Article July 10, 2006 Issue

LONG-DISTANCE RIDES WITH GOD

BY KIM SHIPPEY

THE FIRST THING YOU SEE as you come into Chuck Howes's office is a gleaming 18-speed Serotta with light touring tires and a duck-cotton saddlebag. It's one of the "trusty steeds" on which he commutes to work, rides for pleasure, and participates in long-distance events.

Ever since Howes leapt into the saddle of the shining new Schwinn coaster bike with whitewalled tires he got for Christmas at age six, he has felt an extraordinary exhilaration. First, from that special bonding of boy and bike, then as a way to relax after the rigors of the classroom, and more recently, as a way to beat soaring gas prices. He loves to let the wind blow through the vents of his riding helmet as he challenges the hills and valleys of his adopted state of Massachusetts. "And one of the most wonderful things about it," he says, "is that there's not a lot that separates me from a kid in Kenya, Switzerland, or Brazil, or anywhere else in the world, out on a bicycle for the first time."

Apart from his frequent 60-mile roundtrip commute to the office, and weekend training rides of 70-100 solo miles, he likes to tackle what are called brevets, long-distance rides with checkpoint controls and a time limit. He has completed the premier American brevet or randonnee (French for excursion) three times. This is Boston-Montreal-Boston (BMB), a demanding 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) ride that has to be finished in 90 hours (3 3/4 days) to receive a medal.

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