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Glenville man, SMHS students bike part of historic trail
Bostic rides Lewis and Clark trail
By Justin Goble
A Glenville man recently retraced the route of two famous explorers.
Carlton Bostic, a “semi-retired” chemist, biked 1,300 miles of the trail set out by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in their 1804 expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Bostic picked up the trail in Great Falls, Mont., on June 25 and biked all the way to Seaside, Ore., which he reached on July 23.
Glenville cyclist Carlton Bostic pauses with his fully-loaded bicycle at the Lolo Summit in Idaho. Bostic, a “semi-retired” chemist, rode 1,300 miles of the Lewis and Clark bicycle trail this past summer. The trail approximates the famous journey Meriwether Lewis and William Clark took in their expedition to the Pacific Ocean, which began in 1804.
Bicycling is something Bostic has been doing since 1978. He said it has held his interest for so long for many reasons.
“It’s exercise,” he said. “It helps me keep my weight down, so I can eat anything I want. It’s also a means of transportation. I run errands on (my bicycle). It saves me money.”
Members of Western Carolina University’s Talent Search 2005 Expedition of Rediscovery ride their bicycles past fields of canola in Idaho. The group of nine students – including Jason Crisp and Andrew White of Smoky Mountain High School – and six staff completed a three-year effort to retrace the Lewis and Clark path to the Pacific Ocean on July 22.
Though he was a casual biker for a long time, Bostic began his 1,000-mile-plus treks as a means to move past his working life.
“My first one was upon retirement, which was in 1992,” he said. “I thought it would be a good way to leave the corporate world behind me.”
For his latest journey, Bostic joined a group of 12 cyclists, with the trip being sponsored and organized by Adventure Cycling, a non-profit organization chartered to promote cross-country bike rides. He said he decided to bike the trail this year because of its historical importance.
“This is the 200th anniversary of their (Lewis and Clark’s) expedition,” he said. “I am interested in history, so I enjoyed the historical aspects of the trip.”
Also, Bostic said he enjoyed the trip because of the varied scenery he was able to see.
“The views form the mountain passes of land stretching before me were really phenomenal,” he said. “Imagining the history of this route and realizing that I am seeing some of the vistas that Lewis and Clark saw so many years ago is pretty awe-inspiring.”
Though the scenery was beautiful and rewarding to see, many aspects of the trip itself were tough.
“Bikes loaded with more than 40 pounds of gear don’t pedal much differently on flat ground, but the weight quickly becomes apparent when climbing – and we had several climbs of more than 1,000 feet,” he said.
The trail took him and his group across many types of terrain, from gravel bike trails to the shoulders of interstates. Surprisingly, it was the paved roads that often gave them the most trouble.
“We paid dearly for the roads with wide shoulders,” he said. “They were frequently lined with bits of broken glass, shredded tire carcasses and other hazards. Our group suffered more than 40 flat tires from glass cuts, bits of wire from radial tire strips and other roadside debris. Bicycle tires are thin to conserve weight and are fitted with inner tubes. Repairing a flat usually means removing the offending bit of wire or glass from the tire and replacing or patching the tube. We all carried spare tubes and patch kits, as well as small hand pumps.”
Cooking at campsites was another obstacle, since many were a good distance from the nearest store.
“We sometimes had to carry groceries for 25 miles or more when there were no stores within easy bicycling distance of our campgrounds,” he said. “With limited cooking equipment and high caloric requirements to fuel our engines, we ate a lot of pasta.
Along his journey, Bostic had a chance encounter with Jackson County residents more than 2,000 miles from home.
“We crossed Paths with Western Carolina’s Talent Search group at a campground in Missoula, Mont,” he said. “They were just beginning their ride; we had been out for 12 days. It was surprising to meet someone from Cullowhee.”
Bostic said that, though the journey was tough, it was very memorable. For now, however, he is content to leave the bike on the rack.
“The first thing I did when I got home was cut the grass,” he said. “I’ve been catching up on house work since I got back I really don’t have anything specific planned for this year. I routinely do across-the-state rides, and Bike Across N.C. is coming up. But I’m not going to be doing that.”
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