By LOIS KINDLE
Valencia Lakes resident Stephen Lawrence recently cycled 4,200 miles coast-to-coast through 10 states and four mountain ranges in the Ride Yr Bike LLC annual Trans-Am bicycle race.
It’s amazing that someone completes the course, but Lawrence did it at the age of 70.
Stephen Lawrence stops to take a selfie and enters Illinois.
Stephen Lawrence, a high school physical education teacher and coach for 35 years, is pictured here biking to Hamilton, Montana, during the recent Trans-Am Bike Race. He encountered many different types of terrain in all weather conditions and had to find his own places to stay and eat.
Stephen Lawrence crossed four mountain ranges (Cascades, Rockies, Blue Ridge and Allegheny) on his coast-to-coast journey. Here he is seen in Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies.
His trek involved him following a set route, cycling unaided from the Pacific coast at Astoria, Oregon, to the Chesapeake Bay on the Atlantic coast at Yorktown, Virginia. The journey began at 6 a.m. on June 2 and ended 55 days later on July 27.
31 men and women started the hike and 18 finished it.
“Only one other 70-year-old has ever finished the race, and it took 97 days,” Lawrence said. “This year’s winner was a 21-year-old man from the New York area who finished in 19 days.”
Stephen Lawrence encountered many challenges like this one at Hoosier Pass in central Colorado, where he had to ride his bike in the rain on a road with curves and no shoulders.
This competition is not for the faint of heart.
During his journey, which took him mostly on country roads through Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia, Lawrence experienced all kinds of weather.
“There are a lot of challenges,” he said, pointing out that to Wyoming, for example, there were no shoulders on the roads and he had to contend with very strong headwinds and a lot of rain on many days.
“It’s a physically and mentally demanding race. You get up, ride all day, sleep and then start all over again. I was alone for 55 days and hardly spoke to anyone.”
Lawrence said some people who live near the course occasionally stop by to cheer and offer water, drinks or food, but otherwise it was just him and the bike.
He traveled over many different types of terrain, including hairpin bends in the mountains and 58,000 meters of elevation, hills (up and down roads) and flat plains. Temperatures ranged from -6 to 38 degrees Celsius.
Stephen Lawrence and his family gather in Yorktown, Virginia, where he crossed the finish line of the Trans-Am Bike Race. Standing, from left, are his son Matt, daughter Grace, wife Eva, Lawrence and daughter Molly Ahonen. In the front row are granddaughter Allie and grandson Stevie.
He had to find his own accommodation and food options that were on the route and accessible to all riders. Meals came from gas stations, supermarkets and a rare restaurant. This meant that he had to decide each day how many miles he wanted to drive and take into account where he would need to stop.
“Sometimes I’m really amazed that I did it,” Lawrence said. “It was a great experience, a unique and interesting way to get to know America.”
PHOTOS COURTESY
Stephen Lawrence, 70, recently cycled 4,266 miles through 10 states in 55 days in the annual Ride Yr Bike LLC Trans-Am Bike Race. He only started road biking three years ago, when he and his wife moved to Wimauma to be near family.
“I will certainly do an ultrabike race again, but probably not the Trans Am,” he continued. Of course, at 70 and older, I only have a limited number of such rides left in my body, but there are still some beautiful places I would like to traverse.”
Lawrence is already thinking about participating in next summer’s Mishigami Bicycle Challenge, which will involve cycling 1,100 miles through four states – Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, including the Northern Peninsula, Indiana and around Lake Michigan back to Illinois.
Only 1,100 miles? After the Trans Am, this race should be a piece of cake.
