ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 26, 1995 TAG: 9512260058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG (AP)
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS THE NEWS & ADVANCE
Harvey Ferris has been pedaling around in circles in his Sandusky neighborhood recently.
Laura Munson has been stretching to reach the pedals on her son's bicycle.
And Mike Santos' regular weekend bike trips gradually have been getting longer.
If the bicycle seems to be gaining popularity in Lynchburg, there's a reason. The local chapter of Habitat for Humanity is recruiting volunteers for a bike trip from Lynchburg to Atlanta next summer that will raise money for four new homes in the Dearington neighborhood.
Kerry Thomson, a staff member of Lynchburg's Habitat, said the group plans to have at least 30 riders, including an owner of a Habitat home.
So far, a dozen people ages 13 to 72 have signed up.
Ferris, who represents the high end of the age spread, said he hasn't taken a lengthy bicycle trip since a 20-miler he managed in junior high school.
``And it nearly killed me,'' he confided with a grin.
The trip to Atlanta is about 450 miles, but not to worry. Ferris said he still gets plenty of exercise as a regular hiker on the Appalachian Trail.
``I'm going because these nice people said they were going to go and I thought it sounded like fun,'' he said about the bike trip. ``I've got a bike, and I've been riding it round and round and round a loop I have at Sandusky. I'm up to 18 miles a day, which is pretty good because I started out at nil.''
A fund-raiser for Habitat, Munson originally decided she would just borrow her son's bike for the trip, but discovered her legs weren't long enough to comfortably reach the pedals. Now she's breaking in a bicycle of her own.
``All my friends think I'm nuts,'' she said. ``I felt like if I couldn't do it, I couldn't ask other people to do it.''
The key, said Thomson, is to set daily goals rather than thinking about the entire trip. The same goes for Habitat's goal of eliminating substandard housing, she said.
``It goes along with Habitat's philosophy,'' she said. ``We don't do it all in one summer. We do it house by house, and we do it day by day.''
The bikers will travel about 60 miles each day starting Aug. 23. The goal is to reach Atlanta in time for Habitat's 20th-anniversary celebration. After that two-day event, they will return to Lynchburg by train.
The idea for the trip began in September when Habitat founder Millard Fuller was visiting Lynchburg.
Kevin Campbell, project coordinator for the Lynchburg chapter, was telling Fuller about Thomson's cross-country bike trip last summer, and Fuller suggested she join Habitat activists riding from Louisville to Atlanta to mark the group's anniversary.
Campbell had a better idea. Why not do the same thing with a group from Lynchburg?
``It is an outrage the way a lot of people have to live, and this trip is kind of outrageous,'' Campbell said. ``We're mostly not bike riders.''
Each biker is raising $2,000 through individual sponsors. In addition, Habitat fund-raisers will be seeking corporate sponsorships from local businesses so that a total of $4,000 per participant will be raised.
The goal is to raise $120,000, enough to build four new homes during the local chapter's annual Fall Build.
Bikers will wear T-shirts identifying their sponsors.
Thomson said fund raising began in December to take advantage of the Christmas season. She said some riders asked relatives for donations instead of presents.
In addition to cash donations, Habitat will accept bicycle donations or loans for participants who want to make the trip but don't have wheels of their own.
``We're willing to work with people finding bikes,'' she said. ``A lot of people have bikes they're not using that week.''
Many of the riders are longtime Habitat volunteers.
``It's a great way to combine two things I really enjoy,'' Santos said.
Other East Coast Habitat chapters will play host to the Lynchburg participants. They'll spend an extra day in Charlotte, N.C., to help build houses there. (Charlotte sent staff and volunteers in September to help with Lynchburg's building drive.) Finally, they'll attend housing seminars and other events once they reach Atlanta.
``This is tying bikers in who may not have come out before to bang nails with us,'' Thomson said.
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