Start
Canandaigua, N.Y.
Finish
Schoharie, N.Y.
Mileage
175
By Bruce Wood
www.biggreen alert.com
SCHOHARIE, N.Y. -- Once again, it was the kindness of a stranger that saved the day for Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens, who is nearing the end of an epic 3,600-mile plus bicycle ride across the country.
Worn down by what he termed “the 4H club” -- heat, humidity, hamstrings and hills -- an exhausted Teevens had made it from Canandaigua, N.Y., to Duanesburg, N.Y., just a little west of Albany, as darkness approached. Thoroughly spent, he asked about hotels and was told to hop on Route 7 and that he’d find “plenty of them.” Three serious hills after he thought he’d finally be able to get off the bike he’d yet to see a hotel.
“So I got to an intersection and a guy in a convertible pulled up at the light. I asked if there are any hotels around,” Teevens recalled later Friday night. “He said he'd pull over and try to help out. I told him not to bother, but he did anyway.”
The man in the convertible waited while Teevens went into a restaurant and discovered there was indeed a motel. Eight miles away. Eight miles back from whence he came.
“So the man in the convertible, Richard Cooper, account manager at Orange Motors in Albany, says to throw my bike in the back,” a still-disbelieving Teevens said. “It was a brand new Mustang. He said to me, ‘You are never going to make it.’ So I put my bike in the back and he drove me right to the door. He was all worried because he’d taken me backward and I’d have to ride the same way again in the morning. I told him it was OK. I offered to pay him and he said, ‘Nope. It’s my good deed for the day.’”
Teevens’ day had begun bright and early about 60 miles west of Syracuse. After several days when he lost time having to ask for directions and then making wrong turns, that wasn’t going to be a problem on this part of his ride. He would follow Route 20 all day.
No, the problem on this day would be something else. Hills.
“There were more of them than you could shake a stick at,” Teevens said. “If I climbed one hill I climbed 30. It wasn't all kinds of elevation, but there were some steep, steep ones including one that went about a mile and a half.
“The frustrating thing was I had a little bit of a tailwind and I could get a little speed up, but when you are going up a hill it just chews up your energy. The repetition got to me.”
Despite the hills, he enjoyed the view from the shoulder of historic Route 20.“When you get up on some of those mountains and look around it's beautiful,” he said. “I’ve said it before but watching the farmers work is fascinating. I have a much better appreciation of what they do.
"Some of the old towns I went through, it was like you are traversing time. Like Mayberry RFD. There were ornate old homes, big churches and little downtowns. You'd see moms throwing kids a ball, dads playing with kids. It looked like a simpler pace and everyone I met was very, very supportive and curious about what I was doing."
Added Teevens: "I'm glad I (went on 20), but it chewed my legs up. I was going strong until the end, but I was going 5 mph up a hill. I was hoping to hit 200 (miles for the day) and I gave it a shot. I think if it was a little more level and not quite as many climbs I'd have done it.”
While a ride that began more than 3,000 miles earlier in San Diego has clearly been a lot of hard work, it might have felt more like work Friday than on any other day of the trip so far.
“I've seen all this stuff before,” Teevens explained. “It's pretty but not as interesting to me as when I was out west seeing things I'd never seen before. I’m close enough that I just wanted to push through. I was trying to get to Vermont.”
Ultimately, temperatures close to 90, high humidity, the hills and cramping hamstrings took their toll, something noticed by Tequila Dimick, the desk clerk when Teevens checked into the Holiday Inn Express. “She was great,” he said. “She told me, ‘Anything you need. Let me get you a couple sodas. You look starving. I’ll open the food stuff in the back.’ ”
Teevens instead ended up “splurging” on a pizza delivery. He anticipated another quick ice bath to hopefully bring back his legs and a session staring at the map plotting the route home.
He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of rolling into Hanover late today although he might also sleep in and have two relatively light days -- for him that is -- and get home tomorrow as originally planned.
NOTES Teevens was pleased to learn this week that nieces Shawna and Lilly Teevens and Meghan Manne have been using his ride as a geography lesson of sorts. “Every day when they got to school they tell their classmates where I am,” he said. “It’s kind of cool.” ...
Teevens upon being informed that donations to The Prouty inspired by his ride have topped $11,000: "That's just unbelievable and I'm so grateful. I was thinking about that when I was on the hills."
Map of the entire trip (prior to yesterday).
There's a nice story about incoming recruit John O'Sullivan Jr., of Long Island in his local paper here. The article, headlined "The Renaissance Jock," notes that the 6-foot-5, 275-pound lineman, "is a member of the National Honor Society, Athletes Helping Athletes, the World of Difference Club and the orchestra." ... Assistant coach Matthew Smiley's move to Eureka College is the subject of this press release.
No comments:
Post a Comment