wasn't being very Present with Ali. So that was the best decision I ever made I know that a lot of you out there were worried about us and I'm sorry. I didn't give you a heads up But for me, I loved when I said no more editing only bike riding and only Ali And then there's the tech issues behind you. You loved it too. Yes, you did Then there's the tech issues that go along with Documenting this like I crashed my drone on the very very first day When we were out at a story of these beautiful ocean shots and it was slammed into the the sand And then I got a new drone and then that one broke So then I bought another drone and then my microphone was acting up halfway through so there were constant struggles Just to get the tech issues Resolved and because for me as like I really wanted to document this but there were so many things Making it much more difficult and that just is a part of filmmaking You have to do a lot of problem-solving the action cam never failed you the action cam never failed me I love that camera. It's the little white one. I had on my head so some of you guys have asked if we're always to positive or maybe if Ryan's always to positive and Can I respond to that? Yeah, I can yeah I would say that you know We did make some attempts to try to capture some of the more tense moments of the trip of the relationship I'd like stick the camera in your face when you're kind of freaking out a little bit, but mostly That that doesn't make the cut. I mean that doesn't you're not picking up your camera when you're in the middle of a fight You're not necessarily picking it up when things are really stressful and tense We're even not even stressful, but just hard like physically like oh god Like it's just hard to set up the camera when you're struggling up a mountain because your first Their first goal is to ride your bike up the mountain Not to document it at the same time. It's hard. It's a hard balance. Yeah, I mean there are hard times There are times when you're just like not having fun when you're in a fight when you're suffering But that's not necessarily You know, I would I would certainly say that overall We say pretty positive. Well, you're having an amazing time Yeah, how could you not be positive when you're riding your bike all day sleeping under the stars meeting new people eating ice cream? Nutella all sorts of good food In the summertime, it's really comfortable temperatures like yeah riding your bike Lends itself to being happy like think back to your favorite childhood memories And I'm guessing a lot of them include riding your bike wind in your hair ringing your bell hanging out with your friends And that's what we got to do every single day, especially in Iowa at rag bride That was pure joy. That was seven days of pure joy on wheels And if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend doing rag bride I'm into that so I would sum up by saying there are moments of stress moments of discomfort, but overall Yep, total psych total positivity and that's life, right? Things are gonna be hard But you got to keep that positive outlook and know that what you're doing is something really beautiful and amazing It's so quiet. So what did we learn about love? Yeah, that's a really good one really because we asked everybody else for love advice and we took it all in I Would hope that we would have learned some things I might have to write a book about that. Oh, that's a plug for her new book There's not a simple answer to that I mean, it's interesting so we went out asking for love advice right which would almost seem to cut love down To something practical like it's something that you can solve something that you can give this You know step-by-step answer to and I think there is that side of love and we learned a lot of like good techniques Tools tricks ways to get ourselves maybe like out of bad like head trips But then there's also the lessons that we learned about love just by being together going through this Yeah, we got we really got to know each other We spent 24 hours a day every single day for two and a half months sleeping in a tiny tent I mean, it's not often in life any human spends that much time with another human let alone like we were this close all day every day We were never more than five feet apart from each other ever and that's you know, it's it's a beautiful thing It's unique but it also lends itself to some tense moments because she might be hungry and Wants to go get lunch, but I want to hit do 10 more miles and not like waste time and it's like no We can't we got to keep it ever, you know And it just it can create some moments and another really cool thing about the love advice You gave us is sometimes it came at the perfect time and like we used it immediately And we had we had this running joke that we were in some reality show and the producers would just like plant somebody Right when we needed them and give us the advice that we needed at that moment, right? Yeah, it was yeah, we seem to always get whatever advice it was that we needed Yeah, and I actually think that was like almost the best part about being on this love advice journey Where it was like all we had to do was go for two and a half months getting this advice We could immediately practice things see if it worked see if it didn't work But we really weren't given the opportunity because I don't know you get the advice Then you're in a tense situation two hours later because it's hard Yeah, do what we were doing and we could immediately test it out. Yeah, and on a