SLU Student Makes Trip On Bike From N.H. Home

CANTON - Kimberly E. Cooper has made the trip from her home in New Hampshire about half a dozen times, but the most recent trek is special.

She did the 320-mile voyage on her bicycle.

Rather than drive the Volkswagen Golf her parents bought her for Christmas, the senior English major opted to follow the example of another St. Lawrence University student and ride her bike to campus.

"A girl from my town years ago, she went to St. Lawrence and she had done this," the 21-year-old lacrosse player said. "At the time, I remember seeing it and thinking, 'Oh, that's cool.' It never occurred to me that I might do that. Then I saw it again and I was just kind of like, 'I should do this, too.' And then I just followed through."

Hope Thornton, who graduated from St. Lawrence in 2001, biked from Wolfeboro, N.H., to Canton in 2000, according to Granite State News, her hometown newspaper.

Following the example of Ms. Thornton, whom she does not know, Miss Cooper planned her route over the summer with the help of her father and a website that helps cyclists plan their routes. She finished mapping it out only a few days before she left on the five-day journey.

Carrying only a few T-shirts, a pair of shorts and bike repair equipment, Miss Cooper made reservations at hotels for each night she was on the road, planning to cycle about 70 miles a day. Though she never had a flat, she had to bring about "10 pounds" of repair gear, to appease her father. She also had to text him every day when she stopped for lunch and call her parents when she checked into her hotel at night.

She didn't bring food, relying instead on restaurants and convenience stores along the way. When she was lucky, she found a Subway or similar chain. Passing through Danbury, N.H., however, her only option was a general store where she had to settle for a "week-old turkey sandwich," she said.

When she arrived on campus Monday, her mother and sister were there already; they had driven Miss Cooper's car, filled with her things for the year at school.

"They had a sign and they were cheering for me when I pulled up," Miss Cooper said. "It was awesome."

Though her white-and-red-striped bike got her through the trip, it already has returned to New Hampshire with her mother.

"I play lacrosse, so fall season is starting up pretty soon and unfortunately, I never find the time to ride up here," she said. "I get too busy to find a four-hour chunk to ride."

Classes started Wednesday for St. Lawrence students, and Miss Cooper said most people do not yet know how she got to campus. When she told a few of her friends that she biked from home, they thought she meant across campus.

"It's funny, they couldn't really wrap their heads around it," she said. "I had to explain it to them. My coaches thought it was great."

There was bad weather only one day of the five, the day when she was riding from Keeseville to Malone through rain and hail.

The rest of the time, she said, it was a nice time to relax a bit after working all summer at a boarding school in her hometown.