“I’m in California now —Tulaire. Tomorrow I’m riding up to The General Sherman tree —the weather will be perfect!. On Friday, I deliver my load in Fresno, get reloaded in the area, then I’m headed home,” writes Shawn Cranwell, a long-haul truck driving force based totally outdoor of Toronto, Canada, as we are seeking to arrange a time to talk.
After every week at the highway, riding his freight load throughout the USA, Cranwell was once taking a time without work to take on a 200-kilometre journey that may have him hiking 2,600 metres into California’s Sequoia Nationwide Park.
Cranwell, 52, has been riding a truck for 26 years, and that is simply an ordinary week. His corporate offers him 5 days to power the 4,000 kilometres from Toronto to California, equating to kind of 40 hours in the back of the wheel. Alongside the way in which, Cranwell, an avid bike owner, makes essentially the most of each and every adventure.
Cranwell absorbing the miles in between lengthy days within his truck cabin.
(Symbol credit score: Shawn Cranwell)
The lifetime of a long-haul trucker is the rest however glamorous. Lengthy days in the back of the wheel, navigating main interstates via desolate farmland, mountain passes coated in snow and metropolitan gridlock filled with apprehensive commuters desperate to get house. It may be lonely and monotonous– pick out up a load, drop off a load, repeat —with drivers doing their jobs as briefly as is secure and allowed by way of legislation earlier than heading house to peer their households.
On the other hand, travelling throughout the USA as a long-haul trucker will also be rewarding and filled with adventures. That is what to start with attracted Cranwell to the task nearly 30 years in the past.
“I like being out [travelling]. I probably got a bit of wanderlust. So I was like, ‘alright, I’m going to go drive [truck]’,” he remembers.
When he took his first truck-driving task, Cranwell was once in his mid-twenties and had simply hand over motorbike racing. The attract of the wide-open highway was once plain, however he briefly realised that this new trail got here with a vital trade-off: a decline within the health he were used to.
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“One day, I was outside of a business where I was delivering a load and I was like, I’m going to run across the lawn. I ran across the lawn and I threw up. I was like, ‘I’m so out of shape; I got to get it back’. So I threw the bike that I had at the time in the truck and I just started riding. I just kind of got more and more into it.”
It is a bit filled however Cranwell makes it paintings – the use of his restricted cab area to Zwift when using open air is not an choice
(Symbol credit score: Shawn Cranwell)
Whilst using motorcycles and riding vans might appear to be two issues in whole juxtaposition to one another, Cranwell briefly realised that they may be able to be completely complementary. Lifestyles at the open highway, regardless of how monotonous and repetitive it’s going to seem, is all the time filled with surprising twists and turns {that a} driving force (or a rider) must be ready for.
One of the most largest classes Cranwell has discovered whilst being a long-haul trucker is that it’s essential to prioritise psychological and bodily well being.
“I started driving and then I started riding more and then I decided that I didn’t want to trade my health again for a job. So, I just kind of started focusing on my health and taking care of myself,” he says.
Although Cranwell isn’t the only truck driver who carries a bike (or multiple bikes) in his cab, it’s still a relatively new idea for truck drivers to think about riding while on a job.
“[Other drivers] just automatically assume that I’m a relatively new driver [when] they see me roll through a truck stop on a bicycle. They’re like, ‘He won’t be doing that for very long because reality will set in and he needs to make money and nobody has time for that nonsense.’”
However, Cranwell is excited to see more and more long-haul truckers take up cycling.
“There’s a Facebook group called Truckers with Bicycles,” Cranwell explains. “And there’s a guy with a unicycle. There’s a couple of guys with recumbents because they have bad backs and bad knees. Most of them are mountain bikers. And you can go into the Facebook group and say, ‘where’s a great place to ride? Any trail system?’ And the beautiful thing about truck stops is almost all of them are in rural areas; you just pull your bike out and you go ride.”
Cranwell can tell anyone about the best roads along Route 66, Interstate 80 and many of the other major trucking routes. In 2024 alone, Cranwell logged over 200,000 kilometres behind the wheel driving from Canada through Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and more. Along the way, he’s also logged nearly 600 hours in the saddle, tallying up some 13,000 kilometres and counting.
Over the years, Cranwell has explored his fair share of open roads. “You’re always chasing the next place to see,” Cranwell says. “I love riding in Utah. I really like the [Sierra Nevadas] and I really enjoy when I go down to LA and ride up to Mount Baldy, and I’d ride across Glendora Mountain Road.”
“I try to ride every day if I can, just to break the monotony, get out of the truck and get away from it.”
Cranwell explains that many companies, including his employer, are realising how beneficial the bike is for the mental and physical well-being of their drivers. Drivers have to pass annual medical exams, and there is increasing emphasis on supporting their mental health.
Long-haul truckers cover more than 1,000 kilometres daily, driving 100 kilometres per hour. Riding a bike is a good metaphor for slowing down and enjoying long, cross-country trips. Truck drivers experience parts of the country that most people never see. They meet travellers from all over the world, and if they are willing to venture outside the truck stops and jump on a bike, they are able to experience some of the best rides the United States has to offer.
“I tell drivers all the time, I’m like, ‘You know that truck stop in Wells [Nevada] you stop in? There’s a road right there. You can rent a car, go drive up. There’s a lake there. You can fish, do whatever else.’”
Leaving the truck for a few hours during the mandatory stops also means Cranwell isn’t burning excess fuel and is costing his company unnecessary money.
“If I’m off riding my bike, my truck’s not idling to keep me warm or to keep me cool… If I have to do what’s called a reset to get enough driving hours to go back home and I have to take a full day off of driving, I’m not sitting in the truck burning their fuel. I’m off riding my bike. So, for them, they really like that,” he explains.
“It’s a job where everybody’s always talking about time constraints, but the only person pushing you as a driver really at the end of the day is you.”
Companies, like the one Cranwell works for, allot a certain number of days to each drive to deliver a load. In the United States, drivers are limited to driving 11 hours a day, and often an extra day is allowed as a buffer for weather, mechanical issues or other delays.
Cranwell has learned to embrace the ups and the downs and be patient and adaptable. He carries a trainer that he can set up in his cab for days when he can’t ride outside. The bike, even if it’s riding the trainer, has given him something to look forward to, no matter how long and exhausting the day.
“I’ll be on the trainer and then I’ll be like, ‘Why am I doing this? This is ridiculous. I’m like a hamster on a treadmill.’ And then I get off it and I feel good,” Cranwell says. “I try to ride every day if I can, just to break the monotony, get out of the truck and get away from it.”
Like any job, Cranwell has experienced his share of good days and bad days. But riding a bike along the United State’s major highway systems has kept Cranwell excited and looking forward to the next trip. Instead of feeling alone and isolated during his drives, the bike has given him a community of truck drivers, fellow cyclists and anyone else he meets along the way.
“I’ve met so many people from around the world riding across America,” Cranwell explains.
Ralph Waldo Emerson as soon as wrote, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. And if the rest, that’s the most important lifestyles lesson Cranwell has discovered in his twenty-six years of riding a truck. Benefit from the adventure anyplace the street might take you.
