Professor shares stories of cross-country bike treks

• Tweet
• 

Mark Francek gives triathletes something to be jealous of.

The Central Michigan University professor of geography led a biking trip around Beaver Island with honors students this summer, but that pales in comparison to his previous accomplishments.

Francek has traveled across the country by bicycle twice. The first time, in 1978, was from Rochester, NY to San Francisco and the second, in 1982, was from Charleston, SC to Vancouver, British Columbia.

His two trips totaled about 5,700 miles.

“I would never recommend racing across the country,” he said. “You want to take in the culture and the natural beauty.”

While riding, Francek said he is able to connect with nature on a level that is almost spiritual.

“When you’re going 80 miles an hour in a car, you miss the flower on the side of the road. When you’re hiking you can cover 20 miles a day max, and oftentimes when you’re enclosed by a wall of trees, you don’t see as much or meet as many people,” he said. “With biking you can stop and see that flower. You can cover a fair amount of ground with biking and see a lot of people and interact with the landscape.”

Francek said his group took tents but never had an opportunity to use them.

“We sent them home after a while,” he said.

The group came to count on the generosity of strangers. Francek said his party stayed in garages, firehouses and jails. Often the first people they approached would take them in. Sometimes their hosts would let them shower, feed them and even give them money for the road.

“We encountered people that often didn’t have a lot that gave not out of their surplus, but out of their everyday budget,” he said.

At 7 p.m. Thursday night, Francek gave a presentation in “The Tomb,” a study room in the basement of Larzelere Hall, attended by about 40 people. The presentation was the first installment in the revival of the “Fireside Chat” series, an Honors Program tradition in the `70s and `80s.

“He was great,” said Freeland senior Kyle Terwillegar, who does public relations for the Honors Program. “We had a great turnout. When I walked in I was pleasantly surprised to see the room full.

He had a lot of lessons to pass on that we can use not only as honors students, but as people moving forward with our lives.”

Eaton Rapids freshman Krista Kerby said although she would not consider biking across the country, she found Francek’s presentation interesting.

“He opened my eyes and made me realize I need to go out and do things before I settle in,” she said.

Francek and his group hoped to discover America in a unique way. He said they gained a rich taste of the diverse regions and inhabitants ranging from the bluegrass of the Appalachians to the agriculture of the high plains.

“You can’t imagine how much you would appreciate a roof over your head or being able to sleep in a bed, because we usually just slept on the ground if we were indoors,” he said. “To have hot food instead of peanut butter sandwiches just made us appreciate the luxuries of life.”

For Francek, the uncertainty was thrilling. He said it was wonderful not knowing what he would see and who he would meet.

On the first trip, the group carried vials full of salty water from the Atlantic Ocean with the intent of emptying them when they reached the Pacific – a meeting of the two oceans.

But after all those miles, Francek said the mixing of water wasn’t most meaningful thing.

“All your effort — dreams about your eventual goal, once you attain it — it’s almost anticlimactic,” he said. “I was grateful to make it across America, and it’s not like, ‘So what?’ but it was the day-to-day that was the real highlight of the trip. The process of getting to the endpoint is the blessing.”