Bike Race Across The USA    by Evan Wozniak

	It was 8:30AM and the doorbell of my house rang. I had just gotten dressed 
and walked to the door wondering who was at my door this early. It couldn't be 
my friends because they still all might be sound a sleep. So I answered the door 
and there was this guy named Mr. Jones, who was the president of a bike racing 
company. Mr. Jones said I was one of the finalists on a bike race across the 
country.
	Mr. Jones said "Congratulations, son! You are one of our finalists for this
year’s US Bike Tour Challenge. If you can take your bike, and ride it from here 
all the way to Miami, Florida, which is about 1,200 miles from here, and if you 
finish first, then you win $50,000. But the catch is you can only take ten pit 
stops on this race, this does not include overnight stays at hotels. Will you 
accept this challenge Mr. Wozniak?"
	I stood there for a minute to think about accepting this challenge or not. 
Then I decided to accept this chance to win $50,000. I had agreed, and my 
parents did as well, because of the money. If it were for nothing, they’d 
probably say no.
	Mr. Jones explained to me the rules. I had to travel to Miami, Florida 
competing with other racers from around the country. The one who reached there 
first was the winner. Since I was farther away from Miami than any other racer, 
I started a little earlier. 
	The race began the next day. I left Hudson like a speeding bullet. A van
from the company was there to instruct me of what roads I was supposed to travel 
on, and to keep track of how many pit stops I made. The first day was very 
smooth, and I finished the day outside Charleston WV, where I also slept 
overnight. The next day, I bumped into some rain. The company said I could pull 
over, but I would fall behind. Though there were a few tunnels along the way, 
which was good news, but with the thunderstorms lasting for two days, it would 
be a hassle. It wasn’t until I reached North Carolina when the thunderstorms had 
stopped. I had to use six of my pit stops because of this. It would take nearly 
five days to get to Florida from here, so I would have to travel one day without 
making a stop--or pedal faster. 
	On the sixth day, I left Charlotte, NC ranked 50th out of 100 
racers. I had about 700 miles to go. That day, I tried to make it all the way to 
Savannah Georgia without a pit stop. Instead I stayed overnight at Hilton Head
Island. The next day, the temperatures ranged between 85° -95° but that didn’t 
stop me because I used no pit stops. I did quit a little earlier that day because I 
didn’t make a stop for a rest.
	On the ninth day at Jacksonville, I found out that I was 25th out 
of 60 remaining racers. I had 300 miles left to go. I started out slow because 
the temperature was about 100° . I made a decision that 
day to travel during the night since it would be cooler outside. So I stopped at 
4PM that day, and slept for 2 hours, while the company was inspecting my bike to 
get ready for a ride in the dark. I resumed riding at 8:00PM. It was fun riding 
at night. Not only were the temperatures lower than usual, but there was nobody 
on I-95, a highway that’s usually very busy. I kept traveling until 2AM. The 
only problem was trying to see where you were going, and a lot of mosquitoes 
were out at night.
	I thought I was going to faint at the start of my tenth day, which started 
near Melbourne, FL. For the first time in this race, I saw one of my opponents 
who started near St. Louis, Missouri. He started a day later than I did. My 
opponent and I were pretty close together until we hit West Palm Beach, when he 
surprised me and bumped into my bike on purpose, and I fell off the road. I 
suffered minor injuries, and the other racer was disqualified from the race 
because of the illegal push he gave me.
	It was 4:30PM. I just had 60 miles left to Miami. The officials told me that 
I was 7th out of the 50 remaining racers. As I kept getting closer to 
Miami, the more I felt like getting off my bike, jumping into a pool, and giving 
up. When I reached Fort Lauderdale, the officials informed me that I was in 
4th place now, and I could have a chance of winning, because the 
three of the top seven racers were stuck in traffic coming in from the West Side 
of Florida on I-75 near the Everglades. 
	At 6:15PM, I arrived in Downtown Miami, currently in second place. I was
starting to slow down, because I was so tired that I wanted to give up. But I 
didn’t want to quit this far in the race, so I kept on pedaling. As I reached 
the Orange Bowl minutes later, I found myself head to head with another racer. 
My opponent came close to me, and pedaled his bike to the right, until he bumped 
into me. I thought this was illegal just like the other push I suffered in West 
Palm Beach, but nobody in the crowd was booing. It was like nobody even noticed 
the push. We both switched gears and we pulled ahead to the finish line. It 
looked very close from my view.
	The officials announced moments later, "The Ohio Competitor, Evan Wozniak, 
has won! Just by a tenth of a second." I fell off my bike, while everybody was 
cheering. I got up and celebrated the victory. I was taking home $50,000 for 
winning this race. And I did it in ten days.

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