See,
life is an adventure made richer by the people
around you and those you meet on the road.
I'm Dominic.
And when I met Ernie Greenwald,
I wanted to help realize his dream to cycle across the USA.
I'm looking forward to seeing the country that I've lived
in for 70 plus years and never really seen.
But Ernie's adventurous hopes were destroyed.
It looks like maybe the cancer has got the better of him.
Had every reason to believe we'd be able to do it,
I suppose in a way, Ernie's left a legacy.
This is the story of how Ernie's impossible dream became possible
for 10 strangers that could never make this journey alone.
I
haven't been on a bicycle in 10 years.
We're riding cross country and we're loving it and living it and uh sharing it.
This is the last long bike from all I have.
Everything is perfect right now. Everything
it was now the beginning of October
and I'd been on the road for more than three months with nine different companions
and traveled from Los Angeles, California
to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
with the leaves falling from the trees and the gradual creep of winter,
we had one more leg to go until New York City. Our final destination,
Amy. Thre
was our final companion.
She has suffered from multiple sclerosis. Since 1996.
She arrived in time for a meal with my friends
and we had a chance to find out a little more about her.
So I've been dancing,
you know, my whole life. Um At 14,
I went to performing arts. I was originally a ballet major.
I have chronic progressive primary MS, which meant that the symptoms came on.
I swear to God, it was like January very clearly, January.
I had symptoms by July. I was diagnosed,
I thought I was just a klutz, you know,
and that and that I didn't know what was wrong
with me but to try and combat the symptoms of MS
Amy had been going to the gym and working out. I mean, I, you guys have to feel my arms,
you can't see them.
But no, and my legs, I couldn't walk because I didn't have any leg muscles anymore.
So now I do, I do leg press,
I do pull downs. I, I was a dancer so my legs were like my life.
And even when I didn't dance, I walked a lot, I, I went, I used to hike
and I, it's very interesting. MS is very insidious that way.
It, it somehow seems to know what you need and take it away
as a person who was a dancer.
This disorder has robbed you of the thing that has given you the most joy in your life.
And now you have an opportunity and you're going for it and you're gonna do
this little journey
and you're gonna feel awesome about it.
The next morning after a pancake breakfast,
we headed east out of Pittsburgh.
I am so ready to go because if they feed me any more food, I was telling Tom,
I'm not gonna be able to move on this or he's not gonna be able to move me on the bike.
See you soon.
I was hoping that Amy's weekly gym sessions had paid off as we peddled
the first of 450 miles that lay between us and New York City.
This is exciting. Oh my God,
this is why,
you know, I've been laying in bed for like a month,
but suddenly only a few miles out of the leafy suburbs.
It looked as if Amy's leg muscles were letting her down.
God.
Um Can you back
a bit?
My leg gets stuck on the regular gym. I sometimes have to.
No, that's definitely not too short.
My knees are kind of hyper extended,
so I get stuck. So what do I do guys?
Amy finds it pretty difficult to pedal
uh because one of her,
her right knee actually uh droops inwards and it takes all the strength away.
So she can't complete a full pedal revolution half the time
this is frustrating
that I can't
settle.
Let's go in.
All right,
Amy just had a bit of an anxiety attack. I think the whole thing is
very frustrating for her that she can't pedal very well.
We're trying to sort her peddling issues out with
various tools and spare parts
while we left the pharmacy without a remedy.
We did find a welder that was willing to try and fabricate a solution.
I desperately hoped that this would be the last of any problems we had on the road.
Only one short day into our last leg of the journey.
We'd already run into problems
due to Amy's multiple sclerosis.
Her leg locked up during peddling,
necessitating a visit to the welder to fabricate a support.
But as well as her physical problems,
her anxious disposition made life on the road a little more challenging.
What
Amy is a little bit more work intensive but
than some people
and we definitely have to do a lot of things for her.
I really hope after our visit to the welder yesterday that
she can peddle a bit more happily
and that everything
works out a little bit better today.
It was thanks to a waitress in a restaurant in
town that we had somewhere to camp that first night.
That's pretty neat.
She had surprised herself by inviting a group of random strangers to stay.
You. You've never done that before?
Never, never, never in my life. And it just came out of my mouth.
Do you want to stay in my backyard?
