[bright music]
- [Male Announcer] "Shadow of a Wheel" is made possible
in part by Explore Asheville.
- [Female Announcer] Here in Asheville,
we're a mix of genres, a hybrid of styles,
settling for nothing, hungry for everything.
All drawn together to stand out.
You are welcome.
Always Asheville.
- [Male Announcer] Additional support is made possible
by The Charles Engelhard Foundation
and by these contributors:
- [Narrator] The Great Plains and headwinds challenged the 35 riders
as they crossed the Midwest,
eating and sleeping in fast food restaurants.
Homesickness hit hard.
- You might as well do what you said you're gonna do.
- [Narrator] There is mayhem on the highways of Missouri.
- All you can do is laugh.
- [Narrator] And St. Louis is a needed rest
with Mike Simone making a visit to a hospital
and another writer's posthumous story is told,
a heroic battle with AIDS in the early 1990s.
- He came here to help change us.
♪ Bright lights, the music gets faster ♪
[waves crash]
["Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac plays]
♪
- [Paul] I have to give Chuck so much credit
because he started this whole thing for all of us kids.
He had the vision, he had done it, he knew the value of it.
He wanted us to share in that, and he made it happen.
Looking at it from an adult perspective,
the responsibility he took on,
31 kids on bikes for two months across the country
♪
and the fact that it ended the way it ended for Chuck
is a tragedy.
♪
["Jesus Is Just Alright with Me" by The Doobie Brothers plays]
♪
♪ Do do do do do do ♪
- [Paul] What was your word?
- Fantastic.
[John laughs]
- John Patterson loved the word "fantastic."
- That was fantastic!
- Fantastic!
- Wow! Fantastic.
[Randall laughs]
I think that's fantastic!
[John laughs]
- It describes my feelings very well.
♪ Jesus is just all right with me ♪
- I was having an amazing experience
that few people get to have.
So yeah, I used that word quite a bit.
♪ Jesus is just all right ♪
- [Paul] Yes, most of the time the trip was fantastic,
but each day was a struggle to get everyone
to the next town.
♪ What they may do ♪
- [Paul] Chuck had promised congressman,
senators and the like that we would be in Washington
on August 9th,
♪ All right ♪
♪ Oh yeah ♪
- [Paul] And Chuck was stressing about it.
[music fades]
[indistinct]
- [Chuck] Time-wise it wouldn't be.
- Time-wise- - Judy's positive energy
faded at times.
- And I'm not ready to.
I want some time to myself.
- Sure. - You know?
Is that too much to ask?
- [Chuck] I will [indistinct]
- [Paul] But like he'd been doing with the riders,
Chuck wanted to know from Judy
whether the trip was changing her.
- [Chuck] What has it meant to you?
[upbeat music]
- Fantastic!
- [Chuck] How's it feel to be single and saddling
with 29 guys?
♪ [indistinct] ♪
- Fun.
[upbeat music]
- [Chuck] Has it altered the course of your life?
- I said before the trip that it would change my life
and I think that it will.
Definitely.
♪ What have you got to lose ♪
- Things were happening in my personal life.
The script that I saw for a woman,
and a married woman,
this was not it.
It was probably unprecedented for a woman.
I'm sure my parents thought I'd lost my mind.
[Judy laughs]
This wasn't a very conservative thing to do,
and as I come from Mobile, Alabama.
I'm not conservative now.
I can tell you that.
[gentle music]
And it really changed my life a lot.
How I viewed what I wanted to be a part of,
how I wanted to live my life.
I started changing my script a little bit.
[wind]
["Eminence Front" by The Who plays]
♪
- [Paul] As we hit the east,
we were just capable of stupid distances.
♪
I was looking at my journal
and it's like, three days in a row, 97 miles,
103, 105, or something like that.
That's just insane!
We were just bulletproof.
♪
- Do you remember the first time you ever drafted
off of a car?
[video game sound effects]
Like, I didn't know anything about that,
going into that trip,
that experience of drafting off of semis.
Like, semis on these stupid bikes
as close as we were together,
we could have wiped out into the truck and the tires.
We did this through mountains, thunderstorms.
I mean, West Virginia, I think,
we were all pros at that point, riding our bikes,
and I think more of us wiped out in West Virginia
than any other place going down those jackknife turns.
♪
- Going through West Virginia and we're asking the locals
and we're like, "How far is,"
I don't even remember the name of the place.
Was it Romney?
- Romney. - Oh, okay.
Yep.
And they said, "Oh yeah, it's three mountains away."
♪
- We had accomplished Colorado,
we had accomplished the desert.
♪
What are three little mountains in West Virginia, really?
I mean, is that gonna bother anybody?
♪
That was a long ride!
That was a long, long ride!
♪ The sun shines ♪
♪ And people forget ♪
[paper rustles]
- August 7th.
"Well, I made it 110 miles over the hardest part
of the Appalachian.
We'll see.
I'm in Romney, West Virginia
and nobody's here but four people.
It was one of the hardest rides of the trip,
but also one of the most beautiful, cool, and fun.
