First Person To Bike 51 National Parks To Speak At Newtown Bike Works

NEWTOWN, PA — Yardley native Spencer McCullough, who recently became the first person to bike all 51 U.S. National Parks in the lower 48, will drop by the Newtown Bike Works store on Thursday, June 20 to share his One Long Trip adventure. The program begins at 7 p.m. at the 208 North Sycamore Street store.

Riding his Surly Straggler touring bicycle, which Bike Works keeps in service for him, McCullough logged 18,000 miles, spent 411 days on the road and changed 28 flat tires on an adventure both celebrating and mourning the country's national parks.

Two years ago, McCullough said he got the idea to bike to all 51 National Parks in the lower 48 states after he read a New York Times article, “What to Save? Climate Change Forces Brutal Choices at National Parks”. The article talks about how the goal of the superintendents of the National Parks has shifted from conservation to triage - to try to save what can be saved and sadly relinquish that which cannot, to the devastation of climate change.

"After reading that article, I thought a lot about the lost nature that my grandparents, or even my parents, could have seen, like Glen Canyon, or all of the animals that have since died during the Anthropocene," said McCullough. "As I kept thinking about the past, I thought about how my grandparents were alive at the same time as people who had seen those majestically large herds of plains buffalo that numbered in the millions - herds so large that crossing a mere river would collectively take them two days.

"That led me to wonder: what would future generations read about in books that I had the chance to see? I have already missed my shot to see the Great Barrier Reef in its full glory - that opportunity passed me by in high school, nothing I can do about that now," said McCullough. "But Glacier National Park still capped by snow, Joshua Tree National Park with those soon-to-be-gone Joshua trees, Rocky Mountain National Park with any trees at all... These are things I still have the chance to experience."

The trip, he said, was originally intended to be a wake for the National Parks. "I was going to bear witness to how they look in 2023 so that when they’ve changed, I’ll have memories of their smells, their sounds, and how they made me feel - all things that can’t be conveyed in photos and videos, but that I could hope to pass along to future generations, and in doing so, keep a piece of them as they are now alive.

"My original goal for the trip has changed over time," said McCullough. "While I’m still focused on holding space for myself to grieve this immense loss, I have come to believe that mourning a public treasure should not be a private affair. I want to talk about it with others," he said. "I want to talk to them about why I’m doing this on a bike, and not in a car. I want to share with them my relationship to cycling - why I do it, and how my love for it shapes my view of our shared roadways. I hope to get people excited about cycling, to open their eyes to the injustice that is transportation in America, and to welcome them into the transportation advocacy community."

Complimentary coffee courtesy of Backyard Beans Coffee Company and beer from Second Sin Brewing Company in Newtown will be provided at the event.
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