Of course you are correct and thanks for the clarification. "Dipping the wheel" is figurative only in that we really are unlikely to dip our bicycle wheels in the ocean before or after the tour. The thought of pushing a 35 pound bicycle with 40 pounds of gear across a sandy beach and then exposing your steel frame and all its shiny parts to saltwater is usually more than most cyclists can stand!

To set the record really straight, the traditional official start (for those going east to west) of transcontinental bike tours on the Transamerica route is in front of the Yorktown Victory Monument in Yorktown, some short distance from the York River (where wheels are occasionally dipped), but a considerable distance from the actual Atlantic (where they seldom are).

Doug Nickell