Eco-bikers begin 5,400-mile journey

For 22 days they'll meet with big-city mayors, christen biodiesel buses and plant ceremonial trees like eco-Johnny Appleseeds. For 22 days they'll blog, shoot video and call attention to global warming.

All while riding bicycles across the country.

And one more thing: They've got to turn in homework, too.

The six West Seattle students who will set out today are nothing if not ambitious. The youngest is just 10; the oldest, 18.

It's all part of what they call "An Inconvenient Ride," led by Chief Sealth High School teacher Gary Thomsen, who has organized similar student bike trips, including two that paid tribute to the legacy of Negro-leagues baseball.

"We want to show people that teens and youth can make a difference," said Arielle Washington, 15, who is not riding but making the trip to help organize meetings and speak with news media.

"If we can bike across America, hopefully it will get people thinking, why not turn off that light bulb or unplug that computer they're not using," said Jacob Kenny, 15.

The journey is scheduled to conclude with an Earth Day return to Seattle, where the students will be feted by Mayor Greg Nickels and acclaimed nature photographer Art Wolfe at a Benaroya Hall fundraiser with the goal of planting 2,500 trees in the city.

Most of the kids met for the first time during their school break in February, when they spent a full week of 9-to-5 days cooped up in Thomsen's classroom, planning their 5,400-mile trip.

It was no easy feat for a fourth-grader, two freshmen, two sophomores and a pair of seniors.

It was like "Breaking Away" meets "The Breakfast Club" for the Tour de Gore.

You couldn't call any of these kids misfits. To qualify for the ride, they had to be fit, adept at public speaking and have good grades (four have grade-point averages of 3.9 or better).

Still, they're an interesting cast: From Tyrone "T-Bone" Hall-Deal, a confident three-sport letterman, to Tim "Timinator" Vincent, a thoughtful musician; from Justin "Rudder" Marshall, an avid sailor and diabetic, to 80-pound Sydney "Squidney" Fuller, who says, while on the trip, she'll miss her dog more than her brother.

They expect in coming weeks to learn a lot about each other — maybe too much when it comes to Vincent's seagull noises, Kenny's obsessive neatness and Ally Stariha's habit of dipping French fries in milkshakes.

The kids say they aren't worried about the challenge of cycling across four times zones. After several months of training, they're ready for that.

Spreading the word

"I worry more about the maps and are we going to get into that hotel, or are we going to take the wrong turn in Texas and end up at the border," Kenny said.

"I'm probably most worried about the press and talking to people," Fuller said.

The ride has its roots in a project that had kids from three West Seattle schools — Gatewood Elementary, Denny Middle School and Sealth — planting trees last year in Pelly Place Ravine, just north of Lincoln Park, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai of Kenya.

That gave Thomsen the idea of doing something bigger for the environment.

Here's how the ride works:

After arriving in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, the students are to hit the road today. They expect to stop for meetings and events in 65 cities that have pledged to cut their carbon emissions.

The team has one big truck, two support cars and four adult chaperones besides Thomsen, including a retired cop and a paramedic.

Each day several kids will act as the advance team, going into cities to meet with mayors and school superintendents and the media to talk about what their cities are doing for the environment. In Raleigh, N.C., for instance, the students are scheduled to christen new buses.

Meanwhile the rest of the kids will take one-hour turns riding bikes relay-style.

They're expected to sprint at a 20-mph pace for 60 minutes, then go to the truck or a support car where they'll do homework, write daily journals and contribute to their blog or video documentary. (Thomsen teaches a video-production course and his students have made historical documentaries about Seattle neighborhoods.)

Pedaling dawn to dusk

To meet their goal of almost 250 miles a day, the kids will be on the road from dawn to dusk. Adults will probably ride some of the route if it's dark, to ensure the group hits its daily target.

Thomsen said the trip has a $43,000 budget. The students and Thomsen have collected $36,000, he said, mostly by soliciting corporate sponsorships.

They'll spend the last night on the road in Olympia before returning to Seattle on April 22; they hope to get a police escort from Sealth to Benaroya Hall, for a "Global to Local" event celebrating the environment with live musical performances and an audiovisual presentation by Wolfe featuring behind-the-scenes adventures of his public-television series "Art Wolfe's Travels to the Edge."

A portion of every $25 ticket for the event will go to purchase trees that will be planted in Seattle green belts and parks by Seattle Public Schools students.

"It is definitely the biggest thing I've done in my life," said Vincent, a senior who has a 3.9 grade-point average and plans to attend the University of Washington next year on a scholarship.

"What's so great about our trip is that we're doing something big enough that it could snap people out of bad habits."

Bob Young: 206-464-2174

or byoung@seattletimes.com