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Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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Bicycle and baseball could equal book
By JOE LINDHOLM Sports Writer Most people have a bucket list. Some of the items on the list are easy to do and others are just dreams. The luckiest of us will get a chance to experience all of our bucket list items.
This last Friday, Jeff Sambur, who hails from Fort Springs, Colo., rolled into Brainerd. Sambur is a retired firefighter. He spends his time organizing bike trips around Fort Collins and working as a free-lance writer.
He also has one other passion - biking. Not just biking from, say, Brainerd to Nisswa on the Paul Bunyan trail, but 1,000 of miles at a time. This year, Jeff will cover 5,000 to 6,000 miles as he bikes across the country.
Sambur explains that biking across country was something he has always wanted to do.
"I had to wait until retirement so that I could take a ride without being on a schedule," he said. "It was kind of a bucket list thing. I started in San Diego on May 8 so yesterday (July 2) was two months exactly. I have covered 3,000 miles. On Sunday I will hit it again with my goal being to end in Bar Harbor, Maine."
Sambur has been biking since he joined the fire department in 1980. His travels have taken him around the world.
"Eight weeks before I started this trip I biked for three 1/2 months in Australia," he said. "I have been to Spain, France, the British Isles, and Ireland. I have seen most of the United States and a good chunk of Canada. I have also been to New Zealand, and Australia."
On this trip, Sambur is stopping off wherever he can to catch a baseball game along the way.
"I will make detours if I can get in a game," Sambur said. "For instance, I went backwards to get to Sioux City because I didn't realize that they had baseball till I was past there. I went back there the next day and then took a detour to get to Sioux Falls for a game. If I can get a game I will go there."
Sambur also was able to watch the College World Series in Omaha, but he also explained that he missed some great baseball experiences in some towns due to teams being out of town.
One of the main sights that has also brought Sambur to town is the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Itasca. He set out for that destination Monda, before heading to Duluth from there.
Sambur is hoping to see Northwoods League games in Duluth, Green Bay, and LaCrosse. Last year on a bike trip from Albany, N.Y., to Dubuque, Iowa, Sambur saw games in Madison, Green Bayand Eau Claire in 2008. After biking cross country over the summer, he will take advantage of air travel and fly back to Fort Collins. His plan is to write a book about his travels.
Writing the book is another item on Sambur's bucket list.
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