There were some bad hills going up,
but a lot of great ones going down."
♪ The snow packs as the skier ♪
- I just remember seeing signs that said, "Brake,"
and then it said, "Brake hard."
Literally, traffic signs that say this, you know?
And then it's like, if you keep going,
the road curved
and it disappeared and then it showed up
over on the other side of a ravine.
Another time Bobby whizzed by us, by the way.
♪ It's an eminence front ♪
- We had just gotten on the downside
and there was a curve in the road
and I was going fast enough
that I couldn't control the bike
and I went off the road and down into a ravine.
- We're hitting our brakes, screeching just, you know,
like praying our brakes don't fail,
and then zip, here comes Bobby right by us.
[video game sound effects]
Yep.
Into the guardrail.
I think he landed in a tree, didn't he?
- There was a family that had called 9-1-1.
They come and pulled me out on a stretcher
♪
- I don't know.
He coulda gotten
[Craig exhales]
Could got really hurt.
- I think it was Brian.
He had lost control at the same spot
and he hit the gravel driveway.
- He came to a a turn and kept going straight
onto a gravel road.
- Oh my gosh!
He had abrasions all up and down his body
♪
and he just looked like a piece of hamburger.
- Which made for I think some sticky evenings in the sheets.
♪
♪ Drinks flow ♪
- "Well, I'm in Bridgeport, West Virginia,
just outside of Clarksburg.
We rode 85 miles today and it was hilly.
Chuck gave us $10 for lunch and dinner and I was on my way."
♪
♪ The news slows ♪
- [Paul] And somewhere in West Virginia,
Amy Hurka took a wrong turn.
♪ Dress yourself to kill ♪
- I just remember riding around and thinking,
"I don't know what to do, where to go."
I wasn't sure if this road went this way or that way.
I wasn't paying attention.
I don't know.
But I was totally lost.
["You Got Lucky" by Tom Petty plays]
And so I drove to a Baskin Robbins
and said, "Can you please find these people?"
And then, them taking me to the police station,
putting me on a bench,
and saying I could sit there and wait,
and falling asleep on that bench.
[upbeat music continues]
I was there a while.
It was like two in the morning.
I remember I woke up, I was like, [gasps] you know?
And I saw Rick.
Rick was kind of kneeling down,
maybe bending down and looking at my face.
♪ Carried away ♪
♪
- [Paul] Do you remember that day?
Where were and what was going on?
- I do remember that day.
- Well, we just saw that huge, dark storm coming our way
and we knew we were in for it.
- And then he whipped out the tripod
and I was like, "Oh my gosh!
What are you doing?
We're gonna get hit by lightning!"
- We were trying to outrun it and it was catching up quickly
and we are going by this farmhouse.
Folks are sitting out on the porch and-
- Offered us shelter from the storm, literally.
♪
They fed us.
- We got fed
the best dinner that I can remember on that trip.
Everything was fresh out of the garden
and just the friendliest people in the world,
looking out for us.
We stayed there until the storm passed.
- We just sat there for, I don't know,
hour, maybe two?
- A good example of some of the wonderful people
we met along the way.
♪ Is hard to find ♪
- And we were about a mile from that house,
not realizing that that we had other riders up there.
But we come across this little construction site
and there was some lumber and drainage tiles
and different things laying on the inside of the road.
We actually crawled inside one of the drainage tiles
to get out the rain.
We're hearing stories how they've sat out on the front porch
and became best friends over the last two couple hours.
Wish somebody'd fed me.
I was down in drainage hole. [laughs]
- The rain would just pop up outta nowhere
and you'd try to outrun the storm
and it would just overtake you,
and it was an incredible.
We didn't have North Face and Patagonia.
We just had these Kmart raincoats, just blowing in the wind.
It was pretty [indistinct] ponchos.
♪ Good love is hard to find ♪
♪ You got lucky, babe ♪
♪ You got lucky ♪
- [Paul] Well, so much for being bulletproof
in West Virginia.
♪ When I found you ♪
- [Paul] And Michael Simone, after visiting another hospital
in Cincinnati for his cystic fibrosis,
continued to push his way through the mountains.
[gentle plucky music]
But in his journal, he was more concerned
about the other riders, saying,
"I want to be able to change the emotional state
of the riders."
And he wished the leaders would show more availability
for emotional support.
♪
- I think some people had a hard time
really getting to know Michael,
but if they did get to know him,
I think they'd be impressed
because he would do anything for people.
- I was amazed at him.
I was sincerely amazed at Mike Simone.
I didn't know anything about his physicality
and what it took for him to get up and do what he did.
I remember hearing him working through it in the morning
and thinking, "I have absolutely zero
to complain about ever."
I was deeply impressed with that.
He was a pretty quirky guy.
I recall on his green bike with the silver fenders.
He made me think of old country cyclists in Italy
and he was riding for all the right reasons
and he's doing this and he's kicking ass
and that's what's happening.
And that made me so inspired.
That was amazing to me, for sure.
[gentle plucky music concludes]
- [Chuck] [indistinct]
Anytime.
