Wednesday, September 4, 2002
|
Wednesday, September 4, 2002 |
|
Former PTC resident bikes across the country for good cause
By MICHAEL
BOYLAN
Being a teacher is a good thing for former Peachtree City resident Mike McCann. The current Seattle resident had the entire summer off and decided he would use that time to travel to Washington D.C. to visit his brother. McCann needed most of the summer to make the trip, because instead of flying or taking a train, bus or car, he rode his bike. McCann is an avid bicyclist in an area known for its outdoorsiness. He and his friends ride their bikes in and around the Seattle area and when he heard of the Rails to Trails Conservancy and the American Discovery Trail, which crosses the entire nation, he decided to make the trip. McCann started riding his bike seriously when his family moved to Peachtree City from Florida. The bike/golf cart paths made it easy for him to ride his bike to work as a lifeguard at the Braelinn Country Club, a total of 15 miles each day. McCann attended McIntosh High School and participated in soccer and drama before attending the University of Georgia and majoring in English. He now lives in Seattle and teaches homeless and at-risk kids in a public school run out of a youth center near the University of Washington. "I figured I would never have the time or the ability to make this kind of a trip again," said McCann, describing why he chose to undergo a journey of this size. After deciding to make the trip to Washington D.C., McCann decided to join up with a charity to try to raise money and awareness for its cause. This was almost as difficult as the trip itself. "I did a lot of research and found that most charities only get a small percentage of every dollar raised," McCann explained. "I then began looking for a charity that gave the highest amount of every dollar raised. My father suggested I look into the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and I knew then that I had found a group I would be happy to raise money for." The Pediatric Brian Tumor Foundation donates 86 cents of every dollar raised directly to programs and research. Because McCann supported himself through the trip, 100 percent of money he raised would go directly to the charity. The trip began June 26, two days after school ended. McCann rode from Seattle to Tekoa, Wash., on the Iron Horse and Milwaukee Corridor Trails; from Tekoa to Moab, Utah, on what McCann called the "paved passage;" and then across the country on the American Discovery Trail Corridor. It was one of the hottest summers on record out West and in the Midwest with temperatures reaching 112 degrees at some points. The trip took 56 days total and stretched 4,181 miles. McCann estimates that he averaged 75 miles a day though he explained that he did not get bogged down in numbers. "When you start worrying about the numbers too much, you stop enjoying the trip itself and panic when little things go wrong." Most of the troubles McCann encountered on his adventure were weather related, though he did have to make a few minor repairs to his bike along the way. He dragged along his clothes and supplies in a BOB trailer, known as a Beast of Burden trailer, which was donated by the company that makes them after they heard about his plans to cross the country by bike. His day would begin at 6 a.m., just as the sky would start to change from black to blue and would end at sunset each day. He rode for roughly 10 hours a day at an estimated speed of 10 miles per hour. He had a few people that he could visit along the way, an uncle in Colorado and then friends of friends who had heard about his excursion and offered to put him up and feed him for the evening. In fact, to hear him tell it, the people he met along the way made the trip. "People were so kind," McCann stated. "Even people that I didn't know at all." McCann told a story of pulling into a rural driveway in an area known for people that don't take kindly to strangers on their property. He needed some water and explained his situation to the owner of the house, who was mistrustful at first. After he told his story, however, the man called over the neighbors that live in the area and had a cookout. The trip was full of surprising little events like that where McCann found human kindness and a connection with strangers. It even helped him create some mottos that are good advice for people on a journey as well as in everyday life. "Show up with a smile and be good to people, even if you are in a terrible mood, and they will take care of you," McCann said, adding, "Always be kind to strangers, never expect kindness from strangers and you will receive the strangest kindness of all." The trip to D.C. was full of strange kindness, whether it was from groups of motorcyclists, who have a long history with supporting children's charities like the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, or just random people who would strike up a conversation with him at breakfast and end up paying for his meal. There were many amazing sites for McCann to see along the way, especially since he rode his bike through portions of the Rocky Mountains. One site he saw that was especially stunning as well as quite sad was the forest fires that swept through Colorado earlier this summer. "There were areas that were just a total haze and I could see plumes of smoke, while other parts of the sky were clear and blue." He also noticed the effects of a drought out west that made parts of the Colorado River good for rafting, now slow enough for a leisurely cruise. "I had been to Colorado probably 15 times but it was entirely different biking it for eight days," McCann stated. "The world looks better over handlebars." One thing that he did get a little sick of seeing was fields and fields of corn. Ultimately, the trip was filled with 56 days of amazing sites that will be with him forever. Eventually he made it to his brother's house and his father, mother and sister were waiting for him. After celebrating the completion of the journey, McCann wanted to ride his bike to the Chesapeake Bay so that he could run his feet and bikes through the Atlantic Ocean, since he started the trip at the Pacific. After spending some time in D.C., McCann came back to his old stomping grounds to rest and to eat. McCann dropped almost 20 pounds on his trip. When asked if he would do a trip like this again, McCann quickly answered yes. "I'm thinking that next
|
