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CUMBERLAND — Beth Laber might not have been born free.
But she sure is living the life now.
Laber, a 1978 Fort Hill High School graduate who works as a nursing anesthetist in Boulder, Colo., is pedaling her custom-made bike the entire 3,630 miles from Astoria, Ore., to Portsmouth, N.H., over a 50-day period that began June 21 and ends Aug. 9. She turned 50 in March.
The Times-News caught up with Laber by phone on Monday while she waited for a ferry ride across Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, Wisc., to Ludington, Mich. The four-hour ride was set to be a much-appreciated break. The next day, she and her fellow 53 cyclists were scheduled to put in 112 miles — the final of five “centuries,” or daily rides of 100 miles or more on a trip that averages 72.6 miles each day.
Cycling has led Laber to many places, including the Oregon coast, New Zealand and Vietnam. But this tour, organized by America By Bicycle, has given Laber a new perspective on life in the U.S.
“Everybody has their own story for doing this trip,” Laber said. “It really touches your heart to see people fulfilling their dreams and are not afraid to give it a try. People realize life is worth living and not just hording money and stuff. You gotta take a chance and go out there and do something different. The scope of this is overwhelming.”
The early days of the trip, beginning in Oregon, featured the summit of Mount Hood. The ride began on a cloudy day, Laber said.
“Blagh,” Laber summed up the weather. “All of the sudden, we made this curve ... Mount Hood was just standing there, snowcapped. You about fell off your bike it was so breathtaking.”
Her position that June day was quite a ways from her days of study at Fort Hill, which began in the fall of 1974 and included extracurricular activities such as basketball, volleyball and tennis. Laber later attended what was then Allegany Community College where she continued to excel in basketball and tennis.
It was easier then, however, to keep track of time. On Monday, Laber didn’t bother carrying a calendar.
“I don’t even know what day it is, day of the week, date ... it’s like Groundhog Day,” Laber said. “You get up, eat breakfast, ride your bike, shower, eat dinner.”
And repeat 49 times.
Along the way, Laber is improving her sensory skills. With the mountains and valleys of the land, that simply can’t be helped.
“After a long, beautiful descent through the lush humid pine forest,” Laber wrote friends and family after one early segment of her trip, “we turned east and immediately were in the high alpine desert. The smells of sage just filled the senses and the air immediately dried out.”
Still in the Pacific Northwest, Laber and her companions traveled through “the heart of the Northwest’s logging country along the massive Columbia River.”
“The logs on the logging trucks were huge and the smell of freshly cut logs whizzing by was really tantalizing to the nose,” Laber wrote to supporters. “One thing I noted that made me hopeful about still cutting down trees was that there were no signs of the tree felling in sight. It all looked pristine and intact.”
Wisconsin, on the other hand, was pretty with lots of water and filled with “quaint little towns, people, sights, sounds and smells. It’s something you can’t see in a car. You feel it.”
After arriving in New Hampshire on Aug. 9, Laber is scheduled to arrive in Cumberland the next day. But her bike will have already been packed and shipped home. Instead, she’ll be flying from Boston to Washington, D.C., and driving to the Queen City for a week’s visit.
Kevin Spradlin can be reached at kspradlin@times-news.com.
Local News
Related Photos
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Beth Laber, a 1978 Fort Hill High School graduate, is pedaling her custom-made bicycle across America in 50 days and is scheduled in Portsmouth, N.H., on Aug. 9. This photo shows Laber riding into the morning sun near Mitchell, S.D. America By Bicycle
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Beth Laber
Fort Hill graduate pedaling across America
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