- Hi, my name is Judy Beaird
and I'm with the Greater Carolinas chapter
of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Welcome to Washington DC!
[chorus vocalizes "The Star Spangled Banner"]
♪
- [Judy] It was really neat riding into DC.
♪
- That was really cool.
♪
- [Paul] I think we rode through three states that day,
riding into Washington DC.
♪
- [Paul] Seeing all that stuff
for the first time in real life
♪
- And all of a sudden we're on our bikes
in the nation's capitol.
♪
- [Peter] That was a special moment,
and we'd come a long way at that point.
We were almost at the coast.
♪
- [Mike M] And we were on the steps of the Capitol Building.
Jesse Helms had been our senator for some time
and he met us right there on the steps.
♪
- [Mike U] The larger than life Jesse Helms.
We all got to shake his hand, film crew there.
♪
- And lo and behold,
Strom Thurmond is walking up the steps, I believe,
and Jesse Helm says, "Hey, Strom.
Come over here and meet these nice young folks
from North Carolina."
♪
- There was two political icons from that era.
♪
- [John] Gave us a tour of the Capitol building.
- [Mike U] And there was a little speech in his office.
It was quite a big thing.
♪
- It was political theater
and I found it completely amusing
that Jesse Helms, patting me on the back,
and showing me the desk where the Emancipation Proclamation
was signed was probably the most ironic thing
I've ever experienced.
- At the time, I didn't know who Jesse Helms was.
I had no idea, you know?
But later on, people say,
"Oh, you got a picture with Jesse Helms!
What the hell's that all about?" [laughs]
[stately brass music plays]
♪
- [Paul] The trip through the halls of Congress
made us feel important,
[gentle fanfare continues]
but we had earned something
and we had come a long way.
♪
Was really meaningful to most of us.
♪
And for Chuck, this was huge
and a big relief.
He had ridden a bike to DC when he was in high school,
again for multiple sclerosis,
and met his congressman.
So he had come full circle
and just the fact that we were there
and the photo operation,
we all knew were really important for his future rides.
[fanfare builds]
- [Bobby] We'd had the photo ops,
we had toured the building with Jesse Helms
and we just all looked like a bunch
of little angels out there.
["Love Plus One" by Haircut 100 plays]
That night, when we get back to the room,
Randall still has his fireworks.
[upbeat music continues]
[Randall laughs]
- We started setting them off in the hotel room
and just outside the hotel room, throwing them.
- And we're shooting 'em off in anything that we can find.
We put a firecracker around tube of toothpaste, lit that,
we didn't have the sense to set that outside the room
on the window ledge, not inside the room.
- And we were like three or four stories up
and we were out in there throwing-
- Toothpaste all over the side of the building.
- It escalated rather quickly. [laughs]
Yeah, I'd like to say Bobby started that.
- Bobby was always in the mix, man!
- Little TV Guides.
We tented one of those, put fireworks under those.
It looked like confetti going off.
- Bobby's like your,
he's like the little sneaky guy
that comes up around behind.
He's like, "Not me!"
- It's definitely Bobby.
- We lit firecrackers in the trash cans,
anything we could find.
George was rooming with us that night,
but he had gone out to dinner with a family member.
- I had gone out to dinner with my cousins
and I came back to the room,
opened the door,
it was full of smoke.
- The smoke in the room was so dense
you can't see across the room
and he just looks, like, "What the is going on in here?"
- We've been shooting our fireworks.
I'm over in the corner by the window,
packing my pannier for the next day.
- [Randall] Like, knocking on the door.
[hand knocks]
- [George] Big knock at the door.
Yeah, when the cops came, it got real.
- [Bobby] He was banging on the door.
- [George] Bobby opens the door
and there's this big DC police officer standing there.
We are very sheepish, that's for sure.
- [Randall] Uh...
Blowing the smoke out of the room.
- [Bobby] They looked right at George.
- Points right at me
'cause I was right next to the window
where the fireworks have been going off.
- You're all going to jail tonight.
♪
- I don't know what you're talking about.
I haven't been here.
- I don't care.
- You've been shooting off fireworks in this room and-
- Totally innocent.
♪ Ay ay ay ay ay ah ♪
- So of course, we got a good lecture
from the police officer,
and then the next morning, we got it from Chuck.
♪
He was pretty clear about it, you know?
If we weren't so close to the end of the strip,
I'd send every one of you home.
- But it was fun.
["Carolina In My Mind" by James Taylor plays]
♪
♪ In my mind, I'm going to Carolina ♪
- [Paul] The North Carolina state line
was a big deal for us.
It meant we were home.
♪ Can't you see the sunshine ♪
- [Paul] And looking at the video and some of the pictures,
it was camaraderie.
We had bonded together.
♪ It hit me from behind ♪
♪ Yes, I'm going to Carolina in my mind ♪
- [Chuck] Welcome to North Carolina.
What do you think?
- Hallelujah!
♪ Karen she's the silver sun ♪
- Cross country, 3600 miles.
