How does a 15,000-mile bike ride across the deserts, mountains, and jungles of two continents sound?

For Stephen Thomas, that’s on the agenda for the next year or so as he gets set to ride from Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego, the southern tip of Argentina. Thomas, who played rugby at the University of Southern California, is doing this to raise support for disabled veterans.

A Lot Of Guys Weren’t As Lucky

Thomas was an officer in the Marine Corps, in charge of about 45 men and women, and was deployed to Afghanistan. 

“We came home safe and I’m healthy, but a lot of other guys weren’t as lucky,” he said. “Veterans come home injured and they get a lot of care, but mentally they can often have a really hard time.”

Thomas was first inspired to get involved in veterans affairs after hearing the story of retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills, who lost portions of both his legs and both his arms when an improvised explosive device exploded during his deployment in Afghanistan. 

Mills somehow lived through that ordeal, but upon recovery, he was distraught to find out he couldn’t do some of the things he could do before he was wounded. Mills rebounded, calling himself not a wounded warrior, but instead a "Recalibrated Warrior," and went on to start a foundation that helps wounded veterans. He runs a retreat in Maine for veterans and their families, and the foundation struck a chord with Thomas.

“After the Marine Corps I went to grad school and got my MBA at USC, and that was made possible thanks to a scholarship started by a retired Marine,” said Thomas. “So this is something I can do to help veterans and support them.”

I Like To Run, I Like To Hit

While at USC, Thomas was recruited to play rugby with the Trojan rugby club. He’d never played before, but though, “this could be fun - I like to run, I like to hit.”

Right from the first practice, he loved it.

“I really enjoyed it, but what was maybe surprising was that it made me feel the brotherhood and the camaraderie of being in the Marine Corps again,” he said. “That feeling of working extra hard, together as a group, and meeting another new challenge. I loved that, and it gave me the motivation to be stronger and faster again.”

Not A Biker

Thomas says he’s not a biker, but he is a hiker, and he has hiked from Mexico to Canada before. Now he takes on a daunting trip of traveling from Alaska, over and along mountain ranges, down the coast of the Yukon and British Columbia, and then along the US Pacific Coast to Mexico. Then it’s on through Central America. All of these tasks carry day-to-day hazards, with a clock ticking all the way.

 

“The biggest challenge is getting down before winter sets in the north,” he said. “The next challenge is handling the heat in Mexico. When I get to Panama, Panama and Colombia are connected by land, but there are no roads, so I will have to hire a boat captain to take me through some pretty rough waters.”

That’s the notorious Darien Gap, where the Pan-American Highway simply stops, yielding to 66 miles of swampland and jungle. 

“That will take a couple of days,” Thomas said of the boat trip. “And then I have to beat winter down to Patagonia.”

His training regimen has been designed to handle all of these stresses. Thomas has been biking 50 to 100 miles per bike session - about what he expects to ride in a day - and he also does weight training and high-intensity interval circuits.

In between?

“Running … a lot of running,” he said.

Home For The Next 15,000 Miles

Thomas will be riding a Specialized AWOL Comp. This bike was donated by some generous people (“mostly one in particular,” said Thomas) at the Specialized Foundation which is the nonprofit arm for Specialized Bicycles that works to help youth with ADHD. 

“After hearing about the bike I did a lot of research and found a bunch of great reviews talking about how great it was for touring, bike packing, and gravel and dirt adventures,” explained Thomas. But will it, and its rider, handle the Rockies and the Andes?

“The Dalton highway in Alaska can be pretty challenging and brutal,” said the rider. “Also, I don’t think I’ve adequately considered how brutal and challenging going through the Andes will be. It will be a long time at high elevations with a lot of mountains to climb.”

That bike will also have to carry Thomas’s gear. 

He plans to resupply himself along the way, carrying with him some energy products from Honey Stinger, and likely depending on shipments to areas where supplies are scarce. Any companies that supply freeze-dried food might want to reach out.

A Daunting Schedule

Thomas will kick off the trip on July 24, riding from Prudhoe Bay at just over 70 degrees north, on the northern coast of Alaska (average high in July, 54 degrees Fahrenheit). His first major goal is to reach Portland, OR by the end of September, thus getting south before the subzero temperature roll in. Thomas has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and remembers the snows coming into the mountains in September.

“I’d like to avoid that,” he said. He expects to be at his home in Encinitas by late September.

“After that, it will be all about beating the Southern Hemisphere winter as I’m reaching Patagonia,” he explained, adding that a delay could mean he'd have to hole up for the winter and wait for the Patagonian spring.

Maybe that sounds like a vacation for some - chilling out in Chile and waiting for spring. But for Stephen Thomas, there's a mission to accomplish first.

Donate directly to Thomas' Pan-American trip and his support of wounded veterans.

Direct donations will be sent to the Travis Mills Foundation, but Thomas encourages those following him to donate to other veterans organizations, too.