personal level We've both been in many relationships. We're both, you know in our I'm in my late 30s She's mid 30s and so it's not like this is our first rodeo with love and my usual response to like tense moments or Drama I would just pull away and be like, okay, this isn't worth it You're not the one obviously because this wouldn't be happening if you were the one and I kind of bail But on this trip You can't just bail like we were stuck together. We were a team You can't stay mad at each other We never stayed mad at each other for very long because we we needed each other like Desperately to be to keep moving forward. So we would work on issues almost immediately You know, we might have some tense moments throughout the day than that night We we worked it out and so for me I felt really good to Really just have it in my face and to work on it and then be like, oh It's so much better to cuddle in the tent than be angry in the tent, you know Billy Idol says it's time to wake up Wake up I think that we can get really swept up an idea of love That is very romanticized that it's like that just shows up in this little pretty package at your door and like boom There it is the perfect love when you find it. It's just gonna be easy. Everything's gonna be smooth It's gonna be this like easy natural, you know, simple thing that it just like fits and it's work and you know works and I think One of the things that we know we learn not just through our Adventure, but through the advice we were getting is that I should say I learned one of the things that I Learned not just through the adventure but through the advice we were getting is that love's not like this It doesn't just show up as this pretty package on your door It's something that that ebbs and it flows and you have to work on it's more of an action It's a place that you do you try to inhabit, you know, you like you move through it and sometimes You know, sometimes it's really hard and sometimes it feels great and when it's really hard You got to remember that you you do and you can't come out of that You just got to keep on committing to it and working on it It is one of those picture perfect beautiful evenings here in Wyoming alley. Congratulations. We went up and over the concept of divide today Yes, we did it's different for everyone what works for one couple isn't gonna work for you and works for another couple So yeah that's yeah and For me and you we've both been on these amazing adventures before we met each other and I'll speak to myself But I always wanted to share these beautiful travel moments with somebody and to be able to do that with you It just was amazing, you know We had we saw so many beautiful sunsets and sunrises and we got to jump in bodies of Water after a long day and splash each other and have a great time You know going to the state fair in Wisconsin was really fun and romantic and running around and eating crappy food and Riding the Ferris wheel like these are all these like summertime nostalgic Americana things that we got to do with each other and Every single day that happened and so it was two and a half very very action-packed months of not only riding bikes but seeing our country and making new friends and Having these special moments together So Ali one of my favorite things at Burning Man is when the Sun goes down everybody starts howling you ready? I'm ready All right, let's talk about our favorite rail trails real trails are when they take an old railroad line and Convert it into a multi-use path. We loved them. What was your favorite one? Oh? Gosh, I can't pick a favorite. Well, I can but it's biased my rail trail back home is obviously the best It's got a nice black dirt, and it's so lush and green you're in this like tunnel of trees But honestly all the rail trails are amazing. They each had their own Unique character. I love the cowboy trail in Nebraska just goes straight forever And it's this red dirt and you go to all these cute little towns and it's companionable It's why two people can ride on it next to each other the Jane Addams trail was amazing I don't know. What was your favorite? I loved all of the trails in Wisconsin I did love the cowboy trail because we got to ride it with Dana and Xantha And another great thing about the rail trails is there's they're usually engulfed by trees So you're in a just a cave of green and it's really it's beautiful, and if it's really hot out It's way cooler inside the rail trail if it's raining it protects you from getting wet There are no hills on rail trails because it's railroad grade So there's like it's super easy riding you can find camping really easily I love the Erie canal trail which was isn't a rail trail But that was 400 ish miles all the way across New York and I've been bike touring for many years whenever I hit one of these rail trails I call it the yellow brick road because once you hit that rail trail you're good to go You don't need to pull out your phone anymore navigate You don't need to worry about getting hit by cars and you can camp wherever you want essentially so I love rail trails this one has a weave above our heads the trees are just crisscrossing and They've created this This fabric above us. We really loved Getting your messages saying that you're watching love cycles with your girlfriend or your wife or your kids And that's why we didn't say any bad words So it'd be kid-friendly and it just really it made us happy knowing that people were enjoying our adventure Because when you're out there in the middle of nowhere