♪ You best walk her way and watch it shine ♪
- Yes.
- I'm coming!
♪ A silver tear appearing ♪
- [Paul] It was a great moment.
A state line had never looked so good.
♪ I'm going to Carolina in my mind ♪
- [Paul] We rode from Norfolk to Nags Head,
almost 100 miles.
["Take It Away" by Paul McCartney plays]
We stayed at the Carolinian Inn
and ate seafood that night.
♪
- [Paul] Pete Josselyn was one of Chuck's best friends
from college and Chuck was pushing Pete
to get involved with the company
and the next year's ride.
♪ Wanna hear you play ♪
- I showed up that evening and that's the first time
I really saw most of the kids.
♪ Take it away ♪
- I was just impressed to see all the kids
looked like they're in great shape.
You know, it looked like Chuck turned
a bunch just run of the mill kids into real athletes
at that point
and he gave me a video camera
and he said, "Get in the shaggin' wagon with Judy
and film these kids."
♪ Don't you wanna stay 'til there's no one else around ♪
- [Craig C] Everybody was ready to get to Cape Hatteras.
- [Peter] That was the easiest day.
So we all had tons of energy
and it was a joy ride.
No.
- Then comes the worst crash of the whole trip.
- [Peter] Chuck wanted us to ride all together.
- [Chuck] We'll all go in the lighthouse together.
The last seven miles will be on the sheriff's escort.
Be safe.
- We were not used to doing. [laughs]
♪ 'Til the lights go down ♪
- Somebody said that we were gonna draft the rest of the way
'cause it's flat
and I was in the middle of that draft
and I can't remember what happened.
♪
♪ Mm ♪
♪ Take it away. ♪
- Somebody stopped short
and somebody wasn't paying attention
and three or four bikes just crashed into each other.
- We were riding pretty quick.
A couple bikes went down in front of me
and I went over the top of them
and bent the front rim.
That's. the only accident I had on the trip.
♪ Watching the show ♪
- [Judy] Scott!
Let me see your ankle.
- I remember how bad it was
and them being so worried
that I wouldn't be able to ride my bike.
♪ As a message ♪
- [Paul] Someone's wheel had to be replaced,
a couple of tires had to get fixed.
I think someone even rode one of the spare bikes
the rest of the way in.
♪ Hear you play 'til the lights go down ♪
- [Paul] This was a mess.
♪ Take it away ♪
- Would've been heartbreaking to go all this way
and not be able to have that moment.
[upbeat music continues]
But I had to get on that bicycle.
♪ You never know who may be listening to you ♪
♪ Take it away ♪
[calm music]
- [Paul] The last day from Nags Head,
yeah, I had mixed emotions.
I didn't want it to end.
I was having so much fun.
[calm music continues]
- [Paul] You're feeling the excitement,
but also being sad,
realizing that this was about to be over.
♪
- This adventure was coming to an end
and this has been the most fun I've ever had.
I was not ready to go home.
♪
- [Amy] We just rode our bikes 3,600 miles.
[calm music continues]
It was bittersweet.
- [Craig W] That day, we wanted it to last longer.
[upbeat music]
Mixed emotions, really.
Gonna miss being together.
That bond.
[upbeat music continues]
- [Paul] It felt just crazy,
the things we could do by the end of the ride.
Nothing scared us.
Our job was to ride and have fun.
[upbeat music continues]
- [Craig C] Everybody was gonna finish this all the way.
[upbeat music dwindles]
[people chatter]
- [Paul] All of our parents were there, lining the entrance.
- [Amy] I mean, they hadn't seen their kids for two months
and here they are, coming back in.
- [Mike M] The excitement was building up.
- [Paul] And queue up for a dramatic entrance.
[calm music continues]
- We made it
and we did something pretty awesome, together.
[inspirational music]
♪
- [Mike M] We did it,
we accomplished it,
and it's kind of hard to believe.
[siren wails]
- [Paul] It was just one of those moments
that you do really, really remember.
[crowd applauds]
- [Craig W] The excitement of everybody that,
when we showed up,
I just got chills seeing that.
♪
- [Paul] All the parents were wanting to get hugs
and we just rode right by them.
- [Amy] That feeling of when it was over,
it felt wonderful.
- [Paul] I'd forgotten about how fast
we all ran into the ocean. - Oh, I know.
Totally.
All I was thinking about was getting a picture
'cause I knew somebody was gonna go in the ocean.
♪
- [Randall] Everybody running to the beach.
♪
- [Craig W] It was a really great feeling.
It is as tough as it sounds
♪
and we are relishing that,
"Hey, we really accomplished something here."
♪
- [Judy] It was like nothing I'd ever been a part of,
but this was the big deal
and I'm so happy for the kids.
♪
- [Randall] It was exciting!
It was a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
♪
- [Mike U] I was very proud of myself
and I know I had built some friendships.
♪
- [Mike M] It was a life-changing thing
and it was something that we have all reflected on.
- [Mike U] It was almost a little surreal
to think that it's over.
♪
- [Judy] The relief of, I guess,
the two of us were the drivers.
