Cyclists ride 4 days to Ogdensburg

OGDENSBURG — Viktor Ohnjec and Michael Van Ryn headed out on their bicycles about 9 a.m. Wednesday in West Chester, Pa.

About 7 p.m. today, the pair expects to be finishing a four-day, 465-mile ride at the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge. The ride raised more than $1,200 for the Chester County (Pa.) Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The two have ridden about 120 miles a day at an average of about 15 mph.

"It's going very well except for the fact that the weather is a variable, but we've had a lot of fun and met a lot of people," Mr. Ohnjec said by telephone while riding in the Cortland area Friday. "All the things we see on a bike are all the things you miss flying by at 60 or 70 miles per hour. It doesn't get any better than this."

Although Mr. Van Ryn will be ending his trip at the bridge, Mr. Ohnjec plans to ride to Ottawa and then to LaChute, Quebec, about 50 miles northwest of Montreal. Mr. Van Ryn has to head back to West Chester so he can get up for work Monday.

Mr. Ohnjec, a small-business owner and member of the West Chester Cycling Club, said he got the idea last year to travel to Quebec, where he spent childhood summers with his family.

"I just thought this is something I'd like to do, so I started e-mailing and calling bike shops to find the safest possible route," he said.

He recruited Mr. Van Ryn, a friend and fellow cycling club member, and his brother David offered to donate money to the Chester County SPCA if the two finished the trip. A storm of donations followed, and by Wednesday the pair had raised $1,200 for the SPCA.

"I'm sure where it is now is much, much bigger," Mr. Ohnjec said Friday. "It's nice to see how it exploded."