Jack Boyle’s return to Charlottesville after a Montreal conference took longer than expected. That’s because he decided to bike nearly half the distance.
For eight days, the second-year environmental sciences doctoral student at the University of Virginia pedaled from Montreal to New York City, where he is from, before returning to Charlottesville by car.
Accompanied by his close friend and professional shepherd, Joe Ferris, they journeyed more than 500 miles, relying on an app that connects touring cyclists with people willing to offer a place to stay.
Boyle poses for a shot along his journey. He originally joined UVA’s environmental sciences department as a master’s student before his mentor suggested he switch to the doctoral track. (Contributed photo)
“Each day presented fantastic, new characters,” he said. “We met so many incredible people who happened to be wonderful environmental advocates and educators.”
Their first night, Boyle said, they stayed in Montreal with a fellow bike-enthusiast from the app, who builds environmentally focused museum exhibits across Canada and the U.S. They then set out for their longest ride, cycling 101 miles to Burlington, Vermont.
In Vermont, they stayed with a woman who worked at a bike co-op and organized sustainable food programs in her city, before crossing the Adirondack mountains south to Albany, New York. There they stayed with an environmental and cycling lobbyist, who turned out to be instrumental in developing the Empire State Trail, the main bike route they had been following from Canada.
“We joined a weekly cycling ride she organizes around the city of Albany every Wednesday night,” Boyle said. “She introduced us to many people in the cycling and outdoor education world, and was welcoming to us strangers.”
Boyle, left, and friend Joe Ferris pass the miles in the countryside. As they biked through towns and cities, Boyle said they talked with many people about both their journey and environmental work. (Contributed photo)
In Albany, a third friend, McKenzie Blaine, an incoming doctoral student at Northeastern University studying the effects of PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” on impacted communities, joined the duo’s ride.
The now-trio then went from Albany to Rhinebeck, New York, where another host greeted them with pizza and a place to stay. He turned out to be a “recovering attorney” who restores old industrial lands along the Hudson River to their native ecosystems.
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