♪
The responsibility was just so huge.
♪
But it was successful and I'm sure the board of directors
of the Multiple Sclerosis Society were thrilled as well.
♪
- [Amy] We did the announcements, we got the pictures.
[upbeat music]
- Chuck presents us all with a trophy.
♪
We all kind of laughed at it.
[upbeat music continues]
- So it says, "Coast to coast in '82,"
and it's got a picture of somebody popping a wheelie on a-
- What was it?
- [Paul] A BMX bike.
- [Randall] BMX bike!
[upbeat music continues]
And I was like, "Ew."
[Randall laughs]
Okay.
- Okay, thank you.
- And I still have that.
[John laughs]
♪
- [Bobby] And when the celebration was over,
I was ready to go home.
- We hugged and we said goodbye.
Now it's time to go home, go to school.
- Take a nice hot shower,
not live sweaty and salty
and road dirt all over us all day long.
- [Amy] And then having to drive back in the car
with my parents.
♪
- [Peter] I didn't want to put my bike on the car
and go home and start college.
♪
I wanted to turn around and go back.
- You know, it was tough for me that it was over
and the next day I had to go to school.
That was rough, not knowing anyone
and I really missed everybody.
- Had a lot going on personally.
You know, my father just been remarried
and I had three new little sisters
and my world was getting ready to be rocky.
- [Randall] In retrospect as well,
it was kind of melancholy because, you know,
we didn't really keep in touch after that.
♪
Most of us would never see Chuck again.
[music fades]
- [Announcer] A trail of debris told the story.
[tense music]
A badly bent propeller lay in the grass,
completely separated from the plane,
♪
broken limbs in the trees and on the ground.
♪
Flying too close to this mountain ridge,
the plane struck a tall pine,
upended, and came crashing through the trees,
♪
and it could have been avoided
♪
if Charlie Williford had decided
not to leave Georgia Saturday night.
♪
- The news happened to be on
and I saw it
and I lost it.
- I just remember being in shock.
Just, "Oh my gosh!"
♪
- [Paul] How did you hear about his death?
- My dad called. Yeah.
I remember just it took the breath away from me.
Sorry. [laughs]
["Fire and Rain" by James Taylor plays]
- Sunday, members of the Hickory Squadron
Civil Air Patrol were guarding the rubble of the plane
Chuck Williford died in Saturday night.
- [Judy] I remember just being mad at him.
How do you crash your plane into the side of a mountain?
- They were waiting for federal aviation
administration officials to arrive.
- I understand.
I understand how he got in that situation.
- You know, he took some risks.
Took a big risk that night that he was flying home.
- You know, I couldn't get it out of my head
and still can't,
the things he said about himself as a pilot,
about his instrument rating
and how good he was as a pilot.
- [Announcer] The reason for the accident seemed clear.
- And he died because he didn't do what he said he could do.
- Understand that the weather
was about like it was today,
very, very low clouds, fog and rain.
He was what we call a VFR pilot,
was not trained to fly on instruments.
- It was really what you see so often
in private pilot-type accidents.
- [Sheriff] In a case like that, if it's cloudy,
you have to stay under the clouds.
- It really hit home to me later on,
seeing how fragile and delicate the Cessna is.
♪
- [Sheriff] His problem apparently was
the clouds just got lower and lower as he flew along
and he got lower and lower until the clouds came down
to the treetop level
and then he just flew right into the trees.
- It does seem crazy to go up in the weather conditions
and just do that.
- [Announcer] The FAA service station
Charlie Williford was talking to on the radio
didn't know he was in trouble either.
- No, sir, there was no indication to us
that he was in any kind of difficulty at that time.
♪ Seen sunny days that I thought would never end ♪
- And so he died
and the trip the next year died
and they would never do it again.
♪ But I always thought that I'd see you again ♪
- [Pete] Chuck really cared about kids.
That was part of his makeup.
♪ Been walking my mind to an easy time ♪
- I remember him saying,
"My ultimate goal,
I want to start and run a boys' home.
♪ The cold wind blows, it'll turn your head around ♪
- [Pete] That was right before he died.
♪ On the telephone to talk about things to come ♪
♪ Sweet dreams ♪
- [Paul] He was so instrumental in putting this together
and we raised a lot of money for multiple sclerosis.
♪ Oh, I've seen fire ♪
- [Paul] Who's gonna pick up those pieces,
♪
be able to do what he did?
♪ Thought would never end ♪
♪
- I know I had dreams of maybe doing it again
or I could actually be one of the counselors,
hoping that this was something we could do year after year.
♪ That I'd see you, baby ♪
- [George] He wanted to build on it
♪ One more time again ♪
- [George] To do this again.
♪
- [Paul] And he had been planning the next year's trip.
♪ You one more time again ♪
- He called me and said, "Hey, would you be interested
in helping with the trip?"
I said, "100%! Absolutely!"
♪ This time around ♪
- Part of my dream was being involved with Chuck
and going on a trip again.
- You're thinking, "Well this, is gonna happen again
next year, until it didn't.
