Barry Knight said it was one of those ideas that arrive "in the middle of the night."
Knight, co-president of the Orono Alliance for Education, knew that three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond was an Orono School District parent and Medina resident.
"I thought, I wonder if we could get Greg to do anything," Knight said.
He called the Gear West Bike and Triathlon shop. That led to a conversation with LeMond himself, and the result was a July 16 charity ride that drew about 20 cyclists for a two-hour ride and post-ride barbecue with the first American to win the most prestigious bicycle race in the world.
Each rider on the Greg LeMond Ride for Education represented a $500 contribution to the Orono Alliance, and Knight said he expected the ride to raise $9,000 to $10,000.
"It's sort of taken on somewhat a life of its own. We lucked out weather wise although it's darn humid," Knight said.
While the Orono Alliance regularly holds fund-raisers, on July 16 the draw for many was getting to ride with a cycling hero.
As the group waited on Knight's secluded Orono lawn for LeMond to arrive, Chuck Cantoya was feeling the anticipation.
"My heart is pounding. I wish I had my heart rate monitor on right now," Cantoya said.
Cantoya said he's a "cycling nut."
"I've always been a real big fan of Greg's, for his accomplishments in cycling but also the guy he is - still married, a great spokesman for cycling," Cantoya said.
Soon enough, LeMond rolled up along with his son Scott, a 2006 graduate of Orono High School who attends college in Montana.
LeMond said he'd gotten a call from Knight about raising money for the school district, money that would help change the way the district operates.
LeMond, in addition to raising money for academics, has also been an advocate for changing the way school age kids participate in sports.
He said he'd been in France and met John J. Ratey, the co-author of a book called "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain."
"I'm on the back cover, endorsing it," LeMond said.
The book includes a case study of a fitness program in a Naperville, Ill. school district that brought students top results in test scores, he said.
"It's kind of what I've been trying to push with our governing bodies, to promote cycling, or lifetime sports in schools, so kids when they get done, they don't just stop the sport and never do it again," LeMond said.
He said changing the way kids are active can be as important as academics.
"If you can do both, you got a winner," LeMond said.
Kris Diller, food service director in the Orono School District, said she started biking again in June after recovering from an injury sustained after being thrown from a horse.
"I love bicycling. And I just started getting back into it," Diller said.
She'd put her name in a drawing and won the ticket to the ride.
Diller said she knew LeMond had won the Tour de France, so she was excited about the ride. Then she read about how LeMond helped introduce now-standard technology to cycling, including clipless pedals, which fasten the shoes to the pedals while riding.
"And then I got really excited," Diller said.
Early on, two riders on what looked to be 1980s-era road bikes got flat tires at different points, and LeMond stopped to fix both of them without hesitating.
In Independence, the whole group reconvened at the Ox Yoke Inn for Gatorade and oranges.
Back on the road, Keith Bares said he's biked for about seven years, and has a daughter who just graduated from Orono High School.
He'd bought the bike he was riding in February, at the Orono Alliance's annual gala.
Bares said the extra money provided by the Orono Alliance helped the district provide more advanced placement (AP) classes, which his daughter used to help her on her path to college.
"It's really just been a phenomenal job of the alliance," Bares said.
About a mile before the end of the more than 30-mile ride, the group stopped at an Orono park where about 20 kids were waiting to ride the last mile with the group, a stretch that included a formidable hill near Stubbs Bay.
LeMond lamented the heavy bikes kids often have to ride.
"Can you imagine," LeMond said. "Kids are getting a bike that weighs 45 pounds and the kid only weighs 70. It's like being on a 100 pound bike."
While the kids were climbing the hill LeMond pushed one of them up by the seat.
After the ride, Knight only had praise for LeMond's willingness to stop and help people along the way.
"He's just a really great, nice guy," Knight said.
Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, July 24, 2008
Article comment by:
Toby Jones
A friend sent me this link. I live in Arizona, but grew up in the Twin Cities, racing bikes in the 80's. Being the same age as Greg, he was always my hero, and I watched him trounce the local competition, which I thought was darn fast, at the Lake of the Isles one year. I wish our little community here in Prescott, Az. had a celebrity spokesperson to generate a cycling and health culture starting our kids in the right direction at an early age. My passion for both road riding and mountain biking is totally rekindled, and I'm having my best riding years.
Posted: Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Article comment by:
pam meyers
congrat's Barry! What a great story.
Hope you and yours are all well and enjoying the summer.
Pam
