The Guilfordian, November 13, 1986
10
by Julie Marqulies
Oxygen rapidly passes
through your throat, leaving
a numbing sensation. The
rapid passing of oxygen
feels cold on the inside of
your throat. You listen to
your breathing rise up
through your chest so quick
ly that you gasp for more
air. Something inside
your head tells you not to
stop. You keep going and
catch another breath. It
seems to make it easier. So
you keep going, knowing
that you'll reach your
destination.
Now,with that in mind,
think of two guys, right out
of college taking off for
California on their bikes to
complete a tour of the
United Stated, 4065 miles in
fifty days. There was no
Continued from page 9
was a break from the road
weary wayfarers. Stoddard
secured some "party juice"
at the hotel bar and relaxa
tion soon set in. Stuart had
brought along the Guilford
College Student Directory
and later that evening,
various students received
unexpected phone calls from
Harrisburg.
Thursday, the two crossed
the Mason-Dixon line, with a
rebel yell, and drove to Stod
dard's mountain cabin in
Northern Virginia, making
sure to stop by and surprise
Grandmother on the way.
The cabin, in the midst of an
apple orchard, was familiar
territory to Stoddard but
Stuart had to check it out.
"Does it always smell this
way?" asked Stuart.
The apple harvest was in
full swing and the pair ven
tured over to the packing
plant to watch the action.
Later the pair drove to the
top of the mountain and
scaled a fire tower for photos
of the sky-high panorama.
Temperatures at the higher
elevation were chilly and the
heat was turned on when
they returned to the cabin.
A lengthy grocery stop,
prior to arriving, had stock
ed the fridge for a nice din
ner.
With a broken TV and no
Guilford Grads Cross Country
time limit on the trip but
driven by wills so powerful,
they managed to travel an
average of ninety miles a
day. Carrying everything
they needed on the rears of
their bikes, and
Steve Salt£&We r former
Guilford College students,
persevered through
temperatures as low as 22
degrees and elevations as
high as 4 1,000 feet to finish
their grueling trek in what is
appropriately called Victory
monument in Yorktown,
VA.
While sitting in Dolley's a
week after their return I ask
ed Steve and Greg why they
decided to take on such a
physically demanding task.
Steve looked up at the ceil
ing for a minute before he
answered me. A contented
smile grew on his face when
radio, the isolated cabin got
very quiet as darkness fell,
rcalled Stoddard. Stuart
found the silence eery. When
mice began making
scampering noises in the
cabin's walls Stuart got
thoroughly spooked.
"I'm gettin' the hell outa
here!shouted Stuart.
"We;re not driving 300
more miles tonight," replied
Stoddard. "Have a beer and
calm down. There are lotsa
jigsaw puzzles here," he said
cheerfully.
"Stoddard was
philosophical in his own way
that night," remembers
Stuart. "Here we are in the
wilderness and he looks at
me and says, "Kinda of slow
up here, isn't it?"
With much rejoicing, the
pair rolled into Raleigh, the
following afternoon. Among
the treasurers they unpack
ed in Stoddard's driveway
were two autographed
copies of All the King's
Men, peach wine coolers, dir
ty clothes and free hotel
stuff that had been pilfered
along the way, including
room service menus, drink
ing glasses, tiny soaps and
elegant stationery. Both
students rated the trip a big
success and vowed to
become world-renowned
writers one day. The trip
odometer read 2097.0. .
he said, "lack of common
sense." He laughed and then
became serious. "We both
did Outward Bound for
three months, a combination
of hiking, biking, rock climb
ing. We both like doing that
type of thing and this was
something I always wanted
to do ever since I was a little
kid. Everyone thinks about
something like that." Greg
added that they had been
talking about it for two
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years, "We finally got
serious last April."
Steve hadn't trained at all
for the trip. "I did a crash
course method," he said. "I
hadn't ridden in maybe two
years. But Greg trained
quite a bit."
"I had been training since
April," Greg said. "I didn't
ride every day, but totaled
about 2500 miles this sum
mer." Greg did most of his
riding in Greensboro which
offers miles of back roads
and farm country. He also
trained on Mount Mitchell.
The trip became physically
easier as the cyclists pro
gressed. Steve said, "We on
ly did 41 miles the first day
and I thought that was
easier than a human being
should ever possibly go. By
the time we hit Colorado, we
were at 41,000 feet and we
were averaging 90 miles a
day. It was steep in parts,
cold, rainy and snowing. I
was ready for anything at
that point."
As Greg was nodding his
head in agreement, I asked
him if he ever wanted to
quit. He looked me straight
in the face and answered,
"no, after a while I wanted
to get back here because of
certain things, but I never
wanted to stop because of
the riding." Steve looked at
Greg and said, "We would
joke about it but whenever
we got serious, we would
stop talking and wouldn't
think about it. If it ever got
really bad, we wouldn't ver
balize it. We kept each other
going because the other one
Steve Sahzgiver and Gregg Gwynit reach East Coast.
always had more energy.
Greg added, "we had a hard
time deciding when to stop
at the end of the day. One of
us would mention how nice
it would be to stay in a cer
tain place and the other
would say that there was a
better spot 10 miles ahead.
We usually ended up going
the extra ten miles."
The cyclists carried
everything on their bikes.
They mostly camped and on
ly spent six nights of their
tour in hotels. City parks
were their favorite where
they were permitted to camp
under park shelters. In Col
orado, they met many cycl
ing enthusiasts who invited
them to stay in their homes
or gave them names of peo
ple to contact for sleeping
quarters. One night they
were invited to sleep in an
unlocked jail cell and
another night they slept in a
church.
They attracted a great
deal of public interest. A
local news station interview
ed them in Illinois. People
offered them everything
from a. third-filled pint of
bourbon to "free water for
cyclists."
I asked them what their
families thought of the ride.
Greg cracked a smile and
said "both of our families
thought it was great that we
were doing it. They tried
really hard to imagine what
we were doing and what it
was like. I called every
Saturday. It's hard for so
meone who hasn't done
anything like that to know."
Steve added that their
families were "nervous
about other people on the
road because of high ex
posures to traffic." Greg felt
lucky to have the time to
take off for the trip, "most
people don't have the time
to take off like we did.
They're reallly stuck where
they are, they've never left
home, they still live in the
town where they were born
and have never had the op
portunity to travel." I asked
him if he had future plans in
serious biking. "Next year
I'm taking up racing full
time," he said.
I finished the interview by
asking for advice about long
distance cycling. Steve
stressed training. "Greg
was in better shape than
me," he said, "so more com
patibility would have
helped. For awhile there was
a lot of stress. I was tired
every single night, but you
get used to it. It becomes se
cond nature. You get up in
the morning and start to
ride again.", . ~ ,