Day 15
Start
Richmond, Ind.
Finish
Mount Vernon, Ohio
Mileage
155
By Bruce Wood
www.biggreen alert.com
Mount Vernon, Ohio -- Unsure of what road to take Monday, Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens pulled his bike over and got the attention of a young landscaper named Jared.
“I was kind of betwixt and between,” Teevens said Monday night. “I asked for directions and he asked what I was doing. I said I was doing this little ride and that it's about cancer. So he digs out his wallet and tries to hand me $20.
“He was a hard-working guy with calloused hands and sunburn. Just a working guy. I told him I couldn’t take his money and he shoved it in my hand. I told him I'm not going to take it, but if you feel that compelled you can get on the website and make a difference. I really don’t think the guy had $20 to give away but that was his impulse and he didn't know me from Adam. That’s the kind of thing that’s happening out here.”
On a wind-slowed, 155-mile day the landscaper wasn’t the only one moved by Teevens’ ride.
“This woman named Elizabeth in a store thanked me for what I was doing,” he said. “She said she was in the hospital two days ago with something and was scared. She said it was non-malignant. She's a mother of six kids, and she's thanking me for just riding a bike.”
Not that "just riding" was particularly easy Monday.
“I went long yesterday and slept short so I was tired today,” Teevens admitted. “As soon as I got on the bike today I had a headwind, so I was glad I put in a good day yesterday. Wind is tough. It can take you twice as long to get someplace.
"It was a productive day but it just was a slog. I didn't stop anywhere. I just kept going trying to make miles.”
Slog or not, Teevens enjoyed the 15th day of his cross country ride just as he's enjoyed those that came before it.
“It was scenic,” he said. “Everything is closer together now. The more east I travel the less space between towns, between farms. But there’s still a lot of farm work.
“It's amazing the scent of different sections of the country as I go along. At one point there was a farmer plowing dirt and it smelled good. Then another farmer was haying and someone was cutting grass. You just don’t notice that in a car.”
Teevens also noticed something else.
“On some of these back roads it's like seeing old-time America,” he said. “I saw dads playing catch with the kids. Moms playing catch with the kids. It was neat and it really did bring me back a bit.”
What brought him to Mount Vernon was an interesting melange of roads.
“I was on route 40, which is a pretty good run,” he said. “But then I got on Route 42, which is a semi-death trap. After I made it up to the city of Delaware I shot across on 521 and 656 to -- and I thought it was appropriate -- Sparta. It was at the Sparta grocery that owner Becky Clemens shared some valuable insider knowledge.
“She put me on New Delaware Road,” Teevens said. “It was a series of rollers, but was very scenic with cattle and horses and phenomenal colors. It seemed to be primarily downhill.
“I was told I will get into some climbs (today). I asked a trucker I met on the way and he said I’m in a section of the country that is all hills. He told me the more north you go the better, but that I am going to be climbing (today). I don’t think the hills will be anywhere as big as the Vermont hills or the California hills, but I'm sure they will take their toll.”
Teevens spent the night in the “historic Curtis Inn,” answering a craving for pizza by picking up a pie and grabbing a little ice cream while he was at it.
His goal today: to reach Pennsylvania.
“I'm going to head across up 62, which is supposed to be fairly scenic,” he said. “I'll go on 36 to 62 and then run that through Canton and on toward Youngstown. There's a Dartmouth doctor that called from Youngstown and I may see him or try to get some local information from him.”
Once in Pennsylvania Teevens will re-work his route on more time.
“My thought is to draw a diagonal from where I am in Pennsylvania all the way back and go through the northern part of the state and into New York. But I’ll see when I get there.”
Teevens confirmed last night that assistant coach Matthew Smiley, who has headed up Dartmouth's special teams and lately worked with the running backs, has accepted a position as offensive coordinator at Eureka College. "It's going back home and more responsibility, so I'm happy for him," Teevens said. Brian Austin, Dartmouth's senior associate director of athletics for intercollegiate sports has kicked off a search for a replacement.
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