Former Santa Monica resident completes 66-day bike trip
BOSTON In one year, Emily Josephs went from training wheels to cross-country cyclist.
The Santa Monica native and relative newcomer to the concept of pedaling recently accomplished what she would’ve considered an unthinkable feat just a few years ago, bicycling roughly 3,800 miles in a cross-country trip.
A recent graduate of Brown University, Josephs, 22, spent the past two months trekking from Boston to Santa Barbara with a group of 30 other similarly-aged cyclists, all riding to raise money for affordable housing projects nationwide through a program called Bike & Build.
The team was among more than 200 cyclists who participated in the program this summer, spread out over seven different trips that took them coast to coast, including routes that went from Providence to Seattle and North Carolina to San Diego, all stopping at various Habitat for Humanity projects along the way to lend a helping hand.
All riders were required to raise $4,000 each, part of which covered overhead costs, the majority being donated to various nonprofit organizations. The program overall ended up donating more than $400,000 to various affordable housing causes.
It was an unexpected experience considering Josephs just learned how to ride a bike last summer while living in Germany.
“I didn’t have any way of getting around the city except on a bicycle,” Josephs, who taught herself how to ride, said.“I loved it so much.”
She learned about the Bike & Build program through several Brown alumns who participated in previous rides, finding it an ideal opportunity to try and make her mark on the world.
Her parents, Bill and Zina Josephs, who is the president of the Friends of Sunset Park neighborhood group, were a bit nervous to learn about their daughters’ lofty goals.
In her final semester in college, Josephs began training for the trip by taking spinning classes. She took her workout regimen to the road when she purchased a bike in April, riding around Providence where the university is located.
One week before the trip, she tested herself on a 50-mile ride.
“I was really nervous about doing the trip beforehand since I was new to cycling,” she said.“It seemed daunting to bike such a long way.”
“When Emily told us about the trip, we admired her for selecting a worthy goal but were a bit apprehensive,”
“Now that she’s home, safe and sound, we’re relieved and very proud of her, both for the mental and physical fortitude it took to complete the journey and for doing her part to repair the world.” — Zina Josephs said
The Boston-Santa Barbara leg kicked off on June 11, the cyclists making their way west, sleeping on the floor of churches and community centers along the way.
The route in which the cyclists would travel was selected by four team leaders, the majority of whom had done previous rides.
“We really drew a line on the map and tried to make it go through interesting places,” Kyle Magida, a 22-year-old recent graduate of Harvard University, said. “We tried to hit major cities that could have good places to stay, but also be different areas of the country.”
Once the team got to St. Louis, they generally followed the old Route 66, enjoying its quirky sights, including a giant blue whale that sits in a pond in Oklahoma and the shoe tree in Amboy, Calif.
It was a trip that exemplified the scenic diversity in the United States, from the heavily forested Berkshire region of Western Massachusetts to the deserts in the southwest.
“It was pretty amazing to see,” Josephs said.
Each route included a cluster of “build days” with various Habitat for Humanity projects, the cyclists spending entire days assisting in various capacities, whether it was painting a house or putting up walls. Josephs’ team ended up contributing more than 2,000 volunteer hours.
“One day we just moved bricks, which we laughed about, but it was something that needed to be done,” she said.
For Josephs, the most challenging aspect of the trip presented itself in the first two weeks when her body was still getting used to the long eight-hour rides.
It was in Pittsburgh, a fortnight into the trip, that she finally got acclimated.
“I realized,‘Hey, I could do this,’” she said. On the 66th day of the trip, the team reached their destination in Santa Barbara, each cyclist celebrating the end with a dip in the Pacific Ocean.
It was a moment — after the nights sleeping on floors, rides in 120 degree temperature and cycling on highways among cars traveling at 80 mph — they had all talked about.
“It was almost like it was choreographed,” she said.“We took off our shoes, people took their cell phones out of their pockets, and went into the ocean.
“I never felt so elated to just be somewhere and with this group of people.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 19, 2008. Read the original PDF.