Most Valuable Players

I have been reflecting on our trip the last few days.  I want to make an award to the Most Valuable Players of this trip.  They were The Brothers Alba (as the young Bucknell alumni referred to them), Jake and Jess Alba.

Everything that Bucknell and Penn alumni and friends saw on the internet/website was the direct result of Jake and Jess.  For starters, Jake and Jess averaged less than four hours of sleep per night for the entire trip!  They were always the last to bed.

Most of the pictures you viewed were seen through Jake’s eyes and heart.

When Bruce got real sick in Colorado, guess who drove Bruce to the next hotel immediately so Bruce could get back in bed in the next city (Alamosa)?  Jess Alba.  Then Jess turned around and drove back 160 miles to support the riders.

When we started the trip, few of us knew what a blog was.  Jake set them up for us, and told us we could do it.  He helped us regularly so we could then add pictures to our blogs (all his help).

As I have mentioned in my previous blogs, I have experienced some very strenuous activities in my life (eight weeks of infantry basic training at Ft. Benning, 22 day trek to 19,000 feet near Mt. Everest, 12 days in a tent in Boswana, 2 days of backpacking up and back the snow covered mountaineers trail on Mt. Whitney, triathalons, etc.).  Jake and Jess Alba put out more on this trip than anyone else did on this trip and the others tough trips/training I have experienced before.  I thank you for this monumental effort.  And, I thank Lillian (Jake’s wife) for sharing Jake with us for this long.  It was not easy on Lillian either.

So when I think of true friends and people who give through love without an expectation of getting something back, Jake, Jess and Lillian Alba fall into this category.

You are true friends who Drew, Jennifer, Lucja, Sara and I love very much.  I know Walt, Pat, Kyle and Jay feel the same way and they have only known you for three weeks.

Daily Schedule

A number of you have asked me what my daily schedule was during the trip.  This was my typical day (after going to bed at midnight on the first day, and getting up at 4 am on the first day):

6 am: Wake up

6:30 am: Breakfast

7 am:  Commence Riding

Gallons of water with electrolytes comsumed during the day.  Trail mix and power bars eaten during the 10 to 12 hours of riding.  Seldom stopped for lunch.

6 to 7 pm: Arrive at the next hotel. Bikes checked by Nir.

Shower for dinner. Take my still pictures to Jake for backup.  Recharge batteries for camera, computer and phone.

 8 to 11 pm: Dinner, review route for next day as a group. Review any open issues. We tried to eat at sports bars in each town.  We could get large portions at reasonable prices (some times, all we could eat at a set price).

11 to 11:30 pm: Hand wash my riding outfit in the hotel room sink.  Roll the cycling outfit in towels, jump on the towel roll, hang to dry.

11:30 to 12:30 am: Review emails via my satellite connection on my laptop, or through my Blackberry.

12:30 to 1:30 am: Work on blog.  Many technical problems uploading in our remote locations.  After having to re-type my blog several days, switched to keying my blog notes into Word, them transfering the text to WordPress.

1:30 to 2:00 am: Visit Jake and Jess Alba’s room.  Jake would transfer pictures I selected into my blog.

2:00 am: Average time to bed.   I can’t remember Jake and Jay ever going to bed before me.  I know Jake only got 1 1/2 hours of sleep the night before we left, and I know he only got 1 1/2 hours the last night (he was interviewing the Penn riders).

 What we did not anticipate:  The wind velocity and its direction.  We thought we would primarily have light westerly (tail) winds.  We constantly had winds from the south (cross winds) or from the southeast (head to side wind).  The winds were much stronger than we anticipated.  For example, in Kansas, we had maximum gusts of 25 MPH on day 1 in Kansas, 35 MPH gusts on day 2 and 45 MHP gusts on day 3.  We also had strong winds in New Jersey on the last day (from the southeast).

I mentioned the wind because it made our biking more difficult and slower.

Stresses of the Trip:  Our greatest stress was the attention it took to navigate the shoulder of the roads (when we had one).  The second greatest stress was driving the sag van and/or navigating the road for the driver and bikers.  To do this for 10 to 12 hours every day for 19 days was very tiring.  We had very few breaks from this stress.  Our riding commitment was just too great to take breaks.  Our breaks came when we stopped for a few minutes every 2 hours or so to switch drivers and bikers.

Day 19: Thursday, 9/27/07

Education, the Environment, Women’s Rights & No Off Season

We made it!  It was a 5:35 pm that the five Bucknell riders jumped into the Atlantic Ocean just off the Atlantic City Pier.  A number of you have asked me many questions about the trip via email and voicemail.  I do not have time right now to answer all of them, but I will attempt to answer them over the next week on my blog.

