THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995                TAG: 9508130325
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 20   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   65 lines

RETIREE PEDALS COAST TO COAST JOHN STAUDT, 65, SAID NO TO ROCKING IN A CHAIR AND ROLLED FROM OREGON TO THE BEACH IN 89 DAYS.

With 65-year-old John Staudt, the prospect of lounging in an easy chair just didn't sit well.

So when retirement came, the vigorous grandfather began casting about for a new challenge, and it didn't take him long to find one.

For the past three months, ``each day has been a new challenge,'' said the robust California man after dipping the front wheel of his mountain bike into the Atlantic off Virginia Beach last Saturday.

A career as a metallurgical engineer apparently imbued Staudt with a will of iron and muscles of steel, for he pedaled the 4,535 miles from Oregon's Pacific coast in just 89 days, persevering through a blinding blizzard in a Wyoming mountain pass and up steep, mile-long inclines in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Family members on hand to welcome him included his daughter, Dr. Anna Staudt of Suffolk, and three of her siblings from California and Kentucky.

``Two years ago, I decided that when I turned 65, I'd show the young guys,'' said Staudt as he poured the contents of a small bottle into the soft wavelap of low tide near 67th Street.

He had carried the vial of Pacific Ocean water from the coast near Astoria, Ore. Granddaughters Nicole and Kimberly tossed handfuls of Pacific coast pebbles into the Atlantic.

``To contaminate it,'' quipped Staudt.

Six years ago, Staudt's six children bought him the bicycle. ``It caught on,'' he said.

Anna Staudt, who practices medicine at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, was proud of her father. ``Three years ago, he started talking about it, then he made it happen,'' she said.

Eby Staudt, who ``hopscotched or leapfrogged'' coast-to-coast with her husband in a pickup truck, welcomed the three days they spent in a small western town after besting the blizzard.

Before leaving Yucaipa, Calif., the couple acquired detailed maps from Adventure Biking and planned their itinerary.

``You can't take the interstates, so you have to go the back roads,'' said Staudt, checking the gears on his bike. ``You see things you miss in a car.''

Enroute, the couple stayed overnight in campgrounds and town parks - even front yards, sleeping in the back of their three-quarter ton Dodge pickup.

``The small towns were wonderful,'' said Eby Staudt. ``And I read a lot of books.''

``It was tough when you'd go from mountain snow to 100 degrees,'' said Staudt, taking off his helmet for the last time - at least for this trip. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by NANCY LEWIS

John Staudt, 65, dipped the front wheel of his mountain bike into

the Atlantic Ocean at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront after pedaling

4,535 miles from Oregon's Pacific coast in 89 days. ``Two years ago,

I decided that when I turned 65, I'd show the young guys,'' said

Staudt after pouring a small vial of Pacific water into the

Atlantic.

by CNB