And, uh,
I'm glad that I did
the relaxed morning gave Amy a chance to shake off the frustration of the day before
and mentally regroup.
After breakfast, we discovered that the welder had done a good job.
His fabrication didn't cure Amy's peddling problem,
but it certainly helped and allowed us to continue.
As we left town, we traveled on quiet roads under blue skies until the afternoon
when we joined a series of bike trails that
were both beautiful and challenging in equal measure.
There you
go.
It's an interesting trail, very sedate. You know,
I can imagine. It would be nice and pleasant Sunday afternoon.
It's incredible.
We, I feel like we're spit within spitting distance relatively to New York now
and we still have this beautiful countryside in Pennsylvania.
Um
This trail is not fast but it is a little slice of heaven.
But in order to arrive in New York, when expected,
we had a hard road ahead.
We've got to get 100 and
70 odd miles in three days, which is very, it's gonna be quite difficult with, um
Amy at the moment because she's finding it incredibly difficult to peddle.
You could
like a
grander
mentally. She's actually pretty hard work.
She's very worried about a lot of things,
whether that's a shoelace becoming coming undone or,
or other things. And I think maybe some of that anxiety is born out of
later in life, having
this, this disability or having ability taken away from you
to a huge extent. I can understand that.
Um,
we can
learn to cope with that and, and she can relax into the journey even more.
There's no doubt it's gonna be hard work,
but I hope it all works out.
We'll see
in the next few days.
Four days into the final leg of our journey from Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania to New York City.
Amy was coping in the saddle
despite multiple sclerosis, largely destroying her efforts to help peddle.
I'm feeling
wonderful but a little, you know, I've just kind of relinquished
to, uh,
Dominic and I'm really not even pedaling too much because my knees are bothering me.
So I'm just enjoying the ride
as if Pennsylvania was rewarding. Amy's pragmatic approach to this journey.
We were gifted with what seemed like one of the
state's rare downhills near the end of a tiring day.
It was probably like the most excitement I've
ever had. Maybe,
but certainly that I've had, uh, in the last 15 years since I've been disabled.
Amy had a lovely day. We went down one or two really amazing hills and
after such a hard day, it is so nice to arrive at a campsite that
has been at least partially erected for us.
Uh It's been a good day, hard, hard work, but
now we're at the base of the Poconos.
It's not gonna get any easier for a few days. I don't think
given that there were tough days to come,
Amy took the opportunity to relax and reflect on our longest day so far
because I, I trust Dominic so much. I actually was able to just relax and
we went, I think it, I think Dominic said we were going like 48
MPH.
All I was doing was holding on
and trusting him
implicitly.
I'm used to monitoring my own wheelchair and being the
commander of the ship and I'm letting Dominic be the commander of the ship
and I just went down that hill with total abandonment
the next morning
after some wheelchair yoga to prepare for the day,
Amy was feeling good and raring to go
today, I'm ready for more. Uh you know, whatever, whatever
uh this springs on.
I'm excited
now with the hills of the Appalachians beginning to ramp up.
Amy's positive approach couldn't help my own exhaustion and the fact that the
bike was feeling the stress of over three months on the road.
This
three wheel plate is now beginning to malfunction.
I just took the chain off.
Um because otherwise
because the free wheel ratchet isn't working very well, I'm just literally pulling
uh Amy's feet around sometimes. So
by taking the chain off means at least she can
spin her feet and get some kind of physical therapy.
Uh This malfunctioning device, I can see
iron filings
all over it which means, I guess
without taking it apart, the ball bearings are just getting
scraped to death inside.
I'm absolutely shattered.
I guess we've probably got another 2030 miles to go.
We don't really know where we're camping tonight.
But, uh,
sure as damn it,
Pennsylvania will offer us more hills
with the aches and pains of MS coupled with a long day in the saddle,
Amy's newfound optimism began to flounder while resting at a gas station.
You want me to leave it on for now?
Because
it
does
give me
more traction.
We have gone about 50 miles. It's been hard work.
Uh It's not getting any easier for Amy
past about four o'clock in the afternoon,
probably her supports and stuff she wears,
start digging into her legs and there is a bit more pain, but also,
I don't know, sort of nervous or anxious thing
kicks in a little bit more.
