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May 4, 2026
ASHWAUBENON – With several long-distance tandem bicycle trips already behind them, Peter and Tracy Flucke said the time felt right for another two-wheel adventure.
This time, the Ashwaubenon couple – who also run WE BIKE, etc., LLC, a consulting firm focused on improving walking and biking infrastructure – said parts of the Southeast United States and East Coast will serve as their riding grounds.
The self-proclaimed advocates for safe bicycling and walking first appeared in The Business News’ Making a Difference section in its Aug. 23, 2023 issue.
Though the trip is centered on meeting people, making memories and experiencing the country by bicycle, Tracy said it also moves them closer to their goal of riding in every state.
“At the root of it, that is a big reason,” she said. “Of course, there are a multitude of other reasons for doing these trips, but we haven’t bicycled some states on the Gulf Coast and the East Coast. We have 17 states left to go, and with this trip, we’ll hit 11.”
The Fluckes – also authors of several books chronicling their adventures – said the remaining six states to cycle after this trip are mostly in the Rocky Mountains area of the country.
“We also need to bicycle in Alaska,” Tracy said.
Trip specifics
The couple said they began their current adventure in Mobile, Alabama, during the first week of April, before heading east to St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the United States.
Then heading north along the East Coast, the Fluckes said their journey will end in Boston, Massachusetts, for a total of about 2,200 miles.
“Hopefully, that’s sometime by the end of May,” Peter said. “We’re planning on riding about 60 miles per day, six days a week. Of course, that will depend on the terrain, weather conditions and wind. A headwind is a huge deal in bicycling and can make a normal mileage day seem insurmountable – or vice versa, with a tailwind.”
Tracy said they spend some of their nights in campgrounds and others in hotels or with friends.
After they completed 58 miles on the first day of their ride, Tracy said they rolled into the Southport Campground just north of Gulf Shores, Alabama, at about 4 p.m. – the only tent-campers among the RVs.
She said southern hospitality was in full force that night.
“We rolled into the campground, and the manager said, ‘Hey, we had a shrimp boil last night, and we have some left – I’ll bring it over for dinner,’” she said. “She came over with this huge thing of shrimp, corn, potatoes and the whole works. It was like southern booyah.”
For the most part, Peter said the majority of people they’ve encountered on their adventures are “genuinely nice folks.”
“We’ve certainly seen that on this trip so far, as we have on all of our trips,” he said. “When you break it down, people are mostly good and take care of each other. We’re about as stripped down as you can get when we’re on the bike.”
The couple said they never take the training for such a trip for granted, often cycling thousands of miles per year and spending time in the gym.
“We went coast-to-coast along the northern tier in 2014, completed the Mississippi Trail in 2015 and Route 66 in 2016,” Peter said. “Additionally, we went from Bellingham, Washington, to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2019, did most of the Oregon Trail in 2022 and rode from Green Bay to New York City in 2024.”
What’s next?
Though their current trip is several weeks from completion, the Fluckes said their next trip(s) will most likely be in the Colorado/Wyoming area to knock off some of their remaining states.
More international bicycling, Peter said, is also not out of the question.
“Our daughter, Melissa, did the London Marathon last year, so we went with her,” he said. “We didn’t do any biking there, but then earlier this year, we went with her again when she did the Tokyo, Japan, Marathon. We went a couple of weeks early, rented bikes and rode the Shimanami Kaido.”
Peter said the route is one of the best bicycle routes in the world.
“It connects a bunch of the islands in the southern part of the country via ferries and suspension bridges, so we spent a couple of days riding that,” he said. “Getting our feet wet a little bit more internationally makes us more comfortable with that. Our bike can actually fit in two big suitcases, so we can travel with it if we want.”
The couple said you can be sure to find them riding the roads of Northeast Wisconsin again in June after their latest two-wheel adventure is completed.
Head to Facebook to follow along with the couple’s trip.