[somber music]
- To think that he conceived of it and presented it
and was able to pull it off at that age,
I can only imagine, if he were alive today,
what he would've accomplished.
♪
- If he'd have lived, I mean, all kinds of things
could have happened,
but the most important for me
is that I would've been able to come to him and say,
"Hey, Chuck.
I'm sorry we didn't get along that summer that well,
but it was amazing,
and thank you."
♪
- [Craig W] He definitely made a mark on all of us.
[somber music continues]
He died, but he's lived through us.
♪
It's a pretty amazing gift he gave all of us.
♪
- [Paul] There's one face
that is not in the final group photo
who did not ride the final day,
♪
and that was George.
♪
From early in the trip,
when he considered quitting,
George and Chuck had lost faith in each other.
♪
Do you remember the last time you spoke to Chuck?
♪
- Wherever we stayed the night before we rode
to the lighthouse,
that's the last time I spoke to Chuck,
and I probably wouldn't have spoke to him that night,
except for the fact that
♪
I wanted to leave.
♪
Chuck talked to me and I said, "No, I don't wanna be here."
♪
I didn't care what he thought
'cause he didn't care about me.
♪
I have ridden from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
I just didn't do the last day.
♪
- He did tell me about one young man,
he decided to, his parents saw him that day,
as they got in an accident
and he decided to go home with them
and that disappointed Chuck because, you know,
how can you give up when you only have one last day to go?
♪
- Biggest regret I have is not finishing.
♪
I had no idea of the celebration that went on
♪
until our reunion in Cape Hatteras,
and that has bothered me.
[tense music]
Part of me was thinking,
♪
"I can't believe I'm actually here doing this
♪
40 years later on the same bicycle
♪
to ride to the lighthouse."
♪
I hadn't done what I set out to do.
I hadn't completed it,
♪
and I needed to.
♪
- I felt like George didn't want to be there.
♪
I wish he had had the same experience that a lot of us had,
that we loved being there, being a part of it,
wanting to get on the bicycle every day,
wanting to experience it.
- [George] And I thought about for years,
for coming out here and just riding,
♪
but I never did it.
["Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who plays]
♪
My parents tried to talk me into staying.
♪
Bobby tried to talk me into staying.
- You've been with me for 3,600 miles
and you're going to bow out on the last 60 miles?
Are you kidding me?
- I think a lot of people did.
George, you should keep going.
[upbeat rock music continues]
You're this close. Why quit now?
And I probably said, "Because I can and I'm going to,"
being a snot-nosed 16 year old brat.
♪
I would say I had confidence,
but not a lot of it.
♪ We'll be fighting in the streets ♪
- [George] I realized, I wish I'd done this back then
with everybody and celebrated with everybody
at the end of the ride.
♪ Will be gone ♪
♪
♪ I tip my hat to the new Constitution ♪
♪ Take a bow for the new revolution ♪
♪ Smile and grin at the change ♪
♪ All around ♪ - Congratulations!
What the hell took you so long?
♪
- No idea.
- Good to see you, man!
- Good to see you! ♪ And I'll get on my knees ♪
♪ And pray ♪
- So good to see you!
[waves lap]
- I should have done it then,
but I did it.
[waves lap]
Looking back on that,
♪
not much has stopped me from that point.
♪
I love riding bicycles to this day.
♪
I ride six or seven days a week.
♪
♪ Yeah ♪
["Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" by Elton John plays]
♪ What happened here ♪
♪ As the New York sunset disappears ♪
♪ I found an empty heart ♪
- Mike Simone finished the ride and went home to his high school,
determined to stay healthy and keep riding,
even competing in a number of triathlons.
♪
- [Paul] He became an honor student in nursing
at UNC Chapel Hill
and was only a few weeks away from graduating
when he would finally succumb to cystic fibrosis.
♪ Now it all looks strange ♪
♪ It's funny how one insect ♪
- He was 24.
He'd just gotten back from spring break
and he started having a lot of bleeding in the lungs,
which is one of the things that happens,
and ended up in the hospital
and he died.
♪ And in the cracks along the sidewalk ♪
♪ Nothing grows no more ♪
♪ Who lived here ♪
- Nobody wants that to happen,
but sometimes it does.
♪ And grew a good crop ♪
♪ And we are so amazed ♪
♪ We're crippled and ♪
- Just thinking of what he went through
and not really realizing it at our age, you know,
why he coughed all the time,
why he had a funny smell sometimes.
You know?
♪ And I've been knocking ♪
- I knew and understood that he had cystic fibrosis,
but I didn't really understand
what that meant
and nor did I think I have an appreciation for
or I think how that led him to choices that he made
and how he chose to approach his life.
[person whistles]
- [Person] Woo!
- Wish I could have those opportunities
to have some deeper conversations with him
that I didn't at the time.
- Mike said he had, if he was lucky, 'til 21,
and that's a hard thing.
That's a hard thing to know.
