Meet the long-haul trucker who’s clocked 600+ hours on his bike this year

“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 driver based outside of Toronto, Canada, as we’re trying to set up a time to speak.

After a week on the road, driving his freight load across the United States, Cranwell was taking a day off to tackle a 200-kilometre ride that would have him climbing 2,600 metres into California’s Sequoia National Park.

Cranwell, 52, has been driving a truck for 26 years, and this is just a normal week. His company gives him five days to drive the 4,000 kilometres from Toronto to California, equating to roughly 40 hours behind the wheel. Along the way, Cranwell, an avid cyclist, makes the most of every journey.

The life of a long-haul trucker is anything but glamorous. Long days behind the wheel, navigating major interstates through desolate farmland, mountain passes covered in snow and metropolitan gridlock full of anxious commuters eager to get home. It can be lonely and monotonous– pick up a load, drop off a load, repeat —with drivers doing their jobs as quickly as is safe and allowed by law before heading home to see their families.

However, travelling across the United States as a long-haul trucker can also be rewarding and full of adventures. This is what initially attracted Cranwell to the job almost 30 years ago.

“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 recalls.

When he took his first truck-driving job, Cranwell was in his mid-twenties and had just quit bike racing. The allure of the wide-open road was undeniable, but he quickly realised that this new path came with a significant trade-off: a decline in the fitness he had been used to.

“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.”

While riding bikes and driving trucks may seem like two things in complete juxtaposition to each other, Cranwell quickly realised that they can be perfectly complementary. Life on the open road, no matter how monotonous and repetitive it may appear, is always full of unexpected twists and turns that a driver (or a rider) has to be prepared for.

One of the biggest lessons Cranwell has learned while being a long-haul trucker is that it’s important to prioritise mental and physical health.

“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.”

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 once wrote, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. And if anything, that’s the biggest life lesson Cranwell has learned in his twenty-six years of driving a truck. Enjoy the journey wherever the road may take you.