The six UMF students are headed across the country this summer.
By Chuck McMahon
Special to the Sun Journal

FARMINGTON – Six friends at the University of Maine at Farmington are planning to bike across the country this summer to promote healthy living and bike safety.

Jasper Walsh, 22, of Morrill, convinced five close friends last September to drive cross country and then bike back. Ever since then they’ve been making plans and hope to begin their two-month trip in Astoria, Ore., this summer. The trip will take them 5,000 miles through 16 states and three mountain ranges and end in Belfast.

“I want to see the country at 10 miles an hour and truly experience it,” Walsh said.

Joining him are 22-year-olds Corey Welsh of Dover-Foxcroft, Jon Brown of Oakland and Chris Irwin of Enfield, N.H., and 21-year-olds Jay Delehanty of Belfast and Matt Thompson of Boothbay.

All are students at the University of Maine at Farmington, and Walsh, Thompson and Irwin will be graduating this spring.

The bikers will be carrying a message from coast to coast. With the help of the Healthy Community Coalition and Northern Lights Hearth and Sports the six will help broaden the concept of healthy living and awareness, while also hoping to teach proper bike safety. They will also be raising money for a program that supplies bike helmets for those who can’t afford them.

“We felt it was time to give back to the community and we wanted to do something that appealed to all ages,” Thompson said.

Before the six leave on May 17, just two days after the UMF graduation, they also plan to hold a bike safety event through the coalition. The event will include an obstacle course for kids to check their bikes on, safety inspections and helmet fittings.

The six have been training and are prepared to bike about 60 to 100 miles a day.

Information about the trip is available on the Web at www.irwinguy.com/biketrip.

Copy the Story Link