♪ The roots grow stronger ♪
- I couldn't believe it. ♪ If only he could hear ♪
♪ Who ♪
- "When you're out alone on a never-ending climb
up a mountain or stranded by a windstorm in the desert,
sometimes you feel like getting off your bike and crying.
I ask a friend on the trip who had cystic fibrosis,
what he did when he felt this desperation.
He told me that Sister Mary Theresa once said,
'Give 'til it hurts.'"
♪
♪ Can you come out to play ♪
- [Amy] You know, I had heroes on the trip
♪ In your empty garden ♪
- [Amy] And he was one of them,
and I truly loved him.
I adored him.
♪ In your empty garden ♪
- I hate the way people use the word humble,
but it was one of those things that,
traveling with Mike,
made me feel like.
♪ Johnny ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Can you come out to play ♪
♪ In your empty garden ♪
- It's worth it.
♪ Johnny ♪
♪ Can you come out to play ♪
♪ In your empty garden ♪
♪ Johnny ♪
[upbeat string music]
- [Randall] Yeah, you plan for it,
you dream about it,
♪
then you do it.
♪
I appreciated it at a younger age,
but as I got older,
I realized, "Oh my god!
That was a lot bigger than what I thought it was.
If I can do that, at that age,
geez, why can't I do this?
Why can't I do that?
♪
It gave me a hell of a foundation for a lot of things
that I've done in my life.
♪
It all stems from Coast to Coast in '82.
♪
There's no doubt about it.
♪
- Probably for one or two years,
there wasn't a day where I didn't think about that trip.
♪
It was just something I carried with me.
♪
- I think it's invaluable,
seeing the world and learning about the world.
♪
Especially for the young people, I think it was really important.
♪
you learn to understand people's pain,
people that are suffering.
- At that time of your life,
you have your parents telling you what to do,
your teachers telling you what to do.
Realizing that I can do things,
the feeling of possibility in that.
♪
- I have no idea how it changed my life,
but I'm sure it did.
It's one more building block that allows you
to maybe accomplish things
that you didn't think were possible.
♪
- People are always amazed
that you accomplished something like that.
♪
It was unbelievable experience
that I may not have again,
which is okay.
♪
- Being part of something bigger than yourself
and just that challenge, I mean,
rode my bike across the country, 3,600 miles.
I mean, it's quite an accomplishment.
♪
- And you know, Paul, y'all owned that success,
that you completed that.
♪
Nobody can take that away from you.
♪
- A saying that I didn't make up
that was told me at one point,
if you're very, very, very, very, very, very careful,
nothing good or bad will ever happen to you.
♪
- Over the years there's been a loss of jobs
and you struggle through the financial aspects.
How I'm I gonna make the house payment?
How am I gonna make the car payment?
How are we gonna put food on the table?
♪
We survived a summer on the bicycle.
I could survive this.
♪
- I went through a period of divorce
and three itty-bitty little kids,
no child support,
♪
but always at peace that I can do this.
♪
- The longer you do something physical,
you start to realize that it's more mental
than it really is physical.
♪
Your body will do things if you ask it to.
The question is, can you get your mind to do them?
♪
- It's just mind boggling that we did it as teenagers.
♪
You can do it.
You just kind of go a mile at a time,
or stuff at a time,
whatever it may be.
♪
- It really is just about getting from one place to the next
each day and, hopefully, getting a bath.
[Judy laughs]
♪
- My willingness to just keep pushing through,
no matter how bad, was the result of that.
Because, heck, if you can ride through some of that stuff,
why can't I run 10 miles a day?
♪
- I do feel like I could get on that bike
and do that trip right now.
- Absolutely.
There's 15 bicycles in my basement.
♪
- Saddened that I haven't ridden in a long time.
Yeah.
♪
I wanna be able to do it and I can't.
♪
- When I look at that journal now,
it reminds me of just the passage of time
and the growing up,
of life itself.
- They did that?
You're damn right we did!
And we did it successfully!
We kicked ass!
♪
- No matter how tired you were,
no matter how hungry you were,
no matter how much you missed home,
this and that, whatever it was,
every morning you just got on your bike and rode.
♪
You'd just get on your bike and ride.
♪
- [Paul] For many, like me,
the bike remains a way to stay active
and do some time travel
because, every time I ride,
a part of me returns to that summer just a bit.
[upbeat string music concludes]
[projector hums and clicks]
[tripod snaps]
[gentle, inspirational music]
After many days of interviews and a deep dive
back with many of my fellow riders,
it's pretty clear that these 54 days on a bike
in the summer of 1982
had a massive effect on our lives.
It was many things, of course,
but the exposure to Chuck and his big dream
during those influential teenage years was huge.
♪
It took some time for most of us to realize it,
but there's no doubt it changed us
[people laugh]
and maybe we changed the world a little bit.
♪
Since the early 1980s,
the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
has been connected to cycling events
for their awareness and fundraising.
Their program, called Bike MS,
offers rides in every state of the country
and has raised more than 1 billion since 1980.
♪
But Chuck and Judy's Spokesmen of America
♪
remain the only group of teenagers
to ride coast to coast for MS.
