PORT ANGELES — Be safe, build community and keep riding.
Rob DeCou stayed focused on those three goals during his solo bicycle race across the country last month.
The 34-year-old Port Angeles native finished the arduous Race Across America in 11 days, 21 hours and three minutes.
Solo riders had 12 days to pedal 3,069 miles from the Oceanside, Calif., pier to the Annapolis, Md., docks to make the final cutoff time.
“I knew I’d get to the finish,” DeCou told a Port Angeles audience last Monday.
“I didn’t think I’d get there in 12 days.”
Race Across America (RAAM) finishers crossed a dozen states and climbed more than 170,000 vertical feet.
“For me, this was a faith journey,” DeCou said in Independent Bible Church’s Upper Room.
“If God wanted me to get to the end, he was going to get me there.”
DeCou, who now lives in west Los Angeles, dedicated his race to former Port Angeles High School classmate Christina Jo (Ahmann) Nevill, who died of brain cancer in 2014.
DeCou and his supporters raised $21,870 for brain cancer research through the charity 3000 Miles to a Cure. The goal for the fundraiser was $20,000.
“[Nevill] was so joyful, and she was so joyful in the midst of trial, in the midst of struggle,” DeCou said.
“She was faithful. She loved God through all of it.
“I wanted to share her message in the way that she lived, and 3000 Miles to a Cure gave me a platform to do that, which was incredible,” he added.
Nevill’s mother, Jo Dee Ahmann of Port Angeles, was one of 14 crew members who traveled with DeCou in three minivans.
Nicknamed “The Messenger,” Ahmann posted updates and videos about DeCou’s adventures on the 3000 Miles to a Cure website, www.3000milestoacure.com.
“I loved every single person he brought along with him,” said Ahmann, a music teacher and life coach.
“He, through the whole journey, was concerned about everyone else and able to actually give direction and help us function as a team.”
Because DeCou is not an especially fast cyclist, he knew he would have to stay on his recumbent bike “every possible second” to make a series of time cutoffs and finish the race in 12 days, he said.
He said he rode an average of 20 to 21 hours per day, stopping only for bike repairs or “self-care” — short massages, restroom breaks, meals or quick naps.
“My whole motto is ‘slow is steady, steady is fast,’ ” DeCou said.
“It was like, ‘I don’t have to go fast. I’ve just got to keep going.’ ”
DeCou said he consumed between 12,000 and 18,000 calories per day. He popped caffeine pills and slammed energy drinks to stay alert when he felt like “bonking out.”
“I went through that first 36 hours without any sleep,” he said.
Safety for himself and his crew was DeCou’s top priority, he said. RAAM competitors followed a 38-page manual of rules and regulations, most of which are safety-related.
DeCou had a communications system on his bike that allowed him to stay in contact with his crew, take phone calls and listen to audiobooks.
He said he relished “building community” with his friends and family on the crew.
In the California desert, DeCou and his fellow riders dodged a 120-degree heat wave, riding through in a relatively cool 102 to 105 degrees.
“It was extremely hot for me, but not as hot as it could have been,” he said.
Recumbent bicyclists are more exposed to the sun than standard-style cyclists because they are facing up.
In Colorado, a weary DeCou had a spiritual experience when something seemed to stabilize his bike and push him up a hill for about a quarter-mile.
“There was some presence behind me pushing up this hill,” he said.
“I attribute it to an angel.”
In Kansas, DeCou’s prayers were answered when a tailwind helped propel him to a race-high 17.99 mph average speed.
In West Virginia, DeCou lucked out by missing a rainstorm that his crew had driven through an hour earlier.
“I ended up not getting rained on the whole time,” he said.
While riding through a misty Gettysburg, Pa., in the wee hours one morning, DeCou remembers saying: “What an experience.”
“Where else would you rather be, I mean, going through this incredible piece of history at this time on this amazing course with these people?” DeCou said.
“You just got that flush of euphoria. It’s like, ‘This is exactly where I want to be in my life.’ ”
To give back to a community that supported 3000 Miles to a Cure, Ahmann and DeCou donated to the Captain Joseph House Foundation and encouraged others to do the same.
Betsy Reed Schultz of Port Angeles and a team of volunteers are converting the former Tudor Inn bed-and-breakfast on Oak Street into a refuge for grieving families of fallen service members.
The Captain Joseph House and its nonprofit foundation are named for Schultz’s son, Capt. Joseph Schultz, who was killed while serving as an Army Green Beret in Afghanistan in 2011.
Ahmann, whose husband works on the Captain Joseph House, said she and Schultz have a lot in common.
“We’ve both lost a child,” Ahmann said.
“I lost one to cancer, and she lost one to war. What I love about Betsy’s heart is that she took a most painful, difficult thing and has looked out for other people.”
Joseph Schultz, who joined the Army after 9/11, was a “friend to everyone,” Schultz said.
“Joseph was also very loving,” she added.
“He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved the military. He loved this country.”
Some 12,000 volunteer hours have been dedicated to the Captain Joseph House since the project broke ground in June 2013, Schultz said.
While parts of the house are coming along faster than others, Schultz estimated that the project is about 60 percent complete.
DeCou took questions from the audience and introduced his crew.
Dressed in a “Running Sucks” T-shirt, DeCou said he is going back to trail running and ultra-distance running.
“I’m temporarily retired from cycling,” he said.
DeCou’s next big event will be a 146-mile run from Death Valley to the top of 14,505-foot Mount Whitney.
“It’s just brutal, and you do it during the heat of the summer, so it’s July, August,” he said.
“The ultra runners are just gluttons for punishment.”
DeCou was a star wrestler at Port Angeles High School and graduated with the class of 2000.
He married his wife, Kristin, and moved to California about two years ago. He co-founded a small video production company that explains complex ideas with Hollywood-grade animation.
“I’m such a different person than I was a month ago,” DeCou said of the RAAM experience.
“I feel like God increased my capacities and my gifting years ahead of where I was.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
