Going the distance

For Rawson—who friends described as a “strong, fast, lovable bear”—life on a bicycle was soulful wonder. And thoughts of “the bear” with the wind at his back, mouth curled up in a wicked grin, while making the most painful uphill climb look easy, sparked inspiration.

“We’re a team,” says Quinlan, “and you don’t let the team down.”

It was time to go public. Barclay shared the news with Andover, family, and friends: The Class of ’68’s 50th Reunion Tour—pedaling 1,968 kilometers (1,222 miles) to PA—was on. Three friends in pursuit of a dream.

It was raining steadily when Barclay and Quinlan took off from Winston-Salem, N.C., on May 18. Friends and family followed on social media, and Barclay’s wife, Wendy, followed in a trusty Ford Explorer stocked with supplies and decked out with PA 50th Reunion Tour flair.

“Sixty-nine miles of gorgeous, lush countryside covered with lots and lots of rain,” Barclay reported at the end of day one.

Determined to grind it out, through more rain they rode. Past long swaths of fields and farmland, and over dirt roads with “potholes that taught potholes how to be”—where “every bicycle-chasing dog” you can imagine seemed to pick up their scent. When the rain let up, they baked under a blistering Virginia sun.

Even the most well-planned adventure can have its fair share of complications: rough riding conditions, inclement weather, a shortcut that turned into half a day of backtracking due to road construction, a malfunctioning tire. But the journey is the reward. And their worst day, muscling through an agonizing climb, showed them that.

The uphill ride through the Delaware Water Gap was a Hail Mary kind of experience, where the body pauses and the mind says, “Hell no!” Wendy Barclay, driving ahead of the guys, was the first to see it. When Barclay and Quinlan reached the top of the pass, there it was, like a wink and a nod. A black bear ambled across the road, paused, and stared directly at the two men.

“Of all things,” says Quinlan. “On the toughest day. It was an amazing and powerful reminder of Kit.”

Barclay’s travel log on June 5, after 18 days on the road: Over 80 2-ounce pickle juice shots consumed. Sixty-four large bottles of orange Gatorade. Unimaginable amounts of water. Approximately 1,006.2 miles covered and 55,778 feet of vertical gain. Along the way, other ’68ers and friends joined the ride: Carter “Bink” Bacon in Otisville, N.Y.; John Buchanan, Dick Dumez, and Jim Harman in Norfolk, Conn. In Massachusetts, the group added Rob Freedman and Brandt Andersson in Wilbraham; Abbot alumna Karen Seaward and Nick Barber ’03 in West Boylston; Mary Hynes Johanson and Secretary of the Academy Thom Lockerby in Acton; and Al Alessi, Stan Crock, Rob Barber, and Head of School John Palfrey P’21 in Billerica.

Thursday, June 7, was a bright day as the peloton headed toward Andover. It was also Kit Rawson’s birthday. A coincidence? Maybe. But for the Class of 1968, it seemed like there was something greater afoot.

Along the road from Paresky Commons to George Washington Hall, friends and loved ones cheered the arrival of 16 riders, making arguably the grandest entrance ever recorded on a Reunion Weekend. Looking around at the group, Barclay says he could not think of any other circumstance where these same people would be standing together like this.

“That’s the magic of the ride,” Barclay says. And, on Rawson’s 68th birthday, a toast was made to lifelong friends and to finishing at the place where it all started. “I will always have a powerful memory of Kit pedaling up the steepest grade I’d ever encountered as if it were a Sunday afternoon ride around the block,” says Barclay, remembering his friend’s adventurous spirit. “Quinlan warned me of this. As Kathy (Rawson) and I pushed our bikes a few hundred yards behind, we looked up as Kit disappeared over the rise, around a sweeping right hand curve.”