First, I want to let the parents, spouses, children and grandchildren  of all of our team members know that I am most proud to inform you that all of our riders arrived safely in Philadelphia (Penn team) and Atlantic City (Bucknell team).  Bruce and I stated in our first team meeting on Saturday, September 8^th (at Susan Zolla’s house) that safety was the most important issue for us, the team and all the families.

Jay, Kyle and Pat’s parents: Walt and I watched over your son’s like a mother hen for the last 19 days.  They never quite knew how much stress we felt during these 19 days that we averaged between 10 and 12 hours of biking each day.  Tens of thousands of cars and trucks passed us during this expedition on roads with and without shoulders.

Both Walt and I have been on other expeditions in our life where team members didn’t return.  Walt on Everest, and me while a platoon leader in Germany.

If you go back in my blog, you will notice that Walt and I did not let Jay, Kyle and Pat bike alone until Day 14 (Indianapolis to London, Ohio leg).  It took that long for Walt and me to get comfortable that the “boys” could do it on their own (or it may have been that if someone was going to hit us, we wanted it to be us instead of one of them).

For the Bucknell riders, I think today will be remembered as our most special day.  Walt and I road the entire 100 mile plus leg, and the five Bucknell alums on the ride (Walt, Pat, Kyle, Jay and me) biked together for the last 10 miles into Atlantic City.  Jay’s Dad brought us an extra bike so we all could ride into Atlantic City.  The traffic the last ten miles was as heavy as any we had experienced during the trip.

I need a little time to decompress to comment on the trip.  My initial thoughts are these.

1.Education:  We have need for quality education everywhere in the U.S.  It is not just the cities.  If small towns in middle American don’t improve their education infrastructure, job flight to the cities will only continue to increase.

2. The Environment:  After this trip, I feel a greater sense of urgency for the development of Bucknell’s Environmental Studies program.  All of America has a need to understand how chemicals used on rural farms affect our rivers and the water sources of the people in our cities.  As our population continues to growth, understanding these issues will be vital to our health and survival.

3. Women’s Rights:  We all spent many hours of the bike talking about how to improve global security and raise the standard of living for people in countries like Africa and the Middle East.  We believe the education of women around the world needs to be a high priority.  We (and our country) cannot let any government or religion discriminate against women.  Educated women are the most vital ingredient to educating the next generation (our children).  Bucknell has been a leader in educating women and we are proud of this.

We asked ourselves what Bucknell would be like without women?  It would not be the same by any measure.I made the point of how dominant Bucknell’s women athletic teams have been in the Patriot League over the last 10 Years.  Bucknell not only has good  professors and instructors in the classroom for women, but also exceptional coaches for women athletic teams.

4. No Off Season:  Pat, Kyle and Jay were all in the same fraternity at Bucknell: Sigma Phi Epsilon (SPE).  They proudly reminded me during the bike trip that SPE has been the Intramural Champion of Bucknell’s men sports for 10 consecutive years.  When I asked them what the key to their success has been they said, “No Off Season.” That really rang a bell with me.  Doc and I have had no off season in our training also.  Regular exercise by all of the Bucknell riders (age 22 to 76) was invaluable to us on this trip. 

5. Diet in America:  It is sad to report that we observed obesity in all towns and cities we visited in the fourteen states we bicycled.  We have all read many articles about the lack of regular physical activity among many American adults and children.  There is no question this is strong contributing factor.What caught our attention on our trip was the limited dietary choices of many Americans.  It was very difficult for us to get a healthy breakfast in our country.  We seldom could get fruit with a meal.  Often we could not find cereal.

6. Litter:  Thank you to all of the organizations in our country who have adopted highways for litter cleanup.  This is not enough.  We must educate people of all ages that Mother Earth is not a big garbage dump.

7. Truck Tires:  Navigating around truck tires was one of biggest challenges every day of our bike ride.  States should make truckers responsible for picking up their own mess.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

8. High Speed Rail: My wife often says our addiction to cars and trucks is going to be harder to break than addictions to tobacco and drugs.  This bike ride made me realize that we have many opportunities to use high speed rail to connect cities throughout the U.S.   If we did, use of cars and trucks would not be as needed.  When we got near cities, heavy traffic on morning or evening commutes exists not only in Los Angeles where I live.  It is an issue for every major city in the U.S., and will become more of an issue as our population grows.

 

9. The Spirit of America:  In my opinion, the spirit of America is great!  People were wonderful to us  everywhere we traveled.  With a very few exceptions, almost everyone on the road was courteous to us and thoughtful.  If there was room, drivers always created distance between us and them.

