Journey Across America: Biker Rides 4,176.9 Miles for Autism

STONE HARBOR — “I don’t know whether to be happy, or sad that it’s over,” 23-year-old Matthew Will told a crowd of Stone Harbor officials, lifeguards, and curious beachgoers moments after dipping his bike tires in to the Atlantic Ocean at 96th Street, marking the end of a two month trek from the west coast to raise money for autism research July 3.
Friends gathered just before noon at the 96th Street beach with hand-colored poster boards reading, “Congratulations Matt,” waiting to hand him a bottle of champagne and a cold plastic bottle of whole milk.
Will looked down at his pedometer for the official mileage.
“Four thousand, one hundred and seventy-six point nine miles,” he yelled to the crowd.
Mayor Suzanne Walter presented Will with a framed proclamation of recognition and a Stone Harbor Beach Patrol t-shirt.
Will raised $10,000 through pledges of 25 cents per mile for the Southwest Autism Re-search & Resource Center; a Phoenix Arizona based non-profit organization dedicated to autism research, education and resources. Bigsbee Foundation, also a Phoenix-based non-profit accepted and tracked the incoming pledges.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Autism is the most common condition in a group of developmental disorders known as the autism spec-trum disorders, characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and non-verbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests.
“You really couldn’t find a better cause right now. I wasn’t as educated about it, and should have been. About 1 out of 150 kids today are born with it. It’s a very debilitating disease. So much effort needs to be given to take care of these people and any help we can give them we should,” Will said.
After graduating from the University of Connecticut, Torrington in May 2006, the Voor-hees, NJ native moved to Arizona, where his parents and older sister now live to start look-ing for a job, but he didn’t find anything he liked.
“I started thinking and this is what I came up with. Thankfully I was able to get connected with a charity and really make something great of it,” Will said.
Will had a mountain bike from when he was a young teen.
“I was a little out-grown for that and so I scrapped that frame, bought this steel frame and started putting all the parts on to this frame,” Will told the Herald.
The blue frame was painted with “Journey Across America for Autism” in yellow letter-ing.
He departed April 29, 2007 from the driveway of his parents Fountain Hills, Arizona home, heading west to Laguna Beach, California where he made a ceremonial dip in the Pacific Ocean with his front tire.
“When you look at the big picture of 4,000 miles, sure it sounds like a lot, but you take it day by day. I would take every day as it comes, and it just started adding up. That’s how I got from one coast to another, it wasn’t so bad,” Will said.
Some days he put in over 100 miles.
Will said some highlights were, “a mountain climb into Prescott, Arizona that I didn’t get to until eight, nine o’clock at night so it was already dark and the stars were out, few cars; it was one of those smooth sexy rides through the mountains. Storms in Kansas, Illinois, be-cause it felt more like Maine than the midwest. Going through the mountains in Pennsyl-vania was nice, some parts of Connecticut. It was never the parts of stopping that was fun; it was always the going through, riding. Going downhill is always nice.”
Will chose to end his trek in Stone Harbor, as it was a favorite vacation spot when he was a kid.
“In the summertime, this (Stone Harbor) used to be our stomping ground. There’s nothing better than July 4th at the Jersey Shore,” Will told the crowd.
A student athlete at Eastern High School in Voorhees, Will played a year and a half of club volleyball in college, but didn’t have any formal cycling training.
“Physically I didn’t prepare at all, the longest practice run was seven miles, shake-down runs to make sure everything fit and rode smoothly,” Will told the Herald.
“I took a cellphone. The GPS saved my butt a few times. I called my parents every day. They’re the ones that kept me sane for two months. Some days they’d be the only two peo-ple I’d talk to for a week,” Will said.
Will majored in economics, a focus he said he feels helped him to make the decision to take this trip.
“Really the study of economics is the study of how to make a decision; what’s the best out-come you can come to with the information you’re given. I think I can do pretty much anything. That’s what this ride was for me. I was trying to make it that I could do anything. I wasn’t a cyclist before I did this, so where do I begin. I researched it and did it,” Will said.
As far as what would come next, Will was uncertain.
“For me, careerwise, what I really want to do is, if somebody comes to me and says I want this to get done, I have a project for you. I’ll know I can do it, and just get the job done,” Will told the Herald.
When asked if he would consider doing something like this again, he said, “Yes, defi-nitely, absolutely. Though it would be nice to have someone carry all of my stuff.”
Donations for Matthew Will’s Journey Across America for Autism are still being accepted at www.cool2beeme.com.