Pittsburgh — After three months and 4,000 miles riding his bike, Knoch High School graduate Dillon Schwertz said he might stick to running in the future.

The 22-year-old University of Pittsburgh student and a computer science major hopped a plane to Portland, Ore., on Aug. 4, following the racing bike he shipped there a week before.

From Portland, he rode solo to Virginia Beach, Va., on an expedition that took several unexpected turns.

“I wasn’t an experienced cyclist by any means,” Schwertz said. “I’ve been running since middle school, so that’s my thing.”

Schwertz organized his Tour de America with a good friend familiar with bicycle touring. The two planned to ride together, relying on the friend’s experience to get them across the country.

“Two months before we left, he got accepted into a program to teach English in the American Samoan Islands,” Schwertz said. “He was going to be gone for a year, and I had everything I needed, so I decided to just go. I didn’t know anything about bicycle touring.”

Schwertz learned by averaging 70 miles per day on his lightweight racing bike — a bike not designed for this kind of travel. To compensate, Schwertz said he overhauled his bike to make it easier to ride long distances. He pulled food, supplies and extra clothes in a trailer.

“I changed every inch of my bike,” Schwertz said. “I don’t think there was a single part of my bike other than the frame and the handlebars that hadn’t been replaced at that point.”

Schwertz spent his first night of the trip with a couple he met on the plane to Portland who offered to house him after hearing his plans.

“I didn’t know anybody out near Portland,” Schwertz said. “It was a cool experience right off the plane to have somebody that was genuinely interested and wanted to help me out when I needed help.”

From Portland, he rode south, stopping at beaches along the coast, before turning east and riding to Boulder, Colo., where he spent 10 days rock climbing.

“I had desert for the next 800 miles,” Schwertz said. “You think riding your bike you’re going to see so much, but Highway 36 isn’t the nicest part of the country and you can’t see anything but that. The cool parts are so far apart that by the time I got to St. Louis, Boulder seemed so far away.”

With the exception of two nights in hotels and a few strangers who offered him their couch, Schwertz said he camped in a tent every night.

Along the way, Schwertz faced flat tires, wrong turns and self-doubt. In Salt Lake City, he called his girlfriend and told her he wanted to sell his bike and fly home.

“She convinced me to get a hotel and a shower and take a day off,” Schwertz said. “It ended up getting better. Salt Lake City was the turning point for me.”

In Kentucky, a truck hit him just a few miles shy of meeting friends at Red River Gorge. He walked away more shaken than injured, but said after that he welcomed the break from riding.

However, a low point in Kansas ended in an unexpected trip highlight.

“I have a drink named after me at the only bar in Seneca, Kan.,” Schwertz said.

The owner at Spanky’s Bar and Grill took Schwertz’s suggestion to use the bar’s signature hot sauce in a Bloody Mary, dubbing the drink “The Traveller.”

“It turned out really, really good,” Schwertz said. “It’s little things like that that were the coolest part of the trip.”

He finished his trip in Virginia on Nov. 13.

Now back in Pittsburgh, Schwertz said he doesn’t plan to ride that far solo again.

Although the trip “wasn’t as much fun” as he anticipated, Schwertz said he learned valuable lessons.

“When things go wrong, there’s no one else to blame. Every other day you’re dealing with wrong turns. So that’s improved myself personally and my personality,” Schwertz said. “I just don’t get upset about it.”