 

10. It’s a Beautiful Country:  There is beauty in this country, no matter the state or city or town.  We have much for which to be thankful.

 

11. Americans are Curious:  Americans of all ages are curious!  Most of the time people came up to us and asked us what we were doing.

12. Americans are Patriotic:  It particularly touched Walt and me the caring we observed from town to town of our soldiers.  Our soldiers are not being forgotten!

Day 18: Wednesday, 9/26/07

8,000 Miles and Counting!

The combined biking mileage of the Bucknell and Penn alumni biking teams now exceeds 8,000 miles.  Each of the four senior riders (Walt McConnell, Bruce Lederman, Mike Shockro and me) have all biked more than 1,000 miles each the last 18 days!  We are all very proud of our accomplishment.

We also managed to bike almost 18 full days without rain.  Today, coming across the Susquehanna River, the sky just flooded.  It was 91 degrees today with over 95% humidity.  The TV weatherman tonight said it tied a record today for the hottest day on record for a September 26^th!  The water and electrolyte mix we have gone through in 18 days has been amazing.

It seems at dinner we can never eat enough to replenish our calorie loss.  We attempted very hard tonight to not let this happen today.  We ate at Miller’s where we all chose the option of “all you can eat.”

We celebrated strongly this morning when we biked into Pennsylvania!  We all feel a sense of accomplishment already.  We also feel a strong allegiance to the state of Pennsylvania.

Biking through the battlefields of Gettysburg was a special occasion today.  It reminded me that Bucknell University was shut down the second semester of 1863 (before the Battle of Gettysburg) so Bucknell students, administrators and faculty could assist in the defense of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1863 to stop the advance of General Lee into Pennsylvania.  The control of the train bridge over the Susquehanna River at Marysville was a key accomplishment of the Bucknell brigade.  Bucknell students and faculty helped turn the tide of the Civil War.

The Amish region of Lancaster County is also a unique experience for all of us, especially the California riders.

 I can’t believe tomorrow is our last biking day!  Atlantic City and the Atlantic Ocean here we come!!                                         

Day 17: Tuesday, 9/25/07

The Best Things in Life are Not Things

I saw this line on a church marquis this past Sunday in Centerville, Ohio. I was reminded of it all day yesterday. My 60^th birthday was not special because of the number of the birthday, it was special because of the people with whom I had to share it!

What a blessing!

The ride from Grafton, West Virginia to Hancock, Maryland today was a very tough one: nearly 12.000 feet of climbing elevation (the most of any day of our trip) and 135 miles long. Drew, Jennifer, Lucja and Sara followed me for the entire day in their van. They got to see what it is like for me to bike over 50 miles in mountain after mountain.

They all said they were tired tonight, so I guess I should be. It must be the adrenalin in my blood because I felt pretty good today (and tonight).

Two days to go in our trip! Where did the prior 17 days go? The trip has gone by so fast. Time always seems to go by faster when you are having fun and enjoying your endeavor.

Pennsylvania tomorrow!

Day 16: Monday, 9/24/07

Coming Home!

Today started like many of the other days: up at 6 am, 7 am departure from the hotel, biking into the sunrise, warm temperatures and sunny skies.

We were only traveling about 100 miles from Parkersburg, WV to Grafton, WV but with a little over 7,000 feet of climbing elevation.

The feeling of the sunrise was different today. I do not know if it was the beautiful mountains all around us, the 2,591 miles of riding we had already done or that it was my 60^th birthday. We also had completed nearly 71,500 feet of climbing elevation through yesterday.

I have not had a “home” in the Northeast since my Mom passed away in August of 1994. My Dad had been killed in an explosion in August of 1973 (six weeks after Sara and I were married), and my best friend from high school (Billy Rose) had been killed in a softball game collision in August of 1973, five days after my Dad’s death.

I have visited the Bucknell campus every year since 1969, except the two years I lived in Germany in 1970-71. That’s 36 of the last 38 years.

I thought about who had influenced me the most to attend Bucknell. It was two alumni: Bob Baker, Class of 1944 (Bob drove me to Bucknell for a weekend in early 1965) and Walt McConnell (my high school medical doctor)

During the ride this morning, I thought about my first day as a Bucknell student in September of 1965. My parents dropped me off outside of Kress Hall (I lived on 4^th Floor Kress freshman year). My luggage consisted of two A&P paper bags.

I thought of George McGee. He (and his family) attended every football game I played in at Bucknell over four years (along with my parents and Sam Havrilak’s parents).

