Southold man pedals 4,295 miles for multiple sclerosis
John Shine worked for over 25 years as a nurse at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital. He worked with a countless number of patients, some of whom had multiple sclerosis.
Mr. Shine of Southold, 65, retired in January, and one of his bucket-list items post-retirement was to ride his bike across the country. He considered doing it solo or by electric bike, and he just so happened to stumble upon the website for “Bike the U.S. for M.S.,” a nonprofit that raises money and awareness to help find a cure for multiple sclerosis.
“I immediately took to it because I was a nurse, and during the course of my career, I had a number of patients who had multiple sclerosis,” said Mr. Shine. “I felt it was nice to, instead of treating the patient, work on a long-term cure, in the sense of raising money and doing it that way. I coupled it with the fact that I wanted to ride my bicycle across the United States. I thought it was a perfect match.”
Until it was time to go, Mr. Shine made sure to get his pedaling in to be as ready as possible for the journey. He wasn’t an experienced biker by any means, not even owning a pair of biking shorts. He would bike all around, including from his house to Orient Point and back. As part of his pre-tour training, he had to travel 500 miles on the bike he was planning to use.
After all his training, Mr. Shine and 29 other riders met in Bar Harbor, Maine, on June 6 for their impending trek. The route ahead of them was the longest of the nonprofit’s eight throughout the year, called the Northern Tier route. It spans 4,295 miles, and treks through 164,365 feet of elevation change.
Bikers took off that day, passing through 15 states in 71 days. The first half of the route stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, going along Niagara Falls, two of the Great Lakes and more, before reaching Minnesota. It concluded in Minneapolis on July 9, where, after reaching the city, bikers had a few days of rest before pedaling again on July 12.
The second half of the ride then passed through numerous spots and landmarks in places like Montana and Idaho. Over a month later, the crew arrived at its final destination, Seattle, on Aug. 16. Some of the sights they saw included the Great Plains, Glacier National Park, the Badlands, the Rocky Mountain ranges and a whole bunch of vast farmland.
The journey doesn’t just encompass thousands of miles of biking and scenic views, though. Other things come along with a 71-day trip, like sleeping and showering.
“It’s one thing to ride the bike, but there are other things, the logistics,” said Mr. Shine. “Where are you going to sleep every night? We even stayed in churches. Where are you going to shower? Where are you going to eat? Sometimes, we shared only one toilet and, at times, there was no internet and no real facilities. People, I don’t think, would have been able to make it without the assistance of other people.”
A camaraderie was formed between everyone, making a family of sorts. There were inside jokes — including one that Mr. Shine was so absent-minded he’d arrive in Seattle wearing just his underwear — and there was heartbreak. When the group was in Illinois, Burke Flynt, one of the riders, was hit by a car. He died on July 15, and his liver was donated to a waiting recipient. After that, the rest of the ride was for him, too, adopting the motto, “Bike for Burke.”
Mr. Shine had a goal to fundraise $10,000 for multiple sclerosis research through donations on his journey. By the time he finished, he had amassed $11,993.
Now, he’s taking his time getting back home. He’ll be back in Southold in a few weeks, spending his time seeing more of the country and visiting some friends. While he is taking his time, he’s excited to return to the North Fork and said he now has a new appreciation for where he’s from.
“The North Fork is wonderful,” he said. “We have access to the bay and the sound, it’s beautiful. Even taking North Road, it’s as safe and as beautiful as almost any road we saw along the way.”
