Bike America Tours 1998 Cyclists Meet the cyclists who will be participating in the 1998 BAT cross-country tour. Wendy Abbott, Rochester, New York Allen Boeker, Bellevue, Washington Bill Burwell, Kirkland, Washington Dick Burwell, Bellevue, Washington Beth Byrd, Brooklyn, New York Tom Cherry, Bellevue, Washington Todd Crouse, Angelfire, New Mexico Kent Gatling, Bennington, Vermont Dan Goese, La Jolla, California Ed Hegarty, Gloucester, Massachusetts Bill Hodgson, Bellevue, Washington Ken Iobst, Silver Spring, Maryland John Robinson, Bellevue, Washington Bruce Thompson, Golden, Colorado Jack Turner, Superior, Colorado Dave Wallace, Sugarcreek, Ohio  
  Bike America Tours dblair@wtp.net 1-800-738-7271     My name is Beth Bird. I'm 31, and work at the public access cable TV station in Manhattan, running their production facilities.  We have three TV studios, six editing rooms, and also portable camcorders which we lend to the public for them to produce programs.  I set up these facilities, and now administer them. I am also a yoga instructor, and currenlty live in an Ashram where I teach, and practise my own yoga and meditation. I'm excited and nervous about this trip!  I've been training, but have never done anything like this.  (Is there anything "like" biking across the country anyway?)  I can't quite imagine biking 100 miles a day every day for six days in a row, as we do our second week.     My name is Kent Gatling. I, too, amd 49, married, with a 16 yr old son and a 14 yr old daughter.  My wife recently got my son a bumper sticker (which he's since affixed to the kitchen breadbox) which says: Clear the road - I'm sixteen! Needless to say he's enjoying driving..so far so good - Jack knows all about this, I'm sure. Our daughter is a horse-crazy teenager; she's had her own horse for maybe a year and a half...she's really getting good, and wants to do eventing (cross country jumping, show jumping, and dressage - all in a single day). I can't wait 'til she's driving! I'm very lucky to be a retired educator; my last job was as an elementary school principal. I do some community volunteer work sometimes, 'tho not recently. I've been extremely lucky the last 5 yrs or so to put in some large miles; last year I did just a bit over 12,000. My highlight last year was a single day bike the length of Vermont from Quebec to the Mass. line with some friends as crazy as me.  We live in the SW corner of Vermont, quite close to Mass. and NY...about a hour E of Albany, NY...there are lots of hills anywhere we ride and it's incredibly beautiful year-round.       Born in 1958 in Milwaukee to a family that ultimate grew to nine children, Dan Goese works and lives in La Jolla, California. Dan manages his own consulting company, Marketing Counsel, Inc. He loves the business world, and specializes in high-tech marketing and product development. Dan moved from Chicago to San Diego in 1987 to get away from the cold winters, and to join Hewlett-Packard (HP) after finishing grad school. He held various management positions at HP during his tenure there. After ten years at HP, Dan has been exploring a slightly more entrepreneurial avenue for over a year. As he manages to cut down his travel and computer time, Dan hopes to spend more time cycling, skiing, playing tennis and finding new adventure. Maybe he'll finally make time for that first golf lesson, too. Dan is most interested in sharing life and the great outdoors with his wife and three young children. Dan got an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and an undergraduate electrical engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign.         My name is Jack Turner, I am 49 years old, married and live in Superior, Colorado which is just south of Boulder.  I have two grown kids, son in the Marines and daughter married with my first granddaughter.  I own two business, one is a software development house (which supplies my food...) and the other is a Bike Shop (the fun one) in the Northwest section of Denver called Bike Line of Westminster http://members.aol.com/bikeline I usually ride around 4,000 to 6,000 miles a year.  A lot of this is commuting but I do try and get one or two one-week trips in each year. I usually do Ride the Rockies which is a 6 day trip at around 500 miles with 30,000ft plus elevation gain.  The first day of RTR last year had a 21 mile 7% grade that was a good challenge.  The total elevation gain for the day was over 7,000 and the miles were 97.  I usually also ride a few centuries during the year. At 49 I have slowed down a little and not a slim as I used to be. Heaven forbid I now have a triple on the front....  I do get in a little mountain biking but my first love is long distance road riding.