The Cupertino Courier

Schwartz raises a hand in greeting as he pumps the last few yards towards home.

Long Ride Home

Resident completes bike trek across the U.S.

By Pam Marino

After 5,500 miles on his bike, Kevin Schwartz was expecting a hot shower and a clean bed when he returned home to Cupertino Sept. 28.

He never expected to see 40 family members and friends and a Dixieland jazz band in his driveway.

Schwartz's parents, Martin and Roberta, decided to spring the surprise welcome-home party on him to celebrate the completion of his trek through the United States and Canada last week.

Schwartz, 22, started his bike tour on June 8, in Portland, Maine, after he graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He said he wanted to "clear his mind" after graduation. Besides, he said he "needed a way to get home."

His bike loaded with a tent, a stove, a sleeping bag and other necessities, Schwartz rode to Niagara Falls, then up to Toronto. He toured Ontario for a while, went all the way around Lake Huron, then went to Minneapolis. He biked over to Wyoming, through Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons, Idaho and the northern Cascades, until he came to Seattle. From there he rode down the coast to San Francisco, where he rode in the fifth anniversary Critical Mass.

"It was an amazing learning experience," Schwartz said of his tour.

While Schwartz roughed it most of the time, strangers he struck up conversations with would occasionally offer him a place to stay. "So many people were kind to me," he said.

Schwartz, who studied wildlife ecology at Cornell, is now searching for a field research position in or near the Bay Area. An avid drummer, he also wants to get a band together.

He's saving money for his next goal: biking down to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

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