Saratoga Springs couple turns 40th anniversary into cross-country bike trip

The ride was built, not improvised

Robert and Bliss Sawyer are turning their 40th wedding anniversary into Hope Across the USA, a 4,000-mile ride from Bellingham, Washington, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, with roughly 140,000 to 142,000 feet of climbing. They are scheduled to start on June 20, 2026, and they are not treating it like a race. This is a northern route coast-to-coast challenge built around time together, scenery, and the kind of steady planning that makes a huge trip feel possible.

The trip also has a clear purpose off the bike. The Sawyers are raising money and awareness for Tabitha’s Way Local North Food Pantry and Habitat for Humanity, with one fundraiser page setting a $100,000 goal. That adds a useful layer for riders who think of big adventures as personal milestones only, because this one is also tied to service.

How they built the base for a cross-country ride

The Sawyers did not wake up one day and decide to cross the country. They started riding bikes together about 30 years ago and began road biking seriously about 25 years ago, then joined a cycling club and gradually worked up to 60- to 100-mile supported events. That path matters because it shows how a major endurance trip is assembled from repeatable habits, not from a single burst of confidence.

Bliss also gave the couple a long-range target that helped shape their riding life: ride 50 miles in all 50 states. They later crossed five states in the Northeast for her 50th birthday, which is exactly the kind of incremental leap that teaches you what longer days feel like before you ask your body for weeks of them. For midlife riders, that is the most practical lesson in the whole story: increase range in layers, not in fantasy.

Route choice, pacing, and daily mileage

Bellingham is not just a departure point. It is where the Sawyers met, which gives the ride a full-circle feel before the first pedal stroke. Atlantic City closes the loop on the other side of the continent, but the route itself is the real test: 4,000 miles, about 140,000 to 142,000 feet of elevation gain, and enough geographic variety to demand patience more than speed.

They expect to camp often and stay in roadside hotels every few nights, biking daily through all kinds of weather. That mix is smart for a ride this long because it keeps the trip flexible without forcing them to haul a full camping setup every single day. It also makes the pace more realistic for ordinary cyclists who want a coast-to-coast experience without pretending every day will be perfect.

The Sawyers are calling the trip Hope Across the USA, and the northern route gives it a clear identity. It is not a speed record attempt. It is a long, deliberate crossing that leans on rhythm, recovery, and the ability to keep going when the weather or terrain changes.

The logistics that make the trip work

Robert handles much of the logistics and bike assembly, while Bliss manages the finances and the broader travel planning. That division of labor is one of the most useful parts of their story because it shows how a big ride gets built at home, not just on the road. One person keeps the machine and route moving; the other keeps the money and logistics sane.

Their earliest multi-state trips were credit-card touring, with clothes in panniers and hotel-to-hotel overnights. Robert would assemble the bikes in the hotel room and off they would go. Only later, after an older cyclist shamed them into camping, did they begin carrying all their gear. That progression is worth copying: start with a setup that lets you ride, then add complexity only after you know the simpler version works.

For riders planning a longer adventure, their gear arc offers a clean template:

• Begin with supported events and hotel-based touring before trying full bikepacking.

• Use panniers first if that keeps the trip manageable.

• Test camping on shorter tours before committing to it for weeks.

• Let the bike fit the route, not the other way around.

Why this kind of trip is realistic in midlife

Bliss is 59 and works as a mortgage loan officer. Robert is 64 and a retired exercise physiology professor. Their ages matter because they show the trip is not based on youth or recklessness, but on experience, fitness, and a realistic understanding of what they can sustain. The ride is their most ambitious yet, but it grew out of a pattern they have been building for decades.

That pattern includes six weeks riding from southern England to northern Scotland in 2023, six weeks and 1,200 miles across Norway in 2024, and a week in Alaska last summer. Those trips are the proof that their endurance has been ramped up in stages. They went from local rides to club events, from pannier travel to camping, then to six-week international routes. By the time they roll out of Bellingham, they will have spent years teaching themselves how to travel with everything they need.

The bigger context for the route

Adventure Cycling describes the Northern Tier as a coast-to-coast route and a bucket-list cross-country ride, which helps place the Sawyers in a long tradition of American bicycle travel. Their route is not unusual because it is extreme. It is meaningful because it follows a line that riders have chased for years through Washington, the Northern Rockies, the Plains, and New England.

That is what makes Hope Across the USA useful to other riders, not just inspiring. The Sawyers are showing how a coast-to-coast trip can be made practical: build the base with supported rides, test your gear on smaller tours, divide the planning work, and choose a route that matches your pace. The headline is 4,000 miles, but the real story is the one they spent 30 years writing one ride at a time, until the anniversary trip finally became a cross-country plan.