ISU student combines passion for bike rides with charity

If an Honors student's project is successful, the Shriners Hospitals for Children will receive enough money to operate its 22 hospitals for one day.

The student is Jesse Shumaker, who graduated from Iowa State this month. The project is a 4,700-mile, cross-country bicycle ride. The goal is to raise $1.75 million.

"For several years, I have thought about biking across the United States," Shumaker said. With his friends, Shumaker hatched the idea to make cross-country ride a charity fund-raiser and traveling street performance, complete with juggling, magic and comedy. "Each member of the group has a specialty," Shumaker said.

A neighbor put Shumaker in touch with the Shriners Hospital for Children and Road Show USA was born.

When Shumaker realized how labor-intensive it would be to organize the ride, he decided to make it his senior Honors project.

Iowa State's Honors program promotes an enriched academic environment for high-ability students who are interested in educational and intellectual opportunities and challenges. There are currently 1,200 students in the Honors program, and 3,000 alumni are graduates of the program.

Out of water on the 'scenic route'
A bike ride of this magnitude is really no surprise for those who know Shumaker. "I have loved biking since I was riding on the back of my dad's bike in a child carrier," he said.

The summer before he started college, he went on his first RAGBRAI ride, and has been on every ride since.

At Iowa State, he and his roommate joined the ISU Cycling Club in order to go on its spring break trip to Moab, Utah. "It was an absolutely amazing experience," he said. "We rode well-known trails such as Slick Rock, Porcupine Rim, and managed to run out of water in the desert while taking the 'scenic route' to Jacob's Ladder."

Seven riders, including Shumaker's younger brother Morgan, will make the full 72-day trip across the nation. Two other riders will join the group for half the trip.

The group will start at Astoria, Ore., on June 5 and finish in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 15. They will need to average 67 miles a day to stay on schedule.

The ride will pass through Yellowstone National Park and Hoosier Pass (the highest point of the trip at 11,542 feet), meet up with RAGBRAI XXXI near Omaha, then continue through Niagara Falls onto their final stop, where they will present their donation to the Boston Shriners Hospital for Children.

Bean bags to torches
Shumaker will juggle and serve as emcee for the street performances. Shumaker learned to juggle "fooling around with some juggling bean bags that my sister had laying around." When he became a member of the Iowa State drumline, "I thought it would be fun to learn to juggle drumsticks since I always had some handy during the many hours of drumline practice."

Shumaker refined his skills during a couple of semesters abroad. "During my time abroad, I found that juggling was a good way to meet new people since most people find it interesting."

The Honors student also taught himself to ride a unicycle, and is the president of the ISU Unicycling and Juggling club.

Today, Shumaker juggles balls, clubs, knives and torches. "The more you put yourself in danger, the more the people like it," he said.

The group hopes their nightly performances will help raise funds to meet their goal. They also are collecting donations through a Web site about the run. Once the race is under way, the Web site will be updated regularly for those who want to keep track of the group's progress.

The group will camp along the way. "If anyone knows anyone along the route who would like to offer us a place to pitch our tents for the night, please let us know," Shumaker said. (A schedule, including locations and dates, is listed on the Web site.)


Road Show Earth
"I have been thinking about the Road Show USA nearly every waking minute," Shumaker said, "and I can't wait to go."

Once the trip is over, Shumaker will return to his home in Omaha to put his degree in management information systems and international business to use. He has a job lined up with Werner Enterprise's management training program.

But Shumaker isn't giving up his bicycle trips. His long term goals are "career, family, travel and starting a juggling troupe out of Omaha, not necessarily in that particular order. Later, possibly a Road Show Europe, Road Show de las Americas, or maybe Road Show Earth."