Cyclists ride entire East Coast Maine-to-Florida trek ‘incredible’

KEY WEST, Fla. – Seven cyclists completed a 2,800-mile bike ride from Calais, Maine, to Key West on Wednesday, using a route that hiking and bicycling enthusiasts hope will become the first long-distance, shared-use trail through urban areas for nonmotorized users.

Organized by the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the trip required 53 days and coursed through 15 states and Washington, D.C.

Mike and Anne Kruimer of Edison, N.J., rode a special tandem bicycle. It was fitted with a hand crank so Anne Kruimer, struck by a car in 1992, could defy paraplegia and pedal with her hands while her husband pedaled with feet behind her.

“To travel the entire East Coast by bicycle was an incredible thing,” said Mike Kruimer. “It’s something we always dreamed of doing.”

The Alliance aids local and state efforts to build and link regional trails into what is known as the East Coast Greenway. Now 20 percent off-road, with another 30 percent in development, Alliance officials are hopeful the Greenway will be 80 percent off-road by 2010.

Participants cycled some of the more well-known segments of the Greenway, including Boston’s Charles River Bike Path, Durham’s (N.C.) American Tobacco Trail and sections of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail, a 106-mile route from Key Largo to Key West.