In August 2008, Dick Michaux and longtime friend Jim Burger will dip the back tires of their bikes into the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Ore., to start a 3,500-mile cross-country ride that they hope will end eight weeks later with a front-tire dip in the Atlantic Ocean in Kittery Point, Maine.
“Life at 15 miles an hour is wonderful,” says Mr. Michaux, 63, who rode for 10 days with his wife in France’s Loire Valley in 1984 but otherwise did little riding before retiring five years ago from apartment developer AvalonBay Communities Inc., Alexandria, Va., where he was chairman, president and chief executive.
Do-it-yourself trips maximize freedom but can be a logistical nightmare. In the Western U.S., the two men plan to follow bicycle maps produced by Adventure Cycling Association in Missoula, Mont., which include turn-by-turn directions, elevation profiles and repair-shop locations. Because they want to choose their own route after that, they are calling around to figure out which roads are safe. They also hired a support-van driver who will double as a mechanic and masseur.
The journey partly is a fund-raising venture to advance research on phenylketonuria, a metabolic disorder occurring in about one in 10,000 births, including Mr. Michaux’s 41⁄2-year-old granddaughter, Tia. Mr. Michaux hoped to make the trip this August but was sidelined by a blood clot in his leg. He hopes to resume training this month. “I am disappointed, just because the ride will be off for a year, but I’m totally committed to it,” he says. Daily updates and photos from the road will be posted on their Web site, pkucycleamerica.com.