♪
["Keep the Fire Burning'" by REO Speedwagon plays]
- [Announcer] The top fundraising team, not just this year,
it is the top fundraising team ever.
Team Reeb most ever raised by a single team.
♪ Let it turn you on ♪
- [Paul] George rides more than anyone.
He and his team, Reeb,
have raised almost a million dollars
to contribute to cancer research.
[crowd cheers]
- [Announcer] Good luck, everybody.
Team Reeb, our big fundraisers, good luck!
- The reason why I ride so much is it kinda keeps me sane.
I just can't stop riding.
I love it!
♪
- [Paul] Michael Uhrich has always kept riding
♪ Come and you go ♪
- [Paul] Crossing the country a few more times,
north to south,
east to west.
♪ And I'm living here ♪
- [Paul] And after years as a touring musician and producer,
he now rides every day to a high school
where he teaches music.
- And I think that's really what we should do
with all young people.
♪ Keep us warm ♪
- That's our job as we get older,
is to peel away the fears so they can experience life.
♪ We can help one another be strong ♪
- [Paul] Valerie faced down some tough single mom years,
but never blinked.
Starting her own Montessori school,
it has become an essential part of many people's lives
in Salem, Virginia.
♪ Through this enough ♪
- [Paul] Judy Beaird survived the summer of 1982,
but left multiple sclerosis with her husband's job transfer.
Now she's back in Charlotte
and continues to work in a retirement community,
working with seniors.
♪
Peter Rumsey logs miles off road on a mountain bike
and he has worked with Habitat for Humanity
for more than two decades.
♪
John Patterson splits his miles on one of his 12 bikes
between road and trails.
He was a studio photographer for years
and now manages a coffee distribution company.
♪
After living a nomad life,
Randall can be found cruising on the roadways and trails
of his adopted homeland of New Zealand and London.
♪ We let it keep us warm ♪
- [Paul] And John Ballas has made a career
out of helping people live healthy lives
one vertebrae at a time at his chiropractic clinic.
♪ Let us never lose our yearning ♪
♪ To keep the fire burning ♪
- [Paul] Amy Hurka taught English overseas for years
and now collects sewing machines,
and rides occasionally.
♪ Let it turn you on ♪
- [Paul] Diane continues as a teacher
of special needs kids
and manages her family's campground
in the mountains of North Carolina.
♪ Keep the fire burning all night long ♪
- [Paul] Bobby became an Eagle Scout after the ride,
and no matter what he did,
even when he tried not to be,
he said he always ended up being a leader,
in his church, in his community,
and the manufacturing plant he's worked for many years
♪
And Mike Miller became a realtor after the ride,
operating his own agency for decades
with family and friends,
including rider Chris Herndon.
♪
Rick continues to fight Parkinson's,
♪
pushing through and finding a sweet spot
in his balance when he gets the wheels turning.
♪
A number of riders besides Tracy
served in the US military,
including Scott Drinkard.
♪
Scott was in the Air Force,
piloting aircraft in the Middle East,
and he now flies commercially out of Colorado
♪
where, when he is on the ground,
he gets in many miles on his bike.
♪
Many riders we couldn't find
until late in the filmmaking process
and were not interviewed,
like Gino Nuvo,
Doug Cornett, Shannon Houston,
Mike Duffield, Jay Ruar,
Brian Roberson, Eric Goodwin,
Carol Enzer, Rodney Harwood,
Kenneth Page, and another veteran, Tim Troutman.
♪
Tim's uncle was one of the men
who took Chuck in and mentored him
while Chuck was growing up in Florida,
and his grandparents gave him housing
while he was in college in North Carolina.
♪
♪ Keep the fire burning ♪
[wind blows]
[water laps]
[gentle music]
We have led lives with an abundance of highs and lows,
[wind whooshes]
[projector whirs and clicks]
[dramatic music]
lives filled with accomplishments and joys,
along with some tragedies and hardship,
♪
successes and mistakes,
♪
but either in the forefront or background of our lives
is a constant.
♪
We all seem to have a passion for living,
♪
a concern for others,
a love for our country and our communities.
♪
For me, this film,
this journey back
in telling this story
has shown me more clearly than I understood before,
the importance of how one person's dream to help others
reverberates through the hearts and lives of others forever.
♪
That's the shadow of a wheel.
♪
["Take the Long Way Home" by Supertramp plays]
♪
♪ So you think you're a Romeo ♪
♪ Playing a part in a picture show ♪
♪ Well, take the long way home ♪
♪ Take the long way home ♪
♪ 'Cause you're the joke of the neighborhood ♪
♪ Why should you care if you're feelin' good ♪
♪ Well, take the long way home ♪
- [Male Announcer] "Shadow of a Wheel" is made possible
in part by Explore Asheville.
- [Female Announcer] Here in Asheville,
we're a mix of genres, a hybrid of styles,
settling for nothing, hungry for everything.
All drawn together to stand out.
You are welcome.
Always Asheville.
- [Male Announcer] Additional support is made possible
by The Charles Engelhard Foundation
and by these contributors: