Trek Across Maine cyclists trained in Afghanistan

When thousands of bicyclists ride the grueling 180-mile Trek Across Maine this June to benefit the American Lung Association, at least two competitors will have had true mountain bike conditioning: at a U.S. base in Afghanistan.

First Lt. Jessica Campbell, 25, who grew up in Anson, had signed up for the bicycle trek last summer, but before she could ride she was deployed as a battle captain with the 240th Engineer Group of the Maine Army National Guard.

Her mom rode in last year’s event for her, and Campbell took every opportunity she could to bicycle on an eight-mile road surrounding Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. Soldiers had access to bicycles left behind by service members on previous deployments.

“We are all looking forward to the challenge of the ride and spending time together after spending so much time apart in the last year,” Campbell wrote in an e-mail from Afghanistan. “It’s also a way of saying thanks to my mom for stepping up and riding in my place in 2006.”

The 240th is due home within two weeks.

And Campbell is not the only member who will take on the trek. The company commander, Col. Les Swartz, 50, of Bangor participated in the event in 2005 and has plans to “ride each year until I just can’t do it anymore.”

Although Swartz said he has been too busy commanding his unit to sneak in a short ride, the unit’s latest base, Sharana, has the soldiers living at a 7,400-foot elevation, which he said is excellent training for an athlete’s lungs.

The commander said his training has not fallen too far behind other riders, since most were not outside biking during the winter months anyway.

As the date of the trek approaches and the soldiers count down their final days overseas, Swartz said, having to prepare for the big event does not create more anxiety for a group that’s already eager to come home.

“I, along with all of my soldiers, am just plain ready to go home and get back to our normal lives,” Swartz wrote from Afghanistan. “I’ll drive my car where I want to go, not have to carry a gun, enjoy indoor plumbing … walk out into an unknown field without worrying about land mines, look at the ocean … listen to the chickadees, and relearn to ride a bike. Those may not seem like ‘big events,’ but it all depends on where you’ve been for the past year.”

The Trek Across Maine, now in its 23rd year, is expected to attract between 1,500 and 1,600 hard-cycling participants, according to Edward Miller, head of the Maine Lung Association.

Over three days – June 15, 16 and 17 – the determined bicyclists will travel a punishing, 180-mile route from the Sunday River ski area in Bethel to the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum near Rockland, stopping for rest breaks and meals. They’ll overnight at the University of Maine at Farmington and at Colby College in Waterville.

For each of the last seven years, Miller said in a recent phone conversation, the event has raised more than $1 million to support the lung association’s activities in Maine.

Nearly all the money stays in-state, except for a small portion that goes to the national office. Riders must raise a minimum of $450, but many raise much more, Miller said. The average from recent years is $750.

The American Lung Association was founded in 1904 to fight tuberculosis, but is now dedicated to combating all forms of lung disease. For many years, it has focused on smoking prevention and cessation, Miller said, but now advocates against all forms of air pollution.

In Maine, activities include efforts to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, radon, pesticides, molds and other irritants as well as air pollution from transportation and energy production.

“It’s a campaign for healthy air,” Miller said. “We look at whatever we can do to improve air quality in Maine.”

The Trek Across Maine always takes place over Father’s Day weekend, rain or shine, black flies and all.

Last year, the event attracted cyclists from 28 states, Miller said, and riders have come from Canada and Mexico as well.

BDN writer Meg Haskell contributed to this report.