I pledged Sigma Chi the second semester of freshman year, and was fortunate to be able to live in the fraternity house for the next three years.

When I return to campus, I now regularly visit either 4^th Kress and/or the Sigma Chi House. I do this because these two buildings are the closest thing I can call “home” when I return east. There are so many wonderful memories of time spent on 4^th Kress and in the Sigma Chi House.

I also thought of Ed Zolla today. He would have loved this trip, and had committed to do the ride. Unfortunately, he unexpectedly died of a heart attack last Labor Day while on vacation with his family in Lake Tahoe.

I have only cried two times in my life on my bike: last September the first Saturday ride without Ed (when biking with Bruce Lederman) and today. Today I realized that Ed was with me for the entire ride – in spirit, just not in person.

Once the morning sun got higher in the sky, there were many butterflies that appear along the bike route. These were reminders to me that Ed was still with me, but he had changed his form of communication.

I biked 60 miles today: one mile for each of my 60 years.

We stayed at Tygart State Park in Grafton, WV last evening. We rented five cabins. What a beautiful setting for my 60^th Birthday! Many deer in the forests, along with a spotting of my first fox on the trip.

The riding group had a special cocktail party for me in the cabin closest to the lake (16 miles long). We had my birthday dinner at the park lodge, then came back to our cabin for birthday cake (compliments of the chef in our hotel in Parkersburg!). Lucja got to pick the first piece of cake! What a special evening. Each attendee made a toast to me and spoke about our relationship (Jake filmed these comments for me).

Day 15: Sunday, 9/23/07

Nir Tal: Mission Critical

I have not talked about all the bike maintenance and repair we have needed during our trip. For starters, we have used over 15 tires and 24 tubes since our departure 15 days ago. In addition, my bike needed major repair the first night, and then it required major work on the rear cassette/gears a few days ago

These critical functions were accomplished by Nir Tal, founder of Bike Improve in Los Angeles, CA. We are very fortunate to have Nir with us. His wife delivered a second child last month. Nir is here on the trip because his mother-in-law volunteered to come visit so Nir could come with us.

Every evening Nir does a full inspection of all of the bikes. It is amazing to watch him work. He discovers things none of us would ever uncover.

Today we biked 178 miles from London, Ohio to Parkersburg, West Virginia. It was another spectacular day! A cool morning, beautiful sunrise, sun all day with a light breeze. We had rolling hills for most of the day past corn and soy bean fields. We spent most of the day on Route 56 East. Circleville, Ohio (pumpkin capital of the U.S.) and Athens, Ohio were beautiful towns to bike through. We had to cross the Ohio River to enter West Virginia. The historic Blennerhassett Hotel is quite a treat to stay in tonight (see www.theblennerhassett.com ).

Today I biked for nearly eight hours and covered 120 miles. It was a new personal best for me in terms of length of ride in one day. We covered 3,540 feet of elevation during the day. This is a warm up for the 7,050 climbing feet tomorrow on our way to Grafton, WV. The 120 miles is double my 60 years of age that will come in about five minutes (September 24^th).

Sara, Drew, Jennifer and Lucja arrived tonight! What a treat!!

Day 14: Saturday, 9/22/07

Ode to Joy!

I knew today was going to be special when we departed our hotel at 6:30 am. It was so dark, we had to drive 15 minutes east of Indianapolis before we could get on our bikes.

As the sun rose, we were surrounded by rolling corn fields and cool temperatures. Walt and I decided we needed a jacket. When I started to open the hatchback of the van to get my jacket in my suitcase, Walt said we didn’t have time to open my suitcase: it was too beautiful to wait a minute to ride. So, I wore a t-shirt over my bike shirt instead and off we rode into the rising sun.

It only got better. The joy of being alone on a quiet bike on lightly traveled country roads continued throughout the day from southern Indiana into southern Ohio.

 

A highlight was biking through Lewisburg, Ohio past Amish farmers and families in horse drawn carriages. We learned from local residents that Lewisburg, Ohio was founded by German descent residents of Lewisburg, PA traveling west in 1782.

Tom Crum (Class of 1969) would have been proud of me today. I took three deep breaths to start the day: one to relax and get centered, one to be the best person I could be, and one to pass no judgement the entire day: I just let nature enter my senses.

I thought of my friends who would have loved to be with us today: all the Silverback riders, and David, Ric and Thuc from work.

Yes there was the excitement of a cooler autumn Saturday with leaves changing, footballs flying in backyards and squirrels hustling to pick up nuts for winter storage.

