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Food is something we can grow right in our cities. According to the Food Policy Counsel, 2,500 kilometers of petroleum is the average amount of “food mile” tagged to food products. But you can change this.

This summer, a group of friends and I put the spotlight on the tag-team power of local food plus biking by launching the Farm Tour of (North) America. From Portland, Oregon, to Boston, Massachusetts, we rode town-to-town in search of local food.

The goal was to learn about localized food systems by visiting producers. We learned that biking places will get you respect by every farmer, no matter what badge they wear. It is difficult for farmers to overcome the convenience hurdle and sell directly to consumers; there is a market for farmers market to home delivery via city bikers. Food is our bike fuel, if you put the right food in your body, you can literally bike anywhere.

Another point of the ride was to celebrate those working to increase food sovereignty. We did this by fundraising $12,000 for an agricultural community in the Tomoyo region of Bolivia. Food sovereignty is the ability of the community to define their food system. In an era of environmental change, food is a great way to pair social justice with environmental justice. Food is a gateway for people to understand each other and the land. And we can get there by bike.

In this way, we had a self-directed bike tour that taught us how to master our ability to bike with a purpose to promote truly healthy food systems both locally and globally. We met beautiful people, saw epic vistas and stopped traffic on the US/ Canada border.

But what did we really get out of it? Co-leader Amelia Lukic-Kegel is “stronger physically, mentally, spiritually.”

Rider Adam Spencer believes “It’s all about individual efforts to contribute to a larger cause. We’re just trying to do our part.”

Rider Rodrigo Samayoa asks himself, “What do I like most about biking? I would say uphills. Although most people think it is the worst part of biking, I believe it is the best because everything that goes up eventually has to go down.”

Interested long-distance farm tours? Here are some tips for getting started:

1) It's not about the destination but the journey. It's about the people you meet along the way, ride with a group and socialize at every stop.

2) Do it yourself. We organized the ride as an independent project through Global Agents for Change. It was worth all the extra work.

3) The real challenge is mental not physical.

4) Get a bike that fits your inseam, it will make all the difference.

5) When riding next to parked cars, ride is a straight line. Do not ride in between the parked cars to move out of the way of traffic, it could get you killed.

Learn more about the Farm Tour of (North) America at bikeacrossamerica.wordpress.com