Joys of 4,000-Mile Trip Tempt Biker to Repeat

Edward McCollum Jr. had such a good time biking 4,164 miles through the rain, snow, sleet and blistering heat from the Huntington Beach Pier to Atlantic City that he has decided to do it again sometime within the next year.

This time, however, it will be a shorter trip of only 3,000 miles from Disneyland to Disney World.

“It seems like the thing to do,” is the simple explanation of the Irvine man.

McCollum, 46, who predicts he will retire at age 49 from his job as a system technician with Pacific Bell, where he has already worked 27 years, wants a retirement life filled with bike riding.

“I like to travel, especially in this country, but you really can’t see anything from a car,” said the onetime Santa Ana College student.

On his recent trip, McCollum was stunned by the warm greetings that he and his biking partner, John Hanson, 19, of Costa Mesa, received from people on their 53-day jaunt.

“After we left California, we always received five-finger waves instead of the one-finger salute we got here,” said McCollum, who bicycled through 15 states.

He carried a bottle of Pacific Ocean water that he poured into the Atlantic Ocean when he arrived at Atlantic City.

“It seemed like a good thing to do,” he said.

The two men programmed the ride to carry them on a scenic route through national parks and historic sites, with stops at Indian trading posts and a visit to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota and the Buffalo Bill Museum in Wyoming.

Their stops along the way on rural roads always attracted attention, he said.

“Everyone would gather around and talk about everything: the economy, the water, California, and where we were going,” McCollum said.

McCollum, who bicycles three miles to work every day, owns a mountain bike, a light touring bike, a cross-country touring bike, a commuter bike and a racing bike.

McCollum has already been to Disney World seven times, but each time has flown there, a much less costly trip considering that he spent $6,000 on his bicycle trip to Atlantic City, which took three years of planning.

“It only costs $500 to fly there,” said the onetime stunt plane pilot who holds a commercial airline pilot’s license. “But when you pedal 100 miles a day, you have to eat three good meals a day and you have to have a good place to sleep.”

He said eating good meals was important to keep up his energy.

“Successfully riding a bike across the country was a challenge, but it doesn’t really take skill. It’s more a matter of discipline. No matter how much you hurt and ache, you have to get back on the bike each day,” he said.

The trip to Disney World will only take about 21 days to complete, said McCollum, who plans to take the ride by himself: Hanson has joined the Navy.

In June, Linda Ratner will reap one small benefit from her academic excellence.

Ten years ago, she was awarded a $50 savings bond as the most outstanding student at Roch Correges Elementary School in Fountain Valley.

In June, the bond reaches maturity for Ratner, a first-year student at the USC school of dentistry.

“That’s good. I can really use it,” she told her mother, Rose Ratner of Fountain Valley.

“Every little bit helps,” her mother said.