Decades after first bike trek across U.S., Lodi's Greg Wright rides again with a focus on fundraising
Jun. 3—Three decades ago, Lodi High School geography teacher and track coach Greg Wright and two friends rode their bicycles from the University of Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz. It ended being just the first leg of a cross-country trip.
"We ran into some high school friends, and they said 'bet you can't ride across America,'" Wright said. "And we did it. We were 23 years old, we made a lot of mistakes, met a lot of people, but we had a good time."
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wright began riding his bicycle more frequently around town, and he began to toy with the idea of making the cross-country trip once again.
He also began spending more time with his friend Lou Ellis, whose wife passed away from an aggressive form of cancer.
One day, when the two were hanging out, Ellis told Wright they should just "do it."
Today, the two friends embarked on that journey, hoping to reach Boston by July 2, and Wright said he will be raising funds for the Lodi High track team, as well as for the GOT Kids Foundation, which provides Lodi Unified School District students the opportunity to explore and develop interests beyond the classroom.
The original plan was that both would ride their bikes a certain number of miles a day, with Ellis spending some time driving alongside Wright.
Plans changed, and Ellis will only be driving, but he won't be alongside Wright the entire time.
Wright said he's an early rider and likes to get out on the blacktop as soon as possible. So while he's miles down the road, Ellis can prepare for the day and catch up in the car later.
He'll be riding two different kinds of bicycles during the trek, a road bike for climbing mountains, and a touring bike for flatlands and descents.
"(The road bike) has a much more aggressive posture or stance," he said. "It's great for climbing, but going downhill and spending all day on it would be very taxing on my shoulders. (The touring bike) is nice to have, but I don't want to climb the mountains with it. So having Lou sagging for me is just going to save me so much time. It's really awesome."
Wright will bike through the Sierra Nevadas, then across Nevada and Utah on Highway 50. He wants to ride a straight line into Boston, but will probably take other roads and highways along the way.
He said he discussed his route with truck drivers he's met on the road, and they were able to tell him which roads are the best during the time he intends to ride.
"In Utah it looks like you can go on Interstate 70 for a short time, but bicycle lore says you're supposed to do the whole thing on Highway 50," he said. "But the mountains get pretty aggressive. So I'm going to try to have some flexibility."
He said the most difficult part of the trek will be through the Sierra Nevadas, but once he gets through the Rockies, he'll take a route through Pittsburgh and Cooperstown to get to Boston.
His plan is to be in Boston by July 2, and although he's a San Francisco Giants fan, he'll go to the Boston Red Sox game on July 4.
"I'm scared, worried, excited, all of those things," he said.
"It's just like a kid before you go into a ball game. I just have all those emotions. But I'm wiser now with age. I can listen to my body, and I have a friend there to help me. And modern technology is just so much better — GPS, communications."
One thing that will help him on his trip is podcasts, he said, noting when he and his friends made the journey in the 80s, he listened to AM radio the entire time.
Now he can listen to podcasts, or his favorite artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, the Lumineers or The Killers.
"I'm also a Taylor Swift fan," he said. "So if Taylor picks this up, we'd love to have the Taylor Swift Theater or Auditorium at Lodi High."
Megan Eddy, executive director of the GOT Kids Foundation, said she was delighted Wright wanted to raise funds for the nonprofit through his trip.
"Greg is an awesome teacher, well-loved by so many," she said. "This adventure is a culmination of kind of a lifelong dream for him, so I'm grateful that he wants to pay it forward to others who have dreams and potential that's untapped."
Some of the programs GOT Kids provides include literacy training for parents, summer science programs, class trips to learn about careers or the arts, books and supplies to low-income families, or sponsoring teams for academic competitions, among others.
Eddy said when Wright approached her with the idea to raise funds for the foundation, her first thought was that he was "crazy ambitious" to take on the challenge.
"I love that energy," she said. "People who have a goal that they set for themselves and want to accomplish that — I'm all for for it. I personally think a bike ride is 20 minutes to Lodi Lake. That's kind of my style, or what I'm in shape for. But I think it's really impressive."
To learn more about Wright's trip, or to donate, visit tinyurl.com/GWrightRide.
