Pedaling cross-country for Habitat

Cyclist Eric Feldmann stopped briefly in Sisters last week on his way across the country on two wheels.

The 59-year-old Maryland resident is planning to pedal across America to benefit Habitat for Humanity. He started in Astoria, and expects to arrive at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 31.

Sisters cyclist Ed Protas met Feldmann as he pedaled up McKenzie Pass and rode with him into Sisters on Tuesday, August 20, where he provided the rider with a hospitality stay. Protas was to escort Feldmann part of the way to Prineville the next day.

Feldmann is in the early stages of a more-than-4,000-mile trek that will take him across Idaho and Montana, cutting south to Pueblo, Colorado, for the long journey across the plains. The last stages will take him across the up-and-down terrain of the Appalachian mountain chain.

Feldmann figures he has to average about 70 miles a day to make the trip in the allotted time frame.

He will link up with local Habitat for Humanity chapters along the way, some of which are planning fundraisers around his visit. The primary fundraising mechanism is a web-based per-mile pledge.

Supporters can visit www.sharehabitat.org.

"I have a web page that people can click on," Feldmann said. Donations start at a penny a mile.

"The idea was to make it for everybody," Feldmann said. "You oughta be able to dig up one cent a mile somewhere."

Feldmann first connected with Habitat for Humanity a decade ago, through his church in Maryland, which sponsored a youth home-building ministry. This is his first undertaking as a distance cyclist.

"I've been physically active, but I've never done order-of-magnitude distance," he said.