Cross-country bike journey ends in Lewes

When Thomas Knott and Jeremy May dipped their toes in Delaware Bay in Lewes Aug. 4, they were at the finish line of a coast-to-coast bike journey.

Their rides started separately, but ended together in a lasting friendship.

Knott jumped on his Kenyon bike in Newport, Ore., in early June and headed east. May left around the same time from Seattle on his Salsa Cutthroat. A chance encounter in the Midwest brought the bike enthusiasts together.

“We did not plan to go together. We didn’t even know each other,” Knott said.

“We actually met in a McDonald’s in Chardon, Neb. Thomas asked me where I was going. We just said that we would ride together,” May said.

He said they rode together for four to five days, split up, then reconvened in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

They went their separate ways again, Knott taking a route around the Great Lakes, while May went through Indiana and southern Ohio.

May was traveling with two other riders. Knott was solo.

They met up again for the final leg to the Delaware beaches.

May and Knott said they rode for the same reasons.

“It’s the ultimate challenge,” he said. “It challenges all of your senses, all of your knowledge. You have to plan. You have to be physically fit. You have to think about what happens if things go south.”

“I love the idea that you have to be self-reliant. You’re seeing the country, the people, the towns at 12 mph,” May said.

One of May’s most memorable encounters came at the end of a grueling 130-mile leg to Ardmore, S.D., when he had to dodge an approaching storm.

“I saw a family sitting in the back of a pickup. They invited me in, let me set up camp and made me dinner over a campfire. That was the most profound, to me. I had to take shelter in an abandoned trailer because it looked like a severe thunderstorm or tornado. It was a lesson in experience and discomfort, and a lesson in being open-minded to the people you meet,” May said.

May rode just over 3,600 miles in 50 days to Washington, D.C., before tacking on the rest of the trip to the beach.

Knott spent 55 days on the road, plus a handful of rest days along the way. He rode a total of 3,951 miles.

Knott is from Wolfsburg, Germany, and the former chief technology officer of Bugatti Engineering, a company that makes multimillion-dollar supercars.

But, he said, the bike journey was more reminiscent of a slower form of transportation.

“This must be the American dream, traveling through the country like the old wagon train,” Knott said. “I saw Yellowstone, snow in June, wildlife, but meeting people was No. 1. When you walk into a saloon in the west, you’re a celebrity, because people think you’re nuts.”

May grew up in South Jersey and now lives in Annapolis, Md. He has been riding a bike all of his life.

“I got a bike passed down from my older brother and I just started riding a little bit farther and a little bit farther,” he said. “I said to a friend, ‘It would be cool to ride cross country,’ and it stuck with me.”

May said the idea surfaced again as he was leaving his career in the Coast Guard.

His longest ride before this one was 400 miles. But, he said, if you can do 400, you can do 3,000.

Knott said friends gave him a warning before he set off to see America.

“They said I should have a gun, pepper spray, bear spray and get vaccinated. But, the truth is it’s all made up,” Knott said. “TV tries to scare you. Nobody wants to watch happy family life; they want to watch tough stuff. But life is not like that.”

In fact, both men said the biggest threat they faced was from stray dogs.

They said they would do it again, but take different routes to see more of America.

Knott and May finished their visit to the Delaware beaches with a stay at the Canalside Inn in Rehoboth Beach. But, they said they still had one more ride planned before Knott returns to Germany.

“We decided to go from Philly to New York. We want to see New York together before I leave. Why stop now?” Knott said.