Student rides for cancer research

John Gagne in Winter Park Colo. on his way to Embry-Riddle in Florida

John Gagne in Winter Park, Colorado

Last summer, John Gagne rode his bike to school.

Starting in San Jose, Calif., after attending a national meeting of his fraternity, Sigma Chi, Gagne pedaled 2,914 miles to the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus of Embry-Riddle, where he is a business student. He was accompanied on the 41-day ride by fraternity brother Aaron Smith, a recent graduate of Wake Forest University.

The pair raised $20,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
Three days after concluding his trip, Gagne talked about the highlights.

Best times, worst times: The worst time was in the early morning, waking up, and for the first five to 10 miles. After the first 20 miles, I'd start to get into a groove and feeling better. My favorite part of any day was when I could sit back in my seat and ride comfortably, remember why I was doing the trip, and enjoy how great the trip really was.

The groan factor: My butt, my legs, and my left shoulder ached. My hands really ached during our days of rest. You always have to switch hand positions on the bike when you’re riding seven, eight hours a day. But now, three days after the end of our trip, I’m a little antsy, itchy to get moving. I'm going for a ride later today.

Close calls: We had a couple of close calls with rude drivers, but nothing death-defying. We had quite a few flat tires and I had two broken spokes, which are not fun to replace on the side of the road.

Favorite places: Steamboat Springs, Colo. was awesome! In Clarksdale, Miss., half of the town greeted us on our arrival, and we stayed at a local hotel free of charge, courtesy of the mother of a fraternity brother we'd met just a day earlier. In general, the people in Mississippi were so hospitable.

Favorite road tunes: I listened to a lot of Bruce Springsteen, Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, and Tupak.

Advice for others: Pack as light as you can. Everything you bring must have an important purpose. Make sure you have accurate maps and up-to-date information about hotels and gas stations, etc. Don't get ahead of yourself, and try to focus on single days, especially when times and terrain get tough.

Must-have gear: A GPS unit is expensive, but ideal. Ours saved us many times, telling us distances and locations up ahead and side roads from rough roads. An odometer and speedometer are important. An MP3 player is good for the long straight roads through the desert. And most definitely a good camera. Make sure to have all the tools to fix any problem that may arise. The worst thing is to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken spoke or chain, and have no way of fixing or replacing it.

Passion for biking: For the most part, I still love biking but, of course, there were days when I wanted to quit and never bike again. But all in all, this trip only increased my passion for riding!

Next dream trips: Riding across Alaska would be amazing! Or to do the entire Rocky Mountain range. Another would be to bike from Florida to New England or Mexico to Canada.

Lessons learned: I learned to be flexible and adaptable. We changed a lot of our routes when people asked us to come through town because they wanted to donate. Another reason was terrain. I got a great experience from it for real life. The other lesson was that of meeting new people. People skills were huge throughout this trip. People loved to hear about what we were doing.

Career goal: Something in aviation, either airport management or finance