Cyclist to Ride Across Country for Alma Mater

Just talking to Linda Brown is an exercise in exhaustion.

The 22-year-old works three jobs, attends classes at two colleges, and in her spare time works out by bicycling up the coast between Ventura and Santa Barbara.

And, as if that weren’t enough of a challenge, next week the Ventura College graduate plans to embark on a 3,700-mile cycling trip across the United States to raise money for a scholarship program at her alma mater.

On Sunday, Brown will dip the wheel of her new bicycle in San Francisco Bay before pedaling eastward on a 51-day trek to Maine. She hopes to raise $10,000 during her trip, money that will create scholarships for other students at Ventura College.

“It was a dream I had about 10 years ago,” Brown said. “So I thought, why not do it for a good cause. I want to give back what I got from them.”

A graduate of Oxnard High School and now a Ventura resident, Brown plans to follow a course across California to Colorado, and over the Rockies to the Great Plains states.

After crossing the Mississippi River, she plans to head to the farmland of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. She will then pedal into New York State, over the Berkshires to Massachusetts, and cut across New England to Maine.

During her trip, Brown hopes to pick up sponsors, and plans to solicit local support through KTND-FM (105.5), which will broadcast portions of her trip during a morning talk show.

Brown has also garnered support from a number of local businesses, including the Cycle Surgeon, Sports Chalet, Patagonia and Chart House restaurant, which will sponsor a send-off reception Wednesday.

“This bike ride,” said Brown, who is studying to be a physical therapist at Cal State Northridge, “to me it is like the road to education.”