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Biking Across the Country
Megan Bentzin is biking across America.
The 15-year-old St. Andrew’s Episcopal School student will shove off from Savannah, Ga., on Saturday as part of a group of 14 young cyclists riding all the way to Los Angeles. They expect to arrive on Aug. 3.
The group is riding without a support vehicle, so they’ll be packing light. Two pairs of shorts and a couple of riding shirts, along with the requisite bike tools and gear, are about all Megan’s stuffing into her panniers. She’ll be picking up mail at post offices in towns they pass through along the way.
Bentzin paid about $5,000 to join the 3,000-mile trip, organized by the Overland summer adventure program. But she’s decided to raise money for her favorite charity — Helping Hand Home — while she rides. She hopes to raise $10,000 for the organization, which serves abused children. To make a donation, go to her website at http://www.meganbentzin.com/
“I’m so fortunate,” she says. “I can go to St. Andrew’s. I can go places. These children have way less.”
The group will ride between 80 and 120 miles a day, with rest days mixed into the schedule. The route will take the group through Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico and California.
To learn more about Overland’s programs, go to http://www.overlandsummers.com/.
Megan’s been training hard since March, but is a little apprehensive about the Rockies portion of the journey. She’ll ride a Surly Long Haul Trucker bike. The group will stay in campgrounds, community centers and churches along the way.
Her parents plan to meet her at the finish, as she dips her front tires into the ocean off the Santa Monica Pier.
Here’s Megan:
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