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closeIf there's any better way to end a cross-country bike ride than with the cheers of family, friends and strangers and a view of the Statue of Liberty, Paul Assink certainly can't think of it.
Assink recently got back from the Sea to Sea Bike Tour, organized by the national Christian Reformed Church to raise money to end poverty. He started the ride June 30, with a group of nearly 200 riders in Seattle, pedaling his way to Leavenworth and back to prove he could tackle Steven's Pass. He then officially started his leg of the tour in mid-August in Grand Rapids, Mich.
"I did get to hit both oceans," says Assink, a 32-year-old Bellingham resident who heard about the tour at First Christian Reformed Church of Lynden.
From his start in Michigan, the tour hit Ontario, then rolled down through New York and Pennsylvania, ending in New Jersey's Liberty Island State Park with the Statue of Liberty large on the horizon.
"Some people were getting emotional toward the end," he says, "especially those who had gone the whole distance - about 4,000 miles and nine weeks."
Assink's leg of the tour was two weeks and about 900 miles, and for it he raised $4,000. Participants who completed the entire tour raised $10,000 each, and Assink estimates the tour brought in more than $2 million to fight global and local poverty.
"This had the element of being part of a big group with lots of momentum," he says. "There's a cause we're all working toward."
Though he spent much of his time focused on staying out of the way of cars and checking for potholes, he did get to see some marvelous sights.
"The Appalachians and Finger Lakes area of New York, that was gorgeous," he says. "New York had beautiful roads for cycling."
The certified public accountant had to wait for the end of tax season to start training, but he spent about three months prepping before he joined the tour.
"I rode about 80 miles a week," he says of his training, which was pretty relaxed. "That's about what we did per day on the tour."
During rides the group would stop by churches to eat, and at night they would usually camp out in school fields. A semi-truck hauled all the camping gear and personal items along the route, while the group kept pedaling away.
"We're all camping together, eating together, cycling together," he says. "That community aspect was fun."
Assink's wife got him started biking after she rode across Canada four years ago. The two have talked about going on bike tours in the future. Whether it's as far off as the British Isles or as close as the Northwest, Assink says he'd love to recapture the thrill of the tour.
"It was exciting to get up every morning," he says, "just to see what was over the next hill."
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