Full-Distance Riders
tony williams
Tony is 56 years old. He has the good fortune to be retired and married to a working doctor! He got the idea to ride Route 20 having seen a friend’s Facebook post highlighting the coast-to-coast nature of the road. Having had the thought, he just couldn’t shake it off and hence the challenge began to take shape. He rides as often as he can, and as often as the weather allows, in Connecticut and in Provence (where the hills are definitely steeper!). He has never cycled competitively nor has he ever done anything on this scale before in any aspect of his life! Tony has a UK passport so will be able to participate in the European trip.
henry warne
Henry is an Aviation Consultant with a background in Aerospace Engineering. In his spare time he enjoys rowing, cycling and fixing up an old Triumph Spitfire! In the past he has taken on some cycling challenges, notably cycling to the south of France to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Having never faced a challenge of this magnitude before, he hopes sincerely that the American lagers will provide the same level of refreshment and recovery as they do on the continent! Henry has a UK passport so will be able to participate in the European trip.
MICHAEL PETITO
Michael, 67, has been an avid cyclist since retiring from his fashion business. When Michel (see below) told him about the challenge, he felt that this was the biking trip he had always dreamed of. Riding through America's homeland was too good to pass up. He rides in Florida most of the winter and hopes there won’t be any hills! Sadly, unless the rules change, Michael will need to wait till next year to do Route 20.
richard warne
Richard is 57, also retired and is a very keen rower and cyclist. He is on the water with the crew pretty much every day and for the last few years he has cycled the 800+ miles from Guildford, Surrey to the South of France together with his younger and (sometimes) fitter son Henry! He took no time to say “YES” when presented with the opportunity to participate and, not to be out done, Henry will also be riding. Richard has a UK passport so will be able to participate in the European trip.
PAUL FORSTER
Paul is 55, a part-time investor and partaker in endurance sports, including road and gravel cycling, running, swimming, triathlon and swimrun. He lived in Old Greenwich, CT for 12 years before moving to Cambridge (UK) in 2012, a great place for cycling as long as you don't need any mountain training - he needs a solution for that! When he first heard about Ride Route 20, he was intrigued but soon found it impossible to say no to the challenge! Paul has a UK passport so will be able to participate in the European trip.
RICHARD SAUNDERS
Richard is 65 and still very active in commercial real estate. A Brit by birth, like Tony he lives in Old Greenwich, CT. A few years ago (many in fact!), Richard cycled round France so we're quietly confident that this will be a breeze (haha!). Richard has a UK passport so will be able to participate and has, indeed, extended from being a partial-rider participant to a full-rider!
Partial-Distance Riders
TOM NERO
A practicing cardiologist, Tom is a very keen athlete, skier, cyclist and sailor. He was responsible for establishing the charity Hands For Life which trained over 20,000 local residents in hands-only CPR. He has been a driving force behind getting the fundraising component of the challenge up and organized! Since he is often busy saving lives, he will only ride 1500 miles!
MICHEL MEIN (he’s the one on the left!)
As an Architect and Real Estate Consultant, Michel has lived the last twenty years in Old Greenwich, married Donna and helped raise a family of two. He loves to bike but never imagined he would even attempt to do the first and last thirds of this journey across the US (his firm has a team of 12 so, like Tom and Richard, he works too hard and has had to drop the flat part of the ride!). He has joined Ride Route 20 believing this is an opportunity to raise awareness and focus his energy on having his group of friends participate in these two great causes, even from home!