Ok.
Although I sometimes found it hard to remain patient with Amy's gripes.
It was easy to understand why she felt so helpless
as a former ballet dancer.
She still remembered what it was to be extremely, physically able.
I mean, I was not able bodied. I was like Uber able bodied.
I thought I'd be going to ballet class at 50
everyone would go, wow.
Look at, check her out, check her out 50 years old. She's still got it.
Amy's day to day struggle was lessened that afternoon
when we found a campsite that catered to comfort.
Welcome to Amy's on
Suit
Amy's good fortune didn't stop at royal quarters.
The owner of the campsite also realized one of her long standing dreams
to ride a Harley Davidson.
So it looks like um
Amy might be getting a motorbike ride.
Thanks to Bob Sykes, the owner of this campground.
This is gonna be fun. We're getting all of a sudden video.
Oh my God. Is this how girls do it on the bike?
That's exactly right, Amy. Is your wife gonna kill me? No,
I feel like this is some kind of
a
dreams come true TV.
Show for Amy,
everything she wanted to do and she's been talking about for the last few days.
Seems to be coming true.
This is the end of day five
cycling with Amy
and it's not been without its problems, that's for sure.
But it's been good. We've sort of got into a, into
a, a
regime now.
She's doing well
and most importantly,
she's enjoying herself
and we will get to New York on that bicycle
with only 200 miles separating us from the end of a 3.5 month cross country journey.
I reflected on the road, I'd peddled with my 10 different companions
who each had overcome their own challenge to ride with me.
I am 31 years old.
My sib
palsy has impaired my ability to walk severely.
It is very
hard for me to admit
this is the, this is the last long boat thing I'll ever have
together. We had weathered over 4000 miles of lows and highs.
That's a lot of temperature
on the highest point.
I
even both
f
to the
and,
uh, physically,
whoa,
having traveled from Los Angeles, California
all the way to Pennsylvania through 12 states.
We had endured some of the most punishing hills this country has to offer.
Pennsylvania wins the prize of the steepest hills on the trip.
If they get any steeper,
I'm going home
as well as challenges. Each twist in the road brought with it.
New characters that made this journey unforgettable.
I feel very fortunate that we were allowed to do
this ride and that we met these great guys.
We're riding cross country and we're loving it and living it and uh sharing it.
I was now with my 10th and last companion, Amy Thre
and we traveled through the golds, greens and yellows of full time. Pennsylvania,
her multiple sclerosis, not only affected every mile of her journey,
but every day of her life,
it affects every single thing
that I do.
It affects everything that I do from the moon and I wake up
similar like on the side,
everything.
But despite the strain of fatigue and immobility,
Amy accompanied me through the torturous hills of the Appalachians
edging ever closer to our journey's end.
This trip makes you feel like you can do things that
you like wrote off
the little bit that I peddled is more than I pedaled
ever.
I've seen
in beautiful fall colors that I haven't seen in years,
years. I don't remember the last time I really saw fall colors,
but after one week of autumn sunshine
and only a stone's throw from New York City,
the blue skies disappeared.
And we were presented with one more challenge
with the weather deteriorating
and to the surprise of the public,
we resorted to some extreme measures to reinforce Amy's limited rain gear.
So because of the rain and the cold,
that kind of just about beat us to New York, we almost avoided it.
But in the last three days,
it's caught out with us
and it's stuff like rooster tails of water and dripping and soaking this
um
fricking filthy.
Why do you like my, my co
chair
more than any day we had together so far,
Amy impressed me with her grit and determination, despite the miserable weather,
I should imagine, Amy's getting quite cold. She's definitely
as wet as
she's like a big sponge. Now, if I had to wring her, she would just
water would flow out of her
and
she is way tougher than she gives herself credit for
as if the weather gods were rewarding Amy for proving herself that day in the rain,
the clouds disappeared
and the sunshine returned for the final approach to
the end of our journey in the big apple.
A
4.5 1000 mile journey
with only a handful of punches.
10 companions.
Um,
a
few cheers. Quite a lot of laughs has nearly come to an end.
No.
Oh my God, you made it. Congrats. Dom and Ernie,
we
and more to the point, the 10 companions that have been riding with us
have achieved
something of earth moving proportions.
It's amazing.