The Bucknell van knew that Kelly and Mark (Kyle’s parents) were driving south to meet Kyle and our team for dinner.

I knew that Sara was driving around rainy Los Angeles to buy ingredients to make more trail mix and find more HEED (electrolyte mix) for the effort on Monday-Wednesday through the hills of West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

As I biked, I thought of Drew and Jennifer working (with Lucja’s help – our 31 month old granddaughter) on an island in Canada to close up the family cottage for another winter to journey tomorrow to Parkersburg, WV via Toronto and Pittsburgh for my 60^th Birthday Party at Tygart State Park in Grafton, WV on Monday. Grandpa has ordered a birthday cake with Vanilla frosting in Parkersburg, per Lucja’s oral request yesterday.

After 58 miles of biking, Walt and I got back into the van and watched three 22 year old Bucknell alumni (Kyle, Pat and Jay) play like three puppies for another 54 miles on their bikes. We didn’t need to say a word to each other to share the feeling of this joy: these Bucknell alumni love each other unconditionally, and this love had spread thoroughly to Walt and me in the van. The 38 year age difference between these Bucknellians and me, and the 54 year age difference between Walt and these Bucknellians aren’t separations at all: we are one bonded family that just enjoys being together no matter what we are doing.

We barely knew each other 14 days ago. The Bucknell family and a common purpose has united us very quickly and strongly. What a joy!

 

Day 13: Friday, 9/21/07

Rookies Rule!

Today Bucknell’s two most inexperienced bike riders, Jay Kosa and Kyle Rosendale, each completed a Century Ride of 100 miles! What an accomplishment!

Let me review the circumstances. Kyle committed to the trip just a few months ago. He had never really ridden a bike until he borrowed a bike from a friend on which to train.

Jay committed to join the bike group solely as a van driver a few weeks before departure. Jay had never ridden a road bike before this trip. Jay brought no biking gear with him.

Jay was asked to try to ride when Bruce Lederman (Penn team leader) became sick last week. He borrowed Kyle’s bike, and borrowed biking shoes, a Bucknell cycling shirt and cycling shorts from me. Jay also had not been working out very much because he was ill near the end of his school year.

After Pat O’Malley (the strongest rider on the team), Walt and I completed Century Rides yesterday to celebrate the generosity of the Bucknell alumni and friends to our ride, Jay and Kyle also wanted to celebrate it the same way.

The ride today commenced in Effingham, IL and ended 145 miles miles later in Indianapolis, IN. Indiana was the seventh state we have visited on our bikes.

Today was another hot and humid day. It seems not to phase Kyle nor Jay.

This evening Ted Lansky joined the Penn riding team. He will be with us the rest of the trip (6 days of riding). The Bucknell riding team (and van) will be at full strength (five alumni) tomorrow! Roll call will be a 6:30 am. An earlier rise is our answer to heat and humidity. Plus, the riding team gets to meet Kyle’s Mom and Dad tomorrow in London, Ohio!

Day 12: Thursday, 9/20/07

Our Gift to the Donors

 

Today was very special. We had had a day to think about what the Bucknell alumni and friends of Bucknell and the riders had accomplished: donating and pledging over $1 million to the Bucknell Scholarship Fund in the first 10 days of our ride. That is a gifting average of $100,000 per day!

 

The 166 mile ride today commenced in Wentzville, Missouri and ended in Effingham, Illinois. Illinois was the seventh state we have visited on our bikes. We crossed the Mississippi River on Route 67 near Alton, Illinois shortly before noon. Walt and I biked the first 50 miles of the day. The ride today commenced with us initially paralleling Route 70 and the heavy traffic into St. Louis. Then we branch north on Route 94 East through Orchard Farm and West Alton. This part of the ride had beautiful views of corn and soy beans fields. What struck us as we near the Mississippi River was that many of the houses were built on stilts.

Walt, Pat O’Malley and I kept talking about the significant of what the Bucknell donors had done in the prior 10 days. At one point the three of us thought it would be a great gift to the donors for us to each attempt to bike 100 miles today (A Century Ride!). We thought the 100 miles would honor the donor commitment of $100,000 per day for 10 days!

What we did not factor into our thought process was the 93 degree temperatures this afternoon and the very high humidity.

The three of us paid a serious physical price in accomplishing our distance goal. The pains in my feet, arms, shoulders and back the last 10 miles were excruciating. How Doc did the 100 miles at nearly 76 years old in this hot and humid weather is beyond my comprehension.

Bucknell alumni and friends: thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You have given us and Bucknell a great gift in donating over $1 million to Bucknell scholarship. We have attempted to honor this commitment in our own special way.