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Stafford cyclist pedals across the country in 45 days Date published: 7/14/2009
By HUGH MUIR Early this year, Stafford County's Adam Tremper, 20, bought a one-way plane ticket from Richmond to Portland, Ore., with his parents' blessing. They knew he'd be coming back soon. How soon depended on how fast he could pedal. A couple of years ago Tremper, a 2007 Brooke Point High School graduate, was a medium-distance runner (5-k and shorter). He ran for the school, and at Virginia Commonwealth University. Then he tore his Achilles tendon. During his recuperation, a friend on the university cycling team suggested that he take up the bike. Tremper was off and rolling. After a few months of training, in February 2008 he pedaled a 70-mile round trip from the Shenandoah Valley into West Virginia. The next month he biked 71 miles from his home in Aquia to VCU. A year ago, he biked 290 miles from home to his grandmother's house, near Williamsport, Pa., for a family reunion. "She didn't think much of the biking," he said. That's when Tremper got the idea for a longer trip. His parents supported the idea. For a combination birthday and Christmas present last December (his birthday is Dec. 15) his mother, Annie, gave him a $1,100 Surly Long Haul Trucker 24-speed touring bike. To carry his gear, he got a BOB Yak trailer. He went to work to pay for the trip. Most of the money, about $1,800, would go for food; $119 bought his plane ticket to Portland. Two weeks before the trip, Tremper shipped his bike, trailer and gear to a bicycle shop in Portland, arranging to pick it up when he got there May 15. When he reached the West Coast he hopped on his bike and headed not east, but west--about 75 miles, to Arch Cape on the Pacific Ocean. This was, after all, to be a coast-to-coast pedal. On May 16 he began his trip east. "I figured I had about 4,500 miles to go," Tremper said after arriving home. "If I could average 100 miles a day, I could make it in 45 days."
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