A Scouting adventure begins

Boy Scout troop training for 220-mile bike trip from Montana to Washington

MOSES LAKE — Even on a scorching weekday evening they are out there, a field of yellow shirts making their way down the highway.

These Boy Scouts have gathered for a few days a week on their bikes in the last few months. They've been learning cycling mechanics and maneuvers, and riding 20- to 50-mile trips until the sun sets in their faces. About 15 of these Troop 97 scouts have been planning their trip for about a year, and will be riding 220 miles over six days during the Grant County Fair next month.

"We have everything planned out," said scout Devin Peterson, then pointing to the adult leaders of his troop, "They have everything planned out."

Scoutmaster Randy Smith said his Scouts have also been working on the cycling merit badge while preparing for the trip. Most of them have already earned the badge, and have become endurance riders in the process.

"Some of the boys are getting to be regular go-getters," Smith said of his Scouts.

Both Smith and Assistant Scoutmaster Fred Stevens have said the preparation for trip has made the Scouts learn about cycling as a form of transportation in addition to the recreation they have been using it for. Smith said that once they taught the Scouts that riding 20 miles on a bicycle was no big deal, those boys were eager to take on the challenge of a 220-mile bike trip.

Lewis Bruneel is one of those scouts who has been in training for the trip, and the 13-year-old said the rides have brought his cycling endurance levels up over the last several months.

"We used to (go) 10 miles and it would be really hard," Lewis said. "Now we're up to 30, 40 miles."

Smith said the world has gotten a lot smaller for his boys in the last few months.

And spectators in that small world likely have seen these Scouts riding around every corner of the Columbia Basin in recent months. Each clad in a yellow T-shirt, the Scouts have by design been easily seen by motorists. Stevens said the yellow shirts have had no other significance for the Scouts, other than the color makes the teenagers easy to spot on the road.

"If you've seen guys riding in yellow shirts," Smith exclaimed, "that's us training."

He said the idea of going on a bike trip first popped into the troop's collective head last year when they were looking for somewhere to go on their week-long summer camping trip. Smith then saw a pamphlet on biking trails in north Idaho and western Montana, and they've been preparing ever since. The Scouts will start their trip with in Montana through the two-mile Taft Tunnel, later continuing down the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes and the Hiawatha Trail. The trip will eventually bring the Scouts back to Moses Lake, but not before the teens stop for a day of fun at Silverwood Theme Park in north Idaho.

The Silverwood trip is one many of the Scouts have cited as the part of the trip they are looking forward to the most, and a part the parents said would be a good way to break up the week. "And it was a real hard sell," Stevens joked.

Jeffrey Andrews, however, is looking forward to the trip for another reason. The 13-year-old Scout said just the feeling of achieving something he hasn't had the chance to do before will be a big plus for him.

"I think we've been doing really good," Andrews said. "We've been practicing a lot and every little bit helps."

"It's really tough," said 15-year-old Tyrel Bruneel, "especially when we have to ride uphill and into the headwind." But Tyrel was relieved that the first part of the ride would be 17 miles downhill with a two-mile tunnel.

Until they make their way onto the trail next month, Smith said the Scouts will continue training. Smith's son Randall is senior patrol leader of the troop. Randall said the Scouts have been on the road every Saturday for the last few months at 6 a.m., and said they usually just need to make sure they bring lots of water for their rides.

"It's not as hard as running," Randall said he has learned since he began training for the trip. "On a bike you can go anywhere, as long as you don't have a concrete wall between you and it."