Payne, Ohio man cycles from coast to coast

PAULDING, Onio (WANE) – From the coastline along Maine to the Washington State shore, Jesse Ward is riding his bike across America.

The 4,300-mile trip is along the northern part of the United States.

The trip started on May 6 in Bangor, Maine. He hopes to reach his final destination of Anacortes, Washington in early August.

WANE 15 ran into Ward in Paulding, Ohio last week. He was almost back to his hometown of Payne, Ohio to visit family along his quest.

Ward, who now lives in Ashville, North Carolina, got into cycling in college and decided to go for a coast-to-coast trip about five years ago.

“As I was looking at different routes, following the Northern Tier route, I noticed that it actually went through my hometown, so that was pretty appealing, and it’s going through a lot of states I’ve never been to or thought about, so I thought that would be a great way to discover and see the country,” Ward said.

A tradition of cross-country rides is to dip the bike tires in one ocean at the beginning of the journey and dip them in the other ocean at the end. From Bangor, Ward rode to Bar Harbor, Maine to see the ocean before heading west again.

“I’ve never been to the Pacific, so I’ll swim, and I know that they have quite a few ferries that go up to the islands there, so I want to go discover some of that stuff too, but probably take a day off,” he laughed.

His road bike is designed to absorb road vibration and carry heavy loads. It also has 27 gears to help with climbs.

Ward is staying at hotels, AirBnBs and camping along the way.

He pushes through the challenges,

“Rainy days with lots of climbing are the hardest,” he said. “Back in New Hampshire and Vermont, I had about two and a half days of rain, and I had the most climbing during that spell as well.”

And he soaks in the majestic moments along the way.

“Niagara Falls, definitely. I went over to the Canadian side and saw the falls from there, and it was first time I’ve ever done that, so that was a really rewarding experience, like just felt like, you know, the peak of the mountain. It’s like you’re here. This is a really good, finale for that section of the country,” he said.

As of June 12, Ward was about half way finished and in Iowa. When his trip is over, he plans to take a train from Seattle back to Charlotte.

“Then I’ll either bike back home or I have some friends with trucks. They can come pick me up,” Ward laughed.