Two Brothers Bicycle 15,000 Miles on the Pan-American Highway to Raise Money for Brain Tumor Research

Two San Francisco-born brothers flew to the upper reaches of Alaska prepared for nine months of rigorous cycling. John and Mike Logsdon will complete a 15,000-mile bicycle trip through 13 countries from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina, averaging 70 miles of cycling per day for approximately 280 days. Paired with the National Brain Tumor Foundation’s Racing Ahead program, John and Mike aspire to raise $50,000 for brain tumor research in the name of their late mother, Jean Logsdon.

The impressive ride is the ultimate experience for two young men devoted to globetrotting. The brothers both claim to have inherited their wanderlust from their mother, Jean Logsdon, to whom the trip is dedicated. Conceived on the island of Java, born in Australia, and raised in Morocco and New York City, Jean knew the virtues of travel from an early age. When she was eight-years-old, Jean crossed the Sahara desert by Jeep with her mother; and as a young woman, Jean’s wandering ways brought her across Europe and Asia, before she finally moved to California, a trip Jean made solo from New York City in her convertible sports car.

As a parent, Jean insisted her own children learn about the world through travel from a young age. When the boys were barely out of diapers, the Logsdon family would cross the United States from San Francisco in an old Ford van that was fixed up to accommodate two young boys with boundless energy, “My father replaced the last row of seating with an old mattress where Mike and I would wrestle and play until we’d worn ourselves out, at which point the mattress was perfect for napping,” Mike remembers. Adds John, “Those summers opened our eyes to the rich cultural and natural diversity that existed within our own borders and fueled an enduring and insatiable curiosity about the world at large.”

In 1996, the Logsdon family was devastated when Jean was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor that took her life in the winter of the same year. After their mother’s death, both John and Mike instinctually found comfort in travel, the only activity that seemed to appropriately honor the enduring memory of their mother’s adventuresome spirit.

As soon as school break allowed, Mike went south to Mexico where he absorbed the language and the culture while building homes for needy families; John criss-crossed Europe and the U.S. during his summer breaks at Yale. Eventually, both John and Mike embarked on long cycling journeys: John led a bike trip across the United States with Habitat for Humanity and Mike rode solo across Ireland.

After traveling separately for years, the Logsdon brothers are now cycling together, southward on the Pan-American Highway, from the upper reaches of North America to the southern-most city in the world. The National Brain Tumor Foundation’s Racing Ahead® Program has paired with Spinning Southward on Jean’s Journey to create the Jean’s Journey Fund. The National Brain Tumor Foundation raises funds for research and provides support and information to patients and families. By promoting the experiential learning, fraternal unity, self-reflection and community outreach that Jean Logsdon encouraged in her sons, this voyage will undoubtedly transform John and Mike into the men their mother imagined they could be.

John and Mike are available for interview immediately and throughout their trip which will last from July 2005 to April 2006. Please contact Melody Meyer at 917.428.6692 if you would like to interview John or Mike via email from the road or if you would like to request hi-res photographs of the brothers on their route. To direct your readers/audience to help John and Mike meet their $50,000 goal, contact NBTF at 1.800.934.2873, or racingahead [@] braintumor.org or at www.braintumor.org.

For pictures, stories, video, and more from their journey please go to:
http://www.spinningsouthward.com