Long ride coming to end

Barring any more disasters or delays, 69-year-old Danny Leonard and 24-year-old Drew Wessels should finish their 2,800-mile San Diego-to-Charleston bike ride late Saturday morning at Folly Beach County Park.

"It's been, hands-down, the best experience of my life so far," says Wessels, a recent grad of The Citadel's business school. "Every morning, we never knew what would happen or who we'd meet."

For Leonard, the owner of Leonard School of Music and a cancer survivor, it was his second cross-country bike trip on behalf of cancer awareness. The first came in 2000.

In December, he met Wessels via an online posting. The men, accompanied by Leonard's friends, Charlie Beck and Keith Skipper, in a motor home, started their trek April 24 and originally planned to return June 6.

But true adventure, by nature, can't be ruled by the calendar.

The first obstacle of Danny's Ride came on a rough day on a leg in Texas, starting from El Paso and heading toward Van Horn. Leonard and Wessels, who spent only a few months training specifically for the ride, faced winds gusting up to 40 mph. Wessels recalled stopping several times to check his tires because they felt flat.

Worse, the hard day fatigued and dehydrated Leonard so much that he ended up in an El Paso hospital for five days.

"We knew we'd move forward (with the ride)," says Wessels. "But we were worried Danny couldn't do it by bike. When the doctors gave him the green light, we were overjoyed."

On the other side of Texas, as Leonard and Wessels went from Louisiana to Mississippi, Leonard started feeling exhausted and light-headed. He ended up having pneumonia. While he missed 10 days of riding with Wessels, Leonard continued doing what he wanted to do most — talking to people and the media about the importance of early detection of cancer. Leonard started riding again on Monday in west Georgia.

By rough accounts, Leonard estimates his message got out to 13 million to 14 million people via newspapers and TV and radio stations. Some media outlets highlighting their ride included TV affiliates in El Paso, Dallas and Shreveport, and a syndicated Christian radio talk show that says it has 5 million listeners.

Of the two cross-country treks he has ridden, Leonard says this one was "by far the best."

"During the first one, I was just getting over cancer and it was very difficult," says Leonard. "I feel really good about this one because I know we've saved lives."

While Saturday's final ride holds promise as a highlight, both Wessels and Leonard, separately, mentioned that riding through the desert was among the most memorable parts of the journey.

The landscape wasn't the only thing that was awe-inspiring. As with most cross-country trips along the backroads of America, the kindness of strangers becomes apparent. Examples include two men in Texas learning of their effort and paying their restaurant bill and hotel managers offering rooms at reduced prices or free. The Dallas bike club helped them avoid a route that didn't allow cyclists.

Then there were moments of the surreal, such as when a police escort blocked the entire highway for seven miles near the Louisiana-Mississippi border and infuriated drivers.

"I've never seen so many (obscene gestures) in my life," Wessels says of cars that later passed them. "I felt really bad about that."

Reach David Quick at 937-5516 or dquick@postand courier.com.