It's it sometimes doesn't feel like anybody else is watching because nobody is it's just you and me And then when you put it on YouTube boink It's like thousands of people are all of a sudden along for the ride And when you put yourself out there you put yourself out for some criticism and judgment and all that and I've been making videos long enough That I've gotten plenty of negative Feedback from people, but I mean this was overwhelmingly positive from all of you and We really thank you for charging us up. Yeah, and like we said in the beginning that Technical part was really the biggest challenge of the trip I should say the documenting park was the biggest challenge of the trip, but continuing to get these Overwhelmingly positive messages you guys sharing these stories of of how our story was affecting you Really just made it all worth it. You know it made us want to get out there and like keep recording made me be okay with the camera being Shoved in my face every morning. I didn't shove it. I put it gently near your face Good morning. I like to my face morning ally time to eat beans. Oh Thank you my darling. Yeah, yummy. Yeah, and another thing. It's like we don't really get paid For making YouTube videos Trek definitely helped out and paid for all the expenses so our payment a lot of times is hearing from you and knowing that we're Inspiring you that that means a lot to us one of the most specific moments was when we met this guy Luke on ragbrite And he saw us in the morning is oh my god I've always wanted to meet you and he talked about how much our videos have inspired him and he's lost a ton of weight It was a real-life moment where he wasn't commenting online. It was him. He was right there talking to us and That really meant a lot and that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Your story is incredible. I appreciate it Really incredible. I'm glad that you're big part of it. Yeah. Well, hey, you're an inspiration to me and best of luck with everything So at the beginning of the trip Ryan wouldn't stop talking about this ragbrite thing and oh everyone's asked me if I'm gonna go to Ragbrite. I'm like, what is the big deal? Why would 20,000 people want to ride bikes across Iowa? And so I was like cool. Yeah, right, right, whatever Anyway, we ended up perfectly matching up our pace to do the entire ragbrite Event and within hours of arriving. I got it Allie, did you enjoy that or what? They just opened their house and their hearts and Welcome to sin. Come on. All sorts of delicious food Yep, sad us down. I was like, oh, yeah This is why people want to ride their bikes across Iowa together because it's awesome. It was so much fun. I I mean, it's really hard to describe You just all have to go there and do it. Let's all meet next year at Ragbrite 2019 The spirit of the event. It's just So many people from all walks of life are Gathering together to just have a really amazing time It's life as it should be. Everyone's just working hard and Being friendly and supporting each other and eating lots of pie and ice cream like there's pie every 10 miles slip-and-slides It's just really good time That's the small-town America People are just all smiles all pride and yeah, it was an amazing event It was one of my favorite weeks of the trip not gonna lie Yeah, there we go my man. Thank you so much a lot of you asked questions about what was life like after the ride And that's a really good question because it's an interesting transition You know, we had a great couple days in New York and then we flew home and then we had to figure out how to how to do life how to get back into life and It's always hard to go from like the really really high high of an adventure and then come home There's inevitably going to be a bit of an emotional crash where you're just like wow I wish I was still riding my bike or you know the comforts of home We're definitely something that you you get excited about toward the end of an adventure But once you're home, you're like oh, I want to still be out there. That was so much fun, right? Yeah, yeah, it was tough We had to reintegrate like figure out what our relationship dynamic looked like back home in Boulder It was wonderful to see friends again family. That was great, but it also Was yeah, I think Challenging to be back in the day-to-day and try to like get back, you know get back to work Get back to having a routine get back to sleeping with a roof over your head instead of the stars And not like right next to each other we cuddled every single night for two and a half months And then we you know, we didn't we don't live together So we weren't sleeping in the same room every night together like we were on the bike ride Which was hard But was also I think in some ways good because I'm a very independent person And I had never spent two and a half months attached to someone that was a new challenge for me And I'm gonna be honest like I mean I love Ryan and I loved him more than ever now that we've been through this together In the end it was wonderful for our relationship, but when we got home. I needed some space Yeah, we definitely both did like she wouldn't hang out with her friends I wouldn't hire with my friends and my family. We just did our own thing for like two weeks and everybody's like, where's Ali? I'm like, I don't know. She's with the friends somewhere. I don't know. It's like we didn't even like worry about it We were just you know integrating back into our our lives that we knew before the bike ride so when Ryan asked me to go on this ride with him I Immediately said yes, but Some might say that I had no place in doing so. I had no experience road biking. I had never done a bike tour I maybe should have been working during the summer rather than biking across the country But I knew that it was exactly the right thing to do and exactly what I should be doing with my life at Time and I would make it work. I would figure out things with work I would figure out how to ride a road bike and I would just like get out there and do it because That's what you do because it would work out in the end And the way that it would work out would be for the better of me for the better of my life because I was gonna be having this Really monumental experience that you know a really a once-in-a-lifetime thing I mean there's only one opportunity for us to be at the beginning of our relationship taking this Giant risk this giant adventure together I would say if you know you're sitting there and you're like watching this and you're you're being like Oh, you know, I'd like to do it, but I'd like to go on a big tour But you know and you've got these things that are holding you back. Maybe it's money. Maybe it's experience Maybe it's training. Maybe it's gear. Just get out there and do it Ryan rode across the country on a cruiser bike You know, you don't need the most expensive gear this ride We did have very very good equipment, but until this ride, I've never really done a tour on the correct bike I've always ridden a mountain bike with slick tires on it and it works. It does the trick I trained for this ride by commuting to work, which is about three miles for about a month and Not even every day and that was my training But you know what the first two weeks of the bike ride that was even better training and by week three I was pretty much in shape for it I did have some some knee issues along the way like gotta be honest about that But my knees are okay Like, you know, I came out stronger for it in the end And you know, you just you figure it out. You make it work step by step Take it easy in the beginning go slowly But as long as your attitude is good as long as you're having a good time Then you're doing it right and that's the most important thing. It's not about how fast you go It's not about how slick you look It's about just getting out there and like being present with it and having an amazing experience Yep, and if you've been following this channel, I've had this channel for 10 years now I had a public access show back in 2006 here in Boulder and it was called get out there and the whole idea is just to get up off your couch and do things that you've maybe never done before or you haven't done for a long time and You know what when you do get out there when you do get outside when you're breathing the fresh air You're sleeping under the stars. Life gets better. Nature is a great Therapist nature is a great adventure partner when you're out there You're going to feel better no matter what you're doing. You don't have to be an elite athlete We're not elite athletes and we just rode our bikes across the country. You take it at your own speed and If you're watching and you're thinking I want to do this I highly recommend that and if you want me to talk to your mom or wife if they're worried about it I will I will call and I will mediate the conversation because I've had many of these conversations with my own Mom because she gets scared about me being on the roads But you know what you just trust in what you're doing you trust in the strangers are going to meet and it's all going to work out And you're gonna have a great time What do you think about that? What do you think about that? So thank you so much again for following our adventure and this channel for so many years We really appreciate it. We don't exactly know what's next. You keep asking what's next. I don't know We'll do we'll do some stuff. But as far as a big adventure, we don't have anything coming soon But you know, that's that's the way it works in our line of work. We're freelancers. We're always hustling We're always pitching ideas. We're literally looking for brands to help fund these things and We'll see what happens next. It's going to be exciting but there will be a next we will go on more adventures together and And we know we are looking for it So if you have any ideas or if you know of anyone who wants to sponsor a trip and they have ideas Let us know in the comments Or via email and we would be happy to entertain your concepts Yeah, and Keep sharing the love cycles videos My channel will get bigger and better if you talk about it and share it and the more my channel grows The more money will come in and I'll be able to do these things Ryan and I will be taking hopefully many more adventures together, but you're not gonna see me in all of his videos This is his channel and while I will Gratefully and with much enthusiasm come along on some trips when possible I won't be there for all of them But I have really loved sharing this adventure with you guys and getting to know you through this YouTube thing So thank you and thank you all for being so welcoming to Ali all of you who've been watching this channel for years We're probably like well who is this girl and we introduced her back in June and now you all love her as much as I do Which is exciting. She's a good one. Isn't she? Yes, okay, we're gonna go eat some lunch now. Have a great day everybody get out there And don't forget to buy an extra can of beans at the grocery store next week